2011 Laser District 11 Championship: Video
Here’s my highlight film from all of the on board video I captured at the Laser District 11 Championship last weekend:
Tag: ILCA
ILCA sailboats and sailing. (Prior to 2021 known as Laser)
2011 Laser District 11 Championship: Sunday
This has been an awesome weekend both as a regatta organizer and as a competitor. The regatta ran great, we had nice weather, we got in 8 races, we had competitive fleets and David Lee and the race committee did a fantastic job with the on-the-water part of the regatta. Everyone enjoyed Alain’s dinner and we certainly couldn’t have made the regatta work with out the help of the many club members who pitched in – THANK YOU!
As a competitor I can’t say I had been thrilled with the sailing I’ve done this year. I was sailing really well last fall and even though I was going to big time regattas this winter, I just never put together anything more than a mediocre regatta for myself. With this regatta I was determined to put in a respectable showing and get my game back to where it was last fall. What better a place to do it than on my home waters.
Saturday’s racing saw 12-16 knots of wind for the day. That’s at the upper end of the range that I’m competitive in. I set my boat up right and hiked my butt off and managed to have all top-10 finishes except 1 in 5 races putting me into 8th in the 25-boat fleet. In that kind of wind keeping up with the tail end of the lead pack was a good showing for myself.
Saturday night we had 55 people for dinner and had a great time hanging around the club.
Sunday, the wind was right in my sweet spot for speed and out of the south. On the first race I had a great start, picked the shifts and led at the windward mark by a boatlength or two. It was such a thrill to be out ahead of so many great sailors. But I knew they were coming for me and I did my best to stay out ahead of them. Dan Herlihy and I traded for 1st place on the next 2 legs and on the final beat, he just picked the shifts a little better than I did to take the gun leaving me 2nd.
In Sunday’s second race I had a good start, but didn’t have the boat speed to pull ahead of the fleet. As a result I had a tough time going where I wanted, made way too many tacks and ended up really deep at the first windward mark. Luckily about half of the top 6 sailors were back there with me. Through the next 4 legs we picked our way back up to the front and I dug through about 10 boats to get back to 9th.
The 3rd and final race of the day was my best race. At the start there was a big lefty enabling Rob Overton to port tack the fleet at the pin. I had a good start in the middle and used my boat speed to get enough of a lead and clear lanes to start picking some shifts. At the first windward mark it was me and Rob Whittimore. I couldn’t have written it any better to battling for the lead with a good friend and fellow club member. I led Rob by about half a boat length down to the offset. Rob had a great run and jumped ahead of me at the downwind mark. The race committee changed the next weather leg to the left so I immediately went left on the 2nd windward leg and caught some great shifts to pull ahead of Rob and everyone else behind. The next two legs I felt like I had good boat speed, caught the shifts well, and covered the fleet to take the gun. That ended up being the last race of the day and it was such a thrill to sail my best and win a race against such a great group of sailors. That really made my weekend.
After racing we handed out awards, cleaned up and got on the road.
All in all it was a great weekend and I can’t wait to do some more Laser sailing!
Read my write-up on the District 11 Website and check out the results. I hope to have a video up later this week and I’ll link to photos when they are available.
2011 Laser District 11 Championship: Friday
We’re all set for the District 11 Championship this weekend at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. I got down to the club this afternoon, got everything unloaded and met some of the out-of-towners who were trickling in. A few of us went out for some practice. After sailing 21 of us went out to dinner and then we hung out at the club before calling it a night.
Tomorrow we’ve got overcast skies and 10-15 out of the south east. We should have right around 40 sailors with about 12 or so in the Radial fleet. It’ll be some fun racing tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it.
2011 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship: Sunday
Sunday just wasn’t my day. I sailed out to the course, but knew it was going to be a rough day for me. Overpowered with big waves and not feeling so great so I headed back in.
