We started with a windy day along with some apprehension at the skippers meeting about what kind of conditions we might see out on the course. We were seeing gusts to 26 on the weather buoy at Stingray Point as we were leaving the dock. Out on the race course we had some shelter behind Stingray Point and saw at most 22 in the sailing area as we started. Onboard for the day were Todd, Jon, Joe, Reed, Ron and Len.

Battle Rythym J99 while racing.
Battle Rythym while racing.

First race was 1.2nm, we had a reef in and were doing a lot of figuring out on how to make the boat go. We didn’t get the reef set as well as we wanted and definitely didn’t tighten down the rig for the conditions. As expected the left was best and boats that went more left came back across with more pressure, less current and a better shift from around Stingray Point. We had started near the boat and had a good lane and eventually went up the middle left. There was a small issue with our first spinnaker set so we held off setting for a minute while we cleared something. Once the chute was up we were off and running. We did a little better on the second upwind and had a good downwind. Weren’t able to catch the fleet and ended up almost 2 minutes behind the next boat settling for 6th.

In the second race we had a terrific start at the boat and held our lane up the left side. We had the boat going and had good sets and douses and passed some boats on the first downwind. By the end only Nanuq was ahead and we corrected to 3rd overall.

For the 3rd race we didn’t have a good start and got stuck behind Corryvreckan near the boat-end of the line. We had to do a tack and went a little too far to the right. Boats on the left made out, but we did find some pressure to catch up. On the downwind we held our own. At the bottom mark the wind shut off and we were trying to go upwind in the same sloppy waves and just a couple knots of wind and against the current. We parked up there for about 8-10 minutes before it finally filled again and we were able to get the boat moving. We managed to put enough space between Corryvreckan and Excitation (who both went more right than us) to finish 3rd on the shortened upwind finish.

EVENT WEBSITE | RESULTS

It was a light air day of offshore buoy racing at Fishing Bay for the first day of the Fall Series. We had 6 boats in our fleet and wind out of the NNW at 2-4 knots for the first race.

Our port tack start at the boat in race 1.
Our port tack start at the boat in race 1.

At the start the wind was shifting all over the place and light. All of the boats were right in the box just behind the line and we were coming just below them all on port – just drifting through. Since everyone else was down the line and given the shift to the left, we started on port at the boat and worked our way upwind. I don’t recall ever winning the boat on port before.

The upwind .8 leg took us towards Stingray Point. We picked some shifts, but mostly looked for pressure and had to tack to clear away from other boats a time or two.

Fleet behind us once the wind filled in race 1.
Fleet behind us once the wind filled in race 1.

On the downwind leg it got even more light and shifty and we struggled to keep the chute full. Eventually pressure came down the course and were able to lay the finish as the 2nd boat over the line behind Sting and just ahead of Corryvreckan.

By the second race the wind went about 60 degrees to the left, now out of the west and we were sailing into the Piankatank. At the start, we were coming up on the boat end with Excitation close by and to leeward of us. Sting had an even better position and was able to shut us out requiring us to around at the boat and started about 40 seconds late behind everyone.

Upwind in race 2. Nanuq
Upwind in race 1

Upwind we focused on shifts and pressure and were able to get around a couple of the boats in our fleet. At the top mark, Afterthought, Excitation and Sting were ahead. We started downwind with some wind and worked to the left which was into the current that was taking us towards the finish. As we went down the course some boats jibed to the right and were becalmed. We held onto the left and eventually the current pushed us down to the finish behind Sting and Excitation.

With only 5 of us on the boat, it was a little challenging doing the maneuvers, but the light air helped and we got it down. It was great sailing with Todd, Spencer, Len and Joe. We wound up with a 2nd place finish overall.

EVENT WEBSITE | RESULTS | PICTURES

For Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Offshore Fall Series #4 I was aboard the weather mark boat with Justin running marks for the races. The wind was steady out of the west making it easy to set the course once for both races. With winds in the upper teens and temperatures in the 60’s – there was some spirited racing and it was fun to watch. Definitely interesting to see which boats were trying hard and making mistakes versus the boats that took it a little easier and were less aggressive, but made fewer mistakes.

