Category: ILCA Sailing

ILCA Sailing and Racing. (Prior to 2021 known as Laser Sailing and Racing)

I was supposed to be on my  way to Cape May New Jersey today for the District 10 Championship Regatta at Wildwood Yacht Club and Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May.  I was looking forward to visiting with NJ sailors and visiting a new club.  I was also looking to avenge a demon of the last time I was in Cape May and had a run-in with yacht in the harbor.

That wasn’t going to be.  Last night when I was loading the Laser I slipped with it and it fell off the car with the bow hitting with a thud.  It got a small crack in the gunwale and there were several inches of the hull/deck joint that separated where the boat flexed so it was clearly out of commission.  It’s fixable, but it will be a while. Me, the car and the ground made out with out any scratches.

159785 was one of the boats at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, has a great logo on the side of it and was a very well made boat.  I was fortunate that the boat was a spare for that regatta and didn’t get as beat up as the other boats.  We picked it up at the beginning of 1997 and it served me well for the 17 years since. But with any boat sailed that hard for that long – it was beginning to show its age and have little things go wrong with it from time to time.  Almost exactly a year ago I was in NJ and the traveler fairlead pulled out.  I had planned on getting a new boat in the next year anyway so might as well move that up and pick up a new boat to use while the old one is getting fixed.  Eventually, I’ll keep the old boat at the club for local sailing and keep the new boat in Richmond ready for travel events.

The name for this boat will be No Quarter.  That’s the beloved battle cry of my ECU Pirates and loosely means show no mercy, take no prisoners and accept only unconditional surrender.

I ultimately decided I had enough things go wrong for one weekend and didn’t want to temp fate any further by trying to race on a brand new boat… so I thought it best to sit this D10 Championship out and get the boat put together and take it easy this weekend.  I’ll have the boat out for it’s maiden voyage tomorrow.

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Friday

After driving all afternoon and sitting in evening NYC traffic I arrived at Sayville Yacht Club on Long Island for the 2012 District 8 Championship.  They hosted this same regatta last year which I attended and finished 3rd.  Sayville’s got a great club with a nice beach by the water and a great sailing area and they do a great job with their regattas.

After I got to the club this evening, Ted Cremer and I went out on the water to snap a few photos of the sunset and then we hung around a fire on the beach.  Racing starts tomorrow with 20 boats expected and 5-10 knots of breeze out of the west with a slight chance of rain.

Saturday

Day 1 of the District 8 Championship at Sayville Yacht Club and we had 13 Standard Rig Lasers for 5 races in 5-8 and sometimes fluky conditions.  I went 3-2-3-4-7 and am currently in 2nd overall.

In the first race I had the best start of the bunch at the favored boat end.  I rounded the top mark in 2nd and lost a boat on the downwind which turned to a reach as the wind shifted around.  Held on to finish 3rd.

In the second race I tried again for a boat end favored start, but I was 5 seconds early and got pushed over so I had to go back behind everyone else and restart.  As the fleet went out to the left I banged the right corner and rounded the top mark in 2nd and hung onto that for the finish.

In the 3rd race we had a port end favored line.  Ryan Schmitz wanted to port tack the fleet, but I won the pin on starboard and made him duck me and get tangled up with a bunch of boats further up the line.  Once again we traded tacks upwind and I rounded the top mark in 2nd.  Both Brian Raney and Ted Cremer had great downwind legs and passed me as the wind began to die.  I kept close to Ted at the mark rounding and managed to get more left of him on the upwind so when the wind went left I was able to get in ahead of him and behind Brian.

The 4th race started in good wind and was only 1/2 the distance as the previous 3 races.  With the shorter upwind 1st leg I wasn’t able to use my speed to get ahead of the pack and rounded in 3rd with a lot of boats right behind me.  I went right downwind while the boats that went left made out and I was 6 or 7th at the bottom mark.  Heading up to the finish I closed it up and made a couple nice tacks right at the end to beat out 2 boats by mere feet to take 4th.

