Tag: Deltaville

Deltavile Virginia

Thursday was July 4th and Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s annual one design long distance race.  I was able to borrow a Front Runner and a co-worker of mine – Stephen Boling came out to crew.  Stephen had never been on a sailboat before.  We headed out, got to practice each maneuver once and then the race started.

Getting ready to go sail

The race started right of the FBYC dock and the first leg took us south out of Fishing Bay 3/5 of the way across the river to the far side of the channel.  We had perfect start, right at the boat, right at the gun and were able to pin some of the other boats to the left side of the course for a bit.  Upwind we picked a nice lane of wind right up the middle of the bay and found ourselves 1st at the windward mark.

Braun family as the rest of the Front Runners overtake us while we dealt with spin problems.

We set  the chute on the 2nd leg which took us due east on a race about a mile to another channel marker.  What we didn’t realize when we first set the chute was that it was very twisted at the top.  After a few boats started to pass us, we had to take it up and down a few times to get the twist out.  By the time we close-reached down to the 1/2 way mark, we were easily 300 yards behind the lead pack of 5 boats.

The fleet just ahead of us by the halfway point.

Sailing the next two upwind legs we had good speed and I picked good angles and we actually passed 3 of the boats. By the finish we were within 20 yards of the 2nd boat over the line. If only we had another 3 miles, we could have contended for the lead. Unfortunately, all 3 of the top boats owed the Flying Scot, sailed by John & Sharon Wake, time and they corrected over us, putting us in 4th overall.

I want to thank the Front Runner fleet for letting me borrow a boat and Stephen Boling for coming out to crew.

Photos | Results

Photos above by Stephen Boling.

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I started the day at Hampton Yacht Club where a team from Fishing Bay Yacht Club was invited to a scrimmage Team Racing Sonars.  We started with a quick recap/overview/planning in a classroom and then the team of 11 FBYC sailors were split into 3 boats for our team and Hampton took the other 3 boats.  We spent a couple hours doing drills and practicing team race maneuvers against the Hampton team.  The wind was in the low to mid teens which made boat handling a little more challenging, particularly for the FBYC sailors who hadn’t had a lot of time together nor a lot of time in Sonars.  But we still were able to put on a good showing and I think it was a very successful scrimmage for both teams.  A big thank you to Gary Bodie and Hampton Yacht Club for having us!

6/22 Hampton Team Race Scrimmage - Gary Bodie explaining the drills.

Immediately after getting off the water in Hampton, I got on the road to Deltaville to sail Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Moonlight Regatta on Wavelength.  The start was delayed 30 minutes while some weather approached the area, but never really came near us.  Out on the water we had beautiful sailing conditions with mostly clear skies and a steady 12-15 out of the south.  None of the overcast and occasional rain we had seen in Hampton earlier in the day.

We started at 8pm and sailed out of the Piankatank with the sun setting behind us just a short time later.  I grabbed this shot of Mad Hatter just behind us passing in front of the sunset. Just goes to show that the best pictures don’t necessarily come from the best camera, but from the camera you’ve got. This was a 2-take photo taken with the iphone.  Here’s an alternate version of it on Instagram.

6/22 FBYC Moonlight Race - Mad Hatter sailing through the sunset.

The race went pretty well and we had a good group aboard for sailing at night.  I was jib grinder for the first 3 legs, spin trimmer downwind, and drove the last 2 legs upwind.  We finished around 10:30. While we didn’t make the podium, the ice cream smothered in rum after racing was reward enough.

Results | More photos from today starting here.

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2013 FBYC OD Spring #2_0100

Following a late night at the Richmond NASCAR race I was off to Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the Stew Pot Regatta to sail on Rob Whittemore’s Flying Scot – Patriot.  We had 8 other Flying Scots out with us and 3 Front Runners in 11-15 knots of wind out of the ESE.  The first 3 races were 4/5 mi H course and the last two were a W4 and a G.  We had  good starts, great boat speed and kept to the favored side of the course.  John Wake and his wife Sharon were close competition all day, but we managed to snip them at the line a couple of times.  All in all it was a fun day sailing with Rob and great to get 5 bullets to win the day.

2013 FBYC OD Spring #2_0055

Top 2 photos by Karen Huddle

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This was the 2nd day of the Spring Series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and I got to helm the J109 Double Eagle to two 2nd place finishes in the 6-boat fleet.  With winds in the low 20’s the fleet was racing a 1.04 mile leg in the Piankatank up into Fishing Bay. Anytime the wind is out of the North in there it’s very shifty which made driving challenging.

2013 FBYC Spring Series #2 Double Eagle Downwind

In the first race we trailed Afterthought all the way around the course.  They were shorthanded and sailed downwind without a shoot, but made good enough VMG that we had to stay in good pressure with a kite up to make up on them.  On the 2nd downwind we picked it right and were able to nip them at the line.  Unfortunately Nanuq was too close behind and was able to correct over us.

In the 2nd race we were a bit late at the start and were just never able to really make up the deficit to challenge Afterthought and wound up with another 2nd.

I just want to thank Sam Mitchener for the opportunity to drive Double Eagle and wish his family the best and am sorry he wasn’t able to sail with us today.

Results: Race 1 | Race 2

Photo courtesy of Carrie Russell.

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Front Runner

Got to sail a Front Runner in the One Design Opening day with Paul as crew.  Started out with winds reaching the low teens and it dropped from there through 3 races.  The first race was mostly getting re-acclimated to the boat.  In  the 2nd and 3rd races we had great starts and got around the course in 2nd.  We just couldn’t seem to catch the speed of David and Rob who had 3 bullets and won the day.

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It was great to get back to sailboat racing this year at Opening Weekend at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  On Saturday I sailed on Wavelength – a C&C 37 owned by Rob Whittet and Steve Utley.  The course was a middle distance race and the light air and chop was not kind to us.  Even without a great result it was a fun day on the water that ended up with a Opening Day dinner and party at the club.

4/13 FBYC Opening Day: Wavelength:

On Sunday we sailed the first day of the Spring Series.  After waiting around for wind, we had a sea breeze that built until just after the start of the 2nd race.  Both races were nice and long and while we still couldn’t touch the J/109’s, we still sailed well and had fun.

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4/7

Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day of sailing.  The day started with 15-18 and we took out 3 J/70’s for practice.  We spent about 2 hours doing starts and laps around a short course.  This time I was trimming the jib and spinnaker.

Then in the afternoon I spent 3 hours on the Laser just sailing 1mi-1.5mi upwind and downwind legs.  One of the club’s junior sailors – Nina was also out there (pictured).

 

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Went out this morning for an early-morning practice on the Laser.  The air temperature was 44 when I launched at 7am with 48 degree water temperature and 14-16 knots out of the North.

Later in the morning I sailed on Double Eagle and along with 5 other boats, we took out the crew trainees for an on-the-water training sessions.

After lunch we took Double Eagle back out to have a couple of new sails fitted.

More Photos

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