Tag: Deltaville

Deltavile Virginia

Jon Deutsch addressing the fleet at the Skipper's Meeting during the 40th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship- photo by Paul Almany
Jon Deutsch addressing the fleet at the Skipper’s Meeting – photo by Paul Almany

After over a week of preparation it was time for the 40th Annual Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship. This year was quite easy compared to the stress of last year and running an event during the pandemic and planning it not knowing if we would be able to have it. And being the 40th – we had a couple special things planned to commemorate it.

Jon starting well behind the fleet after doing turns at the start - photo by John Hubbard.
Jon starting well behind the fleet after doing turns at the start – photo by John Hubbard.

Not only was I running the event, but I also sailed in it. I don’t tend to treat this as a serious competitive event for myself as my attention is often on on running it, but it’s not often I have a chance to test my mettle against 51 boats of great competition on my home waters, so I try to put up a good showing. With that being said – I didn’t get off to a great start in the first race having fouled Luke just off the starting line and was behind almost everyone after doing my turns. I spent the rest of race focused on staying in clear air and pressure and picking shifts. It helped that there were a lot of boats ahead of me and on all sides of the course to see the angles on upwind and help figure out where to go. I picked well and was able to pick my way through the fleet to finish 3rd. I probably wouldn’t have finished that well had I not had such a bad start and had to watch everyone else.

Jon sailing downwind with boats behind.
Jon sailing downwind with boats behind

In the second race I got rolled shortly after the start and shoved out the back and never recovered. I didn’t have a good feel for the boat likely due to sailing in dirty air. There were only 3 boats behind me at the 1st weather mark and I was only able to climb up to 21st by the end.

Race 2 shortly after the start - Photo by John Hubbard
Race 2 shortly after the start – Photo by John Hubbard

In the 3rd race I had a great start and even though I was around some of the fast boats, I was able to stay ahead in clear air. I managed to race with the lead pack most of the way around the course swapping positions at times. I was 6th at the bottom mark before the final upwind leg to the finish. I stayed left and picked off several boats, but got passed by Scot and Adam who passed everyone else to win it. James sailed into a hole allowing me and David to catch up with David finished just ahead of James and me just behind. The wind got pretty light at the end and a 4th place finish left me in the top quarter of the fleet after the first day of racing.

At dinner we celebrated 40 year with Alain telling us the story of how the regatta was started and we had several special guests who sailed in the event that first year. A group of regulars also presented a perpetual trophy to be awarded to the first woman.

Happy Hubard, James Jacob, Jim Rodgers, Kenzie Hubard, Alain Vincey & Anne Rogers - photo by Paul Almany
Happy Hubard, James Jacob, Jim Rodgers, Kenzie Hubard, Alain Vincey & Anne Rogers – photo by Paul Almany

The forecast Sunday wasn’t nearly as good as the day prior, but we were determined to sail if there was wind. We sailed out in light wind and got one light air race started. I played the middle-left on the first beat and rounded the first mark in 5th, proceeded to go the wrong way downwind, lost a few boats and finished 9th overall. We stayed out on the water for over an hour hoping the wind would come for another race, but it never did settle in and we pulled the plug and sailed in.

At the starting line - photo by John Hubbard
At the starting line – photo by John Hubbard

David Waiting won the Championship for the 2nd time – a well-sailed event having not even won a race among some stiff competition. Huge thanks to Rick Klein and the RC for getting us racing and to Alain for another great dinner!

Photo of the sailors at the 40th Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club – photo by Paul Almany

RESULTS | PICTURES | JOHN HUBBARD AND PAUL ALMANY PHOTOS

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

Mr. Roberts at the starting line. Photo by John Hubbard.
Mr. Roberts at the starting line. Photo by John Hubbard.

Fishing Bay’s ILCA Fall Regatta started windy in the 12-15 knot range and gusty though not quite surfing conditions downwind. I focused on my starts and mostly had good starts towards the boat. As the day went on we eventually found 2 different winds on the course – a more lefty and gusty breeze in the middle of the river, and sometimes a much more right and sometimes puffy breeze on the right. The timing to go right was key, miss it and you were toast, hit it right and you were golden. Generally the left did ok until it didn’t. The closed start/finish line made the downwind legs more of a course and a little less tactical.

