Tag: ILCA

ILCA sailboats and sailing. (Prior to 2021 known as Laser)

This has been a beautiful weekend and it would have been a shame not to get out on the water. The Hampton Roads Laser Fleet was having a frostbite at the ODU Sailing complex and I decided to get the boat out and join them. This being my first time out since October it was a chance to get the cobwebs out as well as a shake down for regattas in the next couple weekends.
We ended up having the best fleet they’ve had out all year with 9 boats. The weather was gorgeous with 12-17 knots in the Elisabeth River. We set up short 2-lap courses that took about 15 minutes to complete. The short courses really put a premium on picking the right side of the course and on boat handling. There’s no time for that shift to come back in an oscillating breeze.

After the first couple races everyone really got into their grooves and we had some nice tight racing. Overall I kept in the upper-middle part of the pack, usually just a couple boat-lengths out of the lead. I had a 4th over all. All in all it was a good day on the water, and I’m looking forward to getting the season started next weekend at the Capital City Regatta in Washington DC.

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2009 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Start

This past weekend was the 2009 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. As the event chair it’s a lot of work to get everything together to put on an event like that. On one hand it’s a relief to have that behind me, but that also means the sailing season is over for the year.

The event turned out great and I got to take a lot of great pictures. The overcast clouds and periodic ran made it a little hard to get good pictures, but I did what I could.

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Brant Beach Yacht Club

My mission to sail at one new club every year took me to Brant Beach Yacht Club the second weekend in August for the Laser Nationals. With 278 Lasers in 3 fleets this is the largest Laser event ever held in North America. I was one of 105 Lasers in the standard rig fleet.

The first day was a little out of my wind range and I had a tough time keeping the boat flat upwind. On the second day I was a little more competitive, but with 105 boats on a short line, the starts were brutal and I am definitely out of practice starting in a big fleet.

I can’t say I sailed my best regatta, but I had a good time and everyone at Brant Beach Yacht Club did a fantastic job hosting us.

Here are a handful of photos that I took while I was there with my camera phone.

Here’s a couple pictures taken by the photographer here, here, here, and here.

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Lasers Beached at 2009 NAC

This past weekend I was up in Fort Erie Ontario for the 2009 Laser North American Championship. I was sailing a Radial in the 4-day regatta. It wasn’t my best showing, but I leaned a lot about sailing a Radial and how a big-time regatta at the level of a North American Championship runs. I’m looking forward to US Nationals in August. Here’s a few pictures from around the Buffalo Canoe Club during the event.

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District Secretaries

The first weekend of May was the 2009 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship (standard rig). 84 Lasers sailed in a variety conditions for two days in Annapolis, Maryland. Results are here. Off-the-water photos are here.

This photo is of me and my fellow District Secretaries: Jon Deutsch (D11), John Shockey (D18), John Coolidge (D17), Eric Reitinger (D10)

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2009 Laser ACC Website Screenshot

This is the website for the 2009 Laser Atlantic Coast Championship that I just launched with the event organizers from Severn Sailing Association. The site will serve as the central source for information about the two events in May and June. We have a few experiments going both in marketing the site and event as well as tracking how the website is used. Check it out at http://www.LaserACC2009.org

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Ware River Microburst

This is a photo of part of the aftermath of a microburst that came through the Ware River Yacht Club site shortly after all of the boats came in for the day on Saturday. These five Buccaneers were tipped while at anchor. About 30 other boats were tipped or thrown from their trailers or dollies. The tent city was nearly leveled by what was estimated to be at least 60-knot gusts for less than 5 minutes. There were no injuries and only minor damage to boats, tents and the club facilities.

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