FBYC launched a new website for the Stingray Point Regatta this week. It uses a lot of the things we learned from the 2010 Optimist Nationals website and should serve as a good platform for promoting and providing information about the event. The regatta takes place each Labor Day weekend in Deltaville, Virginia at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and is sailed mostly around buoy courses in 23-40+ foot boats. Check it out at http://stingraypointregatta.org
The trip to Clearwater Florida for the 2011 Laser Midwinters East was an easy one. Ted brought brought my boat down last week when he came for Masters Midwinters and so this afternoon I was able to fly down. Once in town I settled into the hotel, got the boat checked in and went to dinner with Bob, Ted and Adam.
Tomorrow will be the first of 4 days of racing in the standard rig. The forecast is for lighter winds on Thursday with a little more on Friday and Saturday. There will be close to 80 other boats with me in the Standard rig fleet and over 200 total at the regatta. This is my first time at Midwinters and I’m looking forward to a great weekend of sailing.
We had some light winds and chop for the first day of the Laser Midwinters in Clearwater Florida. They split the 78 boat standard rig fleet and I was sailing with the blue fleet with the 3rd start of the day. I was one of the last to arrive at the race course and after a quick postponement they got the fleets started. In the first race I had a bit of a slow start and was in the 30s around the first mark. As I got more comfortable in the boat I clawed back a few spots at a time and came back to 27th. On the last downwind leg I was going downwind on starboard with another boat sailing parallel to me on port. Our masts touched so I protested him. I normally wouldn’t follow through with a protest that doesn’t really affect my finish, but I wasn’t a fan of how the guy handled it on the water so he got tossed later that evening in the protest hearing that he failed to show up to.
We sat on the water for over an hour while the wind clocked around to the right and the course got reset. We started the 2nd race in about 8 knots of breeze. I had a good start and was on the favored side of the course. I had better boat speed than the first race and hung right behind the lead pack. Up until the last two legs I held my place pretty well, but by the last two races I made some positioning mistakes and let some boats sneak inside me and ended up 23rd.
All in all it was a good day of sailing. The weather was comfortable and the water is not too cold. I’m sitting in 50th and if I can put up some solid finishes tomorrow, I might be able to sneak into the top fleet going into the weekend. The forecast tomorrow is for more wind in the 10-15 knot range.
For the second race day at Laser Midwinters we had 12-14 knots all day. I sailed with the leaders all day long … that was the leaders of the fleet behind me. It was a beautiful day with warm weather and we sailed 3 races. It wasn’t my best day as I am not competitive in the top end of that range wind range. I’m getting more experience in that kind of wind and getting my muscles used to hiking again after a few month hiatus.
I was in the back of the pack so I’ll definitely be in the silver fleet. Looking forward to sailing with the back half of the fleet in what should be some laid back and competitive sailing at more my level.
Light air day in Clearwater for the Laser Midwinters. To begin the day we were postponed on shore due to lack of wind at the racing area. There was a nice wind blowing through the sailing center which made it even that much harder to sit around. I did some sightseeing and walked across the street to see the beach.
Around noon the wind filled in enough at the race course for them to send us off. We waited around at the course for a bit while the wind settled and the Standard Gold fleet eventually started in 4-6 knots out of the West South West. Our fleet started under black flag and I had a reasonably good start towards the middle-pin end. I made my way to my left and kept my tacks to a minimum arriving in at the windward mark just behind the top 10 boats. I held my speed pretty well with the rest of the fleet and managed to stay ahead of the scrum of about 15 boats behind me. With 4 boats ahead of me black flagged, I ended up finishing 10th in the silver fleet.
Tomorrow is the last day at midwinters. The weather has been great and the sailing has been fun. We have an earlier start tomorrow and are hoping for a little more wind than we had today. And as soon as we are off the water tomorrow, Ted and I will start the long drive back to VA/MD.
We started the final day of the 2011 Laser Midwinters east a little earlier. We had to check out of the hotel and be out on the water for a 10am first start. Despite being one of the first to leave the dock, I was one of the few without a coach boat and therefore one of the last to reach the race course. It wasn’t much of a problem because we were postponed on the water for over an hour before the sea breeze finally came in with 5-10 knots of breeze.
The silver standard rig fleet only got to sail one race before we reached the mid-afternoon time limit. The first start was recalled and we restarted under black flag. I had a terrible start and was so far behind so fast I just ended up ducking a couple stragglers and banging the right corner. It ended up paying off as I was in the 15-20 range at the top mark. I did pretty well reaching and downwind but lost a few more boats when the right DID NOT pay off on the second beat. I finished somewhere in the low 20’s.
The sea breeze made it an easy sail in and Ted and I got the boats and car packed up in record time to begin the drive back to Richmond and then on to Annapolis.
