Deltavile Virginia
We had a nice weekend with perfect wind and weather for a group of women to participate in the Women’s Sailing Clinic at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Jess helped organize it while also sailing the ILCA. Jon helped rig Jess’s boat, took pictures on the water, launched boats, and do things behind the scenes.
Ten ILCA joined 6 Flying Scots and 7 Melges 15 for an afternoon of sailing. The wind started out light in the 6-8 range and by the third race we had gusts into the mid teens.
In the first race didn’t start where I wanted to, but had a clear lane to tack out when I saw a shift and caught some nice wind before everyone else and had a nice lead for the first lap. On the second upwind, Noah was fast and I parked the boat in some waves right at the top mark while he sailed around me. Meanwhile Scott went around both of us and we finished that way.
The wind picked up a bit for the second race while also going left making the legs a little one sided. Knowing it was going left I tried to win the pin. I won it a little too much and had to unwrap the board from the anchor line and spin and restart. Once i was clear I went a little bit right to find a clear lane. I was 4th by the top mark but all of the boats ahead of me went to the wrong mark downwind that was well past our turning mark. I was first to round the correct mark and led the rest of the race.
3rd race I went to the left and just didn’t have the consistent pressure as those on the right. Rounded 3rd and mostly stayed there. Wind was up to about 15 at one point in the race and then eased off.
For the 4th and final race I was in 2nd right behind Scott at top mark. He started to inch away downwind until halfway down the leg he flipped and lost of bunch of places. I had the lead the rest of the race and Mike held off Scott at the finish – leaving me and Scott tied with the same points AND the exact same finishes – my 3-1-3-1 to his 1-3-1-3 and so I won the tiebreaker on account of finishing ahead of him in the last race.
It was really fun racing and great mixing it up with Scott, Noah, Mike, William and the rest of the fleet. Thanks Tom R for race committee.
16 boats and nice wind out of the SSW for FBYC’s One Design Long Distance Race. I was sailing the ILCA against 6 Melges 15s, 5 Flying Scots and a few other boats.
The race started in Fishing Bay and we sailed about a mile upwind to Piankatank 11. I had a good start at the boat with Phil just below me and held my lane for a bit. I thought I wanted to be able to tack out to the right to keep my air clear, but turned out to be much less wind over there and boats to the right got left behind a bit. By the time we got to 11, some of the Melges were 5 minutes ahead.
From 11 to the red 8 marker was a board reach and the Melges 15s put their asymmetrical spinnakers up and went like rocket ships. A few didn’t stay high enough and had to douse their chutes to fetch the mark, but they were all pretty much gone.
The next leg took us on another broad reach North towards the entrance of Jackson Creek and then back upwind to retrace the same course back.
I sailed well to stay ahead of a couple of the Flying Scots along with the other ILCA and after the handicaps were calculated finished 9th overall. This race is always fun to do with so many different boats on the same line and usually an interesting course around the Piankatank. In an ILCA, with the rating it has, I don’t stand a chance. We did use slightly different ratings this year using DPN-2 for all boats to better account for the wind ranges and based on the performance and the course we had, we do feel it did a better job balancing the higher performance boats.
Congrats to Parker and Mike on their win!
We had a nice evening and 6 boats out for Friday evening sailing at FBYC. I jumped aboard John’s Flying Scot along with Mary while a couple Melges 15s and a ILCA and Opti were out.
The Canadian Wildfires made it quite hazy and there were storms looming to the west that never quite threatened. We had a pleasant sail in 8-12 knots and got to try out all of the sails despite a spinnaker pole that had a stuck jaw.
Saturday in Deltaville started overcast with winds in the 8-15 range out of the NNW as we were starting the first race out in the mouth of the Piankatank. We had a new sail on Excitation and worked on getting it dialed in during the first race. Downwind we sailed well to stay ahead of most of the boats that were faster, sailed a clean race and finished 1st on corrected time.
In the second race of the day, the wind eased off leaving us with 8-10 at the start. On the first beat we were going tack for tack with Nanuq until we got to the last .2 to the weather mark and they lee bowed us near the layline forcing us to tack to clear. By then they laid the mark and the wind died and then they were gone. The next 3 legs would see the wind go down to 2 and Nanuq would go on to finish 50 minutes ahead us us as we drifted around leaving us in 4th.
Sunday saw much better wind for a distance race. Heading out to the course we had 13-18 knots of wind and after a short upwind we went on a close hauled reach out into the bay. Next was an upwind followed by another close reach, followed by another upwind and finally a long close reach to the finish. The tight reaching angles didn’t favor us with symmetrical spinnakers. We put up a very flat, small spinnaker and it did well in the reaches, but on the final long leg to the finish as the wind went behind us and start to get light, it just wasn’t enough sail and we weren’t setup for anything other than a bare-headed change. In the end we finished 3rd. It was great to get more time with that sail setup as we prepare for a 120nm distance race down the bay next weekend. We also got some of the instruments better setup to give us the information we’ll need on the longer race.
We had a nice day and 8 boats for FBYC’s ILCA Spring Regatta. We were sailing alongside 5 Flying Scots and 5 Melges 15s. The wind was a little shifty, mostly out of the south at 5-10 with slightly overcast skies. In 4 races I would win 1 of them, the only one that wasn’t really a race and was just single shot to the windward mark and a broad reach back. In the other races I would have a good upwind first leg, a slow downwind and end up following 3 boats around the course for a 4-4-1-4 scoreline – good enough for 3rd overall. A well-sailed event by Reed and Scott.
