Southern Maryland Sailing Association on Solomon’s Island in Maryland had a Laser regatta this weekend. Despite leaving a little late, I managed to make the first start on time time. I haven’t been in the Laser for 4 weeks now, so it was good to be sailing again. I didn’t quite have my mojo back in the first race and ended up 3rd. Julio Vargas had some great downwind speed and pulled right away from us.
By the second race the wind was blowing 15ish with occasional sprinkles and overcast skies. I had a good start and had my boat speed working. I got to the layline out on the right and just stayed out in front of everyone. For the 3rd race of the day I was in a close heat with Steve Barrett all the way around the course. I followed him until I was able to pass him upwind on the final beat and led to the finish.
The RC tried to start a 4th race, but the Navy was out testing an RC submersible in the area and told us we had to vacate the area. By then the breeze was nearing 20 which made for a fun ride in. With a 3-1-1 it was a fun day on the water and nice to have some close, competitive racing with the Laser sailors at SMSA in preparation for the Crab Claw regatta at SSA next weekend. I’ll miss the second day of the regatta while I sail in FBYC’s Laser Fall series tomorrow.
Saturday was ECU’s home opener against Virginia Tech. It was also our opening home tailgate and we even welcomed a number of VT fans to join us. Our team didn’t get the result on the field we wanted, but we had a fun time anyway.
It’s hard to find good lists of tailgate playlists on the web so here’s mine. It’s been a work in progress over the past few years and it’s been used at many East Carolina University football games.
Labor Day weekend was the opening game of the 2011 college football season and East Carolina took on South Carolina in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte North Carolina.
Jon, Tom, Steve, Erin, Brittany, Kevin, Laura Ashley, Chris, Heather, Warren, Lauren, Staci, Preston, Jen, JG, Stephanie
The weekend began with drinks out at Epicenter with ECU and Richmond friends. Saturday we tailgated, went to the game and then went out after the game. Didn’t get the game result that we wanted, but it was still a ton of fun. Thanks Tom and Laura Ashley for hosting us and showing us around Charlotte!
Hurricane Irene hit this weekend and other than loosing power I’ve escaped with relatively little damage. The storm came through Saturday afternoon and evening and I spent the afternoon getting a couple of projects done (#1 & #2). I lost power at 4 pm and the rest of the evening was spent reading by camp light while watching the trees swaying in the wind. I’d point a flashlight out the window whenever I heard the thump of a branch hit the ground.
In the morning I surveyed the damage and found mostly just sticks and a few good sized limbs down. One limb caught the unused cable line and it’s hanging about 6 ft off the ground. Another branch hit the car and left a little dent on the sill above the driver door handle.
Considering the number of large trees I have I was pretty lucky not to have anything bigger come down. My next-door neighbors weren’t so lucky having a large tree fall into their yard and took down all of the lines to their house and their neighbors to the other side. It even damaged the gas line causing the Fire Department to come out at the height of the storm at 9pm to turn the gas off.
The photo below shows the backyard before and after the hurricane.
As of Sunday night I still don’t have power and Dominion Power has not yet even provided an estimate of when it would be back. So far I’ve gotten the entire front yard cleaned up, but it will probably take a few more days to clean up the much larger back yard.
Saturday I sailed in Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Smith Point Race aboard the Farr 37 Excitation. It was a 57 mile race out of the Piankatank River, east across the bay and then north near the mouth of the Potomac River and then back to the entrance to Jackson Creek.
It took about 13 hours to sail. The first 2 1/2 hours were in little to no wind. From the start most of the fleet continue on starboard towards the mouth of the Rappahannock before tacking towards our mark. We spent our time in the light wind sailing on port along shore and out of the current. We picked the layline pretty well from over 10 miles out and were first around the mark. Being the furthest south and the first to catch the sea breeze certainly helped.
Aboard Excitation
We led for a little while longer, but soon the faster J109, Afterthought, passed us heading downwind as we sailed North up the bay to Smith Point. It was this leg where the sun set and the wind increased into the mid-teens. After rounding Smith Point around 11pm we slogged upwind for another 3 1/2 hours to the finish.
Afterthought passing us downwind as the sun set.
That was the longest offshore race I’ve ever sailed and doing most of the driving upwind was a good experience. In the end we finished 2nd – only a minute and 43 seconds out of 1st place. We had a good crew, ate well, and we all enjoyed the trip. Thanks Mayo Tabb for taking me along!
Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted another great Annual Regatta with some good Laser sailing and plenty of wind which is pretty uncharacteristic for FBYC’s annual regatta in the middle of August. 17 of the 114 boats at the regatta were Lasers and 8 were sailing standard rigs. The Lasers were on a course set in the Piankatank River just outside of Fishing Bay along with the Albacores and Windmills.