The 5th race started in some wind, but a few minutes later the wind had died.  I had a terrible start, went to the wrong side of the course and spent a lot of time trying to make up ground – which was hard to do in ~3 knots of breeze.  The RC shortened course at the bottom mark and i settled for a 7th

Day 1 results are here.  I’m 14 points behind Ryan Schmitz who has put up straight bullets.  I’m 3 points ahead of Brian Raney in 3rd and 9 points ahead of Matt Doherty in 4th. All in all it was a fun day and I’m looking forward to racing tomorrow.

Sunday

We started with a 1 hour postponement on shore before the wind finally filled in for us to sail. From there we sailed 3 more races in 7-11 knots in very choppy conditions. I had some crummy starts and great speed upwind, but wasn’t always picking the shifts right.  In all 3 races I was back in the lead pack usually with a few boats ahead of me.  The racing was close and so were the points. There were about 5 of us going at it with any of us having a shot at 2nd place. In the end I lost the tiebreaker on the last race to Lindsay Hewett who sailed some great races today.

I had hoped for a little more boring of a ride home, but unfortunately just ahead of me on the Goethals bridge a car caught fire.  I was trapped in traffic on the bridge for an hour and thus hit even more night construction on the ride back.

All in all it was another fun trip to Sayville.  I enjoyed the racing and want to thank Ted Cremer and everyone else at Sayville Yacht Club for putting on a great regatta.

Results | Photos | Video

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Friday

Arriving at Surf City Yacht Club

This afternoon I made the trip to Surf City New Jersey to sail the 41st Orange Coffee Pot Regatta.  This is the oldest Laser regatta and has been on my list to do for some time.  This year the event is also the US Sailing Singlehanded Championship Area C Elimination.  Looks like we’ve got a great forecast for wind tomorrow and up to 7 races planned.  The competition ranges from reigning North American Champion to first-time Laser regatta with a ~35 boat fleet expected.  Should be fun racing tomorrow and thanks to Newt Wattis and his wife for putting me up for the night.

Saturday

Orange Coffee Pot Regatta Group Photo

Surf City Yacht Club’s 41st Orange Coffee Pot Regatta turned out to be a great day of sailing.  We had wind that built from about 10 to the mid- to high teens by the last race.  We had a very competitive fleet of 31 boats ranging from pretty elite sailors to those sailing their first Laser regatta.  And we got off 7 races.  Clay Johnson ultimately won the event taking bullets in all but one race.  Granted, he didn’t exactly run away with it, Kyle Rogachenko and Peter Shope definitely gave him a run for it.

Rounding the top mark with the lead pack.

My own racing was a little ho-hum and I found myself getting bad starts and on the wrong side of the course more times than I care to remember.  I had the speed to stay with the lead pack and in one race I had a stellar start and sailed my way to an 8th.  All in all it was fun to make the trip and to sail in the oldest Laser regatta.  Thanks to Newt Wattis and Surf City Yacht Club for hosting the event and everything they did to put it together.

Results | Photos | Video

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Friday

I arrived in Marblehead Massachusetts for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Eastern Yacht Club.  The wind was a bit light so I only took a short practice sail.  Expecting close to 100 boats tomorrow.

Marblehead Harbor

Saturday

First day of racing for 83 boats at  the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead MA.  The wind was light and patchy for 3 races for the 44-boat Standard rig fleet.

In the first race I got a good start and worked my way up to the right.  At the top mark I was about 8th and stayed there for the reach.  On the downwind I went way right and I was the 4th or 5th boat through the gate.  Upwind I lost a few more boats and ended up 15th.

The second race started in very little wind and I got a terrible start and just fell behind everyone.  Up the first beat it got even lighter and we continued racing in 3 knots.  I was near the end of the pack until the last upwind where I was able to claw back a few boats to finish 32.