I definitely enjoyed my first trip to the Laser Midwinters East Regatta. I learned a lot, got to sail alongside some great sailors, met some new people, and got back into the boat after a few months off. I’m looking forward to getting a little more practice and going ready to compete at the ACC’s and NAC’s later this spring and summer.
I used Sunday’s Laser frostbite as an opportunity to get some of the cobwebs out. Last weeks’ frostbite at Hampton was good for getting the boat together, but with little wind, wasn’t much of an opportunity to do the kind of sailing I’ll be doing at Midwinters in Clearwater Florida in a little over a week.
The temperature on Sunday in Annapolis was in the high 40’s and low 50’s with winds 13-16 knots, overcast skies and a water temperature of 38 degrees. Generally it was good sailing in wind that I had to hike in and I got some of the feeling back in how to sail the boat and make it go. With boat handling being my priority, results of the 4 races I sailed in were secondary and the scoreboard was not friendly – finishing 15 out of 17 boats on the line including two DFLs.
All in all it was a good day on the water and I’m glad to have gotten that past me now rather than on the first day of the regatta. This was also an opportunity for me to practice filming with the GoPro. I had gotten several mounting locations set up and today I mounted the camera to the bow. Check out the video:
Edit: A more comprehensive list of GoPro mounts and mounting locations for a Laser can be found here.
Saturday I got my boat ready for Frostbiting on Sunday and ultimately for Midwinters in a little over a week. I also put together some mounts for the GoPro camera. I had already mounted the camera to the compass mount that yielded this video from last weekend.
Pictured above is the GoPro mounted to the compass bracket just in front of the compass. This works because most of the time when I’m using the compass I’m hiked out and thus looking at the side markings on the compass. The few times when I actually want to look at the compass head on are usually when I’m checking the wind when I’m not looking and it’s easy enough to just look over the camera.
This picture is of the GoPro mounted to the Laser mast just below the goose neck facing aft on the port side of the boat. The ‘roll cage’ bracket is the right width, but the screws that come with it aren’t long enough to fit the width of the mast. A quick trip to the the hardware store for some longer screws and nuts fixed that.
To mount the camera to the bow I drilled a hole in the top of the bow eye and took one of the GoPro tripod mounts and used a bolt from underneath the bow eye to secure it. Pictured is are both the short and tall versions of the setup. The taller version gives a better perspective back to the cockpit, but being taller, it might vibrate a little more. I also plan to wrap both in tape to be sure nothing gets caught on them.
These photos show the clamp mount I made to fix the camera to the top of the mast. I used another tripod mount and bolted it to a hole I made on the side of the clamp. This mount could be used at the top of the mast, the aft end of the boom, or even on the rudder head during training.
The final location I mounted the camera to is the dolly. Normally the dolly rides upside down on top of the boat, so by mounting the camera to the side of it I can video scenes on the way to regattas to help frame the location. When the boat is on the dolly the mount can also be used to film while moving the boat around.
Made a trip to the ODU sailing center on Sunday to Frostbite with the Hampton Roads Laser Fleet. This was the first of two frostbite outings to tune up for the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater Florida in a couple weeks.
The day was fraught with very little wind and thus we were only able to get in two short races before calling it a day. The video below shows just how light it was. This was also my first experiment mounting the GoPro camera to the Laser. It turned out pretty well and I can’t wait to try another mounting location next week when I’m frostbiting up at SSA in Annapolis.
We started the week with a bit of a bumpy ride to Key West on Saturday. John Wake drove, Tal flew out of Texas, and Rob flew AirTran. All of their trips were pretty uneventfully. Lud, Travis and I were on all of the same flights and we can’t say the same for our trip. Our first flight out of Richmond was diverted back to the gate while taxing to the runway due to a passenger having a medical emergency. An hour later we were on our way to Atlanta, but not with enough time to catch our connection to Key West. We relaxed at the sky lounge and caught the next flight to Key West. That flight was at the end of the runway about to take off, and they had a computer problem and returned us to the gate to fix it. An hour later we were on our way not arriving in Key West until about 5:30, 5 hours after we were originally scheduled to be there.
Thankfully the other guys got there on time and were able to register, check into the condos and pick up our rental bikes for the week. After getting settled we went out to a Brazillion Steak House for dinner and then went out on Duvall street.
Sunday was our day to get out on the water and practice. The boat had been brought down and set up earlier in the week, so all we needed to do was some final tuning and go sailing. We are sharing a slip with another J105, Max Power. The RC44s are just down the dock from us as well as a few other big racing boats.
