Tag: Deltaville

Deltavile Virginia

This weekend I served as event chair for the Chesapeake Bay ILCA Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. After a few months of planning and a final week of preparation, we welcomed 39 boats in two fleets for the 46th edition of the event.

There were a few last-minute food snafus that required finding alternatives, but everything came together. Friday was spent getting the club ready and checking in competitors. By Saturday morning, it was time to put down the to-do list for a few hours and go sailing.

Saturday

Getting the course set took a little extra time. The initial setup was too far west, leaving insufficient water to the left to place a mark. The race committee moved the course back east, and about 25 minutes later we were ready to start. The wind was in the mid-teens and building, with small chop, waves around a foot, and plenty of puffs and holes.

The boat end looked favored for the first race, so I set up to win that end with Gavin O’Hare just below me. Andrew Stillman tried to squeeze between us and the committee boat. After some close maneuvering to avoid further fouling me, he ended up over the line early and out of the way. I came off the line with a great start, above Gavin and ahead of David Waiting.

Photo: Francisco Rodriguez

That lasted about a quarter of the first beat.

I went to tack and didn’t get under the boom quickly enough. Before I knew it, the boat was over. I missed the hiking strap and took the fast route down the underside of the hull into the water. By the time I was upright and going again, I was in the middle of the fleet.

My boat handling was still a little shaky, and I was feeling out of practice. I made up a couple of boats around the course but was slow downwind and finished 13th. Up front, David pulled away to win, with Alex Jacob holding second all the way around. Ron Thompson also had a great race.

The breeze was up around 17–18 knots after the finish. One ILCA 6 sailor had broken a mast and needed a tow ashore, and several others had retired.

I had another good start in race two and a solid first beat, rounding the top mark just behind the leaders. I followed David downwind for a while before he found another gear, worked out to the right, and kept going.

On the next upwind leg, I went right looking for more pressure. The pressure was there, but some awkward shifts kept it from working out the way I hoped. Things got particularly squirrely near the top mark, where I missed a couple of shifts and lost a boat or two.

Near the bottom of the course, Scott Mogle caught a great shift from the east and came cruising in to round inside me at the final leeward mark. I finished 13th again, but it was good racing. My boat handling was improving, and I was more confident putting the boat where I wanted it, especially in some of the tighter situations around the marks. The breeze had eased a little, with occasional lulls below 10 knots, but we still had low-teens wind and some whitecaps.

The third race had a heavily skewed start. A lot of boats gathered at the pin, and Ron Thompson managed to port-tack the fleet. I started at the boat and went right, which didn’t work particularly well. I spent much of the race following people around, though I made up some ground on the second beat by working left and catching better shifts.

For the final race, the committee posted an H7 course. Apparently, we hadn’t needed a seven in all the time I’d been at the club, so they had to make one with tape.

I had another great start at the boat. This time, I made a point of avoiding getting too far out to the right and worked the shifts toward the left. I stayed in touch with the lead group, lost a few boats downwind, but kept clear of the pack behind me.

Photo: Francisco Rodriguez

Mist and drizzle arrived midway through the race. The committee shortened the course to finish at the weather mark after the second lap, conveniently putting us closer to home. I finished 10th, my best result of the day, and we sailed in and de-rigged in the drizzle.

Once ashore, I quickly put the boat away and got to work on the scoring. This was our first time using ClubSpot for the event, and I wanted to handle it myself to learn how it worked. Switching from racing to scoring was part of the balancing act of sailing in an event I was also organizing.

Alain Vincey put together a great dinner of ribs, Carolina shrimp and crab soup, vegetables, macaroni and cheese, and pie for dessert. After a wet day on the water, it was good to sit down, eat, and catch up with everyone.

Someone described the weekend as “a two-day party with some sailing in between.” Saturday certainly delivered both parts.

Sunday morning brought little wind, continued mist and drizzle, and very low visibility on the water. We postponed for an hour before calling a skippers’ meeting to discuss the options.

I laid out the forecast and the choices: abandon racing, keep postponing, or head out in roughly 6-7 knots of wind with more rain expected in about two hours. The fleet elected to call it a weekend, so we packed up and got ready for awards.

David Waiting claimed his third overall title in ILCA 7, while Bill Symes won the ILCA 6 fleet in his first appearance at the event. Deniz Cirivello won three of the four ILCA 6 races and repeated as the top woman.

Thank you to everyone who made the trip, to Rick Klein and the race committee for working through a difficult course setup and shifting conditions, to the safety crews, and to Alain and everyone who helped with the food and social side. It takes a lot of people to put this weekend together, and I appreciate all the work that went into it.

