Tag: FBYC Offshore Spring Series

A series of 4 or 5 one day offshore racing days held at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.

It was another beautiful day for racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the 3rd day of the Offshore Spring Series.  I was again on Wavelength for the 3 races on a mostly sunny day with temps in the high 70’s and wind that varied from 19-8.

5/10 FBYC Offshore Spring Series #2

The first race had the most wind and we started out with the No2 and a reef in the main.  We did well at the start by staying away from the faster boats that outpoint us and we were able to make progress upwind albeit a little under powered.   On a tack halfway up the beet we shook the reef out.  The rest of the way around the course went well, but we couldn’t catch the 3 boats ahead of us and settled for a 4th.

In the 2nd race we lined up next to Voodoo 2 and had to take their bad air off the starting line for a while until we could clear the B boats and tack out.  We kept up on the upwind leg, but it was the downwind legs where we shined and made up time on each leg.  By the 2nd upwind leg the wind had dipped even more and we put up the #1.  We barely missed 2nd place by 15 seconds.

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The 3rd race didn’t start so well for us.  We were over early and had to park it and let the fleet sail by so we could turn around and restart.  Starting so far behind everyone made us get creative on the first beat and we banged the right corner (photo above) while most of the rest of the fleet went left which had been working all day.  Sure enough the wind went right and we caught right back up to the fleet.  Unfortunately, we would get stuck with the bottom 2 boats trying to cover each other for a position and ended up as collateral damage never being able to break free and chase the boats ahead of us and we settled for 4th.

5/10 FBYC Offshore Spring Series #2

We’re currently in 2nd place for the series and we got one more race day left next Saturday.  With a good result we should be able to hang onto 2nd.

Jon’s Pictures | Andrea Zilinski Winner Photos |  Results | Video

Following racing a storm rolled through throwing a 420 into one of the RIBs onshore and bashing Mad Hatter at the dock.  I’ve seen some storms roll through and I’ve been at the club for some pretty serious tropical and nor’easters, but I’ve never seen a storm come up so quickly and with such intensity.  Thankfully everyone was ashore and safe.

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Today turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day for racing.  With 22 boats in 4 classes we had great racing aboard Wavelength in the 5-boat PHRF-A fleet in the 2nd of the Spring Series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.

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The wind started around 16-19 and was in the lower end of that range for the first race with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s.  The wind started from the North East and by the end of the day had gone a few degrees further east. The first race was a single windward-leward 1.25nm.  We had a great start and just worked our way up the left side.  With the general trend of the wind going right – there were still nice lifts on the left and more importantly some relief from the currant.  We did well to stay with the fleet, be efficient around the course and not make any mistakes.  Being the slowest boat in the fleet handicap-wise we were 2nd at the finish and less than a minute behind Double Eagle on corrected time and took 2nd place.

The second race was 2 laps and went similarly to the first race.  We had good speed, went the right way and didn’t make any mistakes.  Again we were the 2nd A boat over the line and corrected to 2nd.

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For the 3rd race, another 2 lap race, we started well, rounded the top mark in 3rd and had good speed downwind.  We rounded right behind Nanuq and while everyone else went back to the left that had worked so well all day, we ended up going right.  That paid off when we got a 20-degree righty and found ourselves on the layline and rounding a short distance behind Double Eagle.  Our downwind went well and we held on to correct out 15 seconds ahead of Double Eagle winning the last race of the day and solidifying 2nd place overall.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather and it is so great to out racing again this spring!

Results

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After yesterday’s Opening Day Race, Fishing Bay Yacht Club started the offshore spring series on Sunday with some buoy racing.  We only had about half of the crew we had yesterday and had several new folks in new positions.  Overall we held our own going 3-2-3 on the day. Results.

3/13 FBYC Offshore Spring Series 1
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This was the 2nd day of the Spring Series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and I got to helm the J109 Double Eagle to two 2nd place finishes in the 6-boat fleet.  With winds in the low 20’s the fleet was racing a 1.04 mile leg in the Piankatank up into Fishing Bay. Anytime the wind is out of the North in there it’s very shifty which made driving challenging.

2013 FBYC Spring Series #2 Double Eagle Downwind

In the first race we trailed Afterthought all the way around the course.  They were shorthanded and sailed downwind without a shoot, but made good enough VMG that we had to stay in good pressure with a kite up to make up on them.  On the 2nd downwind we picked it right and were able to nip them at the line.  Unfortunately Nanuq was too close behind and was able to correct over us.

In the 2nd race we were a bit late at the start and were just never able to really make up the deficit to challenge Afterthought and wound up with another 2nd.

I just want to thank Sam Mitchener for the opportunity to drive Double Eagle and wish his family the best and am sorry he wasn’t able to sail with us today.

Results: Race 1 | Race 2

Photo courtesy of Carrie Russell.

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It was great to get back to sailboat racing this year at Opening Weekend at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  On Saturday I sailed on Wavelength – a C&C 37 owned by Rob Whittet and Steve Utley.  The course was a middle distance race and the light air and chop was not kind to us.  Even without a great result it was a fun day on the water that ended up with a Opening Day dinner and party at the club.

4/13 FBYC Opening Day: Wavelength:

On Sunday we sailed the first day of the Spring Series.  After waiting around for wind, we had a sea breeze that built until just after the start of the 2nd race.  Both races were nice and long and while we still couldn’t touch the J/109’s, we still sailed well and had fun.

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4/28 Spring Series #3lining up at the start

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.

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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

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Last Sunday for the Offshore Spring Series #4 at FBYC I sailed aboard Wavelength and brought along Lauren and Patrick for the ride.  We mounted the GoPro camera to the spreaders and here’s a couple of photos from that.  I’ll put together a video in a few weeks.

2011 Offshore Spring Series #4 Spreadercam 1
2011 Offshore Spring Series #4 Spreadercam 2
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Saturday was my first time back to Deltaville since the Tornado came through last weekend.  I was surprised to see how much had already been cleaned up and put back together.  With last weeks racing cancelled, this was the first day of offshore sailing and I was aboard Wavelength. It was a bit cloudy, but warm and we saw 15 knots with gusts to 30. It was a bit wild at times with the kite up in winds over 25.

Here’s some video of the damage and some highlights from FBYC’s Offshore Spring Series #2.

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