The 2nd day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship started out early and started with no wind. We had a 0930 first warning and they sent us out – towed most of us out to where we sat for 2 hours. By 11 the wind started coming in from the south and built from there. The Standard rigs got 3 more races in, 2 for the other fleets. By the 3rd race we had solid hiking conditions.
I had a tough day. I didn’t start well and the short first beat meant everyone went around the first 3 legs in a clump. The 2nd beat was always where I made my gains picking out the shifts upwind and picking off 10+ boats to get me back closer to the middle of the fleet. Thanks again to Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club for putting on a good regatta and I had a great time meeting new people and seeing friends.
In the first race I had a poor start, but picked my way into mid fleet. Right at the end I tapped someone at a mark rounding and had to do turns. Finished 41.
By the second race we had 6-8 knots of breeze. I picked out the pin end to start and nobody was down there. I won the pin and just punched out and kept going out to the left and stayed out front. By the top mark only Eric Reitinger was just ahead of me. On the downwind a couple boats caught me and on the 2nd upwind I found a hole and lost 10 boats. I held there and finished 15.
In the 3rd race we started under black flag and had what I thought was a great spot, but suddenly I found myself bow out, chickened out and backwinded so I didn’t get black flagged. As we went upwind the wind continued to die and it started to rain. That continued throughout the race and by the last leg we were barely going along and I finished deep.
In the last race the wind came up to 9-11 with clear skies and I had another terrible start. I immediately tacked out and got bounced further to the right and found myself on the layline at the mark about 25th. Both downwinds I went way right mostly just to stay away from the other sailors and picked up a spot or two on each. On the 2nd upwind we had a course change with the wind shifting. I picked the phase perfectly and picked up at least 10 spots upwind. Finished 13th.
All in all it was a tough day but still a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to day 2 tomorrow. Keep an eye on Twitter on @LaserACC for my updates.
Day 2 of the Orange Coffee Pot Regatta and Laser District 11 Championship was forecast to start a lot like Saturday finished: windy. Already a number of sailors weren’t going out. I rigged hoping to hang in there for as many races as I could. As I was about to head to the launching ramp, I noticed that my traveler fairlead was starting to pull out of the deck. Luckily Don Hahl had a spare hull sitting on a trailer (thanks Don!!!). In a 10-minute mad dash we pulled everything off my boat and re-rigged it on the spare hull.
I hung in there through 2 races in winds in the 20+ range. There were some shifts to be found, but mostly it was just hanging on, keeping the boat moving and keeping it upright. By the end of the 2nd race I started getting the tipsies. I started the 3rd race, sailed to the windward mark and just sailed in for the dock. At that point I was worn out and wasn’t really doing much racing anyway. Back at the dock I packed up, made arrangements to get the boat fixed and got on the road (without the boat).
We had a windy first day of racing at Surf City Yacht Club for the Orange Coffee Pot and Laser District 10 Championship regatta. I sailed consistently with finishes averaging just out of the top 10 to be sitting 10th overall after the first 7 races.
Throughout the day the wind built from about 12 in the first race to over 20 by the 7th race. The sailing location was slightly behind a shore that kept us the waves down. In fact it was disorienting to have 18 knots of wind later in the day and only 1′ waves. On the shorter courses that we had I found it was important to get good lanes, keep clear air and pick lanes to cross so I didn’t have to duck boats.
I have arrived in Surf City NJ on Long Beach Island for the Orange Coffee Pot Regatta and Laser District 10 Regatta. I got here late in the afternoon and joined a few other sailors for about an hour of practice. The wind was in the middle to upper teens which is what we are going to see a lot more of this weekend.
Friday’s Down The Bay Race (read my account of it here) kept my hands pretty busy. I was only able to catch a few minutes of video during the calmer/clearer times. In these shots you are looking at the backs of the waves, so it looks much calmer with smaller waves than it was.
Friday morning we set out on Excitation – a Farr-Dickinson 37 for the Down The Bay Race from Annapolis to Hampton in what would be an epic race. The forecast was for north west wind moving north and bringing the wind right down the bay making for a very fast trip south. Sailing the race were 30 boats ranging in size from a 24-foot J-24 to a 52′ TP52.
The race started just after 10am in Annapolis with winds in the mid-20’s and light drizzle. We got underway in the A2 fleet and headed down the bay on a broad reach under full main and #1 (our largest headsail). Many of the boats with asymmetrical spinnakers were able to carry them and they all just took off. Some of the symmetric boats were able to carry them as well. For the early part of the race we just cruised along rarely under 8 knots and with 1-2 knots of favorable current we averaged over 9.5 knots over the ground for the first 3/4 of the race.
Every hour we switched off drivers and main trimmers. They were both working hard keeping the boat moving through the 4′ seas in the early part of the race. We’d surf waves when we could and all competed to see who could drive for the top speed of the day. At first we thought hitting 11 knots was fast. Before long we were getting bored with only hitting 10 knots in a boat that rates 87 PHRF.
About 1/3 of the way into the race the waves stabilized a bit and the wind was down into the low twenties and we tried to put a small kite up. It was a bit squirrely and we just couldn’t keep the boat under the sail. Eventually we lost it, almost broached and wrapped the chute around the head stay a few times. After a few tense minutes trying to unwrap it and get it down we got it on deck and continued under main and the number 1.