With storms expect later in the day I headed out early at 9am for some practice time in the ILCA. Winds were 14-19 out of the south and I did a long upwind sail in the Piankatank. The wind was surprisingly steady until I got closer to the south shore. From there I did a long downwind toward the entrance to Jackson Creek and met up with the PHRF boats gathering for the start of the opening day race.
I hovered around for a bit and at 11 when their warning went off, I started off on their course to watch and see them off. I figured once they had passed by me I’d peel off for some more practice and head back up the river to Fishing Bay.
With a 5 minute head start I beat the first fleet to the short upwind mark. From there it was a 3nm to E which is 1P at the entrance of the Piankatank due east into the bay. On the long reach out there I was planing and just flying along. None of the boats were really getting any closer. After 40 minutes of sailing, only Nanuq – the 46′ boat that rates -18 PHRF had passed me and was only 2 minutes ahead at that mark. So much for a short sail into the bay. After turning downwind I eventually headed back into the Piankatank for the long sail home. I can only imagine what the crews on those boats were saying to each other on that leg as the tiny Laser ahead of them wasn’t really getting any bigger/closer.
Thought we were going to postpone, but the wind filled just as we were set to head to the course. Day 2 started with 6-7 knots. I had a crappy 2nd row start, but got right as soon as I could and went fast. Was first to the windward mark. Had a terrible downwind and lost some boats, held on to around 8th.
By the second race the wind had picked up to around 10 or 11. Was 4th to the windward mark. Picked up a spot downwind and stayed there the rest of the way around the course for 3rd. Scott A first, James 2nd.
3rd race – had a great start at the boat and after going left a bit and then right- I was about 5th at the top mark. Lost about 5 boats downwind and so I worked to the left early on the long upwind and passed 4-5 boats on the upwind. I was right behind the lead pack rounding the top mark and finally seemed to figure out the wind and waves going downwind and went around that pack to first and finished that way. Was never able to repeat that speed downwind for the rest of the day.
4th race had a good start and stayed about top 4 or 5 all the way around the course and made a dumb move on the last upwind and fell a few boats to 8th.
Such a fun regatta – being the event chair went great and so many folks pitching in to help out and make it go. And it was fun being a competitor and sailing well and regularly being in the top 5 at some point in almost every race. It was unfortunate we had to reschedule to November and not everyone was able to come, but the weather made for far better sailing than we would have had if we had tried to sail around the storm.
We had hoped to sail the Chesapeake Bay ILCA Masters Championship in early October, but Hurricane Ian was a little too close for comfort and we ended up postponing the entire event mid-week when it was clear the remnants of the hurricane were going to make it a questionable race weekend. So we rescheduled for early November and 27 boats were able to sail the makeup.
Day 1 started light on the race course and we ended up waiting around about 45 minutes before wind we could race in finally settled. First race was sailed in a very light 6 knot breeze and built as the race went on. I went left on the first beat and that was not the place to be. I managed to pick up a few spots on the way back upwind for an 11.
A second race start was tried and the wind wasn’t steady so we postponed again while it built. Eventually it did and we sailed another race. I played a little more left than I should have and stuck around the middle of the lead pack for an 8th place finish.
By the 3rd race the wind built a little more and we were comfortably hiking. I had a fantastic start and was able to tack to the right almost immediately after the start and protected that side. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick the shifts very well and the folks picking shifts on the left did it better. Ended up 8th again.
We rolled right into a 4th race of the day and I started relatively close to the boat end and mostly by myself. I tacked to the right and took it all the way to the lay line – even over standing a bit and rounding in the top 5. I lost a few spots downwind and played the middle left picking puffs on the 2nd beat to pick up some spots to round the top mark in 2nd and held that to the finish.
For the final race of the day the wind eased off a bit while staying in the double digits. We still had the waves that were a little harder to work through. I went more to the left this time and stuck around the top 5 most of the race.
There was definitely some current going across the course. David, James, Peter, Scott A, all had good races consistently at the lead. First two races were in 6-8 and by the 3rd race the wind had started to build and even had a shot of high teens for a few minutes as some clouds passed.
We wrapped up the evening with pizza from a local gourmet pizza place and a cake as the reschedule didn’t work with Alain’s schedule.
This was supposed to be the final race of the season had we not had to reschedule the ILCA Chesapeake Masters due to the hurricane, so we had 6 ILCA plus a couple of Melges 15s that came out to sail singlehanded with us in 6-8 knots of wind on a beautiful day.
We sailed a bunch of very short races that were 8-12 minutes each of 2 laps around a course that was just a couple hundred years long. It was great because it kept the racing close and everyone was nearby and would jump on any mistakes.
I swapped boats with John Hubbard and sailed his Melges 15 for one of them. I figured out how to heel it and sail by the lee downwind to go as fast as the ILCA. Upwind without a jib was pretty tricky in less than 8 knots.
Overall I had a series of 2nd place finished. I swapped spots with Scott A a bit, but I just couldn’t match the speed or pointing of Reed upwind and settled for a 3rd. It was a great tune up for the ILCA Chesapeake Masters next weekend. Thanks to John L and his crew for RC today!