The forecast for the last day of the Laser District 12 Championship was for light air and as we were sailing out to the race course we had great wind – 10-12 knots.  By our 10am start it had dropped at bit and it continued to go down from there.  Today was a basically a two-boat race.  Unless I put up two DFLs it would have been hard not to get 2nd place.  Once a drop would be factored in, I was effectively 1 point behind John Potter, so it would come down to today’s races as to who won the regatta.

first race start tacked out to the right

In our first race today I had a crummy start – I just about won the boat, but had no boat speed at the start.  John was to leeward of me and was a boat length and a half ahead when I crossed the line.  I took a big duck and headed out right while he sailed to the left.  Wanting to consolidate I came back to the middle having made up some ground, but John tacked on me and forced me back to the right.   On the middle right of the course I had better pressure and got in front of John, but the boats who went left did much better than us putting me around 6th and John several boats behind me by the time we rounded.

Downwind John caught up a few boats and on the 2nd upwind I stuck to the middle of the course while John went to the left.   When we got to the top 3rd of the course a 50-degree righty came in and I laid the mark while John out to the left still had to tack to fetch it.  At the mark there was one boat between us and downwind I worked to  pass one boat on the way to the finish.  With two boats between us that put me 1 point ahead of John.

After the race we sat on the course for half an hour with no prospect of wind and the race committee abandoned racing for the rest of the day and I won the District 12 Championship Regatta.  Not only was John great competition this weekend, but so were sailors such as Rob Bowden who would have beat both John and I had he not been OCS twice.  All in all it was a fun regatta and I got to visit a an awesome club who put on a great and I got meet a lot of new District 12 sailors.

Results | My Photos | CSC Photos by Joe Reyes

All but the last photo courtesy of Joe Reyes

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We had a great first day of the District 12 Championship at Columbia Sailing Club in Columbia South Carolina.  We sailed 5 races that at some point in each of the races we had 4 knots and 10 knots.  In the lighter winds I did well on the first upwind leg most races and worked hard to hold onto my spot on the downwinds.  I put up a 3-2-8-1-2 and am currently 2 points out of first behind John Potter from Beaufort SC.  Tomorrow will be another light air day and hopefully I can keep up the top 3 finishes to have a shot at the title.

Provisional Results (the winner in race 3 will be RET and everyone moves up one)

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This football weekend had a lot more in common with a sailing weekend than most others.  It was an incredibly wet one and we even deployed some of our sailing techniques like hanging our wet clothing in the shower, etc with the RV.  The 7pm game meant we had all morning & afternoon to tailgate.

9/29 UTEPChris, Stephanie, Jon

With the rain, we got off to a slow start while trying to stay inside or under the awning to stay dry while we waited for everyone else to arrive.  The rain held off a bit for the final hour before the kickoff so we could get our traditional flip cup game in.

9/29 UTEPStacy, Alex, Jeff, Kate, Stephanie, Heather, Lauren, Brooke, Billy, Chris, Jon, Kristin, JG, Aaron, Natalie, Lindsay, Jason, Emily

Throughout the 1st and 2nd quarters the rain came down. With 8 minutes left in the second half as a decent storm was heading our way, an announcement come on the PA that the game was being postponed, the stadium evacuated and everyone should head to Minges Colosseum or their cars.
9/29 UTEPJG, Stephanie, Jon, Anne-Stewart, Emily

During the rain delay we hung around the RVs watching other games on TV and then stayed there until after halftime once the game did resume. The rain continued to come down, but not with thunder and lightning as we had earlier.

9/29 UTEPBack in the stadium during the 4th quarterJon, JG, Chris, Kevin

Pictures starting here.

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DCIM\100GOPRO

We sailed another 3 races on Sunday to complete the District 11 Championship.  The wind started out around 14-15 out of the north, north west and died off to about 8 by the end of the 3rd race.  It was very shifty and challenging.  I put up a 9-4-9 today to finish in 6th.  Best part of the day was on the first beat in the 2nd race when I pulled off a perfect pick move when the Schooner Woodwind crossed behind me and blanketed the entire rest of the fleet (seen above).

Results | Pictures

Here’s a picture from sailing on Saturday that was posted on SpinSheet’s website.

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2012 D11 Championship Saturday on the water

We had an absolutely beautiful day in Annapolis for the first day of the Laser District 11 Championship with 33 boats.  We did 4 races in 15-18 knots with each race taking about 45 minutes.  We sailed in their area C which was just north of Tolly Point with the wind at 200-180.  I did a reasonable job keeping up with the lead pack in winds that were right at the very top if not slightly above my competitive range. Having finished 5-7-7-10 I’m in 7th and looking forward to the slightly lighter winds predicted for tomorrow.  Results.

2012 District 11 Championship Crab Feast

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Wavelength winning the start.Photo by Bruce McConnel

We had plenty of wind for the first day of the offshore fall series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and the race committee elected to head inside Fishing Bay to run the races.  With winds over 20 at the start of the first race we all had our hands full getting around the course.  By the end of the last race the wind was down to 8. We did well and put up a 4-3-4 for 3rd overall out with 3 excellent starts.

After racing we had to deliver a boat from Jackson Creek to Fishing Bay and we timed it to see a gorgeous sunset on Fishing Bay.

Results | Photos

Top Photo by Bruce McConnell

Melissa, Mark, Matt, Jon

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