The wind shifted about 40 degrees and picked up a tad for the 3rd race which we started around 4:30pm.  I had an ok race and pretty much hung mid-fleet the entire way around the course.  We finally got back to shore at 6pm having been on the water since 10:30am.

I’m tied for 22nd which puts me just into the top half of the fleet.  We’re expecting another light day tomorrow.

Today was also an experiment with having the phone with me.  I’ve got a waterproof case for it which is tied into my lifejacket.  Between races I was able to take a few pictures and post tweets.  I’ve been posting updates for the ILCA-NA on twitter:@LaserACC.  The case makes it too cumbersome to do anything else other than tweet and take pictures.

Sunday

Sunday was another light day and we were on the water a long while for just 2 races.  At mid-day we got a bit of breeze and got one race in while the wind waned.  I had a pretty terrible start and was just never able to get far in moving up.

With just minutes remaining before the time limit we started another race.  Determined not to have another bad start, I worked my way up 1/3 of the way from the boat and took advantage of the line sag to get a front line start and quickly punched out.  I worked my way out to the right lay line and rounded the top mark in 4th.  I lost a boat each on the next two legs.  As I rounded the mark to the final downwind leg I lost the main sheet from the blocks and ended up sailing a crippled, jury rigged boat the rest of the way around the course to salvage a 10th.

15-32-21-36-10 finishes put me in 22nd overall which kept me in the top half of the fleet.  Eastern Yacht Club was beautiful as was Marblehead.  Having heard about Marblehead from Sonar and Flying Scot sailors from my club for such a long time- I’m glad I made the trip.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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Jon on Laser in front of Wolf Trap Light House

The conditions were perfect on Sunday for a nice long sail to Wolf Trap light house – 27 nautical miles round trip.  At the beginning the wind was out of the SSW at 10-15 which meant after one tack in Fishing Bay by the marinas I was able to lay Wolf Trap 2 hours and 40 minutes later on starboard tack.  As I approached the light house the wind dropped to 5-8 and moved to due South.  On the run home it kicked back up to 10-15.  Total trip time 5 hours 45 minutes.

Sailing to Wolf Trap route
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Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Laser Frostbite Regatta was the last sailing event of the year for the club and the last sailing event of the year for me as well.  We had nice winds about 5-8 out of the north east.  It was cool, but sunny and comfortable with a full set of layers on.  Having not sailed the Laser in 6 weeks I was pretty inconsistent on the water today.  Won 3 races, but wound up 3rd after some deep finishes were factored in.  Kudos to Ron Thompson and Michael Moore who both put up top 3 finishes in every race to finish first and second.  It was a great day of racing and it was nice having the Hampton Roads sailors come join us.

Results are here.

With that event my sailing for 2011 is complete.  I finished the year having sailed 54 days.  Up 5 days from last year.

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The racing at the Crab Claw Regatta at Severn Sailing Association was marred only by a lack of wind this weekend.  On Saturday we had just enough wind to get out to the course and sail 1 shortened race.  On Sunday we ‘sailed’ out to the course in almost no wind and after waiting around for 2 hours we abandoned having not sailed a race.

In the one race we did sail, I got a good start on the favored port end and headed out to the left with the leaders.  I came right a little too early and was 9th around the top mark.  Downwind I picked up a couple boats and then the wind went right for the shortened course upwind to the finish and I was able to pick off one more boat to finish in 6th.

Even thought the sailing wasn’t so great, the weekend was still a fun time hanging out with the Laser sailors and catching up Saturday night with Lud and Blake who were delivering Impulse from Newport to Deltaville.

Still Annapolis Harbor Sunday morning
Still Annapolis Harbor Sunday morning

 RESULTS

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Fall Regatta StartThe weather for Sunday at Fishing Bay Yacht Club started out a little questionable.  The wind was blowing 20-25 out of the North at the buoy at the point.  There were 5 of us there to sail and we all decided to take radials out.  We raced inside Fishing Bay in winds in the teens and the Radial sails made for good close racing without any of us being over powered and having to fight the boat.

