----------------------------------------------OLDER 2008 STUFF---------------------------------------------------------
WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF FIXING THE BROKEN IMAGE LINKS, BELOW!!!
SAIL FOR KIDS
It's pretty ironic when you are headed out for a 2 hour trip to the starting line for a race called "Sail For Kids" and you get involved with the police because you are the boat that radios in a call to the authorities that a body has been found floating in the inner harbor...and it's the body of a 3 year old boy who got thrown off the Key Bridge back in February.
We were approached by a guy on a jetski who asked us if we had a radio onboard...we asked what the matter was, figuring maybe he was low on petrol or something, and when he answered "there's a body floating over there," we felt a sense of shock and foreboding.
We didn't need to get too close and the radio call into the CG went without a huge amount of confusion (someone had already called in saying the body was "near a bridge"....we guessed they meant the Key Bridge, in which case they were only off by 3 or 4 miles, which would've meant an interesting and most likely fruitless search for the CG and the Marine Police).
And, luckily for us, the guy on the jetski was a hero and volunteered to stay with the body until the authorities arrived, which they did in en masse, freeing us up after 15-20 minutes to head to the starting line with a collective creepy feeling and no small amount of lingering sadness.
(huge thanks to this jetskier for sticking around while we made a gradual getaway)
Such is sailing in Baltimore's Inner Harbor from time to time...2 days later the body of a young woman was discovered farther up into the Inner Harbor.
Then, again luckily for us and the rest of the fleet, an actual breeze came up just prior to the start, maybe 4-6 from the south for a nice little upwind start to a mark north of the Bay Bridge, and then a solid enough Southeaster to speed everyone up the bay under chutes to another corner for a another short upwind leg, then a crankin' southerly, enough to dump Tim Layne's R33 (again), just off Love Pt.
As reported on Sailing Anarchy, by anarchist "Wicked Erik," (who is an excellent boat bottom diver, btw), Tim "wasn't driving, a guest crew Finn sailor was. They were power reaching along with the spin up; they have to push the boat hard to save time on everyone else. A puff hit making them heel, they blew the spin sheet and the guy on the helm went to drive down but got too aggressive and stalled the rudders, and the inertia from the mast just levered them over and it was a fairly slow capsize. No damage other than losing the small jib that wasnt securely fastened on deck. But the 'salvage' bill was probably twice the cost of that sail." (quoted from Sailing Anarchy forum)
(photo: nbayracing.com)
So yeah, never let it be said that these races north of the Bridge are dull affairs. The breeze was very decent (and always tricky the farther you get up the harbor). The party at DSC was hoppin' even though nbayracing.com couldn't stick around long, Massive props to the crew of J27 "Thin Float" for having me along...we were able to salvage a deuce out of the PHRF B fleet which wasn't too shabby especially in light of the distraction, and the vibe, set by the morning's grim event in the harbor.
(the multi's were frolicking in the fresh southerly..well, most of them, anyhow)
(the ledd-sledds got a decent run up the bay and into the river, too)
(big thanks to the talented and highly-focused crew of J27 "Thin Float" for having the slacker from nbayracing.com aboard)
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7/06/08 Powerboat Digression
We've gotten some mail lately asking about the "John Gregory"...this is a Hooper Island Draketail, built in the mid 90's, and named after the designer/builder, John Gregory.
The boat sort of got passed around and spent some time in Baltimore as a research vessel for The Park School, where nbayracing got some rides on her while the boat was under the extremely capable stewardship of our bud "Searoom."
Eventually the boat got donated to the Living Classroom Foundation and they "loaned" her to Alexandria's Waterfront revival project and rumor has it sometime around then the boat sank in the Potomac.
We're happy to report that that wasn't the end of the story, because the boat was refloated and sold to a private owner who has lovingly restored her. He sent us this shot of her on the hook in Sinepuxent Bay, her new home waters....she looks terrific in flat water in a flat seascape (but boy, she was a bear in a choppy beam sea).
