Deltavile Virginia
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:
Photos from 2012 can be viewed here.
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.
(photos credit: Stephen Boling)
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.
On Sunday Mike Toms and I ran a clinic for a dozen Laser sailors at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Most of the group was new to sailing or at least new to the Laser and we spent most of the time going over the boat parts, rigging and basic maneuver techniques on a Laser. Then we took out about 7 boats in nearly no wind to putter around for an hour. Pictures.
Saturday’s Offshore Spring Series #3 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club wasn’t the best weather day. We did one race in very light wind against a stiff current for the first leg. The second race was abandoned after the wind died and many boats anchored to hold position on the ‘upwind’. Still in 3rd for the Series.
Saturday was a beautiful day for racing and Wavelength had a great day at Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Offshore Spring Series #2. We had good boat speed, good crew work and manged to go 3-2-1-4 in 4 races putting us into 3rd overall for the series. Results.
Photo: Andrea Winner
Sailing continued on Sunday with a a string of 3rd places by Wavelength in the 3 races on the 1st day of the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Offshore Spring Series. Results.
Photo by Andrea Winner.
