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:
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!
I completed the last bit of the drive to Austin and after a work meeting during the morning in town, headed over to Austin Yacht Club for some practice ahead of the Easter Laser Regatta. This is an event that had been on my bucket list some time and everything worked out to be able to do it this year.
Late in the afternoon, me and Forest Atkins, from the Dallas Laser Fleet, headed out for some practice. The wind was a perfect 10-12 with mostly flat water. This was my second day out with the MkII sail and nearly 5 months since the last Laser regatta I sailed. And it showed. I spent most of the first hour just remembering what the boat felt like and getting the new sail tuned correctly. The more we sailed the more speed I found. 2 hours later we headed in and then met up with some more of the Dallas Laser Fleet members for dinner nearby.
Saturday
The first day at the Easter Laser Regatta at Austin Yacht Club started out as a beautiful morning. Granted the night before was quite cold and I woke up in the van shivering a couple times even in my sleeping bag. After registering and a quick skippers meeting we were rigged and heading out to the course in light but definitely sailable conditions with 21 standards and 9 radials.
In the first race I had a great start, picked some shifts up the first beat and rounded the first mark in 3rd. That rounding was a little tighter than it should have been with Doug K tacking under me and Griffin at the mark and fouling us. I hated to have to protest him for it, but it was a clear foul and he didn’t do his turns – leading to a DSQ for Doug. The course was an 8 leg race with a windward leeward, a triangle followed by another windward leeward and a final windward leg to finish. It was a long race, but I managed to get passed by one boat and pass another boat to stay in 3rd.
After another good start in the 2nd race I was in the top 5 or 6 around the top mark and then just worked on passing boats upwind while not loosing any downwind and managing a 4th. The conditions continued to be very up and down requiring a lot of mode changes to keep the boat tuned. I was also sailing with the mkII sail and getting the hang of tuning it.
By the 3rd race the wind was starting to fill in more consistently. On two of the upwind legs I managed to miss a couple shifts and could never seem to get around the 5-10 clump of boats and wound up in 11th.
We headed ashore for lunch and returned in the afternoon to see the wind a little stronger and varying between 8 and 15 knots. The course was a little shorter and the shifts were fewer and while I don’t feel like I sailed any worse – I could definitely tell that the rest of the fleet was sailing a lot better and making the races a lot more competitive.
In the 4th race I got behind on the first leg, but had a great 6th leg picking shifts to come back and get ahead and finished 6th.
The 5th race I found myself mostly in the trailing pack after a not so great started and managed to pick some folks off upwind. By the last leg we had light hiking conditions and I was starting to figure out more of the modes in the mkII sail. I made it work for me when I pinched off Jody S in a mkI sail as we went into the finish to leave me in 5th for the race and tied for 4th overall.
Following racing we all had dinner at Mexican restaurant followed by drinks on the porch at the club. I mostly hung out with the folks from the Dallas Laser Fleet and enjoyed meeting them and feeling like a member of their group.
Sunday at the Easter Laser Regatta started with very light winds and the race committee postponed us ashore. Before we knew it, it was blowing stink and we were headed out on the course to start a race. I won the boat and immediately went right while the entire rest of the fleet went left. The name of the game was just gritting it out and when we came back together at the top mark – it didn’t seem to have mattered which way folks went.
As I rounded the top mark with about 5 or 6 boats ahead of me, I misjudged it and hit the mark with the boom. Given the wind speed, my conditioning, the boats ahead wiping out all over the place I knew there was no chance I was going to successfully execute a jibe in doing my 360 to exonerate myself. Knowing it was only going to get worse on the day – I made the decision to just call it a day. 9 other boats followed.
Two races were sailed and the event rules for DNF were actually a little more favorable than Appendix A and because so many other boats bailed – I was still able to finish in 8 after not having a finish for either of the 2 races sailed.
Landing the boat at the club was a little tricky with the wind shooting right down the dock into the ramp, but after pulling up on a floating dock and de-rigging, the naked hull was easier to get out of the water without banging anything up. Onshore I got packed up and got on the road. I was bummed to miss the awards – glad I got to sail the Easter Laser Regatta and thanks Fred for everything you do to put this on.
Added another boat to the fleet. This No Quarter is an RG65 model yacht. It’s about 25″ long and 60″ tall from the bottom of the keel to the top of the mast. I got a used boat from a member of the Richmond Model Yacht Club. After fitting a radio to it and getting a few other things readied, I got to join 6 others today for some practice. It was a bit light and we only sailed about 30 minutes before we got rained out. Thanks Rob S for helping get me going and I’m looking forward to some more racing this spring.
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.
It was a breezy day with light clouds for FBYC‘s first day of the Fall Series. Having not spent a lot of time sailing No Quarter in winds in the upper teens gusting into the low 20’s we certainly had our hands full. Upwind in the first race we found our groove and worked the boat well. Downwind we sailed conservatively and kept the boat in control.
By the 2nd race several boats dropped out and we led the first lap and a half before Full Monty passed just downwind just before the finish.
We started the 2015 FBYC Friday J/70 Series with a nice evening to be out on the water. The wind was a little light – but enough to make a race out of it among the 4 other boats that were out there.
On board were Ron, Brad and Borna and we sailed pretty well hitting the left corner on the first beat while most of the rest of the boats went right. It worked out for us and we had a nice lead until E.L.E. was able to claw us back to pass us in the final boat length to the finish as a puff came from behind.
We started racing back to the dock and gave up when the wind died for good.
This year’s Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship was probably one of the best yet – good turnout, good weather and great food made for a smooth event. It was also the year FBYC hosted it as the Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship and with it, a few more folks from New England and Kansas.
For racing on Saturday we had 7-12 and clear skies. Ned Rennolds joined Mike Russom and me on the safety boat with his drone and we got some great photos and video of the fleet from overhead during the first and second races.
For the rest of racing on Saturday I did my usual of floating around and taking pictures and video. This year we even dress up the committee boat – Mr. Roberts as seen with the red lettering below.
By the end of Saturday we had gotten a good day of 5 races in for the sailors and we called it a day as the wind started getting light and fluky. We had a few visitors join us for dinner including past fleet captain and chair of this event – David Hazlehurst. Alain Vincey did another wonderful dinner followed by plenty of Laser stories and a viewing of some of the drone video for today. Sailors hung out in the club house and later by the fire at their campsite well into the night.
Sunday’s wind was much greater than Saturday and a number of sailors, didn’t go out, took advantage of the rig-swap opportunity, or retired before starting a race. Fortunately only one sailor needed any assistance and thankfully Mike R was onboard the safety boat and ready to get wet. Three more races were sailed as the fleet slowly dwindled. I didn’t get many pictures due to the waves and activities, but I did get some video of some screaming reaches.
Once again it was a very successful regatta. I really want to thank all of the folks on the race committee, Alain, Brad and all of the FBYC fleet for all of their help putting this event on. This was my 10th one and I’m looking forward to just a few more years when I can join in!
Another beautiful Friday night for some J/70 sailing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. This evening I was sailing with Steve Quiriconi on his new boat Hotty Toddy along with Jerry Latell. Steve and Jerry had been out earlier in the afternoon to get everything setup and tuned and so the three of us got out to the race course a little early to practice some maneuvers.
In the 4 races tonight we did pretty well. The very short line made for very tight and late starts, but the shifty winds meant anyone could catch a shift up the beats. We did well to keep up with the leaders and got through our maneuvers pretty well without any major goofs. We even did some gybe sets and a Mexican take down at one point.
The final race was 2 laps and then the trip up the channel back to the dock. We were the first boat to legally complete the course and a nice way to end the night and the first time out for the boat.