Hats off to David Quillen for restoring her beautifully.
____________________________________________________________________
7/06/08 .... RANT : DO YOUR TURNS
For a number of years, we’ve been critical of clubs who are maybe a "little soft" on enforcing the rules during weeknight races.
It may be that they either openly or tacitly discourage protests. Or they don't encourage an informal, mediated discussion of an incident after the race.
We think it’s the worst sort of approach to use in trying to get club members to both learn, and adhere to, the rules, especially beginning racers.
Even if it's just a discussion of rules over a beer after the race, or a polite email exchange, moderated by a protest committee member, racers should be reminded of their obligation to sail fairly.
So, last year, when a fellow crewmember on the Tuesday night boat sent me this, I wanted to shout out a big "YAY!" These excerpts came froma letter from the Race Committee Chair of a club that races south of the Patapsco. The whole message was apparently emailed to the entire racing membership. I think his message was timely and I also think it’s completely spot-on.
Again, these are excerpts from a longer message:
--------------------
"What do the RRS's say about when one should take a penalty?
We can start with the RRS's "Basic Principal" which simply states: "Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule they will promptly take a penalty, which may be to retire."
You will notice that the 'Basic Principal' DOES NOT SAY …
"A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule, and they are witnessed and/or protested by a competitor, they will promptly take a penalty"
… also …in Rule 44.1 'Taking a Penalty:’
"A boat that may have broken a rule of Part 2 while racing may take a penalty at the time of the incident."
Notice, Rule 44.1 DOES NOT SAY …
"A boat that may have broken a rule of Part 2 while racing, and they are witnessed and/or protested by a competitor may take a penalty at the time of the incident."
THE OBLIGATION TO TAKE A PENALTY IS INDEPENDENT OF ANOTHER BOAT PROTESTING OR WITNESSING. THE OBLIGATION IS WITH OURSELVES.
The 'Basic Principal' and and Rule 44.1 clearly state the obligation is upon the competitor who knows they have broken a rule to take their penalty INDEPENDENT of another boat witnessing or protesting. In other words, it is our obligation as competitors to sail with good sportsmanship which means to follow the rules .. EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF WITNESSES OR COMPLAINTS.
---------------------
This is a terrific letter and we think it would be a great idea for all the area clubs to send out something similar as often as needs repeating. We've heard a few tales already this season that could cetainly have been mitigated by following the advice, above.
So, look, it's Wednesday night...it's no big deal. Just do your turns! Please?
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6/30/08........... FOUR TO FORTY. PSA OVERNIGHT
Talk to anyone who has done PSA’s
Overnight Race and you usually get a chuckle and a shrug…I don’t
know whether it’s the specific spot on the calendar (near the end of June)
or whether it’s just a huge coincidence, but this event is almost always
guaranteed to serve up a variety of conditions that challenge the most competent
crews.
I did the event on a J35 a few years ago and while the race was squall-free, we had a brilliant NW’er into the low-mid 20’s that got us home from Pooles Island in what seemed like about 10 minutes. We finished just after sunset that year.
(a pre-race squall, passing to the south, sucked all the breeze off the course for the starting sequence)
This year, once again, we had what seems to be pretty standard fare for the event, a light southerly that started out at about 4 kn and gradually built, all afternoon, into a respectable 10 kn, just before a whopper storm went through that served up 40+ to some of the fleet (though I don’t think we never saw much above 33…not that THAT wasn’t enough).
(more
like 4...a dying convection breeze got worse as the clock counted down, but
not for long)
("PSA
Overnight" could be renamed "PSA Around-the- Lights," because
you do get a good dose of the Upper Bay's caisson structures on the way around
the marks)
Still not a lot of breeze, approaching Pooles, at left, but looking west over Hart-Miller, above, shows some potential breeze approaching... like a 30 mile wide steam-roller.
