On Sunday No Quarter was among the 5 other J/70s sailing at FBYC in the Spring regatta. We started out with pretty nice wind – not quite hiking, but solid without any big holes. With John, Holly and Mark aboard we had good starts and sailed consistently finishing 2nd in almost every race. In the last race we got a little behind and ended up 3rd – and loosing the tiebreaker for 2nd to finish 3rd overall.
After 20 years of hauling Lasers around on a trailer and later on top of a car – I’ve finally arrived at the ultimate Laser hauling vehicle – a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. The rear part of a 170″ wheelbase Sprinter is 14′ and just the right size for a 13′ 9″ Laser sailboat. Not only does the van carry the boat – but it’s also got a queen bed, seating for 5 and plenty of space for all of the gear to go along with.
As with sailing, as with life – there’s just not enough time to do everything and the ideas for this van were born over the last 5-6 years ago as I came up with ways to make going sailing easier. I sail almost every weekend April-September – and my boat lives in Richmond – far from the water where I sail. So every event is a travel event for me whether I’m going to Deltaville, Annapolis or beyond. Every Friday night I spend 1-1.5 hours loading the boat and pulling all of the gear out of the shed. Same goes for Sunday night after a long day on the water and a long drive home – another hour+ of unloading gear before catching some shut-eye. With the van – all the gear stays loaded and ready to go and I only have to pull cooler/food and clothes out. I also save on tolls and the hassle of maintaining a trailer.
To load the Laser – there’s a jib track run along the roof of the van. The track has a slide with a pulley that I can attach to the bow eye of the Laser (yes, I know this not recommended). To load the laser the front of the boat is hoisted on the pulley system. I lift the stern walking the boat into the van with the front of the boat/pulley sliding over the bed and the seat. I use the sling to cinch the boat up to the roof and then ratchet it in for travel.
The spar holder sits above the boat and holds 7 sections. A bungee with a hook holds the spars in place for travel.
The blade drawer has room to fit 2 sets of parts. The blades sit on their edge to prevent risk of them warping in a hot vehicle and the inside is wrapped in carpet to prevent scratches.
The bed in the van was custom sized to fit – it’s 70″ long and 60″ wide. That’s the same width as a queen and 5″ shorter than a double. That way the length of the bed goes across the van side to side – saving valuable fore/aft room in the van for gear. This wouldn’t work for someone taller. The bed is raised about 20″ off the ground leaving room for the blade drawer and more space for rolled sails and other gear underneath. On top of the bed is a Sunbrella duvet cover to keep the bed dry should a dripping boat be hoisted overhead or wet clothes be thrown on top of it.
These curtains have magnets holding them in. They have a bit of cotton filler for some insulation and are black so they are completely unnoticeable from the outside.
The van also features a roof air vent with a thermostat to hopefully keep the van a little cooler on hot days and nights. In the future I’ll consider installing insulated walls, a house/shore power system and an AC/Heat Pump unit.
This has been a fun project and I’m looking forward to many years of fun and sailing with it. Thanks to my Mom for help on the curtains. Dad and neighbors for help building and the Sprinter Forum for ideas.
My first race of 2015 and why not do it at a District Championship. Severn Sailing Association held the District 11 Championship in conjunction with their Sunshine Open Regatta. 27 Lasers and 16 Radials were out in what were nearly frostbite conditions on the first day.
I started with a great race sailing in 2nd most of the way around the course and loosing a spot on the final leg finishing 3rd. I’d go downhill from there, but not before a few top 3 roundings before giving up spots downwind. I met my goal of all top 10 finishes.
Back on short after 4 races I warmed up and enjoyed the dinner and band.
Sunday was a little better wind and we sailed 2 more races. i had a tougher go of it finishing 1 in double digits followed by an 8 to finis 6th overall.
No pictures this time but results can be found here. Big thanks to SSA for hosting, congratulations to Luke who sailed a great regatta to win it and thanks again for Steve for the place to stay.
To make a long story short- last years new Laser had an issue and so was replaced – and today I took that new boat out for a shakedown and some practice in preparation for the 2015 Laser District 11 Championship at SSA next weekend.
The frostbite season was significantly shortened due to all of the cold weather we’ve had. Was able to get out for one day of Soling frostbiting at SSA.
Today was expected to be a light air day and that’s what we were delivered. Racing was moved up an hour and after a couple false starts we got a race started in a 6-8 north east breeze.
Our start on Spice wasn’t too bad near the middle of the line and we picked our way up the first beat. Near the windward mark we were around 20 but called a thin Pauline and stalled near the make while 5-8 boats went right around us. That further reinforced something we had learned yesterday – when j70s are blanketed they have no power so when in a clump at the windward make it pays to over stand and come in on the outside.
Around the top mark we jibed early going out to the left and that became a kiss of death when a 40 degree shift came in. We limped around the rest of the course while the wind died with only a handful of boats behind us.
All in all it was great to get out of Richmond for a warm weekend of sailing. Thanks to Holly for having me and I enjoyed sailing with Brian and Lud. I also got a lot of homework done on the j70 and am looking forward to having a boat of my own this spring.
Results | Pictures | 2015 Quantum J/70 Winter Series 3 Website
Racing at the Davis Island Yacht Club J70 winter series got underway this morning in a nice 8-10 knot breeze under mostly sunny skies and low 70s temperature. 51 boats are racing what is the final 3-weekend series that has run monthly since December.
In the first race we had a reasonable start and got bounced to the left. We held our own downwind and then made it to the right on the second upwind picking up a couple boats. On the final downwind we picked up a couple more boats and finished 28.
We had an even better start for the 2nd race and pretty much held our lane and got out to the right where we wanted to be and rounded in the top 20. Downwind we held our position and on the 2nd upwind we again made it more to the right and passed a few boats. By now the wind was dipping and it became a more of a challenge to keep clear air and boat speed. On the final downwind we were fast and hit the shifts well and picked up several boats to finish 13th.
We are currently 22nd and hoping for more wind on Sunday.
2015 Quantum J/70 Winter Series 3 Website | Results | Pictures
After half a day of traveling – arrived in Florida at Davis Island Yacht Club to sail the J/70 winter Series on spice with Holly, Lud & Brian against 50 other boats. Today we did some practice, took part in the practice races and settled in for the night.
The forecast is looking a bit on the light side for the weekend, but we are looking forward to getting out sailing.
On Sunday I got to sail for the first time in 2015 in the first race of the Greater Richmond Sailing Association Frostbite Series. I was sailing with Joe and his son Gabe who are new members at FBYC and were taking their new to them Flying Scot out for the very first time.
The weather started pretty miserably with rain showers. After a little over an hour after the expected start time, the rain let up and it turned into a nice clear light wind day.
It was great to be back in a Laser today for what will likely be my last day of Laser racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Laser Frostbite regatta. The winds were light, but that didn’t stop us from getting 7 races in while the wind steadily shifted from West to North and then a little east as the day went on.
With 9 boats on very short lines I focused on just sailing well and not getting myself into a hole – wind-wise or situationally. We had great group of sailors out and everyone had a good game and so anyone had a chance to win races. After a few races Stephen Sparkman and myself started to make it a two boat race. In the end he had the better day and got me by a point. Clark Dennison, back in the Laser for the first time in a couple years finished up 3rd.
All in all it was a fun day sailing with Len, Keith, Brad, Luke, Mike W, Mike T, Stephen & Clark and was a perfect way to end the season – racing, drinking beer and sailing with my Laser buddies.
