Tag: FBYC

Fishing Bay Yacht Club

Having not planned on being in Deltaville this weekend I was a late add to Wavelength for the Moonlight Regatta following my Laser sail in the afternoon.  The weather was perfect for a night race – comfortable temperatures, clear skies and 12-19 knots of wind out of the north east.

We got a pretty reasonable start and were 2nd around the top mark behind Double Eagle.  On the 2nd leg out to mark E, Double Eagle went pretty low and allowed us to slip by while the Tartan 40 Nereid just waterlined us in the chop and was half a length ahead of us to leeward at E.  For some strange reason Nereid went below the mark, we didn’t, but we couldn’t turn right to go to G because they were there.  Eventually it was sorted out and Nereid went back to re-round while we led the fleet to G only to be overrun by Double Eagle once they caught up.  Below is a photo of Nereid (right) going back to the mark, while  Double Eagle tracks us down.

 

From G to J was a close reach up into the Rappahannock River with the current coming right on our nose.  I drove about a mile and a half of the leg before we turned to go back to the Piankatank.   We put the chute up just before F and gybed around it.  We had a bit of a trouble with the jibe before we got settled to head for the finish.  About halfway down the leg to the finish our topping lift broke.  We took down the spinnaker and sailed bare-headed while we got the genoa sorted and hoisted.  We came so close to winning the A fleet… Double Eagle corrected to 34 seconds ahead of us leaving us in 2nd overall.

Below is the course.  The marks as sailed are labeled Moon Start-Moon-E-G-J-B(finish).  The dotted red line is the actual course we sailed.

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Results | Photos

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I spent most of today at Fishing Bay Yacht Club putting the new boat together.  After 4 hours and 3 trips to West Marine and I had it all tricked out like I wanted and ready to sail.

6/14 drilling holes in and tricking out the new boat.

6/14 about to launch the new boat for the first time.

What really surprised me when I was sailing was how much stiffer the mast seemed.  I haven’t sailed many boats and am pretty used to the feel of the old boat.  I’m guessing after 17 years the old mast has been flexed so many times it’s lost a bit of stiffness.  Couple the stiffer mast with control lines that are just a little thinner than I’m used to and I really felt like a wimp trying to crank everything in.  I’m sure it’ll loosen up a bit as I get used to it.  The other difference was the all Holt-Allen fittings which were just a little different than the Harken ones I’m used to.  I’m not sure yet which I prefer, but I’m sure I’ll be able to tell in time.

6/14 first sail in the new boat.

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I recently got a new Fujifilm FinePix XP200 Waterproof Digital Camera and just gave it to my friends while we were racing.  This is what they took and I’m pretty impressed with the camera and how it came out.

Some video and pictures from Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s One Design Invitational Regatta sailed in Front Runners and San Juan 21.

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Saturday brought beautiful weather for Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s One Design Invitational Regatta.  Sailing were Front Runners and San Juan 21s with another boat sailing Portsmouth handicap.  I sailed a Front Runner and had Alan Williamson crewing with me on his first time sailing.

The wind started out light – which was perfect for us as we found our way around the boat and learned the routines of the maneuvers to get the sails up and down as we went around the course.  Luckily the other boats had some new crew too so we all were getting up to speed at the same time.  As a result the racing was close throughout.

We did 5 races with winds building from 5-11 and staying pretty consistently out of the east.  Our race course as a windward-leeward 1/4 mi legs set just west of the end of Stove Point.

In the first 3 races we were up and down putting up a 3-1-3.  I won the boat a couple times at the start, but never seemed to be able to live there with the other boats below us out-pointing us, so we had to tack out and make more tacks making it harder to catch up.  In the races we did well in, I was closer to the pin and was able to foot and go fast and do less tacks.  We also made sure to setup on the laylines early to give ourselves plenty of time to prepare for the roundings.

Going into the last race we were tied for 1st and it was a longer 3-lap race.  We were close to Matt Lambert all the way around the course and more than once he tried to stick it to us and almost succeeded.  But we were able to get through the turns quickly and use the favored positions to stay just ahead and win the race putting us in 1st overall and 2 points ahead of 2nd.

It was a lot of fun having Alan aboard and getting to show him sailing and racing and the level of athleticism and effort needed to do it well.  He was a quick study and really helped get us around the course fast.

Front Runner 1st: Jon Deutsch/Alan Williamson; 2nd: Andrew Boren/Brad Squires

Thanks to Parker Garrett and the race committee for running the races today!  We could have asked for a better day all the way around.  And thanks Matt Braun for loaning me the boat to sail.

Results | Pictures

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For the final day of the weekend I invited a few friends to come sail Lasers.  Len loaned me his boat and we had mine and two others to take 4 people out.  It was a beautiful day as the wind built and Bob, Lisa, Jenn and Mike all had a great time sailing around.

Bob:

Once they had their fill and the wind really settled in, Len and I went out and did some tuning by doing a couple laps on a 1.5 mi course.

