Category: Sailboat Racing

I got to sail my first Screwpile Regatta on Paul and Julie Wash’s S2 7.9 Cheeky Monkey along with Becca Wash and Mike Karn. We had a great weekend finishing 3rd in the 13-boat PHRF-C class (results).  That included finishing out the regatta 2-2-1-1 in the final 4 of the 7 races.

Cheeky Monkey

Saturday

On Saturday I got a ride to Solomons Island Maryland with the Double Eagle crew.  Cheeky Monkey was still being delivered so I got to go hang out with Double Eagle for some practice.  That was followed by some pool time and then boat work when Cheeky Monkey arrived to get it ready – 1st for sleeping and 2nd for racing in the morning.  The transition from sleeping quarters to race boat and visa versa would be repeated each morning and evening.  After getting settled I went for dinner in Solomons Island with the Double Eagle crew followed by a trip to the legendary Tiki Bar.

Jon, Marie, Lauren, Mark, Alex, Melissa, ?

Sunday

The first day of racing called for light wind – and it delivered.  After a short postponement on the water the wind appeared to fill in and we got started.  We beat the whole fleet off the start by 20 seconds and led the fleet up the beat as the wind started dissipating.  Eventually we had nothing for wind and the race was abandoned.

Back at the starting line we threw the anchor out during the postponement and had fun yelling ‘starboard’ at all of the boats trying to stay near the course in the current while drifting into us.  An hour or so later the wind finally filled in and we started a light wind race.

Most of the racing I’ve done lately has been on boats with 6-8 crew so coming down to a 5-person boat that I had never been on before was a bit of an adjustment.  None of it was hard or really all that new, just the timing and coordination that were a little different.

When we finally did start we were a little late at the line and consequently spent most of the race just following the fleet around, ending up in 9th.  In the second race we nailed the start at the boat and had options going up the course.  We couldn’t quite hang with some of the faster boats, but we did well to stay engaged behind the leaders and found ourselves with a 5th putting us in 7th after the first day of racing.  Not a bad start, but left room for improvement.  By the end of the day we started to get a lot more comfortable as a crew and things started getting easier.

Post-racing was a trip to the pool and out to dinner with the Cheeky Monkey crew.

Monday

Racing on Monday got a lot better for us.  In the first race we still had a bit of a late start and ended up in the middle of the fleet.  On the plus side I think we finally got the crew work figured out among us.  I was on the mast and my responsibilities were raising and lowering the spinnaker, raising and lowering the board, and calling wind.  Now that we were coordinated, I got to pay a lot more attention to the wind, feeding that info back to Mike Karn and Paul in the back, and it really started to pay off for us.

Jon & Mike

By the 2nd race of the day we had a decent start, were one of the top boats around the 1st windward mark and kept playing it smart and fast to pick off a little more time on the boats ahead.  We ended up being 2nd over the line to a much faster boat who only corrected out 3 seconds ahead of us – ie: 4 seconds faster and that would have been a 1 for us instead of a 2.

Mike & Paul

The 3rd race of the day went much the same.  We had a good start, played the shifts upwind, had no major foul ups with the spinnaker at the marks and continued to chip away at the boats in front of us.  Unfortunately, the story played out the same and we were over the line 2nd, but the boat ahead corrected to just 5 seconds ahead.

We were happy with a 7-2-2 on the day bringing us up to 6th with a 4 point spread between the 3 boats ahead of us.

Tuesday

Today was our day and our wind.  With a more steady pressure of 8-10 knots and partly cloudy skies we were poised to sail well.  We had a good game plan and a good read on the weather that proved out to be dead on by the end of the day. Mike and Paul got us a good start and having watched the fleets ahead of us and the wind, I picked out a pretty distinct pattern in the shifts and clouds.  From there we punched out, stayed ahead of the shifts and lead wire-to-wire.  Right at the finish a few boats rating either the same (Spinster) or faster than us (Easy Button) came up pretty close, but we managed to get over the finish line just ahead of them.

