Tag: FBYC

Fishing Bay Yacht Club

Original Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship trophy
original trophy

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.

Laser Masters Trophy

 

Next chocks were made to hold the plate in place and the plaques were aligned and drilled.

Aligning plaques on the Laser Masters Trophy

The trophy was then finished in a natural glossy finish.

Laser Masters trophy finish

Then the rope border was mounted.

Laser masters trophy mounting the rope border

Finally the plate and plaques were mounted to complete the trophy.

Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship Trophy

Winners at the 30th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship on October 15-16, 2011.

189794 Keith Davids, 199142 Newton Wattis, 186519 Dorian Haldeman, 121384 Mike Schmidt, 191498 Alain Vincey, 174236 Jacques Kerrest, 194512 Ted Morgan, 188095 David Schoene

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.

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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:

188095 David Schoene, 188702 Roger Link

188095 David Schoene, 189794 Keith Davids

121384 Mike Schmidt, 187868 Margaret Podlich, 189774 Finn Hassing

199142 Newton Wattis

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Fall Regatta StartThe weather for Sunday at Fishing Bay Yacht Club started out a little questionable.  The wind was blowing 20-25 out of the North at the buoy at the point.  There were 5 of us there to sail and we all decided to take radials out.  We raced inside Fishing Bay in winds in the teens and the Radial sails made for good close racing without any of us being over powered and having to fight the boat.

Ron Thompson and I traded for the lead throughout the races today.  Richard Biggs was not far behind pouncing on any mistakes we made.  With shifty winds in Fishing Bay there were plenty of passing lanes by picking the right shifts both upwind and down.

After 5 races in about 2 hours with off-and-on rain we called it day and retired to the clubhouse for chilli.  All-in-all it was a fun day of sailing and I had to work hard to finish 1-1-2-1-1.  I’m glad this weekend went how it did and I’m even more ready to head up to SSA next weekend for the Crab Claw regatta.

Results | Pictures

*Photo by Lud Kimbrough

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Saturday I sailed in Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Smith Point Race aboard the Farr 37 Excitation.  It was a 57 mile race out of the Piankatank River, east across the bay and then north near the mouth of the Potomac River and then back to the entrance to Jackson Creek.

It took about 13 hours to sail.  The first 2 1/2 hours were in little to no wind.  From the start most of the fleet continue on starboard towards the mouth of the Rappahannock before tacking towards our mark.  We spent our time in the light wind sailing on port along shore and out of the current.  We picked the layline pretty well from over 10 miles out and were first around the mark.  Being the furthest south and the first to catch the sea breeze certainly helped.

Aboard Excitation
Aboard Excitation

We led for a little while longer, but soon the faster J109, Afterthought, passed us heading downwind as we sailed North up the bay to Smith Point.  It was this leg where the sun set and the wind increased into the mid-teens.  After rounding  Smith Point around 11pm we slogged upwind for another 3 1/2 hours to the finish.

Afterthought
Afterthought passing us downwind as the sun set.

That was the longest offshore race I’ve ever sailed and doing most of the driving upwind was a good experience.  In the end we finished 2nd – only a minute and 43 seconds out of 1st place. We had a good crew, ate well, and we all enjoyed the trip.  Thanks Mayo Tabb for taking me along!

RESULTS

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Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted another great Annual Regatta with some good Laser sailing and plenty of wind which is pretty uncharacteristic for FBYC’s annual regatta in the middle of August.  17 of the 114 boats at the regatta were Lasers and 8 were sailing standard rigs.  The Lasers were on a course set in the Piankatank River just outside of Fishing Bay along with the Albacores and Windmills.

All of our races were W2s with .7 mile legs on a slightly pin favored line.  In the first race I failed to port tack the fleet and ended up fouling Steve Wirt just moments after the start. I had to do a few penalty turns putting me just behind the entire fleet.  By the windward mark I caught up to 3rd with boats all around me.  I caught a boat on each of the next two legs and held on for the final downwind leg to the finish.

By the second race the wind had built to the upper teens with gusts into the low twenties.  The first leg of this race was a drag race upwind between Frank Murphy and I.  At the first mark I rounded just ahead of him and shortly after the rounding he death rolled downwind.  That was a wake up call for me to sail a little more conservatively and I stayed out front to get a bullet in this race.