Some laughable chatter among the crews at PSA’s postrace “Breakfast” (heaven for those of us who are heavily into breakfast meats) had one ano hitting 96 kn before packing it in. We all figured some massive recalibration was due, but I had a freed halyard literally ripped out of my hand in a puff, so one does have to wonder…
One small criticism in an otherwise stellar job by the folks at PSA…as this was entirely a handicap fleet, finishing in darkness, they should have results posted as soon as possible and, at this writing, some 60 hours post-finish, there are still none posted.
Nonetheless, PSA Overnight ranks up there with the Oxford races, in my opinion, as an annual highlight on the CBYRA calendar.
__JUNE 23 08....Club race bandit
It's
no big secret that nbayracing has a soft spot for Bob Evelyn's 80's designs. Here's an Evelyn 26 for
sale in Cape Cod Bay that would be a great Wednesday night boat.
_____________________________________________________________________________
JUNE 18, 2008....PUFF IN TEN?
Seven
or eight guys, hiking, trapped-out, on a wing, looking upwind and apprehensive
as the breeze builds?
uh....no.
Check out this vid of Classe Libera ("open class") "Principessa" trucking along, back in November, 2007 on Lake Balaton, Hungary.
One has to wonder how this thing fares in 25 kn....
__________________________________________________________________________
JUNE 17 08 ...CHEAP THRILLS
Bob
Evelyn's prototype 32-2 hull (e.g., hull #1) is now for sale, being offered
by Ron Hollingsworth in Grand River, Ohio. Righteous price, too, with the nifty
dual axle trailer and all the improvements Ron has done.
This piece of racing history is a steal at 15K.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
June 11.08
NITE LITE
After all the mayhem this season, puffs over 50, MOB's, fatalities, broken gear, miraculous survivals and heroism beyond the call of duty, it was actually quite nice to have a normal June evening last night, very light breeze, no serious injuries, same number of crew we left the dock with, no broken gear, and a relaxing time on the water.
That is, to the extent racing can be relaxing....
The
scene at Herring Bay...they got a race in somehow.
C&C
110 Boondoggle and J35 Charlie find a little breeze on the right at MRSA.
Nbayracing.com hopes that all the serious situations that hit our sailing communities hard, so far this season, have, at the very least, compelled a few more of us to put PFD's on prior to racing. They won't save your life if they are still below, in your gear bag.
R.I.P. Ralph Reitan and Roger Stone
_______________________________________________________________________________
VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN
Depending
on your computer skills, this will take you as little as 10 seconds or as many
as 15...go HERE and vote for Baltimore Harbor
Light to win a bunch of FREE WINDOWS for this historic light's
planned renovation.
The link to voting is just under the first paragraph and says VOTE HERE>>
___________________________________________________________________________________
JUNE 2 '08.....HOSPICE at HdG
Arvid Scherpf (left, behind crew) won the Star fleet and, as far as we can tell, the Hospice Regatta up in HdG this past weekend and will have the honor of representing HdGYC at the National Hospice Championship Regatta next spring.
Starboat on the right (above) is John Vandehoff's 8038.
Scherpf (7773) ducks behind Vanderhoff for the inside route at the start, below.
_____________________________________________________________________________
JUNE 2, 2008....BIG TIME
Cookson
has posted this vid on
YouTube...sea trials of Speedboat in Auckland, NZ.
To put it simply: wow.
___________________________________________________________________________
MAY
29 08....RC Props from the mouth of the Patapsco.
We
here at nbayracing.com sing the praises of NPSA a lot.
For good reason: as a weeknight racing organization, they offer a tremendous amount of pluses and very few minuses.
Among the many pluses: their Race Management.
Read on.
(left, NPSA's RC Boat extraordinaire, "Myth," formerly owned by Dudley Boycott, now jointly owned by an intra-club consortium)
One thing that gets me is: people who complain a lot about Race Committees.
Sure we all grouse, on occasion, about some little issue on the course that we, from our perspective, closer to the water and the other competitors, think should have been handled differently.
But for the most part the vast majority of us really do appreciate the unpaid volunteers who make up our RC’s.
