Tag: Long Beach Township NJ

on Long Beach Island (LBI)

I got a late start out of Richmond on Thursday night and finished the 2nd half of the drive this morning arriving at Brant Beach Yacht Club 45 minutes before the skippers meeting. We ended up being postponed on shore another 45 minutes before finally leaving around 12:30.

We would go out and float around another 2 1/2 hours without any wind really filling in. I tried making a GoPro video that made it look as if we really were sailing fast. Kind of glad I did – I took some underwater video and only after reviewing it later did I realize how bad the weeds really were despite not looking bad on the surface.  Also note how shallow the bay is.

Back on shore the sailors enjoyed a great dinner in the club house and watched the sunset as the club’s A-Cat Raven sailed by.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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Friday was the final day of the Laser North American Championship at Brant Beach Yacht Club.  We went out for a 10:30 start in what we knew would be a dying breeze.  After one general recall I got a pretty good start in the middle of the line.  I was in the top 20 around the first mark and held that to the downwind where I lost a few spots.  On the second upwind I headed way out to the right, through the Radial Silver fleet that had just started, and found a lot better pressure putting me into the top 10 around that mark.  On the final downwind and reach the wind died and a light sea breeze came in.  I didn’t get far enough out to an edge and those who did were able to get around me.  I finished 26 and that ended up being the only race of the day.

All in all it was a great week of sailing and I was able to learn some things and show myself that I’ve got what it takes to at least be a competitor in a regatta like this.  Winning a race completed the week and was the highlight of my sailing year.  I’ve got 3 annual regattas planned for the next 4 weekends and I’m looking forward to the smaller fleets and fun times that go with them.

Results

Taking the Cape May-Lewes ferry

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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.

Results

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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.

Results

 

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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.

Brant Beach Sunset

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Last weekend I was up in Brant Beach New Jersey for a Laser clinic.  I can’t say I am a better sailor just from being there, but I did learn a lot of things I need to practice and apply to my sailing that I hope will make me a lot better in the future.

One of the tenets of the training was to use practice to find where the ‘edge’ is.  Here’s plenty of footage of me ‘finding the edge’.

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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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