Richmond Virginia
Last night in Richmond was the grand illumination and the opening of the new Tyler Potterfield Bridge connecting Brown’s Island to the Manchester Flood Wall on the other side of the river. I got out there first thing in the morning to check it out and ended up doing a loop over and around Bell Isle. It’s a nice bridge and it has many more incredible views of the city and the river.
Fun night for a Richmond Squirrels game! Sat in the party box and got to go on the field before the game.
A few photos from the wedding of Lauren and Patrick this weekend. So fun to celebrate with them and their family and friends at The Boathouse at Rockets Landing.
Lauren & Patrick
Jon & Jess
Glasses and city views
Tried to go down to the Manchester flood wall to photograph the city during the grand illumination of the lights, but found the park blocked off due to construction and without enough time to find another way around – all I was able to get was one measly shot. At least it’s a pretty good one.
Richmond hosted the UCI Road Bike Racing World Championship September 17-27. I took Friday afternoon off to watch the U23 championship on the streets of Richmond. They did 10 laps on a ~17m course. I started at the east end of the course and worked my way west zig zagging my way across the city on foot to watch. After watching a lap on Monument Avenue I took an Uber back to the start/finish.
What amazed me:
And watching other parts of the race on TV/ipad really showed how cool Richmond is and I was proud to see it on stage for the world.
Here are some of the sights and sounds that I saw:
I had always wanted to see the river after a snow and finally trudged my way all the way to Pony Pasture Rapids Park to get this shot around midday today:
On Sunday I got to sail for the first time in 2015 in the first race of the Greater Richmond Sailing Association Frostbite Series. I was sailing with Joe and his son Gabe who are new members at FBYC and were taking their new to them Flying Scot out for the very first time.
The weather started pretty miserably with rain showers. After a little over an hour after the expected start time, the rain let up and it turned into a nice clear light wind day.
Such a great time to play some soccer at the end of the day. Literally put blood, sweat and tears into this… after I got hit with a soccer ball while filming and the camera cut my forehead, and tears when I missed the sudden death penalty kick putting my team out of the final. Was a fun video to make and there’s never been a better time for me to start a rap career on the side.
This was the scene as the sun was setting behind the 288 bridge on the James River this evening. Such a nice night on a weeknight for a cruise!
I got to join Rob Whittemore on a Flying Scot for the 4th and final day of the Greater Richmond Sailing Association Frostbite Series. We had an absolutely beautiful day with temperatures in the high 60’s and shifty winds from 5-12 knots.
We sailed in the cove right off the shore. To windward, the weather mark is set right below a roadway on a berm which is pretty open, but makes it very hard to see the wind beyond it coming down the course. The starting line was short and with 9 boats the starts were all tight with boats barging the line on every start.
In the puffs the weather leg could be sailed in 2-4 minutes…. in the lulls it could take 5-8 minutes or more. While we were never really able to figure out the exact patterns there were a number of things we used to help gauge which way we thought the wind would go and where we thought we’d find more pressure. These things ranged from the fetch up the lake we could see under the bridge, the flag on the other side of the bridge, the flag at the yacht club and of course the wind on the water in what little fetch there was between the weather mark and the lee shore.
As shifty as it was – we definitely had to be on our toes. Miss a shift – and we learned this the hard way- and we could be passed by a couple boats immediately. We did well to stay in the front of the fleet around the course and our consistency paid off allowing us to recapture first whenever we let it slip and we were able to take 1st in all 5 races today.
Following racing Rob and I were asked to judge the chili cook off.
A big thanks again to GRSA for hosting this frostbite series. All of the FBYC sailors really appreciated being able to get some winter sailing in so close to hope. I’m looking to being back again soon!