After an hour of prep work, we were ready to go. 2 minutes after getting the sails up and starting to sail, I was down below and noticed water above the floorboards. It turns out there were 2 slow leaks on the boat and the bilge pump had not been turned on. Turning that on along with a couple minutes of bailing and we got the bilge emptied and went back to sailing.
Our practice went well. It gave us all a chance to sail together, we made sure all of the systems and equipment were race ready, and we got to spend time practicing some new positions for many of us. Mid-afternoon we headed back to shore and made a few repairs and got everything cleaned up for racing tomorrow.
We ate a late lunch at Turtle Krawls and Russell Coutts (BMW Oracle) sat down at the table next to us. Peter Holmgren (Alinghi 2003) was at another table nearby. In the evening everyone hung out watching the NFL playoffs. Rob went to the skippers meeting, we checked out the regatta party and after a pretty low-key evening, turned in pretty early. 8:30 dock call tomorrow.
Monday was the first day of racing at Key West Race Week for the J105 Lucky Dog Racing. Last night a storm rolled through the area which left some lumpy seas around the course for the first part of the day. The cloudy skies in the morning cleared as the day went on and with them went the wind.
At the race course we did some practice to be sure everything was ship shape and ready to go. We were a half a boat length late at the start with Max Power above us. We worked our way out to the middle left of the course on the first beat and were about 6th around the first mark. We held our own downwind, but had a terrible takedown and lost 10-15 boat lengths at the leeward mark.
Upwind we were fast and clawed our way back a few spots. We ended up 8th in the 1st race of the day in the 15-boat fleet.
In the second race of the day the wind and waves had subsided a bit. Travis did a great job nailing the start and we hit the line on the front row and were able to get out in clear air. We were right with Ghost, Savasana, Wasabi and Masquerade. We had good upwind boat speed and led Ghost at the first windward mark by half a boat length. On the next three legs we had clean maneuvers, good tactics and extended our lead.
On the final leg upwind to the finish, Masquerade, who was in 4~6th place rounded the leeward mark and went way left. We covered everyone else in the fleet who mostly stayed to the middle right. Masquerade hit the left corner perfectly and was lifted ahead of us by 5-8 boat lengths. We continued to gain on the boats behind, but couldn’t catch up to Masqueraded leaving us with a 2nd place finish.
A second and an 8 put us in 4th overall. Tomorrow’s forecast is for a little lighter winds which will be a bit more challenging for us.
After racing we headed back to the condos and a short time later a storm rolled through the area. We headed over to Kelley’s for the J105 party and then went out to dinner.
The second day of racing at Key West Race Week was a little warmer and had a little lighter wind than yesterday. We had a great start in the first race. Unfortunately, it was too great and the race committee called nearly half the fleet over early including boats that were above us and below us. We realized we were over immediately and were able to bail out and get restarted without loosing a lot of ground. With so many boats being called over meant many of the leaders were at the back of the pack right at the start.
The lighter wind we today than yesterday meant the racing was a lot more about being in the right spot. Our boat handling was a lot cleaner and we did a good job getting around the marks without getting into any drama with other boats. We managed a 6th in the first race.
The second race was light and lumpy which required much better technique going up wind to keep the boat moving. We were in the lead pack up the first beat, but fell off on the next two legs and ended up 6th when the race was shortened down to 3 laps from the 5 that were planned because of the dying wind.
After racing we packed up the boat and headed back to the Condo. Lud and I went for a bike tour of the western part of the island and rode by places like the Hemmingway House and the Southern Most Point. Later we all stopped by the regatta party to see the awards given. Following the party we went to the Rum Barrel restaurant and had a nice dinner with some live music.
Tim Wilkes posted some photos of Lucky Dog from the first day of racing here. Overall results from the first two days of racing are here.
Tomorrow’s forecast is for less wind than today. We were reminded numerous times while at the party to listen to the 8:30 and 9am announcements to find out if we will be postponed on shore. Tomorrow could be a good day to be a tourist.
Today was a light air day just on the verge of being sailable. We headed out to course not knowing if we were actually going to race or if we were just going to be sitting out there for a while. The wind was just strong enough that the Race Committee started us on time on a course with just 1-mile legs.
We won the start but ended up on the wrong side of the course when the first shift came down. We were mid-fleet around the first windward mark and caught a couple boats downwind. On the next upwind we held our own, but boats that banged the corners came out ahead. On the final downwind we had clear wind heading downwind and picked up a boat, but got sniped at the line by another boat putting us in 7th.
By that point the wind was dying and wouldn’t be enough to get another race in so the Race Committee called us off and we were back at shore by 1.
Most of us rested or did some sight-seeing for the rest of the afternoon. At 6 we headed over to the regatta party tent to see the awards. Unfortunately for me something I drank didn’t agree with me and I went from feeling fine to feeling like I was going to be pretty sick in just a matter of minutes. I booked it home and rested up for the rest of the night hoping to be back to normal tomorrow.
