1996 Laser 159785
The FBYC Summer Laser Regatta was a pretty light-air affair with only two races sailed. 11 boats out including the club’s junior coach who schooled us all with 2 bullets. Charlie Brewer took 2nds and I had 3rds. Thanks to Rick F for running our races.
The Laser Frostbite Regatta was the last event of the year at FBYC and we made it quite easy on the RC by setting a course that allowed them to signal it from the dock. The wind was just the right direction out of the south west where the RC could run the races from the end of the dock. We used a boat to move the weather mark and pin. They had a great time and the proximity to shore enabled the sailors make breaks at the club in between races.
The wind was a little light for this one, but we rolled through the races doing short courses with 10 boats. While I seemed to have good boat speed – I did find myself on the wrong side of some shifts and occasionally out of the top 3. Charlie Brewer once again sailed incredibly consistently and took the day. I followed in 2nd with Len close behind. What a great way to end the season!
For the 2016 FBYC Laser Fall Regatta we took a novel approach to running the races: since it was nice weather and light winds and we had no RC helpers – 7 of us took out 6 Lasers and a RIB. We then took turns on the RIB to run races and I jumped on the boat of whoever was on the RIB. We did two cycles so everyone missed 2 races and we got in 14 races.
All in all it worked pretty well, everyone had fun and it was good racing.
No wind in the morning so we postponed onshore for 2 hours and then went out to catch the sea breeze. The Braun family ran 5 races for us and we had 8 standard rigs and 4 radials out racing. Generally I had good speed all around the course, but wasn’t as clean in transitions as I could have been. Charlie Brewer sailed a superb day and wasn’t able to be caught taking 5 bullets. I settled for 2nd scrambling to stay ahead of Rob W and Csilla Gal. Big thanks to Matt Braun and Doug Bendura for heading up the RC.
To complete the July 4th weekend the Lasers joined the Summer Seabreeze Regatta at FBYC and 7 of us had some quality racing in overcast and 7-10 knot breezes. I focused on my starts and started well and had good speed upwind and downwind. Just couldn’t get ahead of Charlie Brewer and settled for 2nd in 2 races.
What a great day to end the sailing season on at Fishing Bay Yacht Club – temperatures that were not too cool and enough wind to make it interesting. I just received the new MkII Laser Standard sail and was eager to try it out.
Having sailed a few races – it definitely felt a bit tweakier than the other sail – as in – it didn’t stretch as much, so you can really see where it needed adjusting, cunningham, vang etc. I had a little trouble figuring out when to adjust various things. All in all it probably wasn’t any faster or slower – but I was definitely slower with the distraction. I’m looking forward to spending a little more time figuring it out. Finished 2nd overall in 7 races.
Following sailing I put a cover on the J/70 and helped Mike arrange 2 more boats in his barn.
We had a shifty day of racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the Laser Summer Regatta. With light winds out of the south and a sea breeze trying to come in and take it a little more east there were sometimes swings of up to 50-70 degrees – yet it would keep stabilizing around 170. We had a 10 boat line and a rather ‘competitive’ length line for that number of boats.
I had about 1 good start in 5 races and in the others I was either behind boats, couldn’t accelerate, over early or fouling people and having to stop and turn before I sailed the course. That being said – picking the shifts and staying in pressure was key and with the shifts as big as they were – passing lanes were plenty. It was fun racing with Steve, Brad, Alain, Mike and everyone else who came out. Thanks Mark Stephens and crew for doing RC and Steve Q for the great social following racing.
We had a beautiful day for racing in the July 4th Long Distance Race at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. 28 boats ranging from J/70 to S2 7.9 to Flying Scot to Front Runner to Laser to 420 were on the starting line for a Portsmouth Handicap race of about 8 miles. Being short of crew I took the Laser and did my best not to fall too far behind the fleet especially as one of the smaller boats. I could do pretty well on the upwind and downwind legs, but on the reaches – the boats with 2 sails and especially those with asymmetrical spinnakers would just walk away. In the end it was a respectable 13th – just above mid-table.
Following racing there were over 200 people for a cookout followed by a little rain followed by fireworks well into the night.
For the final day of the weekend I invited a few friends to come sail Lasers. Len loaned me his boat and we had mine and two others to take 4 people out. It was a beautiful day as the wind built and Bob, Lisa, Jenn and Mike all had a great time sailing around.
Bob:
Once they had their fill and the wind really settled in, Len and I went out and did some tuning by doing a couple laps on a 1.5 mi course.
Today was a dual day of running Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Crew Training Program and trying to get some Laser racing in during the Laser Spring Regatta. After meeting with the training class early in the morning and seeing them off for their training sails – I joined the Laser fleet for a race and a half before retiring to meet the training class on their return to shore.
The wind today was a lot like yesterday with 8-10 out of the north. Just enough to be sitting out, but not so much to have to depower or spend a lot of time fully hiking in the puffs. The Lasers were started with the Front Runners and I was able to quickly pull away from the other Lasers. But that put me smack in the middle of the Front Runner fleet for the remaining 4 legs of the race. I had a fun time balancing between trying to beat the Front Runners, not getting between them and screwing up their race, and making sure I didn’t do something stupid and get caught by the Lasers behind me. In the end I was the first Laser across and finished just behind the 1st Front Runner.
Even though I missed the next 3 races, it was fun to get out on the water and get to hang out with the crew trainees, the laser sailors and the other fleets.
Photos: Bob Fleck