Jon sailing upwind. Photo by John Hubbard
Jon sailing upwind. Photo by John Hubbard

In the final race wind was down a bit, I was starting at the pin as i saw more wind to the left, only as the final minute counted down I could see the wind going even more left – so far that I would be able to port tack the fleet if I could just put some space between myself and David. I pulled the trigger just right and tacked ahead of him by 4-5 boat lengths and lead the rest of the way around. Also sailed with a closed start/finish line which meant sailing more of a course downwind rather than picking the optimal wind/wave direction.

Jon sailing downwind
Jon sailing downwind

It was great having some Annapolis sailors come join us – great practice for them on the waters of next weekends’ masters regatta.

RESULTS | PICTURES | JOHN HUBBARD PICTURES

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Alain and Mike at the windward mark

We had a light air day for the second of the FBYC ILCA Summer Regattas. We sailed in Fishing Bay just off the dock in a SSW sea breeze. 5 races were sailed until some weather started rolling in. With 10 boats out, I had all top 5 finishes aside from the last race that I needed to skip in order to pack up and get back to Richmond.

Photos thanks to Andrew Spencer

PICTURES | RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

I was at Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s 82nd Annual One Design Regatta to help on RC and I was able to get some good pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

ILCA start with Mr. Roberts pictured
ILCA start with Mr. Roberts pictured
Flying Scots sailing downwind
Flying Scots sailing downwind
ILCA going for the port tack start
ILCA going for the port tack start
Flying Scots beginning a downwind leg
Flying Scots beginning a downwind leg

MORE PICTURES

By Posted on Posted in Life, Photography, Sailboat Racing, Sailing Photography No Comments Tagged with , ,

Friday night I served as the Principle Race Officer for FBYC’s start of the St. Mary’s Governor’s Cup Race to St. Mary’s. FBYC has hosted a leg for the past 5 or so years. We only had 4 boats sailing from our location while another 50+ boats were simultaneously starting from Annapolis and meeting in St. Mary’s.

Friday we had 2-4 knots of wind out of the NE with almost a knot of current from the south. We anchored facing south, with the current, even though the boats were sailing north. That elicited at least one confused question from a competitor over the radio, but also made for a nice breeze on the back and windward side of the committee boat.

We were ready to go with 15 minutes to spare and at 5 before 6 we started our sequence, had 5 minutes of excitement while we started the race and then we were done with our responsibilities. The competitors had to sail against the current to stay on the right side of the line and once the race started they went with the current and sailed their course north.

Starting crew

Almost as soon as the boats had started – several pods of dolphins surfaced all around us. We just sat there and watched while they surfaced and played. After a bit we had a wonderful ride in – 2 hours dock to dock.

Huge thanks to Rick, Bay and Ed along with a couple visitors for coming along and helping out.

St. Mary’s Governor’s Cup Regatta | PICTURES | RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , ,

Jon starting at the boat

Saturday saw beautiful weather – mostly sunny with winds starting around 12 and building to about 15-16 knots out of the south west

Jon upwind near the mark – Photo by Paul Almany

We had 14 boats with 9 ILCA 7 (Standard) and 4 ILCA 6 (Radial). We all started on the same line which made things more fun with more boats to race with around the course. Some of the Radial sailors were really fast and were nearby and beating many of the standards around the course. It kept things interesting at mark roundings.

Mark rounding – Photo by Paul Almany

FBYC’s junior coach for the summer, Francisco Renna, put on a clinic in the standard fleet. He was fast all the way around the course and nobody came close to him in all 5 races. Rob Whittemore sailed consistently fast and consistently in the right spot to stay just ahead of me and Luke Hayes who tied for 3rd place with the tiebreaker going to Luke.

Francisco over my shoulder just after a start already well ahead.

All day I had great starts and focused on winning the boat. I held my lane ok, but wasn’t as fast as I could have been upwind. I chalk some of that to my thinking it was summer sailing and I didn’t need hiking boots. The bruises on my feet later in the day would say otherwise.

David Hinkle and the RC did a great job keeping the course square getting us started cleanly.

RESULTS | PICTURES | Paul Almany Pictures

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

We had a bit of everything for FBYC’s 4th of July Long Distance race in the Strange Bird Snipe. This was the first time sailing the boat since fall of 2019 while we rebuilt the mast step in 2020. We were sailing with 10 other boats including Flying Scots, Thistle, San Juan 21, Weta and it was our first time sailing against another snipe.

