Tag: No Quarter

No Quarter Sailing

6/5

We started the 2015 FBYC Friday J/70 Series with a nice evening to be out on the water.  The wind was a little light – but enough to make a race out of it among the 4 other boats that were out there.

On board were Ron, Brad and Borna and we sailed pretty well hitting the left corner on the first beat while most of the rest of the boats went right.  It worked out for us and we had a nice lead until E.L.E. was able to claw us back to pass us in the final boat length to the finish as a puff came from behind.

6/5

We started racing back to the dock and gave up when the wind died for good.

Photos

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , , ,

FBYC concluded the offshore spring series with gorgeous sailing conditions.  Sailing on J/70 No Quarter were Ray, Ron and John.  We had a good first race – picking the shifts well and going fast on the course set just east of Stove Point.  The wind started around 10-12 and died out to about 5 by the end of the race.  We finished 1st in the 5-boat J/70 fleet and even picked off some of the PHRF-A boats who started 5 minutes ahead of us.

By the time the second race rolled around the wind had piped up to 12-15.  We had a good start and worked on going fast and getting out ahead of the fleet.  At the top mark we were leading the fleet and we made the turn to go downwind.  When the crew exclaimed ‘mark!’ I though we had bumped it and started contemplating how to do a quick turn before we put the chute up.  When they said ‘MARK!’ again – I realized it must have still be close and sure enough it was hung on the keel and coming right along with us.

We stopped the boat and walked it around the bow as our competition took wide swings around us, likely thankful we just made the lay line a lot more reachable for them.  On my way back to the helm from the bow I missed my step around the companionway and fell all the way to the bottom of the cabin, hitting my right shin on the companionway edge as I fell.  No blood, but it was a pretty good hole and I could see to the bone.

Our day was over so we radioed in and quickly got back and put the boat up so that I could head back to Richmond to spend 2 hours in an ER getting xrays and 6 stitches.  Coincidentally, I sprained my ankle pretty badly this weekend last year.  I’m probably going to have to stay home next year.

5/24 ER visit

It had been a great day up until that point and we were learning a lot about making the boat go in the better breeze.  Thanks Ray for coming down for the day and showing us some of the tricks.

Results | Series Results

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , , ,

2015 No Quarter Open House

After last year’s successful regatta FBYC held their 2nd Open House Regatta and No Quarter J/70 was among the 30 boats sailing the 8.5nm course in the Piankatank River.  In the spirit of being a fun casual race – I invited a couple co-workers with me who hadn’t sailed much.

Open House No Quarter Crew

We were treated to a gorgeous day with 8-12 knot breezes and mostly sunny skies.  As a pursuit race we started near the end and picked off of a few boats on the upwind.  Being a novice crew we forwent the spinnaker and lost a few spots and finished mid pack.  It was great sailing with Kelley, Dillon & Stephen.   Results

Following the race we took No Quarter to the dock and rode out to the raft up in progress with 29 boats forming a circle.  It was quite a sight and a lot of fun hopping between boats and catching up with folks.  Ned Rennolds had his drone up and caught a few pictures:

20150523-018

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , , ,

Name put on the boat.

This was the 3rd day of racing for No Quarter in FBYC’s Spring Series. There was a little wind – and a LOT of fog.

Ron & Katie

In the first race we had a good start – in fact it was too good and we were over early and had to dip and restart.  Inevitable was punched out and never looked back.  We closely trailed E.L.E. all the way around and settled for 3rd of the five J/70s.  This was Ron and Katie’s first time on a J/70 and they settled in pretty well learning the location of everything and the coordination.

IMG_5580

E.L.E. going downwind with the other fleets ahead.

Unlike the first race where the fog lifted enough to see most of the course – the fog came in and got pretty dense just as we were starting the 2nd race.  Upwind we had a feel for where the mark would be and just stayed in the center of the course – keeping an eye on the bigger boats that had electronics and watching them ghost in and out of the fog bank.

Ghosting in an out of the fog

We were lucky to find the top mark pretty easily.  We weren’t so lucky in finding the leeward mark.  We ended up missing it by 3/4 mile to the east and ended up sailing almost a mile past it before the RC finally radioed a location for us to beat back to.  By the time we found the leeward mark – the J/70 that had stayed on the course was just about finishing and were racing one other boat right next to us.  The other two retired.  We persevered thanks to having chart plotting software on my iPhone.  Even with the fog it was still pretty good sailing conditions and definitely made it more fun by adding a navigational element to a 1.25nm buoy race.

RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

J70s sailing in the J70 Spring Regatta

On Sunday No Quarter was among the 5 other J/70s sailing at FBYC in the Spring regatta.  We started out with pretty nice wind – not quite hiking, but solid without any big holes.  With John, Holly and Mark aboard we had good starts and sailed consistently finishing 2nd in almost every race.  In the last race we got a little behind and ended up 3rd – and loosing the tiebreaker for 2nd to finish 3rd overall.

RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

My first race of 2015 and why not do it at a District Championship.  Severn Sailing Association held the District 11 Championship in conjunction with their Sunshine Open Regatta.  27 Lasers and 16 Radials were out in what were nearly frostbite conditions on the first day.

I started with a great race sailing in 2nd most of the way around the course and loosing a spot on the final leg finishing 3rd.  I’d go downhill from there, but not before a few top 3 roundings before giving up spots downwind.  I met my goal of all top 10 finishes.

Back on short after 4 races I warmed up and enjoyed the dinner and band.

Sunday was a little better wind and we sailed 2 more races.  i had a tougher go of it finishing 1 in double digits followed by an 8 to finis 6th overall.

No pictures this time but results can be found here.  Big thanks to SSA for hosting, congratulations to Luke who sailed a great regatta to win it and thanks again for Steve for the place to stay.

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

IMG_5059

Saturday was the maiden voyage for J/70 No Quarter #781 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the Opening Day Regatta.  After being launched and splashed with Coors Light the boat was rigged, sails raised and we headed out to join the 4 other J/70s and 26 total boats taking part in the Opening Day middle distance race finishing 4th among the J/70s.

IMG_5086

The boat worked great – the crew performed admirably – one thing was clear – this skipper needs more time at the helm.  I’m looking forward to many more J/70 races!

PICTURES | RESULTS

IMG_5232

Andrea Winner Photos

By Posted on Posted in J/70 Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Today’s forecast looked even worse than yesterday so the postponement flag was hoisted in the morning.  We then proceeded to do all of the things that ensure wind – namely other things like packing the boats, going power boating and canoeing. And by 10:45 the faithful who stuck it out were treated to a 7-9 knot breeze from the SSE.

We got 4 more races in before the time limit.  I won the first race using a similar strategy to yesterday.  But as the conditions changed in the 2nd and 3rd races and as I went into lead-conservation-mode – I found that everyone else was suddenly just as fast as I was and there weren’t many passing lanes.  I settled for 3rd in the next two races and not knowing if there was a drop or not in the last race, I just figured I just had to be better than DFL.  A 6 in that race ended up being my drop and I ended up 1st by 5 points.

It was great for me to finally put more than a just few races together and get a good result.  Thanks Steve, Dorian and everyone else for doing everything they did to put on the regatta.  I enjoyed sailing with the SSA Laser sailors and look forward to sailing with them again soon.

2014 Crab Claw Standard Winners

RESULTS

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,