Deltavile Virginia
The final day of Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s offshore fall series started out like it was going to be a nice sailing day, but didn’t last and the wind died before we could complete a race. I was sailing on Steve Q’s Hotty Toddy with Larry and his son. Despite not finishing a race, we still had fun and learned a lot. We’ll be back at it at FBYC’s inaugural J/70 Chesapeake Bay Championship regatta with 20+ boats on the line.
This year’s Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship was probably one of the best yet – good turnout, good weather and great food made for a smooth event. It was also the year FBYC hosted it as the Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship and with it, a few more folks from New England and Kansas.
For racing on Saturday we had 7-12 and clear skies. Ned Rennolds joined Mike Russom and me on the safety boat with his drone and we got some great photos and video of the fleet from overhead during the first and second races.
For the rest of racing on Saturday I did my usual of floating around and taking pictures and video. This year we even dress up the committee boat – Mr. Roberts as seen with the red lettering below.
By the end of Saturday we had gotten a good day of 5 races in for the sailors and we called it a day as the wind started getting light and fluky. We had a few visitors join us for dinner including past fleet captain and chair of this event – David Hazlehurst. Alain Vincey did another wonderful dinner followed by plenty of Laser stories and a viewing of some of the drone video for today. Sailors hung out in the club house and later by the fire at their campsite well into the night.
Sunday’s wind was much greater than Saturday and a number of sailors, didn’t go out, took advantage of the rig-swap opportunity, or retired before starting a race. Fortunately only one sailor needed any assistance and thankfully Mike R was onboard the safety boat and ready to get wet. Three more races were sailed as the fleet slowly dwindled. I didn’t get many pictures due to the waves and activities, but I did get some video of some screaming reaches.
Once again it was a very successful regatta. I really want to thank all of the folks on the race committee, Alain, Brad and all of the FBYC fleet for all of their help putting this event on. This was my 10th one and I’m looking forward to just a few more years when I can join in!
Sunday’s race what was supposed to be the 3rd day in the FBYC Fall Series but due to some light wind some races were missed. I sailed on J/70 Hotty Toddy with Steve Q, Clark D and Carrie R. With 6 other boats out, overcast skies and winds that started in the mid-teens and were under 10 by the 2nd race – we had a really nice day for racing.
With Steve driving the first race and Clark driving the second, we focused on good crew maneuvers and keeping the boat going fast in the right direction. We caught some shifts, missed others but were close enough or in the lead enough times to have some fun with it. Despite some great moments we went 5-4 on the day putting us solidly in 5th.
Top photo courtesy of Lisa Fleck
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.
Saturday we raced Wavelength at Fishing Bay Yacht Club to the Wolf Trap Light House and back. Wolf Trap is a memorable place both because I’ve sailed my own boat there and because it was the first race I ever did on a ‘big boat’ on Wavelength in 1998 after joining FBYC and getting my drivers license.
The weather was perfect for a race with winds 12-19 out of the SSW and mostly sunny skies. We had a good start and were 2nd boat around the short windward mark. The next leg was a little less than a mile downwind and chose not to go with a spinnaker and lost a couple spots to the boats behind us.
On the close reach out to the Milford Haven mark we had a full main and a No 1 up which was more sail than anyone else and held our ground and may have even picked up on some of the faster rated boats. From Milford Haven to Wolf Trap was a beat with a heavy current behind us.
Once around Wolf Trap it was all downwind directly into the current. As we got closer to the Piankatank the wind moved forward and it became a close reach again. The final leg was a beat up the Piankatank and we ended up 2nd in the 4-boat PHRF-A fleet behind Nanuq.
Course:
Friday I started the weekend early and sailed the Stingray Light Distance race at the Stingray Point Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club on Sam Mitchener’s J/109 Double Eagle.
The course was a 13nm route that took just south and north of the Piankatank River entrance. In our class were Bad Cat, Nanuq, Wairere, Voodoo 2 and Pursuit. The wind was 8-11 out of the NNE with comfortable temperatures and mostly sunny skies.
Our race went pretty well particularly on the upwind/close reaching sections, we lost a bit on the downwind, but still wound up with 3rd place overall. I got to do some bow work which was a change since I haven’t done that in quite a number of years. All in all a great day on the water.
Course:
Another beautiful Friday night for some J/70 sailing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. This evening I was sailing with Steve Quiriconi on his new boat Hotty Toddy along with Jerry Latell. Steve and Jerry had been out earlier in the afternoon to get everything setup and tuned and so the three of us got out to the race course a little early to practice some maneuvers.