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We had 4 Front Runners among the dozen or so other boats for Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s One Design Spring Series #3.  After cutting my teeth on the boat in yesterday’s Open House Regatta I was racing against my crew yesterday as they found their way around a Front Runner today.

5/25 FBYC Piankatank Regatta Spring Series 3

To start the day the wind was on the light side so most of the racers sat on shore and communicated with the race committee by radio until it looked like the wind was going to fill in.  From there the wind began to build gradually throughout the day and really made for some nice racing.

5/25 FBYC Piankatank Regatta Spring Series 3

Matt & A.L. Braun were once again stellar winning all 4 of our races.  Mark Stephens and I traded 2nd and 3rd place with me getting the better of him to take 2nd on the day.  My crew Jess Hardin learned quick and did a good job getting the chute up and down.  All in all a very successful day on the water.

Results | Photos Sharon Wake | Photos Tom Roberts

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Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s first ever Open House Regatta was Saturday. This year we tried something new and replaced a distance race for the bigger boats-only with declining participation with a shorter distance race for all boats held at the club and on surrounding waters.  It was cooling being part of the group that came up with the ideas last November and seeing it carried out and how well it went and how great of a time everyone had.

The goal of the event was to have racing at the club – since it’s centrally located where we all like to go anyway, and it’s a holiday weekend so everyone is down at the river.  We also wanted to involve all of our boats and to invite friends to come racing with us in some casual racing.  We finished it up with a raft up and dinner/band in the evening.  Caroline Garrett, Elizabeth Staas, Len Guenther, Mark Hayes and Matt Braun and all of the other volunteers did a great job making the ideas a reality.

5/24 Open House Regatta

I sailed a Front Runner and introduced fellow member Christin Lipscomb and her boyfriend Mike Walsh to the boat as my crew.  It was my first time on the boat in nearly a year.

The race was a progressive start race – meaning the slowest boats start first and the fastest boats start last and whoever crosses the finish line first wins.  The different start times handicap the boats based on their speed.  There was a second progressive start for the >22′ boats which sailed an even longer course.

Our race went alright.  We didn’t have the best first leg and weren’t able to catch the breeze that allowed the boats ahead to really stretch out and not get caught in a wind hole further back.   We had fun and still managed a 6th place and 3rd Front Runner to finish. There were a few other fun moments like where we were unsure which side of the mark we were to round and had boats going both ways.

After racing we put up the boat and joined the raft up of the bigger boats as they finished.  The goal was to make a sunflower where we complete the circle of boats, but we fell short a few boats and ended up with a crescent.  Still it was a fun time having everyone rafted up together hopping between boats and catchup up with everyone and seeing how their races went.

5/24 Open House RegattaJon Deutsch at the top of the mast to take a picture

Once we had most of the boats rafted up – I went up the nearly 70′ mast on Destiny to get a picture.

5/24 Open House Regattaview of the raft up from the top

5/24 Open House RegattaJon Deutsch

Post-raft up I bumped into a Flying Scot sailor at the dock and sprained my ankle which left me laid up icing it for the rest of the evening.

5/24 Open House RegattaEric Bokinsky with Jon Deutsch

Results | Photos

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For the start of the Memorial Day Weekend I got to do some Front Runner with Matt Braun who was graciously loaning me a boat for the weekend.  Needless to day I don’t think either of us had broken so many things on a boat and had to fix so many things on a boat in one sitting.

5/23 boat maintenance on a Front Runner5/23 boat maintenance on a Front Runner w/Matt Braun

In the evening we got the young adult members (<40) and guests of FBYC together for a cookout.What a great way to start our weekend!

5/23 FBYC Young Adult Member & Guest CookoutHolly Roper, Jon Deutsch, Carol Bokinsky, Julie Wash, Eric Bokinsky, Abigail Whorley, Miles Kimbrough, , Ellie Dew, Tomas Roper, Massey Whorley, Eliza Strickland, Katie Branch, Mike Walsh, Austin Mill, Christin Lipscomb, , , Spencer, Jessie Hardin

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Today was a dual day of running Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Crew Training Program and trying to get some Laser racing in during the Laser Spring Regatta.  After meeting with the training class early in the morning and seeing them off for their training sails – I joined the Laser fleet for a race and a half before retiring to meet the training class on their return to shore.

5/18 FBYC Laser Spring Regatta

The wind today was a lot like yesterday with 8-10 out of the north.  Just enough to be sitting out, but not so much to have to depower or spend a lot of time fully hiking in the puffs.  The Lasers were started with the Front Runners and I was able to quickly pull away from the other Lasers.  But that put me smack in the middle of the Front Runner fleet for the remaining 4 legs of the race.  I had a fun time balancing between trying to beat the Front Runners, not getting between them and screwing up their race, and making sure I didn’t do something stupid and get caught by the Lasers behind me.  In the end I was the first Laser across and finished just behind the 1st Front Runner.

5/18 FBYC Laser Spring Regatta

Even though I missed the next 3 races, it was fun to get out on the water and get to hang out with the crew trainees, the laser sailors and the other fleets.

Results

Photos: Bob Fleck

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