Category: Sailboat Racing

This the 3rd annual Open House Regatta which has become one of my favorite events at FBYC given the mix activities, people and sailing being done.  A bring-what-you-got progressive start race for boats 10-50+ ft all racing each other.  Followed by rafting up and socializing followed by dinner and a great blue grass band.

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Given I would be sailing my J/70 in Hampton next weekend, it was packed up yesterday and so today I joined David Hinckle and Tommy Roper aboard David’s J/70 – Air Speed.  We had a good start and did well in the light air on the way out.  On the way back we picked the wrong side of the course and let Nostalgia sneak by us while we couldn’t quite catch any of the boats ahead and settled for 6th.

After returning the boat to the dock I took a launch out to the raft up already in progress.  I managed to go boat-to-boat around the entire circle visiting with folks on each boat.  I also got to go up the mast of one of the larger boats to capture an aerial view.

And despite a little crummy weather late in the evening, we still had fun inside.

RESULTS | PICTURES

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Day 2 at the Lake Norman Yacht Club Spring Lightning Invitational was to see lighter winds – but we were pleasantly surprised with 5-8 knots for our first race.  Steve, Jeff and I had another good start and stayed in the top 5 all the way around the course making gains near the top of the final upwind and finished with a 2nd.  That gave us a few point lead over 2nd place Greg Fisher going into the final race.

As the 2nd race started the wind began to die.  We took a conservative approach up the middle and boats on both sides found more wind and rounded ahead.  We were around 8th at the top mark – picked up a couple boats downwind and then found the wind even lighter and more fickle on the 2nd upwind.  We picked some shifts and caught some boats and even crossed ahead of Greg.  But he found wind on the other side of the course and wound up finishing 3 boats ahead of us and we fell back to 6th as we reached the top mark for a shortened finish.

It wouldn’t be until we were arriving at the awards that we found out that we had tied Greg Fisher for 1st and we won the tiebreaker on account of having won 2 of the races.  A great result for a pick up team in a borrowed boat against some good sailors.  Thanks again Steve and Jeff Hayden for having me along and Bill for all of the hospitality at Lake Norman Yacht Club!

REGATTA WEBSITE | PHOTOS | RESULTS

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A fun sailing opportunity came together for me this weekend while I was going to be in town for Tom & Jamie’s wedding – I was able to sail at Lake Norman Yacht Club at their Spring Lightning Regatta.  Bill Wiggins set me up with Steve and Jeff Hayden who were coming up from Florida and needed a 3rd.

I haven’t sailed a Lightning since sometime in the early 1990’s when I would ride my bike down to Chautauqua Lake Yacht Club and jump on a boat for their Wednesday night series.  Steve and Jeff are great sailors and it was easy to fit right in with them on the boat.  I did the bow and while I probably wasn’t the quickest nor the most graceful gybing the pole – I don’t think I slowed us down any.

In the first race of the day we had a great start right at the line at the gun.  From there we just picked some shifts and found ourselves at the top mark in first- from there we extended around the course.

In the second race we had a reasonable start – but other boats hugged the left even more and we found ourselves around 6-8 at the top mark.  The wind was coming up a little more from the 6-8 in the first race to where we were definitely sitting out to balance the boat.  On the second upwind we picked some good shifts and made it to 3rd through to the finish.

The 3rd race wasn’t as good to us on the start.  We were near the back of the pack at the top mark, but worked on picking off boats on every leg with good boat speed and managed 6th.

For the 4th and final race of the day – we again had a good start.  Got to the top mark in the top 3, held our position downwind and pulled ahead on the next upwind winning the race and putting us solidly in front of the 19-boat fleet on the first day.

REGATTA WEBSITE | PHOTOS | RESULTS

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This weekend should have been Fishing Bay Yacht Club‘s Opening Day Race followed by a J/70 clinic on Sunday – but the weather conspired to have it cancelled.  With no sailing to do and only a Blessing of the Fleet and party to attend – it became a work weekend and thus the J/70 that was not yet rigged was packed and hauled to Richmond.

While at home it was easy to get a couple projects done:

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Added another boat to the fleet.  This No Quarter is an RG65 model yacht.  It’s about 25″ long and 60″ tall from the bottom of the keel to the top of the mast.  I got a used boat from a member of the Richmond Model Yacht Club.  After fitting a radio to it and getting a few other things readied, I got to join 6 others today for some practice.  It was a bit light and we only sailed about 30 minutes before we got rained out.  Thanks Rob S for helping get me going and I’m looking forward to some more racing this spring.

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11/8 FBYC Laser Frostbite

What a great day to end the sailing season on at Fishing Bay Yacht Club – temperatures that were not too cool and enough wind to make it interesting.  I just received the new MkII Laser Standard sail and was eager to try it out.

Having sailed a few races – it definitely felt a bit tweakier than the other sail – as in – it didn’t stretch as much, so you can really see where it needed adjusting, cunningham, vang etc.  I had a little trouble figuring out when to adjust various things.  All in all it probably wasn’t any faster or slower – but I was definitely slower with the distraction.  I’m looking forward to spending a little more time figuring it out.  Finished 2nd overall in 7 races.

Following sailing I put a cover on the J/70 and helped Mike arrange 2 more boats in his barn.

11/8 FBYC Laser Frostbite

RESULTS

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It was a very, very light air day for the final day of the Fall Series at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and the final day of sailing for 2015 for J/70 No Quarter.  John, Andrew and Dave were aboard for a race that started in light air and over 2 hours later nobody was going to finish, so we ended up bagging it and call it a day.  With only 2-3 knots of wind and 1-2 knots of current coming right at us, we just couldn’t make the boat go at times.

Back on shore we dropped the mast and prepared the boat to go into the barn for the winter.

10/31 FBYC Offshore Fall Series 4

RESULTS

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10/24 Offshore Fall Series #3

It was a cool, light air day for the 3rd installment of the Fall Series for the Offshore Division at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Without many J/70s on the line and both my boat and Double Eagle short on crew – Andrew and I jumped on Double Eagle and I got to drive the day.  All in all it was a fun day and we finished 2nd in both races.  Thanks again to the Double Eagle crew for having me along!

RESULTS

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92 Gavin O'Hare

In October I once again played event chairman for FBYC’s Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship – this the 34th running of this event and there’s only one more year I won’t be old enough to sail in it.   As always we had a great group of sailors number 45 in total.  Saturday was a bit light allowing us to get in one race before the wind shut off and then didn’t settle down.  Dinner by Alain Vincey was fabulous as well.  On Sunday the wind held in better allowing us to do 4 more races.  Congratulations to Mike Hecky winning this one for his first time – well sailed!

207152 Mike Hecky

This years photos were probably the best I’ve ever gotten.  The sun was just right and my boat driver Mike Russom knew just where to put me to get the good angles.

RECAP | RESULTS | PICTURES

168317 Robert Suhay

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