Ron Thompson and I traded for the lead throughout the races today.  Richard Biggs was not far behind pouncing on any mistakes we made.  With shifty winds in Fishing Bay there were plenty of passing lanes by picking the right shifts both upwind and down.

After 5 races in about 2 hours with off-and-on rain we called it day and retired to the clubhouse for chilli.  All-in-all it was a fun day of sailing and I had to work hard to finish 1-1-2-1-1.  I’m glad this weekend went how it did and I’m even more ready to head up to SSA next weekend for the Crab Claw regatta.

Results | Pictures

*Photo by Lud Kimbrough

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Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted another great Annual Regatta with some good Laser sailing and plenty of wind which is pretty uncharacteristic for FBYC’s annual regatta in the middle of August.  17 of the 114 boats at the regatta were Lasers and 8 were sailing standard rigs.  The Lasers were on a course set in the Piankatank River just outside of Fishing Bay along with the Albacores and Windmills.

All of our races were W2s with .7 mile legs on a slightly pin favored line.  In the first race I failed to port tack the fleet and ended up fouling Steve Wirt just moments after the start. I had to do a few penalty turns putting me just behind the entire fleet.  By the windward mark I caught up to 3rd with boats all around me.  I caught a boat on each of the next two legs and held on for the final downwind leg to the finish.

By the second race the wind had built to the upper teens with gusts into the low twenties.  The first leg of this race was a drag race upwind between Frank Murphy and I.  At the first mark I rounded just ahead of him and shortly after the rounding he death rolled downwind.  That was a wake up call for me to sail a little more conservatively and I stayed out front to get a bullet in this race.

By the time we were starting the 3rd race, the outer course with Flying Scots, Front Runners, Hamptons, Typhoons, and San Juans and already been adjourned for the day having only sailed one race.  I think the conditions on the outside sailing area were really putting a beating on the sailors and the race committee.

Broken GoosneckI botched the start of the 3rd race and basically had to park my boat at the pin while I let Brad Squires, who timed the start perfectly, sail by on starboard.  Once I got going again I had good speed to get back out front and lead the way around the course.  As I was rounding the final windward mark to the finish, I eased the boom out, but my mast didn’t rotate, poping the 3 rivets holding the gooseneck to the mast.  I held on to get me through the finish line and the minute I turned to reach into the club, the goosneck popped off.  With no more races for the day, I was thankful that if was going to break that it broke when it did.

Back on shore we packed everything, cleaned up and enjoyed some drinks in the pavilion before dinner and later drinks.

On Sunday the first start was a at 10.  Lasers were the 3rd start so I left the dock at 9:40 and arrived at the course just before 10.  Turns out I was the only Laser that left the dock.  When I got to the course the RC told us to go in and that racing was abandoned onshore.  All of the other Lasers had been held before launching.  They postponed us due to some approaching storms in the area.  The storms never did come and the wind was beautiful all morning and late afternoon and we never did get sent back out to race.

With 3 bullets in 3 races I won the FBYC Annual Regatta for the second year in a row.  All in all it was a fun regatta and I’m sorry my summer sailing has come to an end for the year.

Laser Awards
1st Jon Deutsch (FBYC), 2nd Jeff Moore (SMSA), 3rd Mike Toms (FBYC)

RESULTS

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Monday

This week the Laser North American Championship is getting underway at Brant Beach Yacht Club. I drove in yesterday evening and got the boat ready today and went for a short practice sail in 15+.  I’ll be sailing in the Standard Rig fleet with about 72 boats.  Another 142 boats will be sailing in the Radial fleet.

Brant Beach Sunset

Tuesday

Today was the first day of the Laser North American Championship Regatta at Brant Beach Yacht Club.  A few weeks ago I banged up my wrist so I had taken the last two weekends off from sailing other than just going out as ballast.  Yesterday and today were my first two days back out on my wrist.

