Fishing Bay Yacht Club
On Sunday Mike Toms and I ran a clinic for a dozen Laser sailors at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Most of the group was new to sailing or at least new to the Laser and we spent most of the time going over the boat parts, rigging and basic maneuver techniques on a Laser. Then we took out about 7 boats in nearly no wind to putter around for an hour. Pictures.
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.
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
Sailing continued on Sunday with a a string of 3rd places by Wavelength in the 3 races on the 1st day of the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Offshore Spring Series. Results.
Photo by Andrea Winner.
Got the sailing season off to a great start on Saturday with the Opening Day Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club sailing aboard the C&C37 Wavelength. We did one 12.5 mile race out around the channel buoys to the entrance of the Rappahannock River and back. We did some great sailing which included a spinnaker peel and managed to finish 2nd in some very close racing – only 36 seconds separated the top 4 boats on corrected time. Results and Pictures.
Recently finished a video which will be used in early 2012 to promote Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Crew Training Program.
Saturday, Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted their Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner. I put together this highlight film. I also won the Blanton Bowl as the clubs top Laser sailor in home and away regattas.
Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Laser Frostbite Regatta was the last sailing event of the year for the club and the last sailing event of the year for me as well. We had nice winds about 5-8 out of the north east. It was cool, but sunny and comfortable with a full set of layers on. Having not sailed the Laser in 6 weeks I was pretty inconsistent on the water today. Won 3 races, but wound up 3rd after some deep finishes were factored in. Kudos to Ron Thompson and Michael Moore who both put up top 3 finishes in every race to finish first and second. It was a great day of racing and it was nice having the Hampton Roads sailors come join us.
Results are here.
With that event my sailing for 2011 is complete. I finished the year having sailed 54 days. Up 5 days from last year.
The Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship has been sailed by Laser sailors over the age of 35 since 1981. In the early years of the regatta Alain Vincey had beautiful plates made that were given to the competitors as prizes. The last of these plates was made into a perpetual trophy for the regatta. About 10 years ago the trophy fell over, and the ceramic plate was shattered. The plate was painstakingly repaired and has hung in the clubhouse ever since.
As great of a trophy as it was, I wanted to be sure the plate would be protected and that the regatta would have a trophy that would last for years to come. With those goals in mind, I planned a trophy that looks like a serving tray with sides that would protect the plate mounted to it. And although I’m not yet of age to sail in Masters regattas, I made sure there would enough room for winners to cover well past the time that I ‘age out’ of Laser masters sailing.
The trophy was built at the beginning of October out of 13 pieces of 3/4″ mahogany.
Next chocks were made to hold the plate in place and the plaques were aligned and drilled.
The trophy was then finished in a natural glossy finish.
Then the rope border was mounted.
Finally the plate and plaques were mounted to complete the trophy.
Winners at the 30th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship on October 15-16, 2011.
More pictures of the trophy and the build process can be seen here.
I want to thank my father, Stan, for his help and tools. And thanks to Alain Vincey for the kicking off the regatta years ago and providing the plate and original trophy for it.
This weekend Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted the 30th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship for Laser sailors 35 years of age and old. Since I don’t yet meet the requirements to sail, I’ve been made the event chairman. The event went off without a hitch and 36 sailors participated. The RC did a fabulous job getting 7 races in, including 3 in 20+ knots of wind on Saturday. Alain’s pork Ossobuco was fantastic as all of his meals were. I just want to thank everyone who helped out and all of the sailors who came.
Results and photos have been posted. Here are a few of my favorite photos:
