Tag: ILCA

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

Laser Midwinters Day 2

For the second race day at Laser Midwinters we had 12-14 knots all day.  I sailed with the leaders all day long … that was the leaders of the fleet behind me.  It was a beautiful day with warm weather and we sailed 3 races.  It wasn’t my best day as I am not competitive in the top end of that range wind range.  I’m getting more experience in that kind of wind and getting my muscles used to hiking again after a few month hiatus.

I was in the back of the pack so I’ll definitely be in the silver fleet.  Looking forward to sailing with the back half of the fleet in what should be some laid back and competitive sailing at more my level.

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Jon sailing the start of race 2 at Laser midwinters

We had some light winds and chop for the first day of the Laser Midwinters in Clearwater Florida. They split the 78 boat standard rig fleet and I was sailing with the blue fleet with the 3rd start of the day. I was one of the last to arrive at the race course and after a quick postponement they got the fleets started. In the first race I had a bit of a slow start and was in the 30s around the first mark. As I got more comfortable in the boat I clawed back a few spots at a time and came back to 27th. On the last downwind leg I was going downwind on starboard with another boat sailing parallel to me on port. Our masts touched so I protested him. I normally wouldn’t follow through with a protest that doesn’t really affect my finish, but I wasn’t a fan of how the guy handled it on the water so he got tossed later that evening in the protest hearing that he failed to show up to.

We sat on the water for over an hour while the wind clocked around to the right and the course got reset. We started the 2nd race in about 8 knots of breeze. I had a good start and was on the favored side of the course. I had better boat speed than the first race and hung right behind the lead pack. Up until the last two legs I held my place pretty well, but by the last two races I made some positioning mistakes and let some boats sneak inside me and ended up 23rd.

All in all it was a good day of sailing. The weather was comfortable and the water is not too cold. I’m sitting in 50th and if I can put up some solid finishes tomorrow, I might be able to sneak into the top fleet going into the weekend. The forecast tomorrow is for more wind in the 10-15 knot range.

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Welcome Laser Midwinter Sailors

The trip to Clearwater Florida for the 2011 Laser Midwinters East was an easy one.  Ted brought brought my boat down last week when he came for Masters Midwinters and so this afternoon I was able to fly down. Once in town I settled into the hotel, got the boat checked in and went to dinner with Bob, Ted and Adam.

Tomorrow will be the first of 4 days of racing in the standard rig.  The forecast is for lighter winds on Thursday with a little more on Friday and Saturday.  There will be close to 80 other boats with me in the Standard rig fleet and over 200 total at the regatta.  This is my first time at Midwinters and I’m looking forward to a great weekend of sailing.

Throughout the regatta I’ll be one of a couple people updating the regatta twitter feed (@LaserMWE) as well as my own twitter account when I’m off the water (@jondeutsch).

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I used Sunday’s Laser frostbite as an opportunity to get some of the cobwebs out.  Last weeks’ frostbite at Hampton was good for getting the boat together, but with little wind, wasn’t much of an opportunity to do the kind of sailing I’ll be doing at Midwinters in Clearwater Florida in a little over a week.

The temperature on Sunday in Annapolis was in the high 40’s and low 50’s with winds 13-16 knots, overcast skies and a water temperature of 38 degrees.  Generally it was good sailing in wind that I had to hike in and I got some of the feeling back in how to sail the boat and make it go.  With boat handling being my priority, results of the 4 races I sailed in were secondary and the scoreboard was not friendly – finishing 15 out of 17 boats on the line including two DFLs.

All in all it was a good day on the water and I’m glad to have gotten that past me now rather than on the first day of the regatta.  This was also an opportunity for me to practice filming with the GoPro.  I had gotten several mounting locations set up and today I mounted the camera to the bow.  Check out the video:

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Edit: A more comprehensive list of GoPro mounts and mounting locations for a Laser can be found here.

Saturday I got my boat ready for Frostbiting on Sunday and ultimately for Midwinters in a little over a week. I also put together some mounts for the GoPro camera.  I had already mounted the camera to the compass mount that yielded this video from last weekend.

GoPro Compass Mount

Pictured above is the GoPro mounted to the compass bracket just in front of the compass.  This works because most of the time when I’m using the compass I’m hiked out and thus looking at the side markings on the compass.  The few times when I actually want to look at the compass head on are usually when I’m checking the wind when I’m not looking and it’s easy enough to just look over the camera.

GoPro Mast Mount

This picture is of the GoPro mounted to the Laser mast just below the goose neck facing aft on the port side of the boat.  The ‘roll cage’ bracket is the right width, but the screws that come with it aren’t long enough to fit the width of the mast.  A quick trip to the the hardware store for some longer screws and nuts fixed that.

GoPro Bow Mount ShortGoPro Bow Mount Tall

To mount the camera to the bow I drilled a hole in the top of the bow eye and took one of the GoPro tripod mounts and used a bolt from underneath the bow eye to secure it.  Pictured is are both the short and tall versions of the setup.  The taller version gives a better perspective back to the cockpit, but being taller, it might vibrate a little more.  I also plan to wrap both in tape to be sure nothing gets caught on them.

GoPro Masttop MountGoPro Clamp Mount

GoPro Top of Mast View

These photos show the clamp mount I made to fix the camera to the top of the mast. I used another tripod mount and bolted it to a hole I made on the side of the clamp.  This mount could be used at the top of the mast, the aft end of the boom, or even on the rudder head during training.

GoPro Dolly Mount

The final location I mounted the camera to is the dolly.  Normally the dolly rides upside down on top of the boat, so by mounting the camera to the side of it I can video scenes on the way to regattas to help frame the location.  When the boat is on the dolly the mount can also be used to film while moving the boat around.

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Made a trip to the ODU sailing center on Sunday to Frostbite with the Hampton Roads Laser Fleet. This was the first of two frostbite outings to tune up for the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater Florida in a couple weeks.

The day was fraught with very little wind and thus we were only able to get in two short races before calling it a day. The video below shows just how light it was. This was also my first experiment mounting the GoPro camera to the Laser. It turned out pretty well and I can’t wait to try another mounting location next week when I’m frostbiting up at SSA in Annapolis.

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I want to thank all of the sailors who came out for the 2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club last weekend.  We had a record turnout since 2000 and it was by far the best and most fun FBYC Laser Masters regattas that I’ve been a part of.  I also wanted to thank the race committee, our fleet members and all of the other volunteers at FBYC who helped make this regatta what it is.  All of the competitors enjoyed it and got some great sailing, and that would not have been possible without the help of everyone involved. Congrats to John Bertrand on winning his second straight Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship.

2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Group Shot

The complete write-up of the regatta and results can be read here. With 25+ knot winds on Saturday, the boat I was on was just a little too wet to get the camera out.  I was able to get a few good shots from shore and a bunch of great photos on Sunday.

Mr. Roberts and Lasers on Fishing Bay

I hope to see everyone back at FBYC for 2 Laser Regattas next year: The District 11 Championship and US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination in late May or early June, and the 2011 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship in October.

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Today was the first day of the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and what a wild windy day it was.  Unfortunately it was so windy and so wild that I was unable to get my camera out.  With all the spray and having to get in the water to help out tired sailors, I just wasn’t able to get too many shots of the racing.

Read about the day here and check out the first day results.  Tomorrow’s forecast calls for less wind and will hopefully enable more photos to be taken.

Start of race one
Start of race 1.

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Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Trophy Plate
Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Trophy

The 2010 Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship is less than 48 hours away. This is the 29th Annual running of this regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for Laser sailors 35 years of age or older. Since becoming the Laser Fleet captain in 2005 this is the 6th masters regatta I have been event chair for and my 7th laser regatta total.

As of this writing we have 38 boats registered. We’ve reached that number only once in the last 10 years and if we have 2 more boats show up – this will be the largest Laser Masters regatta since we hosted 91 boats for the US Laser Masters in 2000.

Most of the stuff to feed the sailors and Race Committee this weekend. ~35 cubic ft of gear plus me that has to fit in my car of only 90 cubic ft.

It’s amazing to think back at the last 10 years of Laser Masters regattas on how much has changed, yet how some of the traditions have remained the same.

In 2000 we hosted 91 Lasers without all of the new land we have today. We still had the old clubhouse and somehow everyone had a place to rig and eat dinner.

We still have all of the awesome traditions like Alain’s fabulous dinner, excellent race committee, and a fun group of masters sailors who come every year for a great time.

Here are a couple videos of the 2000 Masters showing just how things were:

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Another great weekend in Deltaville.  Saturday was probably the last regatta I am going to sail in for the year.  It was the Sail Against SIDS/Indian Summer Regatta and we had 3 lasers out.  I can’t say I sailed very smart, missing things like the number of laps and major wind shifts.  But I made up for it by being fast and won 5 close races.  It was fun sailing with Mike and Steve and I want to thank Allan’s crew for putting up with me always wanting our fleet to sail a different course than the other fleets.

FBYC Fall Series #2 Upwind

Sunday was the Offshore Fall Series #2 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  I ran the mark boat with Miles.  With a strong, cool north wind, we sailed the races in Fishing Bay.  Occasional light rain added a little misery. It’s always a sight seeing 15-20 twenty to forty footers racing in the shifty conditions in the Piankatank.

Lining up the marks
My only real responsibility as the mark boat: making sure the marks all line up with the committee boat.

Despite the bad weather, I was able to get some pictures of the action that can be seen here.

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