Tag: Hampton VA

The 3rd and final day of Southen Bay Race Week was 3 windward-leeward courses sailed to the south off of Ocean View.  We had warmer conditions than past days and wind that hovered around 14 in the first race and went down to 8-10 by the last race.

PhotoBoat.com: Double Eagle &emdash; 2014 Southern Bay Race Week E 658

Our first race didn’t start well- we fouled a boat before the start and after doing circles we were almost a minute late at the start.  Upwind in the first part of the beat we made some good moves and caught back up with the fleet.  The rest of the race went well and we were able to pull off a 5th.

PhotoBoat.com: Double Eagle &emdash; 2014 Southern Bay Race Week E 644

The 2nd race of the day was a bit tougher on us and we had to settle for an 8th.  In the final race of the day we had a great start, and got around the course, but couldn’t quite hang with the bigger boats that pulled away and put a few places between us.

6/1

In the end Sea Star and Voodoo 2 got just enough points on us in the final races to tie for 4th place, leaving us just one point behind in 6th.  We came close and had a good race and definitely a fun time.  Thanks Sam Mitchener for having me along.  It was great sailing with you, Mark, Mayo, Bonnie, Melissa, Chris, Mike, Marie, & Jerry.

Results | Pictures | Photoboat Pictures

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Today was distance race day at Southern Bay Race Week.  It over an hour of pounding into waves under motor to reach the starting area just North up the bay from the mouth of the James River.

5/31

The first leg was a beat out and up into the bay.  We picked a pretty good layline from 5 miles out and rounded with the leaders.  Downwind some of the longer boats with bigger downwind sails were able to grind past us and we had to settle for a 7th.

5/31

After racing I wore my best pirate costume and spent a couple hours walking through the Blackbeard Festival going on in Hampton this weekend.  Some of the costumes were pretty amazing and they kept firing cannons all afternoon.

5/31 Jon dressed as a Pirate for the Blackbeard festival

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PhotoBoat.com: Double Eagle &emdash; 2014 Southern Bay Race Week A 328

Southern Bay Race Week started with triangle courses in the James River just outside the Hampton harbor.  We had some good starts and stayed in the fleet and had a good day putting up 4-5-4 in 3 races and were sitting in 4 at the end of the day.

5/30

Results | Pictures | Photoboat Pictures

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This weekend is Southern Bay Race Week in Hampton VA and today I was helping Sam Mitchener deliver Double Eagle to Hampton for us to race on.  We had a cool overcast day with winds out of the Northeast ranging from 10-16.  The 43nm trip in lumpy conditions was otherwise uneventful and we made it in just over 7 hours motoring the entire way.  Tomorrow the rest of the crew joins us for 3 days of racing and hopefully some warmer weather.  I’m looking forward to my first time at Southern Bay Race Week!

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I started the day at Hampton Yacht Club where a team from Fishing Bay Yacht Club was invited to a scrimmage Team Racing Sonars.  We started with a quick recap/overview/planning in a classroom and then the team of 11 FBYC sailors were split into 3 boats for our team and Hampton took the other 3 boats.  We spent a couple hours doing drills and practicing team race maneuvers against the Hampton team.  The wind was in the low to mid teens which made boat handling a little more challenging, particularly for the FBYC sailors who hadn’t had a lot of time together nor a lot of time in Sonars.  But we still were able to put on a good showing and I think it was a very successful scrimmage for both teams.  A big thank you to Gary Bodie and Hampton Yacht Club for having us!

6/22 Hampton Team Race Scrimmage - Gary Bodie explaining the drills.

Immediately after getting off the water in Hampton, I got on the road to Deltaville to sail Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Moonlight Regatta on Wavelength.  The start was delayed 30 minutes while some weather approached the area, but never really came near us.  Out on the water we had beautiful sailing conditions with mostly clear skies and a steady 12-15 out of the south.  None of the overcast and occasional rain we had seen in Hampton earlier in the day.

We started at 8pm and sailed out of the Piankatank with the sun setting behind us just a short time later.  I grabbed this shot of Mad Hatter just behind us passing in front of the sunset. Just goes to show that the best pictures don’t necessarily come from the best camera, but from the camera you’ve got. This was a 2-take photo taken with the iphone.  Here’s an alternate version of it on Instagram.

6/22 FBYC Moonlight Race - Mad Hatter sailing through the sunset.

The race went pretty well and we had a good group aboard for sailing at night.  I was jib grinder for the first 3 legs, spin trimmer downwind, and drove the last 2 legs upwind.  We finished around 10:30. While we didn’t make the podium, the ice cream smothered in rum after racing was reward enough.

Results | More photos from today starting here.

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