I was the PRO for FBYC’s Summer Seabreeze 2 regatta and the racers wanted a Caribbean theme so I changed a few racing rules to ensure the racing fit the theme.

  • We changed the definition of what constituted a mark so that we could use any inflatable – including a pink flamingo for our starting mark.
  • We changed the starting line to enable us to use a tiki torch for one end of the line
  • We required boats over early under I flag to do a Caribbean interpretive dance while only permitting them to clear by rounding the boat end of the line where their dance could be videoed for posterity
  • We also exempted boats wearing costumes from the clothing weight limits

At the skipper’s meeting the wind was blowing, but we knew the forecast was for it to die and so we postponed about an hour. When something did come, we picked the only spot in the middle of Fishing Bay that seemed to have a lane of wind. It was light, but we got 6 short races for the 6 flying Scots before the wind died.

Jon, Britt & Ruthana
Jon, Britt & Ruthana

I could not have done this without the help of Britt and Ruthana and huge thanks to them for being there today.

RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

We made the 2nd of the Summer Seabreeze regatta a rookie regatta in the Front Runner.  Matt Braun and I both crewed for first time Front Runner skippers.  The wind came up around 1:30 and we had a light 8 knot sea breeze to race in.  2 races and my skipper Parker Davis took two bullets.  Nice work, Parker.

RESULTS

To complete the July 4th weekend the Lasers joined the Summer Seabreeze Regatta at FBYC and 7 of us had some quality racing in overcast and 7-10 knot breezes.  I focused on my starts and started well and had good speed upwind and downwind.  Just couldn’t get ahead of Charlie Brewer and settled for 2nd in 2 races.

RESULTS

Saturday started out as a nice day for sailboat racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the 2nd Sea Breeze regatta before storms chased us off the course.  I sailed in a 3-boat Front Runner fleet with crew Anna Matchett against Mark Stephens/Matt Braun & Kevin Cross/Matt Lambert.

In the first race we had a great start and won the boat shutting the other two boats out and forcing them to start behind us.  Up the first beat we had good speed and worked the shifts on the right side of the course.

We made a few crosses just ahead of the other two boats but lost out to Mark who snuck ahead of us right at the mark rounding. Downwind Mark played the middle while we went hard right.  The 2nd upwind leg was a little flukier.  We again played the middle right while Mark played the left and Kevin went up the left.  At the top mark we were in 1st, Kevin came way back to round in 2nd just ahead of Mark.  The final downwind was a drag race with us about 4 boat-lengths ahead of Mark and Kevin and in the end Mark edged Kevin out at the finish for 3 and some close racing.

Right at the end of the race Mark had a gear failure so it was just at two boat race for the 2nd race.  We had a terrible start, were slow crossing the line and lost a lot of ground to Kevin.  Halfway up the beat we heard on the radio that the course was being shortened so we did our best to play the shifts, but knew we were being sent in and a 2 was good enough to win the day.

Thanks Anna for coming sailing with me today.  And thanks David Hinkle and the race committee for running races for us.

RESULTS | PHOTOS | VIDEO

Following Hurricane Arthur’s blowout of our July 4th racing on Friday we ended up with near perfect 8-10 knots and sunny skies for the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Summer Sea Breeze 1 Regatta. Tommy Roper was my crew for his first time on a Front Runner.

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The ace Front Runner team of Matt and A.L. Braun were back for this regatta and swept all 4 races. The Garrett clan of Waddy and Parker sharing the helm with Caroline crewing just seemed to edge us out downwind to take 4 second places on the day.   The racing was close and we didn’t make any major mistakes, we just couldn’t hang with the other two boats.

By the last race we had pretty much locked in 3rd place so I handed the tiller to Tommy who got to skipper his first race in a double-handed boat.

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Pictures | Results | Video

Saturday was Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Summer Seabreeze regatta. We had 7 Flying Scots and 3 Front Runners out. On those Front Runners 4 of the 6 sailors had never been on one before. We did 5 races in 6-9 knots of breeze out of the southeast. Marie Schacht was my crew and we put up 1-2-1-1-2 to narrowly beat out Front Runner guru Matt Braun.

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On Saturday I had the unplanned opportunity to be the PRO (Principle Race Officer) for Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Summer Sea Breeze regatta.  I was all set to race a Front Runner, but we didn’t end up having a fleet and my crew Stephen Boling came along to help run race committee.  Now I’ve been on signal boats and race committees a hundred times for everything from club races to national championships – but this was my first time actually being a PRO.  Lucky for me the wind was steady enough not to have to change the course and we were able to get 5 races off for the Flying Scot fleet and all went very well.

Phil Webb, John Wake, Clark Dennison, Len Guenther

Pictures | Results