PICTURES | RESULTS | EVENT WEBSITE | VIDEO

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The Stingray Point Regatta is Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s annual Labor Day weekend event for PHRF boats. The regatta includes a distance race on Friday, two days of buoy racing on Saturday and Sunday, and a dinner, band, and party on Saturday night.

This year I sailed in the PHRF-B fleet aboard Gabrielle, a J/29 recently purchased by Bill Kitchens. It was my first time sailing on a J/29. Our crew included Bill, Bruce, Paul, and me, with Andrew joining us on Saturday and Rich working the bow on Sunday.

We were learning the boat and how to work together as the weekend progressed. Most of our maneuvers left some room for improvement, but nothing major went wrong or broke. We simply weren’t always as quick getting through the maneuvers as we needed to be. Bill did a good job keeping the boat pointed in the right direction and moving while the rest of us figured out how everything worked.

Our fleet included five other boats, with the Trip 27 Goin’ and the B25 TBD setting the pace. Saturday brought comfortable conditions, with winds in the low teens and storms moving through during the middle of the afternoon. We completed two races before the storms arrived and finished third in both.

Sunday was mostly sunny, with winds in the mid-teens. We sailed three more races, finishing fourth in the first and third in the remaining two. At times we were able to close the gap on the boats ahead of us, but we couldn’t quite put together a complete race without losing some of that ground again.

It was a good weekend of racing and a valuable opportunity to learn a new boat. By the end of Sunday, we had a better understanding of the J/29 and how to sail it together, even if there was still plenty of room to improve.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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The Fishing Bay Yacht Club ILCA Summer Regatta gave us a day of very light air racing in Godfrey Bay. The sea breeze never quite made it in, so finding a patch of wind – and keeping the boat moving through the lulls – was the challenge.

I also tried out a new stern mount for my action camera. Here are a few views from the day.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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We couldn’t have asked for a better day to wrap up the ILCA season – a beautiful fall afternoon with light, shifty winds out of the north to northeast. The race committee set a short course in Fishing Bay, close to the dock, where a few Flying Scots and Melges 15s joined the fun.

Seven ILCA sailors turned out for the Frostbite Regatta, and my day started off with a bang – literally. Just minutes before the first start, while tuning up near the line, I heard a loud pop, and suddenly the boat was rolling to weather over top of me. My top mast section had snapped clean through before I even made it to the first race. To make matters worse, it was the second mast I’d broken this year.

I got a quick tow back to shore, borrowed an upper mast, and swapped to a sail without a hole. By some miracle, I only missed the first race.

The rest of the day brought tight, tactical racing. I had a few great starts and rounded the first mark in the lead a couple of times, but Mike or Len always seemed to find another gear – especially on the second laps when the wind turned fickle near the top mark. One wrong tack could leave a boat parked while the other slipped by.

In the end, Len Guenther took the day’s honors, Mike Moore finished second (and clinched the overall ILCA Series), and I managed third overall despite missing the opener. Holly was right on our heels in fourth.

A big thanks to Gene Kendall and his crew for running great races and keeping the course fair in the shifting breeze. A perfect way to close out the season at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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Fishing Bay Yacht Club wrapped up the season with the annual Closing Day Pursuit Race – a day that started with a steady breeze and the expectation that it would fade as the afternoon went on. I sailed aboard the J/92 Sting with Mark and Brad, joining a solid fleet to close out another great year on the water.

About two-thirds of the fleet started ahead of us, giving us plenty of targets to chase as we crossed the line. We tried to get a jump with the Code 0 at the start, but quickly realized we couldn’t hold the upwind angle we needed, so we doused it and switched back to the jib.

The first leg took us NNE toward the entrance of the Piankatank River in patchy breeze. We found lanes of pressure where we could, steadily working our way through the fleet. Once around the mark, we headed upwind on the opposite tack, sailing past Stingray Point and into the middle of the Rappahannock. By that point, we had passed a few boats, while some of the faster ones – like Afterthought and Orion – slipped by us.

As we approached the turning mark, a small cluster of boats just ahead made for some tight maneuvering. The leg back out into the bay was initially too high for a spinnaker, so we close reached on starboard through a mix of downwind and upwind traffic. We managed to slip by Shenanigan and the J/32, keeping Chilcoot in sight while Nanuq closed in from behind.

Once the angle opened up, we hoisted the spinnaker – after a quick fix to a rigging mix-up – and continued downwind. Back inside the Piankatank, we passed Morningtide, but Nanuq eventually caught and passed us as the breeze began to fade. The dying wind made it tough for some of the later boats to finish, but we held on to cross the line in 8th place.