By mid-afternoon we were approaching the mouth of the Potomac. The Potomac is a very large river with a lot of current that comes out of it and into the bay. Here we found the most confused seas and with waves now 4-6′ it was a handful to keep the boat going especially with random waves that would occasionally break into the cockpit.
South of the Potomac the waves got a little more regular and the wind stayed in the 25-32 knot range. Occasionally we saw low 20’s and up to 36. Through this part of the course we continued reaching along the rhumb line.
Last year at 5:30 am we were passing the Piankatank River (our normal FBYC sailing area just south of the Rappahannock River). This year we were there by 5:30pm and making fantastic time down the bay. As we got into the lower part of the bay the wind stayed steadier in the 28-32 range and the waves built to 6-8′ and even some 10′ for the final 20 miles down the bay before rounding a channel marker and taking a right turn to sail the last 9 miles into Hampton. It was this downwind stretch that we did some of our fastest sailing. Not because we were trying to push it, we weren’t – we were trying to sail conservative and safe, but because we had to sail the boat entirely by feel with almost no light to see the waves with. It just felt right to go fast.
At one point we just dropped into a 6’+ wave and it felt awesome with a nice trough to our right and I just rode it for all I could. It was just like sailing a dinghy down waves – except this was a 11,000lb 37′ boat. We had hit some 12 knots earlier – but on that wave I hit 13.46 knots through the water. What a rush to have such a big boat slicing across the water like that.
At the final mark to the finish we’d have to go from broad reaching to close reaching. With full main and number 1 genoa up we knew that would be a challenge – and it was. With no way to carry the genoa, let alone the main, we had a very difficult time getting the genoa down so we could finish under main alone.
The course record was around 13 hours set by a 60′ boat back in 1974. We finished at 30 minutes after midnight which was in 14 hours – just one hour off the record. Over 1/3 of the boats sailing finished under the old race record. The new record holder – the TP52 Irie finished in just 7 hours. They were at the bar just after 5:30 pm. That’s an amazing record that’s going to stand for a very long time. Full Results.
We docked shortly after 1 and it was a relief to all be back safe and sound and on dry land. We swapped stories with other sailors in the bar. Only 2 boats wouldn’t finish the race – one after a demasting. Eventually we all just crashed on the boat – exhausted from an epic ride we won’t soon forget. (Update: Watch some video of our trip here)
I’d like to thank owner Mayo Tabb for doing the race this year and having me and to the other crew who did a great job keeping us going in some very difficult conditions.
Tomorrow starts the 2013 Down The Bay Race and I’ll be racing on the Farr-Dickinson 37′ Excitation owned by Mayo Tabb from Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We’ll be sailing with 8 other boats in the A2 fleet among 32 boats sailing the race. They range from 24′ to 52′. Here’s the scratch sheet.
The typical wind for the Chesapeake Bay this time of the year is out of the south, sometimes the west and occasionally the east. When it blows out of the North it’s often not for long. This is a rare year that the wind will be blowing strong out of the North from the start of the race in Annapolis to the finish in Hampton. It’s almost certain that the course record of 13 hours by Running Tide, a 60 foot Sparkman and Stevens design owned by Al van Metre,
will fall this weekend. It’s possible half the A fleet might finish under the record. Either way it’s going to be a wild ride and we are going to have a blast!
The forecast for Sunday called for wind to come up and build in the mid-teens shortly after mid-day. We got exactly that and then some with gusts in the upper teens by the 3rd race. With the failure of the outhaul/cunningham base block screw yesterday I rigged the cunningham normally and rigged the outhaul the old way on the boom. Not as adjustable, but it’d get me through the day.
We were the first start of the day and I didn’t do so hot on the first one. I was coming to the first mark mid-fleet and the race committee abandoned us before the first boat go to the windward mark because a large fishing trawler was very close to the mark and on the rhumb line to our reach mark moving slowly.
We restarted and this time I had a good start and did well to hold my lane. I had reasonable upwind speed, but still not quite as much as those who could hold the boat down better. I rounded in 10-12, caught one on the reach, caught another on the run, and then picked up 2-4 more spots on the 2nd upwind where I picked the shifts well and held onto that for 8th.
In the 2nd race of the day I had another good start and held my lane well up the beat. By now the wind had increase a few more knots and I just wasn’t moving the boat upwind as well as others who sailed more in heavy wind. (It was probably some time last summer since I spent more than an hour racing in 15+). I finished around 12-13, but a few folks were OCS pulling me up to 9.
The wind built more for the 3rd race and by new we were getting some 2’+ waves rolling through. At that point I was just hanging on and just trying to keep the boat moving as fast as I could while trying to minimize tacking and slowing down. I played the downwind pretty conservatively to keep the boat upright and finished 10th.
By 2pm the RC planned one more race and I could see we were going to be getting rained on within the hour. I didn’t think another race was going to change my score much and I had accomplished what I came for which was competitive racing in wind and I decided I better get on the road so I don’t get back too late.
Traffic back was miserable in Connecticut. What should have been the first 2 1/2 hours took over 4. South of NYC everything cleared out and I got home at 1:30am. Overall it was a good trip. I got to sail a new venue, meet some new sailors and get some more competitive racing in before the D10 championship and ACC coming up in a few weekends. Thanks again to everyone at Wickford Yacht Club for putting on a great regatta and to the Northrups for the great place to stay.
