ILCA sailboats and sailing. (Prior to 2021 known as Laser)
Today started out with winds over 20 and gusts even higher. I sailed out to the course, but sailed right back in. With self-preservation in mind I was too afraid of one bad capsize and re-injuring my wrist and missing more sailing, so I thought it would be best to sit these conditions out.
I spent the day going for a run and catching up on some reading and email. I missed 3 races, but there 2 more left for tomorrow.
We sailed 3 more races at the Laser North American Championship today after a 2 1/2 hour postponement on the water. I won the second race of the day. During the first race – in which I only beat 4 boats – I figured out the wind/weather pattern and used that to my advantage in the second race. There were some dark clouds out to the left of the course and everyone was fighting for the pin and going left. I knew by the pattern a righty was coming and was very close to the boat end at the start and immediately went right.
The righty started coming in and before I knew it I was on the lay line. After I tacked it was pretty clear the fleet was well below me, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to go left and bring them back. At the windward mark I had about a 20-boat lead.
It was great being all by myself up front because that meant I could sail the rhumb line and fast. It felt like a 10-boat regatta where all I needed to do was not make any mistakes, go fast, and pay attention to the wind for any shifts. I extended my lead on the next 3 legs and had close to a 40-boat length lead, on the boats behind me, after the second upwind. By the last downwind the fast guys, like regatta leader Clay Johnson, had gotten back up to the front of the fleet and started to close in on me.
On the final upwind leg to the finish a rivet popped out of my gooseneck and fell to the deck. I just kept racing and crossed the finish in first. It was a relief I made it without falling apart or being caught and it was a thrill to win a race like that against such great competition.
As soon as I finished I set to work jury rigging my gooseneck to get me through the next race. In the 3rd race I played the shifts pretty well and kept myself in the front part of the pack putting me in 29th for the race.
I’m currently in 39th with 6 races down and 5 races to go. If I can finish half as well as I did in the second race today I should be able to stay in the top 40 and pick up some grand prix points.
Today was the first day of the Laser North American Championship Regatta at Brant Beach Yacht Club. A few weeks ago I banged up my wrist so I had taken the last two weekends off from sailing other than just going out as ballast. Yesterday and today were my first two days back out on my wrist.
We were racing with 70 Lasers in one start. In the first race I had a pretty terrible start and took pretty much the entire race to get my wheels going and get back in the groove. I finished in the 50’s.
On each start we had numerous general recalls and every start was ultimately under I over Z. On the second race my tiller universal joint snapped right at the start. I ended up spotting the fleet two minutes while I made a repair. I managed to come back and wasn’t even DFL at the first windward mark. I picked off boats on every leg and wound up 45th.
In the 3rd race I had a reasonable start, hung with the bulk of the fleet and mostly held my position to the finish ending up 44th.
Not my best day on the water, but reasonable given the level of competition. My wrist held up and hopefully won’t be giving me any problems this week. With a little less wind forecasted for tomorrow, I should have a better shot at keeping the boat flat and staying in the fleet.
This week the Laser North American Championship is getting underway at Brant Beach Yacht Club. I drove in yesterday evening and got the boat ready today and went for a short practice sail in 15+. I’ll be sailing in the Standard Rig fleet with about 72 boats. Another 142 boats will be sailing in the Radial fleet.
Follow updates throughout the regatta on the @LaserNAC twitter account – I’ll be contributing to the off-the-water updates.
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.
This weekend started with Saturday’s Laser Spring Regatta. We had 11 Lasers and Radials out at FBYC for the first day of club racing this year. The wind was light – in the 4-8 knot range. I continued to have good upwind speed, but terrible downwind speed. We got in 6 races and I finished 2nd.
Check out more photos from the awards and the rest of the weekend here.
Tim Zimmerman is a writer for Sailing World and was a competitor at the 2011 Laser District 11 Championship we hosted a few weeks ago at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and he’s written a nice blog article about his experience at the regatta:
Don’t get me wrong. The regatta itself, the District 11 Laser Championships, was not terrible. In fact, it was fantastic. Hosted by the smoothly-run, beautifully-situated, Fishing Bay Yacht Club down in Deltaville, Va., on the southern Chesapeake Bay, the regatta was blessed with excellent winds, a great crowd of sailors, and a Laser-loving chef, Alain Vincey, who cooked up a spectacular Saturday-evening dinner. Even the camping was nice.
Read the rest of the article on Sailing World’s blog.
Winning the pin at one of the starts just a few seconds before the gun. More photos by Paul MacMenamin.
On Sunday for the second day of the Laser District 8 Championship Regatta we had 12-15 knots out of the east. We sailed three 2-lap windward-lewards just off the beach in front of the club. I stayed with the leaders and usually made the left side of the course work upwind. I had good upwind speed, but usually lost a spot or two on the downwind legs. I finished 3-4-5 on the day, good enough to hold onto 3rd place overall. (results)
The trip home went well considering I drained my EZPass account on the way up and had to stop at every toll booth on the way back. When I got into Richmond the warning lights on the dash started coming on and as I pulled into my driveway the car stalled. I’m glad to have made it home.
The forecast for today started out looking pretty dismal. 5 knots out of the North West at 11am building to all of 8 by the middle of the afternoon and then dying. We sailed out to the course in almost nothing. The committee set the line and right at the time we should have started the first race the wind started swinging around to the South. A 15-minute postponement later we had a 15-20 knot sea breeze.
My day consisted of some solid sailing with some moments of brilliance and stupidity thrown in to keep it interesting. I was able to stay with or in the lead pack in most of the races and I was pretty happy being competitive in the 15-18 knot range whereas I traditionally haven’t been able to keep up in that.
All in all it was good racing and a fun but grueling day on the water with 5 races. I finished 2-7-4-3-5 putting me into 3rd overall in the 14-boat fleet. After racing we relaxed on the deck of Sayville Yacht Club, ate burgers, met some new people and listened to some live music. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
The regatta continues tomorrow with 3 more races planned. I’m really hoping for just a couple knots less of wind so I can show my speed and stay up front. Fingers crossed.
Today was my driving day to get to the District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club in Long Island. I left Richmond at 4:30 in t he morning and arrived at the club around 2:30 in the afternoon. I lost track of how many wrong turns I made. It took over two hours to cover 40 miles transiting New York City.
Sayville Yacht Club is located about halfway out Long Island on the south bay near Patchogue Bay. The forecast for tomorrow is for it to be a little on the lighter side – under 10 knots. Sunday we should have a little more wind with the south west sea breeze blowing through.