Tag: Bluegrass Express

The name I give any Front Runner that I sail.

The forecast for the Open House Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club improved as we got closer to Sunday and it ended up be great sailing conditions for the few mile progressive start distance race.  This race featured boats from 14′ all the way up to 48′ and they were all handicapped against each other with the slow boats starting first and having a head start over the faster boats. The first boat over the finish line wins.

I sailed a Front Runner with Alan as crew and were among the 24 boats racing under mostly cloudy skies with the wind out of the ESE at 9-11.  As one of the slower boats we were about the 5th group to start and there were 2 other Front Runners racing with us.  The start was across the Piankatank River near Godfrey Bay and took us east and upwind towards the mouth of the Piankatank River.  Sailing down the river we stuck to the North shore near Fishing Bay and Stove point to stay out of the current.

That ended up being the key to the race as we extended out a lead and were able to get far enough ahead of the faster boats that they weren’t able to catch up.  It also helped us that 1/4 of the race was close reaching rhumb line sailing where putting up a spinnaker didn’t really help any.  On the final leg to the finish the J/70 E.L.E. made a pretty good charge and we edged them out finishing less than 1/2 a minute ahead.

Big thanks to Matt for letting us borrow the boat and for Alan doing a great job crewing in his second race.

RESULTS

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9/25 Indian Summer Regatta

I got to take one of Jess’ college sailing friends Michelle out racing on a Front Runner for the Indian Summer Regatta.  Once again we had a very competitive fleet of 4 boats.  Michelle did great to learn the boat very quickly.  In the first race we even had the spinnaker flying upside down (my fault).  With that sorted we picked shifts well and stayed competitive.

RESULTS

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The first of the one design fall series I borrowed a Front Runner and took my friend Patrick Conroy for his first sail on a Front Runner.  Save one race we weren’t much of a match for the other very experienced Front Runner sailors, but we had fun and Patrick even got to drive the last race.

After racing we were joined by Jen and Patrick’s wife Lauren for dinner at Merroir.

PICTURES | RESULTS

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We made the 2nd of the Summer Seabreeze regatta a rookie regatta in the Front Runner.  Matt Braun and I both crewed for first time Front Runner skippers.  The wind came up around 1:30 and we had a light 8 knot sea breeze to race in.  2 races and my skipper Parker Davis took two bullets.  Nice work, Parker.

RESULTS

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What wind we didn’t have yesterday we made up for today at the Fishing Bay Yacht Club One Design Closing Day Regatta.  6 boats ventured out into winds in the upper teens with puffs into the 20’s.  While those aren’t horrendous conditions and in the right boat, that just when it becomes fun.  But for anyone who’s tried to sail a Front Runner in wind – you know the boat becomes a lot to handle in those conditions and quickly becomes anything but fun.

10/26 One Design Closing Day

Crewing today was Steve Q after I sailed on his J/70 in racing yesterday.  To deal with the higher winds we left the jib partially rolled to make it a little more manageable.  We started the race with the fleet and about halfway up the beat one of the Front Runners broke their tiller, rounded up and capsized.  We retired for the day while the other Front Runner completed the course with 2 of the 3 Flying Scots.  All of the boats were back on shore after that one race and eating a fantastic chili cooked by the Almany’s an hour later.

10/26 One Design Closing Day

RESULTS | PICTURES (starting here)

With the short day, Carol, Eric, Matt and I jumped on a cruising boat and went for an afternoon sail in the bay.

10/26 One Design Closing Day

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It turned out to be a great day of sailing despite the forecast that wasn’t calling for any wind at FBYC’s One Design Fall Series #3. Doug and Jordan Bendura jumped on the Front Runner with me to sail against the 2 other boats in our fleet today.

The day was a mix of learning the boat, trying to pick the shifts and sailing in more current than I’ve ever seen in that part of the Piankatank due to some unusually high tides.  Mark and Melissa Stephens sailed well – their maneuvers were nice and crisp and they had great boat speed all the way around the course.  We picked some shifts to keep up with them some of the time and we were also fending off Lee who was challenging us for 2nd place.

We wound up 2-2-2 in the first 3 races.  For the 4th race Jordan drove and he did well – we won that race.

Results | Pictures

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