Sunday just wasn’t my day. I sailed out to the course, but knew it was going to be a rough day for me. Overpowered with big waves and not feeling so great so I headed back in.
Here’s some video from Saturday:
First day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach NC. I was on the fence and decided to go with the standard rig. We had mostly clear skies with 10-14 knots of wind. The first race started around 11:45 and I had a good start out to the left. On the very first tack of the very first leg of the first race my vang broke. I’m not sure if I just didn’t have the pin in all the way or what happened, but I spent two minutes getting that straight and being DFL at the first mark. I made up a little over 5 boats and ended up 37 out of 45 boats.
In the second race I had a great start and was able to hold my lane most of the way up the first beat. I hung with the main pack and managed a 26th place finish. In the 3rd and 4th races the wind calmed down a bit and the lumpy sea state made it tough to maintain boat speed. I was well into the 30’s boat races putting me in 33rd for the regatta.
After racing I cleaned up and put away the boat. We ate the regatta dinner and then hit downtown Wilmington with the Annapolis crowd.
After a half day of work and an afternoon drive to Wrightsville Beach North Carolina I’m at Carolina Yacht Club for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship this weekend. It looks like we’re going to have some beautiful weather with warm conditions and mostly sun. That also means the wind could be a little light at times.
This evening I hung out with the SSA crowd who have a house a couple blocks down from the club. We had a lasagna dinner and watched the sunset. Approximately 16 sailors from District 11 have made the trip down. We’ve all got D11 pinnies so we should be easy to spot.
Quick video of our trip to the beach for New Years Eve 2011 in Wilmington, NC.
This past weekend was a ton of fun and I’m still in denial that it’s over. I spent almost 5 days living out of my car traveling all over eastern VA and eastern NC. I took off Friday and headed down to Figure 8 Island near Wrightsville Beach to spend time at a beach house with Dan, Lauren, Patrick and a few other Richmond friends. With a full house I ended up spending two nights by the beach in a tent. It was beautiful weather for sleeping outside and I preferred it over the house. Sunday I got to see a beach sunrise which I’m rarely ever up for when I’m at the beach.
Sunday I drove back to Deltaville for two days of practice with the FBYC Campaign for the NYYC Invitational Cup Team. I sailed on the Sonar Sunday afternoon. We had a good wind, but a storm loomed on the horizon and we had to head in early. The storm never came and it was a beautiful afternoon so I got in a little Laser sailing.
Our practice on Monday didn’t start until noon, so Maria, her friend and I took Lasers out in the morning and I sailed until I had to be back for practice. This time I was on one of the Colgate 26s. Despite being similar in size to the Sonar, there are quite a few differences in how the boat is handled. After practice I headed back to Richmond for a cookout before finally arriving home.
This has been one awesome weekend. I got to hang out with a lot of different people and had a blast with all of them. It’s going to be tough to top that weekend this summer.
Side Note: At this point I’ve already put 10,000 miles on my car this year. Compared to this time last year I was closer to 6,000. With trips to Deltaville and beyond planned for almost every weekend through October, I’m going to be doing a lot of driving this year.