Headed to Nationals
This Friday I am embarking on a 10-day odyssey to the 2010 USODA Layline National Championship. Fishing Bay Yacht Club is hosting this National Championship in 8' sailboats for the top 8-15 year-old sailors from around the country. Deltaville Virginia, a town of only 500-800 full-time residents, will be inundated with over 320 sailors, their siblings, parents and coaches. Three events will take place from Saturday to Saturday to crown the Team, Girls and Fleet National Champions.
Since October, I've created and managed the event website at http://optinationals2010.org. During that time it's evolved as a pretty neat project. The goal of course has been to create a first-rate event website for the sailors, parents and coaches to get information about the event and make their plans. The site will also serve those who may not be making the trip and will be following along from their computers at home. Not only is there a website, but we’ve set up variety of other social media outlets to enable all of our fans and followers to keep up with the regatta in their preferred format. We've got everything from the website (including an online shop), twitter, facebook, youTube, flickr, email, webcam, and SMS Text.
To help facilitate this I’ll be the onsite blogger for the duration of the regatta. Throughout the regatta I'll be writing blog posts, sending tweets, updating the facebook page and getting notices and results posted to the website. During the racing I'll be stationed aboard the main committee boat with an internet connection where I can connect to the website and upload pictures and information as well as monitor the weather for the race committee.
My role is just one part of the hundreds of volunteers around FBYC and Deltaville who have a hand in putting on this major event. It's going to be a great week and I'm really looking forward to it. To check out my coverage and see what’s going on, check out the event website at http://optinationals2010.org throughout the week.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 8:58 PM
2010 Leukemia Cup Regatta
Last weekend was the 2010 Leukemia Cup Regatta. It was held in Deltaville at Stingray Point Marina/Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Above is a photo of the crew. After abandoning the first race on Saturday in a lightning storm, we only managed 1 race on Sunday before the wind let out. We finished 4th in our 7-boat fleet. We might not have gotten any hardware on the race course, but we were the top fundraiser raising over $11,000 to support cancer research.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:14 AM
July 4th
I spent July 4 at the river in Deltaville. It was an incredible sight, just as the sun set, we could see people in all directions setting off their own fireworks along the banks of the Piankatank River.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 1:22 AM
Weeknight Boat Trip
Took a few friends out on the boat Wednesday evening. Here's a short video of mostly Keith and Kevin in and out of the tree.
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:06 AM
Moonlight Regatta
This photo is from the 2010 Moonlight Regatta at FBYC last Saturday night. It shows the sun setting on the Rappahannock River as the PHRF A fleet sails east to our second mark. It was taken from aboard the lead boat Double Eagle.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:52 PM
FBYC Annual Junior Regatta
Photos are posted of the 2010 FBYC Annual Junior Regatta. I had a prime vantage point on the Race Committee boat where I was the scorer. It was also a great opportunity to do a trial run of some new technology I'm getting configured. I'll soon have the ability to take pictures and beam them via wifi directly from my new camera to a computer or website. More on that once I get it completed.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 12:25 AM
Gynn Island Circumnavigation
Saturday I sailed the Laser out of Fishing Bay and circumnavigated Gywnn Island. The wind was out of the South-South East from 8-12 knots in the Piankatank to 14-18+ out in the bay. I started with a 2 hour beat upwind heading first east, and then south down the Chesapeake Bay. Out a mile offshore sailing upwind in 15+ in the standard rig was great with steady wind and some good wave action. At the 2 hour mark I entered the channel at the south end of the island and sailed the 1 ½ hour mostly downwind sail back to FBYC. I ended up sailing roughly 20 miles and I could not have asked for a better day of sailing.
Monday, June 21, 2010 2:27 AM
New Camera
I pulled the trigger on a new digital SLR camera recently. My Nikon D70 is going on 5 1/2 years old and is starting to become un-reliable. I’ve got quite a few events this summer that I want to be able to take pictures at and need a camera that just works.
Unfortunately Nikon hasn't come out with the camera I really want. I'd like to get whatever camera replaces the D300s assuming it does video with auto focus.
Since the D300s replacement is likely a year away, I bought a Nikon D3000. This is the most entry-level SLR in Nikon’s current lineup. It’s a cheap camera that I got factory refurbished on eBay that should hold me over for a year or so.
The camera doesn’t have stellar reviews, but it’s still an upgrade over my older camera. The bigger screen is a huge improvement. I’ll miss some of the dials and controls available on the higher-end camera, but again, this is a temporary camera. It’s a lot smaller than the old camera and I had to put one of my smallest lenses on it for the picture above just to make it not look like a dwarf next to the larger lenses.
Current camera equipment:
Nikon D3000
Nikon D70
Nikon 18-55 AFS F2.8
Nikon 70-200 AFS VR F2.8
Nikon 10.5 AFS F4 Fisheye
Nikon 50mm AF F1.8
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 6:08 PM
Memorial Day Weekend
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.
Thursday, June 3, 2010 12:39 AM
Sailing, Sailing and more Sailing
I got to do a lot of sailing this weekend; first on Wavelength on Saturday sailing to a 2nd place overall finish in the Spring Series. Saturday evening five of us - mostly Front Runner sailors - went out on Lasers for a nice evening sail. Sunday morning was laser racing against Brad and Maria. And finally Sunday evening we took out the Sonar that we’ll be using for NYYC Invitational Cup Qualifying Series practice for its maiden voyage.
Sunday, May 16, 2010 11:42 PM