We were racing with 70 Lasers in one start.  In the first race I had a pretty terrible start and took pretty much the entire race to get my wheels going and get back in the groove.  I finished in the 50’s.

On each start we had numerous general recalls and every start was ultimately under I over Z.  On the second race my tiller universal joint snapped right at the start.  I ended up spotting the fleet two minutes while I made a repair.  I managed to come back and wasn’t even DFL at the first windward mark.  I picked off boats on every leg and wound up 45th.

In the 3rd race I had a reasonable start, hung with the bulk of the fleet and mostly held my position to the finish ending up 44th.

Not my best day on the water, but reasonable given the level of competition.  My wrist held up and hopefully won’t be giving me any problems this week. With a little less wind forecasted  for tomorrow, I should have a better shot at keeping the boat flat and staying in the fleet.

Wednesday

We sailed 3 more races at the Laser North American Championship today after a 2 1/2 hour postponement on the water.  I won the second race of the day.  During the first race – in which I only beat 4 boats – I figured out the wind/weather pattern and used that to my advantage in the second race.  There were some dark clouds out to the left of the course and everyone was fighting for the pin and going left.  I knew by the pattern a righty was coming and was very close to the boat end at the start and immediately went right.

The righty started coming in and before I knew it I was on the lay line.  After I tacked it was pretty clear the fleet was well below me, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to go left and bring them back.  At the windward mark I had about a 20-boat lead.

It was great being all by myself up front because that meant I could sail the rhumb line and fast.  It felt like a 10-boat regatta where all I needed to do was not make any mistakes, go fast, and pay attention to the wind for any shifts.  I extended my lead on the next 3 legs and had close to a 40-boat length lead, on the boats behind me, after the second upwind.  By the last downwind the fast guys, like regatta leader Clay Johnson, had gotten back up to the front of the fleet and started to close in on me.

On the final upwind leg to the finish a rivet popped out of my gooseneck and fell to the deck.  I just kept racing and crossed the finish in first.  It was a relief I made it without falling apart or being caught and it was a thrill to win a race like that against such great competition.

As soon as I finished I set to work jury rigging my gooseneck to get me through the next race.  In the 3rd race I played the shifts pretty well and kept myself in the front part of the pack putting me in 29th for the race.

I’m currently in 39th with 6 races down and 5 races to go.  If I can finish half as well as I did in the second race today I should be able to stay in the top 40 and pick up some grand prix points.

Thursday

Today started out with winds over 20 and gusts even higher.  I sailed out to the course, but sailed right back in.  With self-preservation in mind I was too afraid of one bad capsize and re-injuring my wrist and missing more sailing, so I thought it would be best to sit these conditions out.

I spent the day going for a run and catching up on some reading and email. I missed 3 races, but there 2 more left for tomorrow.

Friday

Friday was the final day of the Laser North American Championship at Brant Beach Yacht Club.  We went out for a 10:30 start in what we knew would be a dying breeze.  After one general recall I got a pretty good start in the middle of the line.  I was in the top 20 around the first mark and held that to the downwind where I lost a few spots.  On the second upwind I headed way out to the right, through the Radial Silver fleet that had just started, and found a lot better pressure putting me into the top 10 around that mark.  On the final downwind and reach the wind died and a light sea breeze came in.  I didn’t get far enough out to an edge and those who did were able to get around me.  I finished 26 and that ended up being the only race of the day.

All in all it was a great week of sailing and I was able to learn some things and show myself that I’ve got what it takes to at least be a competitor in a regatta like this.  Winning a race completed the week and was the highlight of my sailing year.  I’ve got 3 annual regattas planned for the next 4 weekends and I’m looking forward to the smaller fleets and fun times that go with them.

Taking the Cape May-Lewes ferry

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