Saturday started out as a nice day for sailboat racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the 2nd Sea Breeze regatta before storms chased us off the course.  I sailed in a 3-boat Front Runner fleet with crew Anna Matchett against Mark Stephens/Matt Braun & Kevin Cross/Matt Lambert.

In the first race we had a great start and won the boat shutting the other two boats out and forcing them to start behind us.  Up the first beat we had good speed and worked the shifts on the right side of the course.

We made a few crosses just ahead of the other two boats but lost out to Mark who snuck ahead of us right at the mark rounding. Downwind Mark played the middle while we went hard right.  The 2nd upwind leg was a little flukier.  We again played the middle right while Mark played the left and Kevin went up the left.  At the top mark we were in 1st, Kevin came way back to round in 2nd just ahead of Mark.  The final downwind was a drag race with us about 4 boat-lengths ahead of Mark and Kevin and in the end Mark edged Kevin out at the finish for 3 and some close racing.

Right at the end of the race Mark had a gear failure so it was just at two boat race for the 2nd race.  We had a terrible start, were slow crossing the line and lost a lot of ground to Kevin.  Halfway up the beat we heard on the radio that the course was being shortened so we did our best to play the shifts, but knew we were being sent in and a 2 was good enough to win the day.

Thanks Anna for coming sailing with me today.  And thanks David Hinkle and the race committee for running races for us.

RESULTS | PHOTOS | VIDEO

What the wind left us wanting for on Saturday was delivered on Sunday.  Perfect sailing conditions with 10-14 knot breezes out of the south west and comfortable temperatures and partly cloudy skies.

Three more races were sailed.  We did as well as we could and didn’t make too many mistakes.  We still couldn’t hang with the faster boats and found ourselves 5-6-5 on the day.  All in all it was a fun regatta and nice to sail with Rob Whittet, Steve Utley and the rest of the Wavelength Crew as we helped raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Photos | Results | Video

Following Hurricane Arthur’s blowout of our July 4th racing on Friday we ended up with near perfect 8-10 knots and sunny skies for the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Summer Sea Breeze 1 Regatta. Tommy Roper was my crew for his first time on a Front Runner.

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The ace Front Runner team of Matt and A.L. Braun were back for this regatta and swept all 4 races. The Garrett clan of Waddy and Parker sharing the helm with Caroline crewing just seemed to edge us out downwind to take 4 second places on the day.   The racing was close and we didn’t make any major mistakes, we just couldn’t hang with the other two boats.

By the last race we had pretty much locked in 3rd place so I handed the tiller to Tommy who got to skipper his first race in a double-handed boat.

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Pictures | Results | Video

We started the July 4 weekend with some J/70 racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  We had 6 boats out in 12-16 knots of wind for a few races.  I was on Nostalgia with Blake Kimbrough, Julia Page and Tommy Roper.

7/3 J/70 Fri Night Series

This photo was right after we finally got a correct spinnaker set.  It only took us 4 laps to get it right.  On the plus side we got a lot better at outside gybes.

7/3 J/70 Fri Night Series

Such a great time to play some soccer at the end of the day.   Literally put blood, sweat and tears into this… after I got hit with a soccer ball while filming and the camera cut my forehead, and tears when I missed the sudden death penalty kick putting my team out of the final.  Was a fun video to make and there’s never been a better time for me to start a rap career on the side.

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I recently got a new Fujifilm FinePix XP200 Waterproof Digital Camera and just gave it to my friends while we were racing.  This is what they took and I’m pretty impressed with the camera and how it came out.

Some video and pictures from Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s One Design Invitational Regatta sailed in Front Runners and San Juan 21.

The 3rd and final day of Southen Bay Race Week was 3 windward-leeward courses sailed to the south off of Ocean View.  We had warmer conditions than past days and wind that hovered around 14 in the first race and went down to 8-10 by the last race.

PhotoBoat.com: Double Eagle &emdash; 2014 Southern Bay Race Week E 658

Our first race didn’t start well- we fouled a boat before the start and after doing circles we were almost a minute late at the start.  Upwind in the first part of the beat we made some good moves and caught back up with the fleet.  The rest of the race went well and we were able to pull off a 5th.

PhotoBoat.com: Double Eagle &emdash; 2014 Southern Bay Race Week E 644

The 2nd race of the day was a bit tougher on us and we had to settle for an 8th.  In the final race of the day we had a great start, and got around the course, but couldn’t quite hang with the bigger boats that pulled away and put a few places between us.

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In the end Sea Star and Voodoo 2 got just enough points on us in the final races to tie for 4th place, leaving us just one point behind in 6th.  We came close and had a good race and definitely a fun time.  Thanks Sam Mitchener for having me along.  It was great sailing with you, Mark, Mayo, Bonnie, Melissa, Chris, Mike, Marie, & Jerry.

Results | Pictures | Photoboat Pictures

Saturday was the final day for the offshore spring series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  With winds out of the north west at 8-10 it was expected to go west and die off.  We didn’t end up with that – it built and went east!

On Wavelength we were a little late  at the start of the first race, but we tacked out and were able to get some clear air.  We were sailing a 3-lap .75 mile course.  Not exactly our favorite to be doing so many turns.  Luckily we sailing 10-up and had plenty of help to pack the chute just in time to need it for another downwind.

This being the 5 race day for us this year – we really had some of the crew-work down well.  We were executing maneuvers with less notice and doing them faster with less loss of speed during them.  And even when we did make some mistakes like dropping the sheet-guy over the bow on the take down and catching it around the keel – we recognized it and recovered immediately with little fuss.

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In the 2nd race we had a great start and for the first lap we actually held our own with the faster Double Eagle and Voodoo 2.  Eventually they stretched their legs and started pulling away from us.

In both races we were 3rd over the line and 2-3 minutes out of 2nd on corrected time.  We knew we just need to finished today’s races to finish 2nd overall in the spring series.  Another successful day to conclude a successful series!

Results | Series Results