All in all it was a great regatta. I couldn’t have done it without the help of our race committee and all of the Laser Fleet members who helped out. And it was nice to have all of the masters sailors I see so often on the regatta circuit come sail with us in Deltaville.
We did 7 races today in light wind for the Laser Fall Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. I generally kept the boat moving and didn’t dig too far into any holes and maintained mostly top half finishes to end up 3rd overall.
We had plenty of wind for the first day of the offshore fall series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and the race committee elected to head inside Fishing Bay to run the races. With winds over 20 at the start of the first race we all had our hands full getting around the course. By the end of the last race the wind was down to 8. We did well and put up a 4-3-4 for 3rd overall out with 3 excellent starts.
After racing we had to deliver a boat from Jackson Creek to Fishing Bay and we timed it to see a gorgeous sunset on Fishing Bay.
We took Wavelength out on Saturday for the Smith Point Race at Fishing Bay Yacht Club with a short 5-person crew of Steve U, John H, John W, Rick and myself. We were sailing against 2 other PHRF-A boats and started the 42nm course at 2pm just south of Stingray Point on the Piankatank. The race started as a beat and the wind eased from 15-18 down to 10-12 by 5:30 and down to about 6 at 8pm.
For the final 5 miles to Smith Point we went east expecting the wind to go right. We found a nice lane of wind and even overstood while the boats inshore to the west were left becalmed. We rounded Smith Point around 8:30 and just as we rounded and were setting up for a broad reach under spinnaker, the wind went even further east and we ditched our plans for the spinnaker under what would now be a close reach. I drove the 2nd half of the way back and we finished around 12:30am, beating a faster J105 to the line and ending up just 13 1/2 minutes behind the winning J109 on corrected time.
Memorial Day Weekend after sailing the Down The Bay Race on Sunday morning I watched and took some video of the Oyster Shell Triathlon. Last year I did the race with a GoPro camera on my head. So after combining the footage from both years, here’s the video:
Another nice weekend of racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the 73rd Annual One Design Regatta. We had 10 Laser and 3 Radials among the 112 boats total at the regatta. We got in 3 long races on Saturday. The first race was probably the most exciting. I led for most of the race and got passed in the last 50 feet to the finish line and a moment after the pass I death rolled just feet from the finish. I still managed to right the boat and finish in 2nd. I finished 2nd and 5th in the other two races.
We would have raced some more, but storms moved into the area and chased us off the water. Our course got off the water just fine, but the tail end of the Flying Scots coming in from the far racing area didn’t make it before the front hit and several boats were capsized near the club. Thankfully there were no injuries or damage to the boats involved. Dinner and the party got a slow start on account of the rain, but it did clear eventually and allowed for a good time.
On Sunday the wind was a bit lighter. We raced long courses which spread the fleet out quite a bit. In almost every race I would have a great start, miss a shift and find myself 2-4 at the first mark. On the 2nd upwind I could usually pick off all or most of the boats ahead of me. That’s what happened in the final race and passed upwind for the lead on the last 1/4 of the upwind to give me 2nd overall (results). All in all it was a good regatta and we had quite a few fun races.
More awards pictures and a few scenes from around the club are here. Below is a video of a few scenes from the regatta.
I’ve heard the way to get faster is to sail against boats who are faster than I am – even if they have 3 times as many sails and 5 times as many people on board.
Last weekend was the Leukemia Cup Regatta at Stingray Point Harbor Marina with racing put on by Fishing Bay Yacht Club. I sailed on Wavelength in the PHRF-A division. We sailed 2 races on Saturday in pretty light air. We got in one more race Sunday morning in a dying breeze. I had to go up the mast Sunday morning to get the sail up. All in all it was a fun time and thanks to mostly Rob’s efforts our boat raised over $13,000 for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society making our boat the 2nd place fundraiser. Included in that was a photo of mine that sold for $375 in the live auction.
The conditions were perfect on Sunday for a nice long sail to Wolf Trap light house – 27 nautical miles round trip. At the beginning the wind was out of the SSW at 10-15 which meant after one tack in Fishing Bay by the marinas I was able to lay Wolf Trap 2 hours and 40 minutes later on starboard tack. As I approached the light house the wind dropped to 5-8 and moved to due South. On the run home it kicked back up to 10-15. Total trip time 5 hours 45 minutes.
