December Snow
ECU Football Thanksgiving Weekend
The final ECU home football game of the year against SMU started out a little rain and ended with an ECU loss. We managed a 6-6 finish and have been invited to a bowl game. It’s been a fun season and I can’t wait until next year.
Regatta of the Year
Fishing Bay Yacht Club won US Sailing’s Regatta of the Year award for hosting the 2010 USODA Layline Nationals. A big part of what set us over the top was our online media and promotion of the event. It was a fun event this summer and I’m glad to have played a part in it. Kudos to the rest of the team that made it happen.
From US Sailing’s Press Release:
The Fishing Bay Yacht Club (FBYC) of Deltaville, Va. won the 2010 Regatta Award for the excellence in development, promotion, and management performed by organizers and sponsors of the 2010 USODA (United States Optimist Dinghy Association) Layline Nationals on July 17-25, 2010.
Co-chairs Noel Clinard and Jay Buhl, along with webmaster Jon Deutsch were recognized for demonstrating extraordinary individual creativity and contribution to the year’s most innovative one-design event of national significance. The regatta attracted broad national and international participation of 317 boats through persistent marketing and communication efforts. The small club located in a village maximized their resources through their entrepreneurial promotions, sponsorship development, community involvement, shore activities and creative dissemination of housing, tourism, historical and racing information.
The regatta site conjoined four nearby properties, including the Deltaville Dockyard, Jackson Creek Condominiums, Deltaville Maritime Museum, and Harbor House Community. The regatta consisted of three events: team racing, girls fleet racing, open fleet racing, plus a green fleet for novices. Despite its small size of about 330 family members, FBYC turned out different race committees for these events with over 50 volunteers.
The backbone for marketing the regatta was an effective, user friendly web site at http://optinationals2010.org. The web site was enabled to provide social networking through Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. A detailed media plan included the engagement of two separate video services, t2p.tv and Sailgroove, who provided ample coverage. FBYC facilitated the recruitment of Layline, a marine supplier, as the first ever Platinum level partner for USODA.
Also, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and US SAILING Team AlphaGraphics member Anna Tunnicliffe was in attendance and gave the keynote address for the opening ceremony.
Washington DC & Arlington Cemetery
My sister was in Washington DC this weekend so it was the perfect opportunity for the family to meet up and see the fall colors in our nation’s capital. We finished with a trip through Arlington Cemetery.
The best photo was an HRD of the head stones with the sun shining on the Washington Monument casting it in a golden glow.
Pirates!
ECU vs. Navy game this weekend was also an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of costumed pirates. We were short by only 5,353 pirates. At least it was fun trying! The game on the other hand was probably best left forgotten.
Photos from our tailgate can be found here (facebook friends only).
Random photos of people I didn’t know are posted here.
ECU vs. Marshall Weekend
Another great weekend in Greenville has passed. ECU defeated Marshall at home. Our tailgate was a blast as usual.
Thank You: Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters
I want to thank all of the sailors who came out for the 2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club last weekend. We had a record turnout since 2000 and it was by far the best and most fun FBYC Laser Masters regattas that I’ve been a part of. I also wanted to thank the race committee, our fleet members and all of the other volunteers at FBYC who helped make this regatta what it is. All of the competitors enjoyed it and got some great sailing, and that would not have been possible without the help of everyone involved. Congrats to John Bertrand on winning his second straight Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship.
The complete write-up of the regatta and results can be read here. With 25+ knot winds on Saturday, the boat I was on was just a little too wet to get the camera out. I was able to get a few good shots from shore and a bunch of great photos on Sunday.
I hope to see everyone back at FBYC for 2 Laser Regattas next year: The District 11 Championship and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination in late May or early June, and the 2011 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship in October.
Day 1: Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship
Today was the first day of the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and what a wild windy day it was. Unfortunately it was so windy and so wild that I was unable to get my camera out. With all the spray and having to get in the water to help out tired sailors, I just wasn’t able to get too many shots of the racing.
Read about the day here and check out the first day results. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for less wind and will hopefully enable more photos to be taken.