The 2nd and final race- this one a 5-leg race was similar to the earlier race – only the shifts got even more dramatic.  But the pattern remained and after winning the boat at the start, we got out to the right, picked a couple shifts while covering the fleet and lead at the first mark.  Downwind we got caught by some boats who brought pressure and we found ourselves rounding the bottom mark with boats right on our tail.  We played it a little more conservative up the middle-right side and Easy Button hit the right corner when a big righty came in, and just went right by us.  The 4th leg-downwind kept everyone about the same as the wind began to give out a little bit.  Many of the boats played the middle left where there happened to be pressure at the beginning of the leg.  We knew it was going to go away and eventually come in from the right – just as it had in the previous leg, so we kept ourselves to the right side of the fleet.  When it finally came in from the right and with pressure, it came way more than we were expecting and we went from being in the middle of the course to laying the finish while all of the boats out to the left were hung out.  We took the gun and our second bullet of the day.

We were really thrilled at how we did in the last 4 races to string together a solid set of 1s and 2s.  That jumped us up to 3rd overall and were definitely the best boat on the day with 2 bullets.  Congrats Paul and Julie Wash – you’ve put a great program together and it was a lot of fun sailing Cheeky Monkey to a podium finish.

RESULTS | PICTURES | SPINSHEET PICTURES | VIDEO

Top photo from Spinsheet.

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This weekend I sailed aboard Wavelength in the the Southern Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta.  On Saturday we started with a postponement while few storms moved through the area.  An hour later it cleared up and the wind continued to build throughout the day.  We started out with a new No 1 Genoa and we liked the way it was working and how we were able to point. We did well in the first race, had good crew work and maneuvers and finished 4th.   While we were beating a couple faster boats on the water, we were just not able to reel in Afterthought, Double Eagle and Voodoo to be able to correct over them.

7/14 Leukemia CupSunday race 1 start.

By the 2nd race of the day the wind picked up and we switched down to the 2.  Just after starting the wind dropped down for a short time before the sea breeze really started to crank.  By the 2nd downwind we were seeing winds in the low to mid 20’s and along with a few other boats – we elected not to fly a spinnaker.  We had a 4 & 5 on the day to keep us in 4th.

The party was fun and the live charity auction featured one of my prints that raised some money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

On Sunday we pretty much just had light air all day.  We did two races and sailed well, but still weren’t really able to reel in the 3 boats at the head of the pack.   All in all it was a another fun weekend of sailing with the Wavelength team!  Thanks Rob & Steve for having me and if anyone would like to donate to our fundraising effort this link can be used.  Results.

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On Saturday I had the unplanned opportunity to be the PRO (Principle Race Officer) for Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Summer Sea Breeze regatta.  I was all set to race a Front Runner, but we didn’t end up having a fleet and my crew Stephen Boling came along to help run race committee.  Now I’ve been on signal boats and race committees a hundred times for everything from club races to national championships – but this was my first time actually being a PRO.  Lucky for me the wind was steady enough not to have to change the course and we were able to get 5 races off for the Flying Scot fleet and all went very well.

Phil Webb, John Wake, Clark Dennison, Len Guenther

Pictures | Results

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Thursday was July 4th and Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s annual one design long distance race.  I was able to borrow a Front Runner and a co-worker of mine – Stephen Boling came out to crew.  Stephen had never been on a sailboat before.  We headed out, got to practice each maneuver once and then the race started.

Getting ready to go sail

The race started right of the FBYC dock and the first leg took us south out of Fishing Bay 3/5 of the way across the river to the far side of the channel.  We had perfect start, right at the boat, right at the gun and were able to pin some of the other boats to the left side of the course for a bit.  Upwind we picked a nice lane of wind right up the middle of the bay and found ourselves 1st at the windward mark.

Braun family as the rest of the Front Runners overtake us while we dealt with spin problems.

We set  the chute on the 2nd leg which took us due east on a race about a mile to another channel marker.  What we didn’t realize when we first set the chute was that it was very twisted at the top.  After a few boats started to pass us, we had to take it up and down a few times to get the twist out.  By the time we close-reached down to the 1/2 way mark, we were easily 300 yards behind the lead pack of 5 boats.

The fleet just ahead of us by the halfway point.

Sailing the next two upwind legs we had good speed and I picked good angles and we actually passed 3 of the boats. By the finish we were within 20 yards of the 2nd boat over the line. If only we had another 3 miles, we could have contended for the lead. Unfortunately, all 3 of the top boats owed the Flying Scot, sailed by John & Sharon Wake, time and they corrected over us, putting us in 4th overall.

