Friday

After a half day of work and an afternoon drive to Wrightsville Beach North Carolina I’m at Carolina Yacht Club for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship this weekend.  It looks like we’re going to have some beautiful weather with warm conditions and mostly sun.  That also means the wind could be a little light at times.

Sunset on the sound at Wrightsville Beach NC

This evening I hung out with the SSA crowd who have a house a couple blocks down from the club.  We had a lasagna dinner and watched the sunset.  Approximately 16 sailors from District 11 have made the trip down.  We’ve all got D11 pinnies so we should be easy to spot.

Watching the Sunset on the sound at Wrightsville Beach NC

Saturday

First day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach NC.   I was on the fence and decided to go with the standard rig.  We had mostly clear skies with 10-14 knots of wind.  The first race started around 11:45  and I had a good start out to the left.  On the very first tack of the very first leg of the first race my vang broke.  I’m not sure if I just didn’t have the pin in all the way or what happened, but I spent two minutes getting that straight and being DFL at the first mark.  I made up a little over 5 boats and ended up 37 out of 45 boats. 

In the second race I had a great start and was able to hold my lane most of the way up the first beat. I hung with the main pack and managed a 26th place finish. In the 3rd and 4th races the wind calmed down a bit and the lumpy sea state made it tough to maintain boat speed. I was well into the 30’s boat races putting me in 33rd for the regatta.

After racing I cleaned up and put away the boat. We ate the regatta dinner and then hit downtown Wilmington with the Annapolis crowd.

Sunday

Sunday just wasn’t my day. I sailed out to the course, but knew it was going to be a rough day for me.  Overpowered with big waves and not feeling so great so I headed back in.

PICTURES | VIDEO

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Saturday was my first time back to Deltaville since the Tornado came through last weekend.  I was surprised to see how much had already been cleaned up and put back together.  With last weeks racing cancelled, this was the first day of offshore sailing and I was aboard Wavelength. It was a bit cloudy, but warm and we saw 15 knots with gusts to 30. It was a bit wild at times with the kite up in winds over 25.

Here’s some video of the damage and some highlights from FBYC’s Offshore Spring Series #2.

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No racing today for the first day of the Sunshine Open at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis.  With gale warnings and thunderstorms in the area we weren’t able to get on the water.  Through the afternoon we saw winds topping 30 knots.  The regatta dinner and band is still on for tonight.  Here’s some video of the conditions.

On Sunday morning the wind was already well into the 20’s with a forecast calling for it to get into the 30’s and direction that would make it a difficult beat to get back to the club.  There was no way it was going to be a fun day on the water so I headed back to Richmond instead.

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Las Vegas Strip

Spent 3 days and 3 nights in Las Vegas for JG’s bachelor party.  My first time in the city since I was 14 and it was quite different being able to go in places and gamble.  We got to see a bit of everything from the south end of the strip to the old casinos on Fremont street.

JG's Bachelor Party
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Nikon D7000 with Sennheiser MKE-400 and Grip

This week I upgraded to a new Digital SLR camera.  The Nikon D7000 finally does decent video with stereo sound at the right price.  Last summer I bought the Nikon D3000 when my then 6-year-old D70 needed replacing.  I knew that would only be a temporary camera until Nikon came out with the right camera for me.  In addition to the camera I’ve also gotten the vertical grip and a Sennheiser shotgun microphone.  I’m looking forward to both the better quality photos and the better videos this camera will make. The point-and-shoot camera really wasn’t cutting it for a lot of the videos I wanted to make.  I’m going sailing this weekend and will have a great opportunity to try the camera out.

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Sailing World April 2011 Leukemia Society Wavelength Ad

In the April edition of both Sailing World(p68) and Cruising World the The Leukemia Cup Regatta has an ad featuring the crew of Wavelength during the 2010 Southern Bay Leukemia Cup at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Pictured: Anton Webre, Melanie Pelouze Schmidt, Chris Schmidt, Ed Walker, Steve Utley, Rob Whittet, Jon Deutsch, and John Watlington.

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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

Stingray Point Regatta website screen shot
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