By the time we were starting the 3rd race, the outer course with Flying Scots, Front Runners, Hamptons, Typhoons, and San Juans and already been adjourned for the day having only sailed one race.  I think the conditions on the outside sailing area were really putting a beating on the sailors and the race committee.

Broken GoosneckI botched the start of the 3rd race and basically had to park my boat at the pin while I let Brad Squires, who timed the start perfectly, sail by on starboard.  Once I got going again I had good speed to get back out front and lead the way around the course.  As I was rounding the final windward mark to the finish, I eased the boom out, but my mast didn’t rotate, poping the 3 rivets holding the gooseneck to the mast.  I held on to get me through the finish line and the minute I turned to reach into the club, the goosneck popped off.  With no more races for the day, I was thankful that if was going to break that it broke when it did.

Back on shore we packed everything, cleaned up and enjoyed some drinks in the pavilion before dinner and later drinks.

On Sunday the first start was a at 10.  Lasers were the 3rd start so I left the dock at 9:40 and arrived at the course just before 10.  Turns out I was the only Laser that left the dock.  When I got to the course the RC told us to go in and that racing was abandoned onshore.  All of the other Lasers had been held before launching.  They postponed us due to some approaching storms in the area.  The storms never did come and the wind was beautiful all morning and late afternoon and we never did get sent back out to race.

With 3 bullets in 3 races I won the FBYC Annual Regatta for the second year in a row.  All in all it was a fun regatta and I’m sorry my summer sailing has come to an end for the year.

Laser Awards
1st Jon Deutsch (FBYC), 2nd Jeff Moore (SMSA), 3rd Mike Toms (FBYC)

RESULTS

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I had an awesome weekend in Deltaville.  It started with the Inaugural Deltaville 5k.  With zero training I ran the whole thing and had a respectable finish of 26:07.

Jon at the Deltaville 5k

I took the weekend off from sailing to heal a minor wrist sprain and so  I went right from the 5k to doing race committee at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the offshore Cut Channel Race.  I got a lot of great pictures of the offshore fleet here.

downwind during the Cut Channel Race

Saturday night was 4th of July partying, fireworks and swimming.  For Sunday’s racing we thought it was going to be a bit windy so I jumped on a Front Runner as a 3rd crew member, but halfway through the race the wind died and I sat out the next two light wind races and instead went sailing on a Byte in the afternoon.  Saturday night we again watched Fireworks.

Fireworks as seen from Fishing Bay Yacht Club. On the left is a firework from Stove Point while in the background are fireworks from Matthews County.

Monday was FBYC’s One Design Long Distance Race.  I normally would have sailed my Laser in this, but again I was sitting out to rest my sprained wrist.  I went out for the start and the first two legs to get some photos.  The entire collection is posted here.

Front Runners and a Mobjack sailing downwind in the One Design Long Distance Race

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I sailed on Wavelength for the 2010 Southern Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta and not only was our picture featured in a Leukemia Cup Ad in Sailing and Cruising World, but now we’re on the cover of this year’s regatta poster and flier.  Wavelength was the top fundraising boat at last years regatta.  We’re hoping to repeat and would like to ask anyone who would like to make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to do so via this link.  Thank you!

2011 Leukemia Cup Regatta poster

 

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This evening was our annual Parents Laser Race during Junior Week at FBYC.  The goal is to get as many parents as possible, after the kids activities are done for the day, and get out on the water for some fun short-course racing right off the dock. Tonight was a superb evening for it.  The wind started around 12 knots when we left the dock at 5:30 and died out around 7:30.  We had about 10 boats come out and we got in at least 7 or 8 races.

2011 Laser Parent's Night Races

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Sunday was the Salsa Bowl Regatta and I borrowed a Front Runner from Mike Karn to take out and race.  My crew was friend of a friend Bri Paxton, a recent William & Mary graduate who was on the sailing team there.  Being my first time on a Front Runner since spring of 2010 and Bri’s first time sailing an asymmetrical spinnaker, we were a bit boat-challeneged for  first couple races.

Sailing upwind in a Front Runner

By the second two races we had most things running smoothly and were able to sail well upwind and hang with the fleet on the downwinds.  We ended up 4th in a fleet of 5 in 4 races.  It was a ton of fun and thanks Bri for coming and crewing!

Jon and Bri on the Front Runner

More on-board photos from the day of sailing on the Front Runner can be seen here.

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