I want to thank the Front Runner fleet for letting me borrow a boat and Stephen Boling for coming out to crew.

Photos | Results

Photos above by Stephen Boling.

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I started the day at Hampton Yacht Club where a team from Fishing Bay Yacht Club was invited to a scrimmage Team Racing Sonars.  We started with a quick recap/overview/planning in a classroom and then the team of 11 FBYC sailors were split into 3 boats for our team and Hampton took the other 3 boats.  We spent a couple hours doing drills and practicing team race maneuvers against the Hampton team.  The wind was in the low to mid teens which made boat handling a little more challenging, particularly for the FBYC sailors who hadn’t had a lot of time together nor a lot of time in Sonars.  But we still were able to put on a good showing and I think it was a very successful scrimmage for both teams.  A big thank you to Gary Bodie and Hampton Yacht Club for having us!

6/22 Hampton Team Race Scrimmage - Gary Bodie explaining the drills.

Immediately after getting off the water in Hampton, I got on the road to Deltaville to sail Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Moonlight Regatta on Wavelength.  The start was delayed 30 minutes while some weather approached the area, but never really came near us.  Out on the water we had beautiful sailing conditions with mostly clear skies and a steady 12-15 out of the south.  None of the overcast and occasional rain we had seen in Hampton earlier in the day.

We started at 8pm and sailed out of the Piankatank with the sun setting behind us just a short time later.  I grabbed this shot of Mad Hatter just behind us passing in front of the sunset. Just goes to show that the best pictures don’t necessarily come from the best camera, but from the camera you’ve got. This was a 2-take photo taken with the iphone.  Here’s an alternate version of it on Instagram.

6/22 FBYC Moonlight Race - Mad Hatter sailing through the sunset.

The race went pretty well and we had a good group aboard for sailing at night.  I was jib grinder for the first 3 legs, spin trimmer downwind, and drove the last 2 legs upwind.  We finished around 10:30. While we didn’t make the podium, the ice cream smothered in rum after racing was reward enough.

Results | More photos from today starting here.

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Friday

Traveled to Newport today in preparation for the 159th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta.  I’m sailing with Noel Clinard on his J/70 Loonatictu.

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Team New Zealand has their boat docked right next to us at Sail Newport.

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We launched the boat and tried to go for a practice sail.  By the late afternoon the wind had nearly died so we didn’t get much practice.

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We finished the night off with a drive past all of the mansions and dinner at Scales and Shells.

Here’s the entry list for the weekend.

Saturday

This morning we headed out for the first day of the New York Yacht Club 159th Annual Regatta. Heading out to the course it was amazing sailing past all of the bigger boats including the 12 meters on the way to the course.

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We were sailing in area A which was just on the other side of the bridge in an area called Potter’s Cove. Our fleet included 10 other J/70’s. We got to sail one race in breeze before we started a 2nd one and abandoned it when the wind shut off.

A little light (air) reading:

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An hour or more later the wind came out of the South and we got two more races in.

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Following racing we headed over to the New York Yacht Club for cocktails and dinner.

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Sunday

The forecast for today was for better wind and we got it. Out on the course in the same racing area, just north of the Newport Bridge, we started out with 8 knots out of the south and by the last race we had 12-13.

In the 4 races we had some decent starts and seemed to get a little faster and had better boat work as the day went on. While we didn’t have any great results to show for it – it was fun sailing in the J/70 fleet. And being my first time in Newport it was nice to see the town and New York Yacht Club. Thanks Noel Clinard for having me along for the weekend – it was a pleasure sailing with you, Jerry and Carrie.

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Saturday

Quite a day for the first day of the 2013 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club on Long Beach Island NJ.  Looking at the scores – everyone was up and down  and very inconsistent.  We had 4 races with 4 very different conditions for each.

In the first race I had a poor start, but picked my way into mid fleet.  Right at the end I tapped someone at a mark rounding and had to do turns.  Finished 41.

2013 Laser ACC Race 2 start

By the second race we had 6-8 knots of breeze.  I picked out the pin end to start and nobody was down there.  I won the pin and just punched out and kept going out to the left and stayed out front.  By the top mark only Eric Reitinger was just ahead of me.  On the downwind a couple boats caught me and on the 2nd upwind I found a hole and lost 10 boats.  I held there and finished 15.