Today was a rough day on the water. It started out with an intense fog that limited visibility to only a couple hundred feet. We were postponed on shore for 30 minutes before finally being sent out. Initially the fog was lifting as we were heading out of the channel, but once out in open water it came in even thicker. We didn’t have a chart plotter onboard so we ended up using a plotter app on my iPhone using coordinates radioed by the race committee to find their position. One unlucky Melges 24 ended up several miles away on the Division 3 course.
The Race Committee postponed us on the water until the fog lifted and then got racing started. The wind was light in the 6-8 knot range and by the time we were actually racing it was rarely over 6. At least the water was pretty flat so we weren’t bobbing around.
I can’t say much else about the racing because I didn’t see any of it. To best position our crew weight while sailing upwind, Lud and I sat down below. Being out of the sun with a slight breeze was more comfortable than being on deck. If only we hadn’t tacked so much causing me to switch sides, I could have actually caught some zzz’s.
At the last minute before the mark rounding, Lud and I would spring onto deck and raise the spinnaker. We’d be on deck until it was doused and then we were back below. Results-wise it wasn’t the best day for us. We put up an 8 and a 13 in two races dropping us into 8th.
After racing we did some packing at the condo as many of our crew are hoping on a plane immediately after racing tomorrow. We hit up the regatta party, grabbed some sea food for dinner and called it a night.
Friday was the final day of racing and having had a day with only 1 race, the race committee bumped up the start time so that we could try and get in 3 races. Out on the race course the wind was light and out of the same direction as it was on Tuesday. In the light sloppy stuff we just didn’t have the horsepower to keep up with the fast boats. By the 3rd race there was weather on the horizon and we played the side we thought the wind would fill in to, but it didn’t come in time and we were hung out there. We ended up going 9-8-9 for the day putting us into 8th for the week.
After racing we had a few of our crew needing to catch a 5:30 flight so we got the boat completely packed on the water so that we could dock and dash. Tal and I were the only two left so we caught up with the crew from Solaris and went to the regatta party and dinner.
With racing complete, I had one final day in Key West for sightseeing before my flight out at the end of the day. I visited the Hemmingway house and saw the 6-toed cats and the studio where he wrote most of his books. I also visited the Key West lighthouse and walked up it to see the views of the area. I made another stop to the shipwreck museum.
My trip to Key West wouldn’t have been complete without more problems with flights. All week the winds hadn’t been over 10 knots which didn’t make for great race conditions. But today there were high wind warnings and so the plane flying in to fly me out wasn’t able to land because of it. My flight was cancelled and Delta didn’t have another seat on a plane out of Key West until Monday. So they put bunches of us in cabs and drove us 190 miles to Miami where I was put up in 2-room king bed suite at Embassy Suites. My trip goes on another day…
Fishing Bay Yacht Club won US Sailing’s Regatta of the Year award for hosting the 2010 USODA Layline Nationals. A big part of what set us over the top was our online media and promotion of the event. It was a fun event this summer and I’m glad to have played a part in it. Kudos to the rest of the team that made it happen.
From US Sailing’s Press Release:
The Fishing Bay Yacht Club (FBYC) of Deltaville, Va. won the 2010 Regatta Award for the excellence in development, promotion, and management performed by organizers and sponsors of the 2010 USODA (United States Optimist Dinghy Association) Layline Nationals on July 17-25, 2010.
Co-chairs Noel Clinard and Jay Buhl, along with webmaster Jon Deutsch were recognized for demonstrating extraordinary individual creativity and contribution to the year’s most innovative one-design event of national significance. The regatta attracted broad national and international participation of 317 boats through persistent marketing and communication efforts. The small club located in a village maximized their resources through their entrepreneurial promotions, sponsorship development, community involvement, shore activities and creative dissemination of housing, tourism, historical and racing information.
The regatta site conjoined four nearby properties, including the Deltaville Dockyard, Jackson Creek Condominiums, Deltaville Maritime Museum, and Harbor House Community. The regatta consisted of three events: team racing, girls fleet racing, open fleet racing, plus a green fleet for novices. Despite its small size of about 330 family members, FBYC turned out different race committees for these events with over 50 volunteers.
The backbone for marketing the regatta was an effective, user friendly web site at http://optinationals2010.org. The web site was enabled to provide social networking through Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. A detailed media plan included the engagement of two separate video services, t2p.tv and Sailgroove, who provided ample coverage. FBYC facilitated the recruitment of Layline, a marine supplier, as the first ever Platinum level partner for USODA.
Also, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and US SAILING Team AlphaGraphics member Anna Tunnicliffe was in attendance and gave the keynote address for the opening ceremony.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.