Racing wrapped up with oysters, food, and great camaraderie back at the clubhouse.

RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

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Today was one of those days that showed the full range of what fall sailing on the Chesapeake can deliver. Out at Stingray Point, it was blowing a solid 16-20 knots from the NNE – rough and choppy enough to make you grateful to be inside Fishing Bay instead. Inside, we had a much more manageable 8–12 knots, still puffy in the middle but without the waves.

Seven Flying Scots turned out for four races on an H course. I was on the mark boat with Bob, and we stayed busy all afternoon setting marks, watching the shifts, and keeping an eye on the fleet. Midway through the day, one of the Scots capsized, and we had to jump into rescue mode. After the boat was upright and the sailors couldn’t get back in I climbed aboard to pull them out of the water and back onto the boat.

By the end of the day, the sailors got in four good races, and the race committee team had a good time being on the water. I got some good pictures and video of the sailing.

PICTURES | VIDEO

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The 44th Chesapeake Bay ILCA Masters Championship wrapped up this weekend with three races on Saturday — the only races we managed to fit in before the wind completely disappeared.

As the event chairman, my regatta began weeks earlier: coordinating volunteers, designing t-shirts, getting registration open, and finally pulling together all the last-minute details that make the weekend run smoothly. By Thursday evening, I was at the club unloading gear and taking in a spectacular sunset over Fishing Bay – a calm start to what would turn out to be a very light-air weekend.

Friday was all about setup and organization. Competitors started rolling in by afternoon, and I spent much of the day helping sailors unload and get settled. That evening, I helped make race committee lunches and run through a few “what if” plans with the PRO – particularly what we’d do if Saturday morning brought the forecasted calm.

Sure enough, Saturday morning delivered exactly what we expected: no wind. Working with our PRO, we made an early call to postpone racing before the skippers’ meeting so no one had to rush to rig up. The forecast hinted at a late-afternoon breeze, so we mapped out the latest possible start time that would still get everyone home before dark.

Luck was on our side — around 1:30 p.m., a light easterly began to fill in. We dropped the postponement flag and got the first race off at 2:30. It wasn’t perfect breeze, but it was steady enough to race without a guessing game over wind direction.

The first race was a one-lap, modified windward-leeward. I didn’t get off the line well – squeezed out mid-line – but found clear air to the right and salvaged a mid-fleet finish in 16th. Up front, Dave Chapin, Alex Jacob, and Rob Whittemore showed great pace in the tricky conditions.

Race two started with more pressure and tighter racing. I got off cleanly about two-thirds down the line, tacked back to the right early, and rounded the top mark in fourth. I lost a few boats upwind after sailing into a patch of nothing, but clawed back one or two on the final downwind to finish ninth. Mike C and Laura were right in the mix – it was great, close racing all around.

For the third and final race, the course shifted slightly right. I went hard right on the beat, but couldn’t quite make it pay off. Rob W nailed this one, sailing a textbook race to take the win. With daylight fading, that was it for the day – three solid races in the books.

Back ashore, Alain and his team served up a fantastic dinner that evening. Alain’s longtime friend Michel shared stories of how he first got Alain into sailing decades ago ago. We lingered over good food and conversation before heading to the camping area to unwind under clear skies.

Sunday morning dawned calm once again. We postponed and waited, but it soon became clear the breeze wasn’t coming. Racing was abandoned, and Saturday’s results stood – putting me as the top Apprentice Master in the ILCA 7 fleet.

Huge thanks to Rick and the race committee for making the most of the conditions and running great races when we had the chance. Thanks also to Alain, Michel, John G., Janice, Jess, Sabri, Britt, and everyone else who made things run smoothly off the water.

Even with the light winds, the 44th Chesapeake Bay ILCA Masters Championship was a success – a weekend of good sailing, good food, and even better company.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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Fishing Bay delivered a classic fall mix for the Offshore Fall Series #2 – gray skies, breeze starting in the mid‑teens before easing into the low double digits, and six PHRF‑A boats ready to make the most of it.

Race one opened with a long 1.8‑mile beat and two laps. We got the J/99 smoothly around the course, but the fleet stretched ahead early and never came back within reach.

The second race kept the same course length but only one lap. We were in the hunt while working the left side, but when we split right, the left paid big and the separation showed quickly.

For the final race – a shorter one‑mile, two‑leg course – we committed more firmly to the left. We stayed with the pack off the line, kept our air clear, and held our lane, but still ended up slightly right of the group and watched them slip ahead as the pressure shifted.

Thanks to Todd and crew for having me along!

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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