Category: Life
ECU vs. Marshall Weekend
Another great weekend in Greenville has passed. ECU defeated Marshall at home. Our tailgate was a blast as usual.
Thank You: Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters
I want to thank all of the sailors who came out for the 2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club last weekend. We had a record turnout since 2000 and it was by far the best and most fun FBYC Laser Masters regattas that I’ve been a part of. I also wanted to thank the race committee, our fleet members and all of the other volunteers at FBYC who helped make this regatta what it is. All of the competitors enjoyed it and got some great sailing, and that would not have been possible without the help of everyone involved. Congrats to John Bertrand on winning his second straight Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship.
The complete write-up of the regatta and results can be read here. With 25+ knot winds on Saturday, the boat I was on was just a little too wet to get the camera out. I was able to get a few good shots from shore and a bunch of great photos on Sunday.
I hope to see everyone back at FBYC for 2 Laser Regattas next year: The District 11 Championship and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination in late May or early June, and the 2011 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship in October.
Day 1: Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship
Today was the first day of the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and what a wild windy day it was. Unfortunately it was so windy and so wild that I was unable to get my camera out. With all the spray and having to get in the water to help out tired sailors, I just wasn’t able to get too many shots of the racing.
Read about the day here and check out the first day results. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for less wind and will hopefully enable more photos to be taken.
Preparing for the 29th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship
The 2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship is less than 48 hours away. This is the 29th Annual running of this regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for Laser sailors 35 years of age or older. Since becoming the Laser Fleet captain in 2005 this is the 6th masters regatta I have been event chair for and my 7th laser regatta total.
As of this writing we have 38 boats registered. We’ve reached that number only once in the last 10 years and if we have 2 more boats show up – this will be the largest Laser Masters regatta since we hosted 91 boats for the US Laser Masters in 2000.
It’s amazing to think back at the last 10 years of Laser Masters regattas on how much has changed, yet how some of the traditions have remained the same.
In 2000 we hosted 91 Lasers without all of the new land we have today. We still had the old clubhouse and somehow everyone had a place to rig and eat dinner.
We still have all of the awesome traditions like Alain’s fabulous dinner, excellent race committee, and a fun group of masters sailors who come every year for a great time.
Here are a couple videos of the 2000 Masters showing just how things were:
Last Regatta
Another great weekend in Deltaville. Saturday was probably the last regatta I am going to sail in for the year. It was the Sail Against SIDS/Indian Summer Regatta and we had 3 lasers out. I can’t say I sailed very smart, missing things like the number of laps and major wind shifts. But I made up for it by being fast and won 5 close races. It was fun sailing with Mike and Steve and I want to thank Allan’s crew for putting up with me always wanting our fleet to sail a different course than the other fleets.
Sunday was the Offshore Fall Series #2 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. I ran the mark boat with Miles. With a strong, cool north wind, we sailed the races in Fishing Bay. Occasional light rain added a little misery. It’s always a sight seeing 15-20 twenty to forty footers racing in the shifty conditions in the Piankatank.
Despite the bad weather, I was able to get some pictures of the action that can be seen here.
Follow Up
As a follow-up to my post from Sunday it turns out there is a photo of the yacht coming up the channel through the race course.
I believe this was taken from the weather mark boat. At the point the picture was taken, I’m already along side the yacht, and my boat is on its side and I’m sitting on top waiting to right it.
District 10 Championship Day 2
Day 2 of the District 10 Championship brought a lot more wind than we saw yesterday. Given that and the fact that the tide would be going out when we were coming in, the race committee decided to sail us in the harbor.
I got a great start in the first race and was hanging with the leaders until I botched a tack and dumped the boat. I was able to right myself and stay with the lead pack on the downwind.
On the next beat upwind a large yacht (130ft?) was transiting the channel and was about to go right through the middle of the course. I was a little behind the fleet and rather than being cut off, I figured it would be best to duck behind the yacht and sail upwind on the other side of the channel and by the time I got to the mark, the yacht would be well past the course.
I aimed to pass about 20ft behind the boat while knowing it was still going forward and would probably be even farther away by the time I got to it. I also was anticipating a bit of a wind shadow. What I didn’t anticipate were the other sailors in the fleet yelling to this boat that they had right of way (they didn’t) and cutting in front of it.
Just as I got behind the yacht in the wind shadow the captain stopped the yacht and put it into full reverse. In no wind I had no way to get out from behind the yacht as it got closer. The wind behind the yacht ended up sucking me towards it and caused me to capsize to windward with the mast on the swim platform. Thankfully I wasn’t further away or the mast would have hit the water and the yacht would have driven backwards over it. My sailboat eventually turtled and I swam it around to the side of the yacht. A couple parents, coaches and safety boats were there 20 seconds later and helped me right the boat and get away from the yacht.
After that scary experience I was pretty exhausted. In the second race I was making all kinds of dumb mistakes from being tired and ended up death rolling the boat a few times downwind. At that point I knew no more good was going to come out of this day and felt it was best to just hang it up before I get even more tired and frustrated, or worse, do damage to a borrowed boat.
An hour later I was packed and ready to go. I stopped on the shoreline near the racecourse and was able to get a few good photos of a radial start and a standard rig mark rounding.
To avoid some of the 95 traffic I decided to give the Cape May to Lewes Delaware ferry a try. The rest of the ride home was thankfully less eventful than my day of sailing.
All in all it was a fun trip. I had good results on day 1 and it was great meeting all the sailors from D10. CYCCM did a great job with the regatta and I want to thank Mark for the loaner boat and Dave for the place to stay.
Photos from the weekend can be seen here.
District 10 Championship Day 1
Today was the first day of the District 10 Championship at Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May. The day started with a nice sail out to course out the channel and in the ocean. At that point the wind died and the confused seas were rather uncomfortable to try and sit in.
An hour later the wind picked up and the race was started. I had a great start in the middle of the line on Port! Found a great hole in the mid-line sag and jumped out to a 4 boat lead. I was first boat around the windward mark with one boat close behind. He got me on the downwind and I followed him to a 2nd place finish.
The wind picked up a little in the 2nd race, but I still wasn’t overpowered and managed a 5th. The wind picked up for the final two races and I finished 11th and 12th in the 26 boat fleet. What started out as a pretty miserable day sitting on the water really turned into a great day of racing.
Cape May Harbor Sunset
I arrived in Cape May New Jersey for the Laser District 10 Championship just in time to snap a few photos of the sunset over the Cape May Harbor. Looking forward to two days of racing out on the ocean from Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May.