In the 4 races tonight we did pretty well. The very short line made for very tight and late starts, but the shifty winds meant anyone could catch a shift up the beats. We did well to keep up with the leaders and got through our maneuvers pretty well without any major goofs. We even did some gybe sets and a Mexican take down at one point.
The final race was 2 laps and then the trip up the channel back to the dock. We were the first boat to legally complete the course and a nice way to end the night and the first time out for the boat.
The 75th Annual One Design Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club got off to a bit of a slow start with hardly any wind to be found. The Laser fleet sat on the shore, boats rigged and communicated with the RC for when to come out to sail. Eventually a whisper of something showed up on the course and we headed out. Once on the course it was another 2 1/2 hours of sitting around before admitting defeat that the wind wasn’t going to fill and calling it a day.
By race time on Sunday we had a nice 6 knot breeze out of the ESE. We had 8 Standard Lasers in our fleet.
In the first two races of the day the wind was still what I’d call ‘light’ with some shiftiness. Eric Roos did a great job picking the shifts and put a nice lead on the rest of us on the first beat and held that to the finish. I never felt comfortable with the boat in the first two races and just didn’t like my setup or boat speed. I was hanging within sight of the leaders, but had to work to stay ahead of Brad, Mike and others all around me and settled for 3 & 5.
By the 3rd, 4th and 5th race we had another knot or two of pressure and I had settled down and gotten the boat setup right. At the starts I was careful not to get pinned to one side of the course and to have clear air. Upwind with the boat finally moving well I was able to pick my head out of the boat and really start picking the shifts. On all 3 first upwind legs I was really well in phase and had 10+ boat length leads at the windward mark.
In one of those 3 races I made the downwind work and actually pulled away in one of them. On the other 2 I felt like I was in a hole and struggled to not loose too much ground on the boats behind me. In the final beat to the finish of race 3 and 4 I was able to just cover the fleet and finish comfortably in 1st. In the 5th race I made a few mistakes getting out of phase early in the final beat and had to play some catchup to finish just ahead of James Jacob who had been consistently 2nd all day long.
By the 6th and final race of the day the wind started easing just a bit. I had a bad start, let myself get pinned on the wrong side of the course and rounded the first mark in 6th. I clawed back to a 4th, but James Jacob’s consistency and my 4 & 5 put me 2 points behind him settling for 2nd place overall.
Having had the new Laser out 5 times and this being the 2nd race day for it – it was really nice to finally have some races where I felt good and had it dialed in. Two weeks from now is the District 11 Championship at Tred Avon and I can’t wait to give it another go.
Thanks to all of the other Laser sailors who came out and sailed with us and thanks to Matt Lambert for putting the regatta together and to Alex Alvis, Geoff Cahill, Donna Alvis, Cindy Corbett, David Lennarz, Brad Miller and everyone else who helped on RC.
Attended the wedding of Blake and Julia in Deltaville on what would have been a cloudy weekend had Blake and Julia not created their own sunshine. I did a little photography of the groomsmen getting ready and riding the boat over to the venue.
Congrats Blake & Julia!
We started the day with steady rain and plenty of it and hoping for a clearing to enable us to get some racing in for Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Summer Laser Regatta. After watching the weather for a bit we were going to have a break around mid-day so we made the call to race right off the dock in the 8-10 SSW breeze we had.
We got off to an on time start with 11 boats on the line. The racing was fun and competitive. The wind was shifty. A few quick sprinkles rolled over the course before clearing later in the day.
Alex Jacob did a masterful job in the first 4 races and stretched out in all of them to take bullets. Robert Suhay, Len Guenther, myself, Mike Moore, Brad Squires and James Jacob all sailed in a pack just behind with any one of us challenging for 2-6 in every race.
PRO Lud Kimbrough and his crew of Eliza Strickland, Anna Matchett, Clay Harris, Katherine Harris, Miles Kimbrough & Just Wilton did a great job being out there under threat of storms and adjusting the course as the wind flaked back and forth. The course lengths were great allowing us to stretch out just enough, but still keeping the starts and the races close.
My day and my first race with my new boat – No Quarter – was a bit of a mixed bag. I had the boat together well enough, but my lack of time in the boat this year clearly showed. I stayed with the pack and had some great legs, but wasn’t able to put a whole race together. I’ll be Laser sailing the next 3 weekends and should be ready by then for the District 11 Championship at Tred Avon August 23-24.