Here’s some video from Saturday:
2011 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship: Saturday
First day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach NC. I was on the fence and decided to go with the standard rig. We had mostly clear skies with 10-14 knots of wind. The first race started around 11:45 and I had a good start out to the left. On the very first tack of the very first leg of the first race my vang broke. I’m not sure if I just didn’t have the pin in all the way or what happened, but I spent two minutes getting that straight and being DFL at the first mark. I made up a little over 5 boats and ended up 37 out of 45 boats.
In the second race I had a great start and was able to hold my lane most of the way up the first beat. I hung with the main pack and managed a 26th place finish. In the 3rd and 4th races the wind calmed down a bit and the lumpy sea state made it tough to maintain boat speed. I was well into the 30’s boat races putting me in 33rd for the regatta.
After racing I cleaned up and put away the boat. We ate the regatta dinner and then hit downtown Wilmington with the Annapolis crowd.
2011 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship: Friday
After a half day of work and an afternoon drive to Wrightsville Beach North Carolina I’m at Carolina Yacht Club for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship this weekend. It looks like we’re going to have some beautiful weather with warm conditions and mostly sun. That also means the wind could be a little light at times.
This evening I hung out with the SSA crowd who have a house a couple blocks down from the club. We had a lasagna dinner and watched the sunset. Approximately 16 sailors from District 11 have made the trip down. We’ve all got D11 pinnies so we should be easy to spot.
Sunshine Open Day 1
No racing today for the first day of the Sunshine Open at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis. With gale warnings and thunderstorms in the area we weren’t able to get on the water. Through the afternoon we saw winds topping 30 knots. The regatta dinner and band is still on for tonight. Here’s some video of the conditions.
2011 Laser Midwinters East Video Highlights
On-the-water video highlights from the 2011 Laser Midwinters East in Clearwater Florida last week.
2011 Laser Midwinters East Trip: Day 5
We started the final day of the 2011 Laser Midwinters east a little earlier. We had to check out of the hotel and be out on the water for a 10am first start. Despite being one of the first to leave the dock, I was one of the few without a coach boat and therefore one of the last to reach the race course. It wasn’t much of a problem because we were postponed on the water for over an hour before the sea breeze finally came in with 5-10 knots of breeze.
The silver standard rig fleet only got to sail one race before we reached the mid-afternoon time limit. The first start was recalled and we restarted under black flag. I had a terrible start and was so far behind so fast I just ended up ducking a couple stragglers and banging the right corner. It ended up paying off as I was in the 15-20 range at the top mark. I did pretty well reaching and downwind but lost a few more boats when the right DID NOT pay off on the second beat. I finished somewhere in the low 20’s.
The sea breeze made it an easy sail in and Ted and I got the boats and car packed up in record time to begin the drive back to Richmond and then on to Annapolis.
I definitely enjoyed my first trip to the Laser Midwinters East Regatta. I learned a lot, got to sail alongside some great sailors, met some new people, and got back into the boat after a few months off. I’m looking forward to getting a little more practice and going ready to compete at the ACC’s and NAC’s later this spring and summer.
2011 Laser Midwinters East Trip: Day 4
Light air day in Clearwater for the Laser Midwinters. To begin the day we were postponed on shore due to lack of wind at the racing area. There was a nice wind blowing through the sailing center which made it even that much harder to sit around. I did some sightseeing and walked across the street to see the beach.
Around noon the wind filled in enough at the race course for them to send us off. We waited around at the course for a bit while the wind settled and the Standard Gold fleet eventually started in 4-6 knots out of the West South West. Our fleet started under black flag and I had a reasonably good start towards the middle-pin end. I made my way to my left and kept my tacks to a minimum arriving in at the windward mark just behind the top 10 boats. I held my speed pretty well with the rest of the fleet and managed to stay ahead of the scrum of about 15 boats behind me. With 4 boats ahead of me black flagged, I ended up finishing 10th in the silver fleet.
Tomorrow is the last day at midwinters. The weather has been great and the sailing has been fun. We have an earlier start tomorrow and are hoping for a little more wind than we had today. And as soon as we are off the water tomorrow, Ted and I will start the long drive back to VA/MD.