Not how to do it
At a recent softball game I was caught on camera spectacularly missing a catch in the outfield. Better luck next time.
More photos from this game are here.
Category: Life
Gwynn Island Circumnavigation
Saturday I sailed the Laser out of Fishing Bay and circumnavigated Gywnn Island. The wind was out of the South-South East from 8-12 knots in the Piankatank to 14-18+ out in the bay. I started with a 2 hour beat upwind heading first east, and then south down the Chesapeake Bay. Out a mile offshore sailing upwind in 15+ in the standard rig was great with steady wind and some good wave action. At the 2 hour mark I entered the channel at the south end of the island and sailed the 1 ½ hour mostly downwind sail back to FBYC. I ended up sailing roughly 20 miles and I could not have asked for a better day of sailing.
New Camera
I pulled the trigger on a new digital SLR camera recently. My Nikon D70 is going on 5 1/2 years old and is starting to become un-reliable. I’ve got quite a few events this summer that I want to be able to take pictures at and need a camera that just works.
Unfortunately Nikon hasn’t come out with the camera I really want. I’d like to get whatever camera replaces the D300s assuming it does video with auto focus.
Since the D300s replacement is likely a year away, I bought a Nikon D3000. This is the most entry-level SLR in Nikon’s current lineup. It’s a cheap camera that I got factory refurbished on eBay that should hold me over for a year or so.
The camera doesn’t have stellar reviews, but it’s still an upgrade over my older camera. The bigger screen is a huge improvement. I’ll miss some of the dials and controls available on the higher-end camera, but again, this is a temporary camera. It’s a lot smaller than the old camera and I had to put one of my smallest lenses on it for the picture above just to make it not look like a dwarf next to the larger lenses.
Current camera equipment:
Nikon D3000
Nikon D70
Nikon 18-55 AFS F2.8
Nikon 70-200 AFS VR F2.8
Nikon 10.5 AFS F4 Fisheye
Nikon 50mm AF F1.8
Memorial Day Weekend
This past weekend was a ton of fun and I’m still in denial that it’s over. I spent almost 5 days living out of my car traveling all over eastern VA and eastern NC. I took off Friday and headed down to Figure 8 Island near Wrightsville Beach to spend time at a beach house with Dan, Lauren, Patrick and a few other Richmond friends. With a full house I ended up spending two nights by the beach in a tent. It was beautiful weather for sleeping outside and I preferred it over the house. Sunday I got to see a beach sunrise which I’m rarely ever up for when I’m at the beach.
Sunday I drove back to Deltaville for two days of practice with the FBYC Campaign for the NYYC Invitational Cup Team. I sailed on the Sonar Sunday afternoon. We had a good wind, but a storm loomed on the horizon and we had to head in early. The storm never came and it was a beautiful afternoon so I got in a little Laser sailing.
Our practice on Monday didn’t start until noon, so Maria, her friend and I took Lasers out in the morning and I sailed until I had to be back for practice. This time I was on one of the Colgate 26s. Despite being similar in size to the Sonar, there are quite a few differences in how the boat is handled. After practice I headed back to Richmond for a cookout before finally arriving home.
This has been one awesome weekend. I got to hang out with a lot of different people and had a blast with all of them. It’s going to be tough to top that weekend this summer.
Side Note: At this point I’ve already put 10,000 miles on my car this year. Compared to this time last year I was closer to 6,000. With trips to Deltaville and beyond planned for almost every weekend through October, I’m going to be doing a lot of driving this year.
Sailing, Sailing and more Sailing
I got to do a lot of sailing this weekend; first on Wavelength on Saturday sailing to a 2nd place overall finish in the Spring Series. Saturday evening five of us – mostly Front Runner sailors – went out on Lasers for a nice evening sail. Sunday morning was laser racing against Brad and Maria. And finally Sunday evening we took out the Sonar that we’ll be using for NYYC Invitational Cup Qualifying Series practice for its maiden voyage.
Pig Roast
Got to play sous chef at a pig roast on Saturday put on by Jonathan and Dan. Also had my first ride on GRTC bus in Richmond. Even owned the table at beer pong for a while.
Merrill and Bocian Wedding
This weekend many friends were in town for the wedding between Becky Merrill and Joe Bocian. They had a beautiful ceremony and reception at Celebrations on the banks of Swift Creek Reservoir. Here is a collection of photos taken by the Sloan, Espinoza, Merrill, Britton and Deutsch families.
Day 2: Sunshine Open and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination
The second day of the regatta was supposed to start an hour earlier, but the wind wasn’t really cooperating. The RC towed us all out to the race course, but we ended up sitting at anchor for over 2 hours before the wind finally settled in and we could get a race off.
The wind was light and fortunately I had a bad start near the boat. I say fortunately because it forced me to go out to the right side of the course which ended up being brilliant. I was 5th around the first mark, 4th around the second mark and 4 around the final mark. I wasn’t able to hold on to my position on the final beat and surrendered a few boats, but a top 10 finish (8), was nice to have.
In the second race the wind picked up to 10-12. Again, I had a bad start and this time ended up more on the wrong side of the course. I hung right behind the lead pack of about 15 boats and ended up chasing them all around the course with out ever breaking into the pack. I ended up 17th in that one.
All in all it was a good regatta. 13th overall in the 34 boat fleet. I still have a lot of work to do to hike harder and get my boat speed up. The first big regatta of the season is down. Looking forward to some small local regattas in the next few weeks before the ACC in June.
Day 1: Sunshine Open and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination
Today was the first day of Laser racing in the Sunshine Open and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination held at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, MD. We started the day in little wind with a long sail out to the race course. I took us over 2 hours to sail a little more than an hour to the race area. Eventually the wind filled in to just over 5 and we got a race off.
The course was supposed to be an Olympic and it was set a little less than a mile to the windward mark. After the first 3 legs the RC smartly shortened to course otherwise nobody would have finished within the time limit. I did my best to get clear air and pick the shifts, but had a tough time making the boat go fast. I started, sailed and finished mid-fleet.
After the first race, the RC postponed again. The wind filled in to a steady 10+ by about 3pm and they started another race. I had a good start and had clean air, but by the time we were at the top mark, I was on the wrong side of a few shifts and found myself in the middle of the 30+ boat fleet. It was nice sailing in some wind. I held my position and finished 16th.
We had a great dinner and camaraderie between the sailors after racing. All and all it was a good day. Tomorrow we’re hoping the rain stays away so we can get in 4 races.
Opening Day
This weekend was Opening Weekend at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We had two beautiful days of racing with winds between 10-20 knots. Between sailing the past 3 weekends and the unseasonably warm weather we’ve had – it hardly seems like opening weekend for me. It’s not May yet, but it certainly feels like it.
This weekend and the last 2 weekends I have sailed aboard Wavelength, a C&C 37 with ~9 other crew. It’s been fun sailing the same boat for a while and really learning some of the finer points of sail trim and boat handling. Let the sailing season begin!