VIDEO | PICTURES

Excitation

Saturday was the 3rd day in the Fishing bay Yacht Club Offshore Fall Series and I sailed aboard Mayo Tabb’s Farr-Dickenson 37 Excitation. It started out overcast with some occasional drizzle with winds 14-18 out of the SW. We were short handed with only 6 on board precluding use of the spinnaker most of the day. We made the most of it and focused on good upwind legs and made a lot less mistakes than those flying chutes and the short 1-mile legs allowed us to be competitive. All in all it was a fun day of 3 races.

RESULTS

Double Eagle sailing upwind.
Double Eagle sailing upwind.

We had a rainy, wet and cold day for the FBYC Fall Series #3 and I jumped on Double Eagle as none of the J70s were going to go out.  We had a good first race, solid crew work, picked the right side of the course and led Nanuq all the way around the course.

The 2nd race didn’t go so great for us – on the second upwind leg we were going through a tack.  As we were switching to the other side and the boat started heeling over, one of the crew who was switching sides over the cabin top, lost their footing and went right under the lifeline and into the water.  I quickly jumped to the back of the boat and threw the heaving line while we stopped the boat.  We pulled the crew in and took them down below to warm up.  That didn’t take too long, but even after a few minutes we were so far behind that we just took a DNF instead of going around the course again.

In the last race of the day we had a little trouble at the start and ended up a couple lengths late at the line.  We weren’t able to recover our time on Nanuq and otherwise sailed a solid race.  Thanks again to Sam and crew for having me along!

RESULTS

9/24 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 2

Today started out as a pretty light-air day and the wind quickly built for the 2nd race of the FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2.  We sailed with just 3 of us – Andrew, Nathan and myself and we sailed a good first race, picking the correct side and finishing 1st in the 4-boat fleet.

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As the 2nd race started the wind piped up closer to 20 and two of the teams dropped out and we knew at that point we just needed to finish the race to win the day.  Unfortunately for us we were late at the start having been doing some rig tuning and not being closer enough to the line.  Hotty Toddy had a 10-boat lead at the start, but by the time we got a mile upwind we had caught up and were neck and neck.  We pulled away for another 1st.

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RESULTS

9/18 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1

Back racing the J/70 after nearly 2 months we had nice wind and clear skies for the FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1.  We had out Louise, Andrew and Patrick and it was Patrick’s first time on the J/70.  In the starting sequence Louise had a minor family emergency so we transferred her to the Mr. Roberts and had to sail 3 up.  Having practiced 4-up and with no time until the start, we winged it and did our best with only 3 of us.

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We weren’t able to quite keep up with E.L.E. but we did well nonetheless and were able to finish 2nd.  In between races Louise was back and joined us for the 2nd race of the day. In this race all 4 J/70 were a lot closer and we got behind early on the wrong side of the course upwind.  We came back downwind, but weren’t able to get back ahead of Spice to finish 3rd.  All in all a fun day back in the boat.  Thanks Louise, Andrew and Patrick for sailing!

RESULTS

It was a very, very light air day for the final day of the Fall Series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and the final day of sailing for 2015 for J/70 No Quarter.  John, Andrew and Dave were aboard for a race that started in light air and over 2 hours later nobody was going to finish, so we ended up bagging it and call it a day.  With only 2-3 knots of wind and 1-2 knots of current coming right at us, we just couldn’t make the boat go at times.

Back on shore we dropped the mast and prepared the boat to go into the barn for the winter.

10/31 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 4

RESULTS

10/24 Offshore Fall Series #3

It was a cool, light air day for the 3rd installment of the Fall Series for the Offshore Division at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Without many J/70s on the line and both my boat and Double Eagle short on crew – Andrew and I jumped on Double Eagle and I got to drive the day.  All in all it was a fun day and we finished 2nd in both races.  Thanks again to the Double Eagle crew for having me along!

RESULTS

Today was quite a breezy day for the 2nd Offshore Fall Series day at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Rather than get beat up in the cold and wet conditions most of the J/70s decided to bail and crew on bigger boats.  I ended up on Mad Hatter.

We sailed two races with winds in the low 20’s that eventually eased off a little bit in the 2nd race.  I was mostly in the back of the boat helping trim genoa.

RESULTS