Fishing Bay Yacht Club held their inaugural J/70 Chesapeake Championship Regatta and I was sailing on Steve Q’s Hotty Toddy among the 18 boat fleet. The weather forecast for Saturday morning called for some pretty epic winds to move in and little did we know we’d all have some pretty epic sailing before the day was done.

Racing was moved into Fishing Bay and even before we got there, boats were already broaching on there way there. After 1 general recall the first race was started.  The wind in the bay was blowing 25+ from the NNW so our course took us from Godfrey Bay, across the Piankatank River and around the windward mark on the western end of Fishing Bay.

Sailing upwind in that kind of wind was a real slog.  While we had heard from plenty of others how to sail in those conditions, actually doing it was another story and it definitely took us some time to get into a groove with it.  The teams that had clearly done it before easily pulled ahead in what was less about who was fast and more about who was upright especially when it came to the downwind.

Being new to this boat in this kind of wind, we took a conservative approach downwind and after watching plenty of boats wipe out, we only put the chute up when we felt the wind was going to hold and not be so gusty.  That didn’t last and a few minutes after putting it up we were on our side.  In the process of recovering it, one of the panels split and we quickly took it down and hauled it in, not to be used again.  [Watch this whole sequence on the video below.]

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After two races in those conditions the race committee abandoned further racing for the day, and ultimately for the weekend.  The slog home around Stove Point grueling with 5-6 foot waves and 40 knot gusts.  We sailed under main alone with waves sometimes crashing over the boat.

While we weren’t competitive in those conditions, we were happy to have had fun this weekend and learned a lot in the process.  We’ll definitely be able to be a lot more competitive and comfortable with the conditions when they are up like that in the future.  Thanks Steve Q for having me aboard and I enjoyed sailing with Jerry L and Tom F.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

This year’s Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship was probably one of the best yet – good turnout, good weather and great food made for a smooth event.  It was also the year FBYC hosted it as the Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship and with it, a few more folks from New England and Kansas.

Ned Rennolds, Jon Deutsch, Mike RussomPhoto by Ned Rennolds

For racing on Saturday we had 7-12 and clear skies.  Ned Rennolds joined Mike Russom and me on the safety boat with his drone and we got some great photos and video of the fleet from overhead during the first and second races.

Photo by Ned Rennolds

For the rest of racing on Saturday I did my usual of floating around and taking pictures and video.  This year we even dress up the committee boat – Mr. Roberts as seen with the red lettering below.

By the end of Saturday we had gotten a good day of 5 races in for the sailors and we called it a day as the wind started getting light and fluky.  We had a few visitors join us for dinner including past fleet captain and chair of this event – David Hazlehurst.  Alain Vincey did another wonderful dinner followed by plenty of Laser stories and a viewing of some of the drone video for today.  Sailors hung out in the club house and later by the fire at their campsite well into the night.

Sunday’s wind was much greater than Saturday and a number of sailors, didn’t go out, took advantage of the rig-swap opportunity, or retired before starting a race.  Fortunately only one sailor needed any assistance and thankfully Mike R was onboard the safety boat and ready to get wet.  Three more races were sailed as the fleet slowly dwindled.  I didn’t get many pictures due to the waves and activities, but I did get some video of some screaming reaches.

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Once again it was a very successful regatta.  I really want to thank all of the folks on the race committee, Alain, Brad and all of the FBYC fleet for all of their help putting this event on.  This was my 10th one and I’m looking forward to just a few more years when I can join in!

RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

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Another beautiful Friday night for some J/70 sailing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  This evening I was sailing with Steve Quiriconi on his new boat Hotty Toddy along with Jerry Latell.  Steve and Jerry had been out earlier in the afternoon to get everything setup and tuned and so the three of us got out to the race course a little early to practice some maneuvers.

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In the 4 races tonight we did pretty well.  The very short line made for very tight and late starts, but the shifty winds meant anyone could catch a shift up the beats.  We did well to keep up with the leaders and got through our maneuvers pretty well without any major goofs.  We even did some gybe sets and a Mexican take down at one point.

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The final race was 2 laps and then the trip up the channel back to the dock.  We were the first boat to legally complete the course and a nice way to end the night and the first time out for the boat.

Jon’s Pictures | Carrie’s Pictures | 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

We started the July 4 weekend with some J/70 racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  We had 6 boats out in 12-16 knots of wind for a few races.  I was on Nostalgia with Blake Kimbrough, Julia Page and Tommy Roper.

7/3 J/70 Fri Night Series

This photo was right after we finally got a correct spinnaker set.  It only took us 4 laps to get it right.  On the plus side we got a lot better at outside gybes.

7/3 J/70 Fri Night Series

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.

It was another beautiful day for racing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the 3rd day of the Offshore Spring Series.  I was again on Wavelength for the 3 races on a mostly sunny day with temps in the high 70’s and wind that varied from 19-8.

5/10 FBYC Offshore Spring Series #2

The first race had the most wind and we started out with the No2 and a reef in the main.  We did well at the start by staying away from the faster boats that outpoint us and we were able to make progress upwind albeit a little under powered.   On a tack halfway up the beet we shook the reef out.  The rest of the way around the course went well, but we couldn’t catch the 3 boats ahead of us and settled for a 4th.

In the 2nd race we lined up next to Voodoo 2 and had to take their bad air off the starting line for a while until we could clear the B boats and tack out.  We kept up on the upwind leg, but it was the downwind legs where we shined and made up time on each leg.  By the 2nd upwind leg the wind had dipped even more and we put up the #1.  We barely missed 2nd place by 15 seconds.

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The 3rd race didn’t start so well for us.  We were over early and had to park it and let the fleet sail by so we could turn around and restart.  Starting so far behind everyone made us get creative on the first beat and we banged the right corner (photo above) while most of the rest of the fleet went left which had been working all day.  Sure enough the wind went right and we caught right back up to the fleet.  Unfortunately, we would get stuck with the bottom 2 boats trying to cover each other for a position and ended up as collateral damage never being able to break free and chase the boats ahead of us and we settled for 4th.

5/10 FBYC Offshore Spring Series #2

We’re currently in 2nd place for the series and we got one more race day left next Saturday.  With a good result we should be able to hang onto 2nd.

Jon’s Pictures | Andrea Zilinski Winner PhotosResults | Video

Following racing a storm rolled through throwing a 420 into one of the RIBs onshore and bashing Mad Hatter at the dock.  I’ve seen some storms roll through and I’ve been at the club for some pretty serious tropical and nor’easters, but I’ve never seen a storm come up so quickly and with such intensity.  Thankfully everyone was ashore and safe.

We had quite a day for the final day of the Annapolis NOOD Regatta – plenty of wind and plenty more excitement.  The forecast was for it to start into the low teens building with gusts into the 20s.  Only two races were planned.
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During the first downwind leg of the first race we had trouble with a gybe and broached.  Not fun seeing the cockpit coamings in the water and going sideways while the fleet sails by.

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I did learn a few things about J/22s this weekend – particularly how beat up a bow guy gets in a breeze!

Thanks again to Art Silcox for having me on his J/22.  It was a pleasure sailing with him and Mike Waters.

Here’s the highlight:

Results | Pictures | Video