2016 Southern Bay Race Week: Friday
After arriving yesterday and setting the boat up, we were all set for what would be a very light day for racing on Friday.
The wind eventually filled and we got in 5 races and found ourselves 4th out of 7.
No Quarter Sailing
After arriving yesterday and setting the boat up, we were all set for what would be a very light day for racing on Friday.
The wind eventually filled and we got in 5 races and found ourselves 4th out of 7.
While I had the J/70 back in Richmond a few improvements were made including mid-boat storage cradle for the engine. This puts the engine low next to the keel underneath the cockpit and not taking up valuable space up front nor adding weight to the front of the boat.
Using a piece of teak from a retired trophy – I build a bracket that mounts to a bulkhead under the companionway. It has a notch cut for the engine to hold it just below the power head. And the way it is set up and angled it’s easy to slide the engine towards the center of the boat to get it into place.
Beneath the power head of the engine is another block of wood mounted to a stringer with some foam padding added to it. This tips the head of the engine upright and keeps oil from getting into the parts of the engine that it shouldn’t.
Having used it a few times now seems to work well and I like the space we got back in the bow for storing
I had seen this idea when I sailed the J/70 Winter Series last year and finally had a chance to add it. In short I cut a hole in the aft end of both dock boxes on the trailer and added a screen with a vent cover over it. This allows a little more air flow into the dock box in case any wetness ends up in there. The vents are on the back of the trailer so no rainwater gets in when trailering in wet conditions.
Parts:
Tools
Photos:
Sunday was the Fishing Bay Yacht Club J/70 Spring Regatta with 6 boats racing in 14-16 gusting to 20 out of the West. With Andrew, Evan and Mark on board we had a great crew and were really able to get the boat around the course well in the higher winds. We even kicked it up a gear planning downwind when we could.
We sailed 5 races with some pretty tight finishes with the other boats. In 3 of the races we finished a boat length or less behind someone. The shifty and puffy conditions made it both challenging to stay in phase and hard to keep changing modes to keep the boat going fast.
We finished a consistent 1-3-3-2-2 including having to restart on the final racing having been OCS. Another great day.
The series concludes next Sunday at Spring Series #4.
It took a while to get out on the J/70 for the first time this year and it was a great day for it at the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Offshore Spring Series #3. Onboard today were Andrew, Evan and Nathan and there were 3 other J/70s in the fleet among the 20 other boats out racing.
Saturday started light WNW around 6-8 and built to the 10-13 by the end of the 3rd race. We had good boat speed up wind, played most of the shifts well and went 2-1-2. On most of the downwinds Ron Thompson sailing Nostalgia put on a clinic and either pulled ahead if he was ahead or caught up if he was behind. The next day we realized we had the spinnaker rigged wrong and wasn’t getting it to full hoist.
All in all a great first day back in the boat and excited to continue the season this spring.
Following racing we were hanging around the club as it rained and cleared and we were treated to a beautiful rainbow.
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:
No Quarter RG65 sailed its first regatta at the Northern Virginia Model Yacht Club Spring Series on Lake Anne in Reston VA. It was early and the wind was light and fluky, so 9 boats made for 7 fun and interesting racing. I had some moments of brilliance as well as some complete misses. Took me a couple races to dial the boat in a bit. There were a couple boats that felt a smidge faster, but there was still a lot of bad sailing that moved me back. With more experience I’ll get a little better going into the first race day at the Richmond Model Yacht Club next weekend.
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.