Category: Video

Any posts that contain videos that I’ve created

FBYC’s Closing day race features a pursuit start distance race taking us on a tour around the mouth of the Piankatank and towards Fishing Bay. I was sailing aboard Mike Toms’ J105 and as one of the faster boats of the fleet we were one of the last to start. Winds were 12-18 out of the NNE and there wouldn’t be too many spinnaker legs.

Mike drove the start and the first upwind leg. We were able to quickly get by a couple of the boats that started just ahead of us. The next leg took us on a close reach back into the Piankatank towards #7 until the wind shifted and we could turn downwind and set the spinnaker. I was driving this leg while Clark was on the main pumping in the waves and getting us surfing when we could. The next leg south to 8 allowed us to get the spinnaker up and we did 1 jibe while in VMG mode before dousing the spinnaker around 8 for another close reach up the Piankatank keeping Nanuq well behind us. We picked off a few more boats before getting ot the turning mark at #13 and coming back the way we came.

Jon on the helm as we sail under spinnaker
Jon on the helm as we sail under spinnaker

Clark drove back while I worked on keeping the main trimmed and Mike T and Mike S worked on the jib. We passed the remaining boats except the two that remained just ahead of us. The final leg to the finish was from 8 back to B, almost in line with Jackson Creek entrance for about 1.25nm north. Knowing the direction of how the current came into the river we elected to come around 8 and continue on port towards Gwynn’s island before tacking to Starboard to fetch the finish.

Clark driving as we head back out of the Piankatank
Clark driving as we head back out of the Piankatank

When we tacked onto starboard it quickly became clear that the other boats that went left were being swept south by the current, vs where we were it was taking us west which wasn’t as bad. We just focused on our upwind speed and keeping the boat on our feet and managed to grind it upwind just a minute or two ahead of Nanuq at the finish for the win.

PICTURES | RESULTS

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Mr. Roberts in her new slip on Jackson Creek.
Mr. Roberts in her new slip on Jackson Creek.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club had a gorgeous day in April to open the season. After a flag raising 7 boats in 3 classes headed out for 10nm race out into the bay and back to shake out the cobwebs and get the season started. Sailing out on Mad Hatter we had 7-10 knots of wind out of the ESE. All of the boats were starting at the same time and even though Nanuq and Sting were technically in the PHRF-A class and we were in the PHRF-B/C class – we saw them as the boats to beat on corrected time.

We got into sequence and the race committee realized there was a mistake in the posted course so we postponed for a moment while they fixed it and went into sequence again. At the start we along with Nanuq, and Schiehallion were over early and all had to go back. This gave Sting a bit of a head start. The fleet could largely lay the first mark and the leg to the second mark was more upwind. We went right and inshore with Sting while Nanuq went left and out in to the bay. When we all came back together Sting was ahead and Nanuq just behind. By the time we got out into the bay the wind was much lighter and were were going just 3-4 knots. At that mark we turned and put up a chute and had a pretty straight shot past the mark we started with and then onto the finish. We wouldn’t have to gibe. Nanuq with the longer waterline and an asymmetrical sail was able to get ahead of us, but wouldn’t make up her time on correction. Wendas who was well behind us on the course would end up correcting over us by around a minute to win the B/C fleet.

I was pit and floater for the day, helping with tactics, monitoring the radio, trimming the guy and moving around to keep weight in the right spot. I also brought a couple cameras with me and got some footage aboard.

EVENT WEBSITE | PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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I was the PRO for FBYC’s Summer Seabreeze 2 regatta and the racers wanted a Caribbean theme so I changed a few racing rules to ensure the racing fit the theme.

  • We changed the definition of what constituted a mark so that we could use any inflatable – including a pink flamingo for our starting mark.
  • We changed the starting line to enable us to use a tiki torch for one end of the line
  • We required boats over early under I flag to do a Caribbean interpretive dance while only permitting them to clear by rounding the boat end of the line where their dance could be videoed for posterity
  • We also exempted boats wearing costumes from the clothing weight limits

At the skipper’s meeting the wind was blowing, but we knew the forecast was for it to die and so we postponed about an hour. When something did come, we picked the only spot in the middle of Fishing Bay that seemed to have a lane of wind. It was light, but we got 6 short races for the 6 flying Scots before the wind died.

Jon, Britt & Ruthana
Jon, Britt & Ruthana

I could not have done this without the help of Britt and Ruthana and huge thanks to them for being there today.

RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

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I got a late start out of Richmond on Thursday night and finished the 2nd half of the drive this morning arriving at Brant Beach Yacht Club 45 minutes before the skippers meeting. We ended up being postponed on shore another 45 minutes before finally leaving around 12:30.

We would go out and float around another 2 1/2 hours without any wind really filling in. I tried making a GoPro video that made it look as if we really were sailing fast. Kind of glad I did – I took some underwater video and only after reviewing it later did I realize how bad the weeds really were despite not looking bad on the surface.  Also note how shallow the bay is.

Back on shore the sailors enjoyed a great dinner in the club house and watched the sunset as the club’s A-Cat Raven sailed by.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm4TIchndQg/?taken-by=jondeutsch

 

RESULTS | PICTURES

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After spending some time in Dallas – Jess and I headed down to Austin to explore the city and surrounding area.  One of the first things we did was visit the Hamilton Pool Preserve.  It was an overcast day, we were there early and it was pretty deserted.

We visited some other parks, walked a portion of the trail around Lady Byrd ‘lake’ and visited an exhibit of Dr. Suess art.  Those are all the things we did between eating awesome food at a variety of places around town.

PICTURES

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It was the 35th Anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship and the regatta is finally old enough to be a competitor.  The color coral commemorates a 35th anniversary and the shirts we designed turned out pretty cool:

Regatta tshirt

The first day saw medium winds just into the double digits with mostly clear skies.  In 5 races we had some close competition up top between Gavin O’Hare and Charlie Brewer who both finished the day tied with 20 points.  Mike Schmidt was close behind in the 41 boat fleet.

Alain and his kitchen crew prepared another fabulous me and a tent city popped up full of sailors.

Sunday started out with no wind and we waited ashore as it began to build about an hour later.  A little lighter than yesterday we ran a little shorter courses and made it through 4 more races.  Charlie and Gavin stayed close and Gavin managed to edge just ahead of Charlie to win the championship.

Thanks to Alain, Rick, Len, Frank and everyone else who helped make this another great Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship.  And after 13 years of only being the event chair – I’ll be looking forward to next year where I can both run it and qualify to sail in it!

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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Richmond hosted the UCI Road Bike Racing World Championship September 17-27.  I took Friday afternoon off to watch the U23 championship on the streets of Richmond.  They did 10 laps on a ~17m course.  I started at the east end of the course and worked my way west zig zagging my way across the city on foot to watch.  After watching a lap on Monument Avenue I took an Uber back to the start/finish.

What amazed me:

  • How tight the packs of bikes raced
  • How fast they went
  • How many support vehicles there were and how fast they went
  • How many people there were out watching

And watching other parts of the race on TV/ipad really showed how cool Richmond is and I was proud to see it on stage for the world.

PICTURES | VIDEO

Here are some of the sights and sounds that I saw:

 

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