2013 Laser ACC Race 3 -a

In the 3rd race we started under black flag and had what I thought was a great spot, but suddenly I found myself bow out, chickened out and backwinded so I didn’t get black flagged.  As we went upwind the wind continued to die and it started to rain.  That continued throughout the race and by the last leg we were barely going along and I finished deep.

In the last race the wind came up to 9-11 with clear skies and I had another terrible start.  I immediately tacked out and got bounced further to the right and found myself on the layline at the mark about 25th.  Both downwinds I went way right mostly just to stay away from the other sailors and picked up a spot or two on each.  On the 2nd upwind we had a course change with the wind shifting.  I picked the phase perfectly and picked up at least 10 spots upwind.  Finished 13th.

All in all it was a tough day but still a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to day 2 tomorrow. 

Sunday

The 2nd day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship started out early and started with no wind.  We had a 0930 first warning and they sent us out – towed most of us out to where we sat for 2 hours.  By 11 the wind started coming in from the south and built from there.  The Standard rigs got 3 more races in, 2 for the other fleets.  By the 3rd race we had solid hiking conditions.

I had a tough day.  I didn’t start well and the short first beat meant everyone went around the first 3 legs in a clump.  The 2nd beat was always where I made my gains picking out the shifts upwind and picking off 10+ boats to get me back closer to the middle of the fleet.  Thanks again to Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club for putting on  a good regatta and I had a great time meeting new people and seeing friends.

RESULTS | My Photos | Regatta Photos | VIDEO

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Friday

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I have arrived in Surf City NJ on Long Beach Island for the Orange Coffee Pot Regatta and Laser District 10 Regatta. I got here late in the afternoon and joined a few other sailors for about an hour of practice. The wind was in the middle to upper teens which is what we are going to see a lot more of this weekend.

Saturday

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We had a windy first day of racing at Surf City Yacht Club for the Orange Coffee Pot and Laser District 10 Championship regatta.  I sailed consistently with finishes averaging just out of the top 10 to be sitting 10th overall after the first 7 races.

Throughout the day the wind built from about 12 in the first race to over 20 by the 7th race.  The sailing location was slightly behind a shore that kept us the waves down.  In fact it was disorienting to have 18 knots of wind later in the day and only 1′ waves.  On the shorter courses that we had I found it was important to get good lanes, keep clear air and pick lanes to cross so I didn’t have to duck boats.

We’re looking at another windy day on Sunday.

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Sunday

Day 2 of the Orange Coffee Pot Regatta and Laser District 11 Championship was forecast to start a lot like Saturday finished: windy.  Already a number of sailors weren’t going out.  I rigged hoping to hang in there for as many races as I could.  As I was about to head to the launching ramp, I noticed that my traveler fairlead was starting to pull out of the deck.  Luckily Don Hahl had a spare hull sitting on a trailer (thanks Don!!!).  In a 10-minute mad dash we pulled everything off my boat and re-rigged it on the spare hull.

6/2 traveler fair lead pulled out of the deck. Also note the damage through the gelcoat from the traveller block.

I hung in there through 2 races in winds in the 20+ range.  There were some shifts to be found, but mostly it was just hanging on, keeping the boat moving and keeping it upright.  By the end of the 2nd race I started getting the tipsies.  I started the 3rd race, sailed to the windward mark and just sailed in for the dock.  At that point I was worn out and wasn’t really doing much racing anyway.  Back at the dock I packed up, made arrangements to get the boat fixed and got on the road (without the boat).

6/2

Pictures | Results

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Thursday

Tomorrow starts the 2013 Down The Bay Race and I’ll be racing on the Farr-Dickinson 37′ Excitation owned by Mayo Tabb from Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We’ll be sailing with 8 other boats in the A2 fleet among 32 boats sailing the race. They range from 24′ to 52′. Here’s the scratch sheet.

The typical wind for the Chesapeake Bay this time of the year is out of the south, sometimes the west and occasionally the east. When it blows out of the North it’s often not for long. This is a rare year that the wind will be blowing strong out of the North from the start of the race in Annapolis to the finish in Hampton. It’s almost certain that the course record of 13 hours by Running Tide, a 60 foot Sparkman and Stevens design owned by Al van Metre,
will fall this weekend. It’s possible half the A fleet might finish under the record. Either way it’s going to be a wild ride and we are going to have a blast!

