Tag: Offshore Racing

Offshore sailboat racing.

I sailed the FBYC Cut Channel Race aboard Excitation this year and the race had a bit of a twist to it: boats could sail clockwise or counter-clockwise around the same 31nm course. We were among the boats that had read the SI’s earlier in the week and not gotten the memo that it changed the night before until we figured that out about 5 mi into the race and by then it was too late to be competitive.  It was still a beautiful day to sail across the bay and thanks Mayo for having me along.

Cut Channel Race Start

RESULTS | PICTURES

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Double Eagle sailing upwind.
Double Eagle sailing upwind.

We had a rainy, wet and cold day for the FBYC Fall Series #3 and I jumped on Double Eagle as none of the J70s were going to go out.  We had a good first race, solid crew work, picked the right side of the course and led Nanuq all the way around the course.

The 2nd race didn’t go so great for us – on the second upwind leg we were going through a tack.  As we were switching to the other side and the boat started heeling over, one of the crew who was switching sides over the cabin top, lost their footing and went right under the lifeline and into the water.  I quickly jumped to the back of the boat and threw the heaving line while we stopped the boat.  We pulled the crew in and took them down below to warm up.  That didn’t take too long, but even after a few minutes we were so far behind that we just took a DNF instead of going around the course again.

In the last race of the day we had a little trouble at the start and ended up a couple lengths late at the line.  We weren’t able to recover our time on Nanuq and otherwise sailed a solid race.  Thanks again to Sam and crew for having me along!

RESULTS

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9/24 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 2

Today started out as a pretty light-air day and the wind quickly built for the 2nd race of the FBYC Offshore Fall Series #2.  We sailed with just 3 of us – Andrew, Nathan and myself and we sailed a good first race, picking the correct side and finishing 1st in the 4-boat fleet.

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As the 2nd race started the wind piped up closer to 20 and two of the teams dropped out and we knew at that point we just needed to finish the race to win the day.  Unfortunately for us we were late at the start having been doing some rig tuning and not being closer enough to the line.  Hotty Toddy had a 10-boat lead at the start, but by the time we got a mile upwind we had caught up and were neck and neck.  We pulled away for another 1st.

IMG_0607

RESULTS

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9/18 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1

Back racing the J/70 after nearly 2 months we had nice wind and clear skies for the FBYC Offshore Fall Series 1.  We had out Louise, Andrew and Patrick and it was Patrick’s first time on the J/70.  In the starting sequence Louise had a minor family emergency so we transferred her to the Mr. Roberts and had to sail 3 up.  Having practiced 4-up and with no time until the start, we winged it and did our best with only 3 of us.

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We weren’t able to quite keep up with E.L.E. but we did well nonetheless and were able to finish 2nd.  In between races Louise was back and joined us for the 2nd race of the day. In this race all 4 J/70 were a lot closer and we got behind early on the wrong side of the course upwind.  We came back downwind, but weren’t able to get back ahead of Spice to finish 3rd.  All in all a fun day back in the boat.  Thanks Louise, Andrew and Patrick for sailing!

RESULTS

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The Screwpile Regatta was another fun summer classic.  Thanks to Mayo Tabb for again bringing Excitation and having us along.  We sailed the boat well despite being pitted against a bunch of light sport boats that we could never make up our time on.

We sailed, we partied, we watched people play Pokémon Go around town.  AND I got to celebrate 1 year with my girlfriend Jess!  A great weekend all around!

PICTURES | RESULTS

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cut channel July2

We had a really nice day on Excitation for the Cut Channel Race at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  We started out with wind, but it died out in the middle of the bay as we sailed up the channel.  By then Afterthought was able to slip away in the wind they had and what filled in behind us was too little, too late.

cut channel July2

RESULTS | PICTURES | ANN GRAY PICTURES

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10/24 Offshore Fall Series #3

It was a cool, light air day for the 3rd installment of the Fall Series for the Offshore Division at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Without many J/70s on the line and both my boat and Double Eagle short on crew – Andrew and I jumped on Double Eagle and I got to drive the day.  All in all it was a fun day and we finished 2nd in both races.  Thanks again to the Double Eagle crew for having me along!

RESULTS

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Today was quite a breezy day for the 2nd Offshore Fall Series day at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Rather than get beat up in the cold and wet conditions most of the J/70s decided to bail and crew on bigger boats.  I ended up on Mad Hatter.

We sailed two races with winds in the low 20’s that eventually eased off a little bit in the 2nd race.  I was mostly in the back of the boat helping trim genoa.

RESULTS

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This year the Smith Point race was a bit of a slog with a 15-20 knot north wind.  I sailed on Mad Hatter and this year we didn’t make it to Smith Point light house until around 9:30.  But the spinnaker run all the way down the bay back to the Piankatank was quite nice.  Arriving at nearly 1am we were one of the last to finish, but still corrected over everyone else out there who sailed the long course.  Thanks again to Bob, Lisa and crew for having me along!

RESULTS

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It was an interesting Screwpile Regatta – the weather was moderate, only 1 onshore postponement for lack of wind, good racing and a ton of fun.  On top of that we took half a boat of J/109 sailors and had them run a symmetrical kite with dip-pole jibes and check stays – not an easy set up to master.  The boat is a Farr/Dickerson 37 Excitation and with a pretty quick learning curve – we were up and sailing the symmetrical kite with the best of them halfway through the first day of racing.

We also quickly found our spot in the PHRF-A2 fleet – most of the boats were sport boats with asymmetrical kites and all but one of them owed us time.  As the longest, heaviest and tallest rig on the course – we were a fierce adversary especially on the starting line where we could sail higher and faster upwind and blanket anyone below us.  In the first day of 3 races – we got 3rd place every time.

Day 2 on Saturday featured a distance race.  The first leg was a downwind start and there was just enough wind to run with the kite up against the current and get around the first leeward mark.   Sailing upwind and south down the bay we stayed more to the left in the middle of the bay and found more wind.  The highlight of probably the whole regatta was crossing all but 2 of the A1 boats on that leg.  They would eventually pull away as the wind filled back in and they headed for a different windward mark.  Even though the wind was light, the race was shortened and we were less than a minute out of 2nd place.

On Sunday, we were postponed ashore for over an hour and a half before the wind showed up.  When it did we had nice mostly-sunny skies and 8-12 knots of wind.  Two more races were sailed and sure enough 2 more 3rd places.

Things learned this regatta – I really liked the new B&G electronics that Mayo has put on Excitation.  The 7″ screen on deck was able to show our past tracks as well as all kinds of boat information.  I think I also liked that the wind instruments were broken all weekend – one less thing to distract us.  Beyond the track and other GPS-based information – we mostly drove the boat on the compass and spedo alone.

Thanks again Mayo for racing and having myself, Mark, Melissa, Lauren, John, Chris, and Carrie along.  It was a pleasure racing with all of you.

Results | Pictures

 

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