The first leg started out in the Piankantank near Godfrey Bay and we headed east towards Gwynn’s island near 8. With the wind from the south east – we were almost upwind and we were one of the more southerly boats hoping to catch the puffs sooner.

As we got to that mark and headed North to our next mark, the wind went more south making this the only downwind of the course. Some of the spinnaker boats started to get ahead. We rounded and sailed back south to the Piankatank on a relatively close-hauled course and then tacked to sail back to the finish in Godfrey Bay. All in all, because of the way the wind shifted, there was a lot of upwind – this worked in our favor not having a spinnaker and we were able to finish 4th. This also favored the San Juan 21 who finished just ahead of us and corrected over everyone to win it.

We were able to complete the race, but when we got back to the dock we realized the blew out the block at the base of the mast, the same part we broke back in 2018, and this will require some repairs before our next outing.

RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in Life, Sailboat Racing, Snipe Sailing No Comments Tagged with , , , , , ,

Saturday was FBYC’s Cut Channel Race. I would have liked to sail but I needed some time in the ILCA ahead of nationals next weekend. I spent about 2 hours sailing in 15-20 knots with some 3 foot waves in places and a light drizzle of rain.

I also got a few photos of the start of the Cut Channel Race:

At the start only two boats were in position to hit the line on port headed for the next mark of the course. Many boats started on starboard, barely laying the starting line and way down at the boat end and were 10+ boat lengths behind immediately. The weather eventually cleared and they had a nice sail though I was long done and ashore by the time the fleet finished.

PICTURES | RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Photography, Sailing Photography No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

Mike Toms sailing up to Mr. Roberts

Fishing Bay Yacht Club held their first one design event of the year and we had 6 standard rig ILCA dinghies there to sail with us including a new member. The wind forecast wasn’t great. We postponed an hour and once we saw wind start to fill from the south east we headed across the Piankatank river to Area B.

For the first race we had about 8-9 knots of wind out of the ESE. I had a good start, tacked somewhat early and lead Holly and Alain to the right where I had been expecting the wind to go. Not only did the wind go left, but there was more pressure there and Chris and Mike had both gone pretty deep left. Coming together at the top mark Mike and Chris were 5-8 lengths ahead of me and I had to follow them downwind on what was more of a very broad reach. At the bottom mark I immediately went left to the layline and used some speed to pass Chris and catch up to Mike who tried to tack above me towards the top of the mark. He tacked a little close and I was able to keep my speed through his lee and eventually pinch him off tracking clear ahead to starboard near the mark. From there I extended a bit downwind to win the first race.

For the 2nd race the RC shifted the course to the left. As a sidebar the starting line was perfectly square to the course in every single race – the RC did a great job there. I had a perfect start at the boat and two boats down the line were over early. Meanwhile Alain got shut out on the wrong side of the committee boat and started late. I focused on sailing in pressure and favored the left side of the course and just worked on extending my lead. Mike and Chris duked it out behind me and Chris got ahead when Mike fouled him at the 2nd upwind mark rounding allowing Chris to finish 2nd.

Alain going downwind ahead of Britt

In Race 3 Mike and I started at the starboard end of line with Mike just to to leeward. I was a few seconds late to pull the trigger and Mike hit the line full speed and quickly pulled a few lengths ahead. I tried to find a wind lane out to the right. The left still had more pressure and Mike had a comfortable lead at the top mark. Alain who had also gone left was just ahead of me and I followed him downwind. On the 2nd upwind I tacked early and used the pressure to the left to get ahead of Alain. I started to catch Mike on the downwind, but ran out of course to catch him and settled for a 2nd.

Chris Rouzie finishing in front of Mr. Roberts
Chris Rouzie

By the 4th race the wind dropped a couple knots – still steady enough to know where it was coming from. I had another good start winning the boat and just powered over the fleet and out to the left. Tacked just under the layline to be sure I didn’t over stand and then just sailed conservatively to stay ahead of the rest of the fleet. Alain a very solid race right behind me to finish 2nd.

Felt like a great day where I only made a couple mistakes and when I did, they didn’t hurt to bad. It was fun mixing it up with Mike, Chris, Alain, Britt and Holly and the RC ran a great set of races. Between races I even got some pictures of the Flying Scots.

Flying Scot start

RESULTS | PICTURES

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,