Friday

2013 DTB Race Crew on Excitation

Friday morning we set out on Excitation – a Farr-Dickinson 37 for the Down The Bay Race from Annapolis to Hampton in what would be an epic race.  The forecast was for north west wind moving north and bringing the wind right down the bay making for a very fast trip south.  Sailing the race were 30 boats ranging in size from a 24-foot J-24 to a 52′ TP52.

The race started just after 10am in Annapolis with winds in the mid-20’s and light drizzle.  We got underway in the A2 fleet and headed down the bay on a broad reach under full main and #1 (our largest headsail).  Many of the boats with asymmetrical spinnakers were able to carry them and they all just took off.  Some of the symmetric boats were able to carry them as well.  For the early part of the race we just cruised along rarely under 8 knots and with 1-2 knots of favorable current we averaged over 9.5 knots over the ground for the first 3/4 of the race.

2013 Down The bay race after the start

Every hour we switched off drivers and main trimmers.  They were both working hard keeping the boat moving through the 4′ seas in the early part of the race.  We’d surf waves when we could and all competed to see who could drive for the top speed of the day.  At first we thought hitting 11 knots was fast.  Before long we were getting bored with only hitting 10 knots in a boat that rates 87 PHRF.

2013 Down The bay race after the start

About 1/3 of the way into the race the waves stabilized a bit and the wind was down into the low twenties and we tried to put a small kite up.  It was a bit squirrely and we just couldn’t keep the boat under the sail.  Eventually we lost it, almost broached and wrapped the chute around the head stay a few times.  After a few  tense minutes trying to unwrap it and get it down we got it on deck and continued under main and the number 1.

2013 Down the Bay Race loosing the spinnaker

By mid-afternoon we were approaching the mouth of the Potomac.  The Potomac is a very large river with a lot of current that comes out of it and into the bay.  Here we found the most confused seas and with waves now 4-6′ it was a handful to keep the boat going especially with random waves that would occasionally break into the cockpit.

South of the Potomac the waves got a little more regular and the wind stayed in the 25-32 knot range.  Occasionally we saw low 20’s and up to 36.  Through this part of the course we continued reaching along the rhumb line.

Last year at 5:30 am we were passing the Piankatank River (our normal FBYC sailing area just south of the Rappahannock River).  This year we were there by 5:30pm and making fantastic time down the bay.  As we got into the lower part of the bay the wind stayed steadier in the 28-32 range and the waves built to 6-8′ and even some 10′ for the final 20 miles down the bay before rounding a channel marker and taking a right turn to sail the last 9 miles into Hampton.  It was this downwind stretch that we did some of our fastest sailing.  Not because we were trying to push it, we weren’t – we were trying to sail conservative and safe, but because we had to sail the boat entirely by feel with almost no light to see the waves with.  It just felt right to go fast.

At one point we just dropped into a 6’+ wave and it felt awesome with a nice trough to our right and I just rode it for all I could.  It was just like sailing a dinghy down waves – except this was a 11,000lb 37′ boat.  We had hit some 12 knots earlier – but on that wave I hit 13.46 knots through the water.   What a rush to have such a big boat slicing across the water like that.

2013 Down the bay race reaching at the bottom of the bay

At the final mark to the finish we’d have to go from broad reaching to close reaching.  With full main and number 1 genoa up we knew that would be a challenge – and it was.  With no way to carry the genoa, let alone the main, we had a very difficult time getting the genoa down so we could finish under main alone.

The course record was around 13 hours set by a 60′ boat back in 1974.  We finished at 30 minutes after midnight which was in 14 hours – just one hour off the record.  Over 1/3 of the boats sailing finished under the old race record.  The new record holder – the TP52 Irie finished in just 7 hours.  They were at the bar just after 5:30 pm.  That’s an amazing record that’s going to stand for a very long time. Full Results.

We docked shortly after 1 and it was a relief to all be back safe and sound and on dry land.  We swapped stories with other sailors in the bar.  Only 2 boats wouldn’t finish the race – one after a demasting.  Eventually we all just crashed on the boat – exhausted from an epic ride we won’t soon forget.  (Update: Watch some video of our trip here)

I’d like to thank owner Mayo Tabb for doing the race this year and having me and to the other crew who did a great job keeping us going in some very difficult conditions.

VIDEO

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