Last weekend I was up in Brant Beach New Jersey for a Laser clinic. I can’t say I am a better sailor just from being there, but I did learn a lot of things I need to practice and apply to my sailing that I hope will make me a lot better in the future.
One of the tenets of the training was to use practice to find where the ‘edge’ is. Here’s plenty of footage of me ‘finding the edge’.
We’re 4 weeks into the Kickball season. I didn’t want to play because I was nursing a sprained wrist so I sat out and took pictures. It was my first time taking action shots with the new camera and I think I got a few good ones. We may not win many games, but we have fun anyway.
I sailed on Wavelength for the 2010 Southern Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta and not only was our picture featured in a Leukemia Cup Ad in Sailing and Cruising World, but now we’re on the cover of this year’s regatta poster and flier. Wavelength was the top fundraising boat at last years regatta. We’re hoping to repeat and would like to ask anyone who would like to make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to do so via this link. Thank you!
This evening was our annual Parents Laser Race during Junior Week at FBYC. The goal is to get as many parents as possible, after the kids activities are done for the day, and get out on the water for some fun short-course racing right off the dock. Tonight was a superb evening for it. The wind started around 12 knots when we left the dock at 5:30 and died out around 7:30. We had about 10 boats come out and we got in at least 7 or 8 races.
This weekend was the wedding between two good friends from ECU JG Ferguson and Stephanie Eason. It was a great weekend seeing friends, playing golf, and celebrating Stephanie and JG. Congrats!
A few photos are below and the rest can be seen here.
Jon Deutsch, Chris Bowling, Chris Webster & JG Ferguson
On Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend I participated in my first Oyster Shell Triathlon. It’s an event that started about 4-5 years ago among a group of friends looking for something to do on Memorial Day Weekend and so they started this race. There were just under 30 participants this year and there have been as many as 40 in the past.
The course is a little nontraditional – it starts with swim which turns into a slog – a combination of running in water and swimming. Then a 2-mile bike ride followed by a swim back to the starting point. The final stretch is a ~1 mile run around the Deltaville Maritime Museum and back to the finish.
No times are kept and it’s all for good fun. Considering I signed up for it about 10pm at a party the night before, I felt pretty good about finishing mid-pack. It was a ton of fun and I look forward to doing it again next year.
At some point I’ll post some video [update: video here]. In the mean time, here are some pictures of the Oyster Shell Triathlon.
The Course:
Sunday was the Salsa Bowl Regatta and I borrowed a Front Runner from Mike Karn to take out and race. My crew was friend of a friend Bri Paxton, a recent William & Mary graduate who was on the sailing team there. Being my first time on a Front Runner since spring of 2010 and Bri’s first time sailing an asymmetrical spinnaker, we were a bit boat-challeneged for first couple races.
By the second two races we had most things running smoothly and were able to sail well upwind and hang with the fleet on the downwinds. We ended up 4th in a fleet of 5 in 4 races. It was a ton of fun and thanks Bri for coming and crewing!
More on-board photos from the day of sailing on the Front Runner can be seen here.
This weekend started with Saturday’s Laser Spring Regatta. We had 11 Lasers and Radials out at FBYC for the first day of club racing this year. The wind was light – in the 4-8 knot range. I continued to have good upwind speed, but terrible downwind speed. We got in 6 races and I finished 2nd.
Check out more photos from the awards and the rest of the weekend here.
Tim Zimmerman is a writer for Sailing World and was a competitor at the 2011 Laser District 11 Championship we hosted a few weeks ago at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and he’s written a nice blog article about his experience at the regatta:
Don’t get me wrong. The regatta itself, the District 11 Laser Championships, was not terrible. In fact, it was fantastic. Hosted by the smoothly-run, beautifully-situated, Fishing Bay Yacht Club down in Deltaville, Va., on the southern Chesapeake Bay, the regatta was blessed with excellent winds, a great crowd of sailors, and a Laser-loving chef, Alain Vincey, who cooked up a spectacular Saturday-evening dinner. Even the camping was nice.
Read the rest of the article on Sailing World’s blog.
Today was my driving day to get to the District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club in Long Island. I left Richmond at 4:30 in t he morning and arrived at the club around 2:30 in the afternoon. I lost track of how many wrong turns I made. It took over two hours to cover 40 miles transiting New York City.
Sayville Yacht Club is located about halfway out Long Island on the south bay near Patchogue Bay. The forecast for tomorrow is for it to be a little on the lighter side – under 10 knots. Sunday we should have a little more wind with the south west sea breeze blowing through.
The forecast for today started out looking pretty dismal. 5 knots out of the North West at 11am building to all of 8 by the middle of the afternoon and then dying. We sailed out to the course in almost nothing. The committee set the line and right at the time we should have started the first race the wind started swinging around to the South. A 15-minute postponement later we had a 15-20 knot sea breeze.
My day consisted of some solid sailing with some moments of brilliance and stupidity thrown in to keep it interesting. I was able to stay with or in the lead pack in most of the races and I was pretty happy being competitive in the 15-18 knot range whereas I traditionally haven’t been able to keep up in that.
All in all it was good racing and a fun but grueling day on the water with 5 races. I finished 2-7-4-3-5 putting me into 3rd overall in the 14-boat fleet. After racing we relaxed on the deck of Sayville Yacht Club, ate burgers, met some new people and listened to some live music. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
The regatta continues tomorrow with 3 more races planned. I’m really hoping for just a couple knots less of wind so I can show my speed and stay up front. Fingers crossed.
Winning the pin at one of the starts just a few seconds before the gun. More photos by Paul MacMenamin.
On Sunday for the second day of the Laser District 8 Championship Regatta we had 12-15 knots out of the east. We sailed three 2-lap windward-lewards just off the beach in front of the club. I stayed with the leaders and usually made the left side of the course work upwind. I had good upwind speed, but usually lost a spot or two on the downwind legs. I finished 3-4-5 on the day, good enough to hold onto 3rd place overall. (results)
The trip home went well considering I drained my EZPass account on the way up and had to stop at every toll booth on the way back. When I got into Richmond the warning lights on the dash started coming on and as I pulled into my driveway the car stalled. I’m glad to have made it home.