All of our races were W2s with .7 mile legs on a slightly pin favored line. In the first race I failed to port tack the fleet and ended up fouling Steve Wirt just moments after the start. I had to do a few penalty turns putting me just behind the entire fleet. By the windward mark I caught up to 3rd with boats all around me. I caught a boat on each of the next two legs and held on for the final downwind leg to the finish.
By the second race the wind had built to the upper teens with gusts into the low twenties. The first leg of this race was a drag race upwind between Frank Murphy and I. At the first mark I rounded just ahead of him and shortly after the rounding he death rolled downwind. That was a wake up call for me to sail a little more conservatively and I stayed out front to get a bullet in this race.
By the time we were starting the 3rd race, the outer course with Flying Scots, Front Runners, Hamptons, Typhoons, and San Juans and already been adjourned for the day having only sailed one race. I think the conditions on the outside sailing area were really putting a beating on the sailors and the race committee.
I botched the start of the 3rd race and basically had to park my boat at the pin while I let Brad Squires, who timed the start perfectly, sail by on starboard. Once I got going again I had good speed to get back out front and lead the way around the course. As I was rounding the final windward mark to the finish, I eased the boom out, but my mast didn’t rotate, poping the 3 rivets holding the gooseneck to the mast. I held on to get me through the finish line and the minute I turned to reach into the club, the goosneck popped off. With no more races for the day, I was thankful that if was going to break that it broke when it did.
Back on shore we packed everything, cleaned up and enjoyed some drinks in the pavilion before dinner and later drinks.
On Sunday the first start was a at 10. Lasers were the 3rd start so I left the dock at 9:40 and arrived at the course just before 10. Turns out I was the only Laser that left the dock. When I got to the course the RC told us to go in and that racing was abandoned onshore. All of the other Lasers had been held before launching. They postponed us due to some approaching storms in the area. The storms never did come and the wind was beautiful all morning and late afternoon and we never did get sent back out to race.
With 3 bullets in 3 races I won the FBYC Annual Regatta for the second year in a row. All in all it was a fun regatta and I’m sorry my summer sailing has come to an end for the year.
1st Jon Deutsch (FBYC), 2nd Jeff Moore (SMSA), 3rd Mike Toms (FBYC)
The July/August edition of The House & Home Magazine features an article about a Deltaville Sailmaker – Jerry Latell of Ullman Sails. It also features several of my photos on the cover and in the article. Flip to page 10 to check them out.
We had some pretty hot racing at the Corsica River Yacht Club Annual Regatta this weekend. The 100+ degree temperatures might have scared off a few sailors, but those who came were rewarded with nice breezes and some pretty close racing.
I sailed in the 11-boat Laser Standard rig fleet and the wind started out pretty light as we sailed to the course. Once on the course the wind filled in and while we were racing we saw everything from 5 to about 10. The racing was a lot of fun with 6 or 7 of us really mixing it up at the front of the fleet. One of the keys to the day was not making any mistakes – all it would take is one little mistake and someone else would be there to capitalize on it.
My day went pretty well with a 6-1-2-1-6. Two sixes might seem like that would put me out of contention, but the racing was so tight between myself, Nicholas Place, Holger Hinsch and Eric Reinke after 5 races that we actually in a 4-way tie for first.
Saturday evening CRYC had a blue-grass band playing in the pavilion while they put on dinner. Camping in that heat was a little rough, but bearable thanks to a slight breeze.
On Sunday we had a little more wind than Saturday, but it was even shiftier. I had a great start in the first race and just got out front and stayed there to win it. That put me into 1st overall – 2 points ahead of Holger in 2nd.
The second race was a bit more interesting. I had an ok start, but got out to the right on the first beat which was not the place to be. I managed to be 5th at the first mark and picked up a spot on the downwind. Holger was leading the race at that point with Nicholas just behind him. I knew if they beat me, I had to be right behind them or else they’d move ahead of me in the overall standings. Holger, Nicholas and, 3rd place boat at the time, Mike Mays went out to the left in what looked like would be a parade. I went somewhat left behind them but not as hard as they did. The two boats just behind me went right and got a nice lift coming back and crossing ahead of me. It looked like the wind would continue going right so I headed off that way. It did and before I knew it I was on the layline and everyone who had gone left was way over stood. So in the last half of the last beat I went from 6th to 1st to win the race and the regatta.
1st Jon Deutsch, 2nd Holger Hinsch, 3rd Nicholas Place
Now that my wrist is starting to heal a bit, it was fun putting some of the things I learned at the laser clinic a month ago into my racing. Corsica River Yacht Club put on another great regatta and I had a great time sailing there and meeting all of the people there. I’m looking forward to going back again especially now that I’ve got my name on one of the perpetual trophies.
