Category: Sailboat Racing

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We had a great day for J/70 racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club in the 2nd J/70 Summer Regatta.  With 7 boats and 6-13 knot winds we were able to sail 5 races in the mouth of the Piankatank River with the wind out of the south west.

We started a little slow having not learned our lesson about the current in this part of the Piankatank that we learned during the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship sailed in the same area last spring.  And we were also figuring out the boat sailing 3-up with Dave and Andrew.  But we got better as we went.  The crew work came together and we were able to put the boat where we wanted it.  The racing was close with Ron T and Clark/Drake and we wound up 2nd overall.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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The 2nd day of the Laser District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club started out slow with nearly an hour postponement on shore as we waited for the wind to build.  As expected it did and we had another 3 races in 8 building to 14.  With a little less chop than yesterday afternoon along with some good starts enabled me to stay with the fleet and I even led some of the last race.  The downwinds were tough for me – an area I still need to work on.

Sunday’s finishes of 5-7-5 were enough to move up to 7th overall.  Another fun trip to Sayville – nice club, well-run regatta (even without the corn on the cob) and a beautiful place to sail and camp.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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No Quarter At Sayville Yacht CLub 2015

Arrived at Sayville Yacht Club Friday afternoon as a junior regatta was wrapping up with 150 sailors scattered all over the place.  I got out to practice for a little over an hour in similar conditions to the first day of racing.

On Saturday the wind slowly built throughout the morning and afternoon with a nice sea breeze and mostly sunny skies.  The course was a long one and something I hadn’t seen as much of yesterday was the seaweed that definitely slowed us down.  And having sailed so much at FBYC I realize I had gotten used to the waves and was a little thrown by the more irregular pattern here.  So it was a tough slog through 5 races today where I had some good moments and some bad ones.  It was still fun and is a very competitive fleet and I’m sitting right at mid table.

Tomorrow a little lighter winds are expected and 3 more races are scheduled.

Day 1 Results

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We had a shifty day of racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the Laser Summer Regatta.  With light winds out of the south and a sea breeze trying to come in and take it a little more east there were sometimes swings of up to 50-70 degrees – yet it would keep stabilizing around 170. We had a 10 boat line and a rather ‘competitive’ length line for that number of boats.

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I had about 1 good start in 5 races and in the others I was either behind boats, couldn’t accelerate, over early or fouling people and having to stop and turn before I sailed the course.  That being said – picking the shifts and staying in pressure was key and with the shifts as big as they were – passing lanes were plenty. It was fun racing with Steve, Brad, Alain, Mike and everyone else who came out.  Thanks Mark Stephens and crew for doing RC and Steve Q for the great social following racing.

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RESULTS | PICTURES

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It was another beautiful night for J/70 sailing and Brad, Dave and Ron were aboard for it.  There were 3 other boats out and with the lightish wind we were finding our groove and actually holding our own against the other boats.  And then the forestay came undone.  The spinnaker halyard was quickly lashed to the bow and the sails brought down and we were done for the day.  At least we got 3 1/2 races in and didn’t do any real damage.

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It was an interesting Screwpile Regatta – the weather was moderate, only 1 onshore postponement for lack of wind, good racing and a ton of fun.  On top of that we took half a boat of J/109 sailors and had them run a symmetrical kite with dip-pole jibes and check stays – not an easy set up to master.  The boat is a Farr/Dickerson 37 Excitation and with a pretty quick learning curve – we were up and sailing the symmetrical kite with the best of them halfway through the first day of racing.

We also quickly found our spot in the PHRF-A2 fleet – most of the boats were sport boats with asymmetrical kites and all but one of them owed us time.  As the longest, heaviest and tallest rig on the course – we were a fierce adversary especially on the starting line where we could sail higher and faster upwind and blanket anyone below us.  In the first day of 3 races – we got 3rd place every time.

Day 2 on Saturday featured a distance race.  The first leg was a downwind start and there was just enough wind to run with the kite up against the current and get around the first leeward mark.   Sailing upwind and south down the bay we stayed more to the left in the middle of the bay and found more wind.  The highlight of probably the whole regatta was crossing all but 2 of the A1 boats on that leg.  They would eventually pull away as the wind filled back in and they headed for a different windward mark.  Even though the wind was light, the race was shortened and we were less than a minute out of 2nd place.

On Sunday, we were postponed ashore for over an hour and a half before the wind showed up.  When it did we had nice mostly-sunny skies and 8-12 knots of wind.  Two more races were sailed and sure enough 2 more 3rd places.

Things learned this regatta – I really liked the new B&G electronics that Mayo has put on Excitation.  The 7″ screen on deck was able to show our past tracks as well as all kinds of boat information.  I think I also liked that the wind instruments were broken all weekend – one less thing to distract us.  Beyond the track and other GPS-based information – we mostly drove the boat on the compass and spedo alone.

Thanks again Mayo for racing and having myself, Mark, Melissa, Lauren, John, Chris, and Carrie along.  It was a pleasure racing with all of you.

Results | Pictures

 

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We had a beautiful day for racing in the July 4th Long Distance Race at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  28 boats ranging from J/70 to S2 7.9 to Flying Scot to Front Runner to Laser to 420 were on the starting line for a Portsmouth Handicap race of about 8 miles.  Being short of crew I took the Laser and did my best not to fall too far behind the fleet especially as one of the smaller boats.  I could do pretty well on the upwind and downwind legs, but on the reaches – the boats with 2 sails and especially those with asymmetrical spinnakers would just walk away.  In the end it was a respectable 13th – just above mid-table.

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Following racing there were over 200 people for a cookout followed by a little rain followed by fireworks well into the night.

PHOTOS | RESULTS

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The 2015 Southern Chesapeake Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta was another opportunity to have the J/70 out for some racing.  Saturday was a 1 race day with thunderstorms approaching and Sunday we got 3 more races in. It was definitely a learning weekend as John, Stuart and Ron got more coordinated in all of the maneuvers – and I had my share of goofs driving.  All in all it was a good learning weekend and glad we got some more time in the boat.  Here are a few pictures of us in action by Andrea Winner and Ann Gray.

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Results

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We had a great night of sailing to start the July 4th weekend with 10 boats on the starting line and plenty of wind.  Aboard were Ron, Christin and Stuart.  With half of the crew being on the boat for the first time we focused on getting the maneuvers right and getting around the course the best we could.  We eventually got chased off the course as some rain started approaching. On the ‘race’ to the dock we had a great vantage point of the 5-wide racing in the channel with boats on both sides calling for water.

racing 5 wide in the channel

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The rain threatened but never materialized and gave us a great night for racing in a 6-9 knot breeze with 6 boats out.  We sailed 2 races and then a 3rd to the dock.

In the first race we had a bad start and were behind the whole time.  The second race we led the first 3 legs and were passed by E.L.E. who hit the shifts better on the other side of the course.

The 3rd race was to the dock and after leading the first 2 legs we were just edged out to the entrance to the channel and then we motor-raced to the hoist.  Thanks again Brad, Mary and Jay for a great night of sailing!

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