(left,
Kenny Rotan pilots "Myth" out of Jones Creek on a picture perfect
May evening)
Something I really appreciate about the Sailing Anarchy Forum is, whenever someone comes on the Forum whining about how lousy the RC was at some event, it’s not uncommon for the vast hoards at SA to pile on with comments like, “when was the last time YOU volunteered for RC duty,” or “have you ever even DONE RC duty? Do you realize how difficult it is?” All in the defense of RC’s everywhere who donate their time, energy, evenings, weekends and boats so that people can race sailboats.
Last night I got a chance to do Committee Boat with the NPSA regulars, Dudley, Dottie and Ken, and not only did I become reacquainted with their quiet, methodical, and efficient RC technique, I also saw what can happen when, against all odds, Mother Nature can snatch a good race night on the water away from competitors despite the best intentions and professionalism of the RC.
(Left,
Bob Yin's C&C 110 "Dolce" warms up, pre-start)
Due to the particular geography of the racing venue at NPSA, when the breeze is out of the east or northeast, there are some fairly major limitations to the courses the Race Committee has to offer. One option is a long slog out to ‘round Craighill Light, which usually amount to just a reaching parade-route out and about with virtually no tactical component to the race, or a short hitch up into Old Road Bay and then a bunch of downwind and reaching legs out to and around Gov’t marks. The other unfortunate drawback to this wind vector is: it leaves almost no way to shorten course when the breeze is on life-support.
With the breeze beginning at about 100 degrees and forecast to back for a few hours, the RC chose the second option, e.g., the short windward leg up into Old Road Bay and then some seriously-long reaching and upwind legs back out into the Patapsco.
(Left, spinn fleet begins the short leg into Old Road Bay)
Of course, Mother Nature conspired to:
1) throw in some huge righty shifts with the breeze going to 110, then 130,
and settling in at about 150 before finally
2) throwing in the towel and completely shutting down just before sunset
(Left, our buddies racing across the
river, at RCRA, converge on our fleet...we round the red gov't marks, they round
the green. Works for us.)
So, what began as a very reasonable and tactically challenging prospect for a Wednesday Night race became a 30 minute drift-fest for the majority of the fleet…only the Cruising Class, with a shorter course as defined by published NPSA’s Sailing Instructions, got all of their fleet across the line.
Ted Diehl got Windemere across for the Non-spinn victory while the rest of his fleet recorded TLE’s and the entire Spinn Fleet got a string of TLE’s, too.
(Left,
despite holes everywhere, Ted Diehl pulls another rabbit out of his hat and
is the only B fleet boat to finish...by a long slide! People at NPSA like to
kid Ted about his love of heavy air [Ted had started and footed out to a huge
lead with genoa and full main before the race was abandoned last week, in puffs
well over 30 kn.] but it looks like he's also got a thing for the light stuff,
too)
(Left,
the venerable, and venerated, Dudley Boycott, on station with horn and horn
switch in hand)
And, typical of the congenial attitude at NPSA, we heard no gripes and not one “why the hell did they send us all the way out to BC’2’?” at the party, afterward.
(Left,
holes starting to dominate the landscape as Ken Rotan gets the timesheet ready
for the first, and few, finishers)
It was still a great night on the water.
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May 22 2008.....Evil Night
(left)
Willie Burton, on board Tartan 27, "Windlassie" honkers down in the
lee of Sparrows Point to ride out the big blasts associated with a killer celll
that went over the river at approx 6:45 pm.
By now, you've undoubtedly heard the sad news out of MRSA, the death of Ralph Reitan while racing the Tartan 10 "Wabbit" last night on the Magothy. Nbayracing.com sends our sincere condolences to Ralph's family and crew.
----
The tragedy involving Ralph Reitan aside, It seems like the amount of wind we
got from this cell was completely unanticipated by most of us...and perhaps
because of that, there were way too many people out on boats in 30 - 40 knots
of wind NOT wearing pfds.
This
shot from about 6:15 pm shows an unsettled sky, but nothing like the kinds of
convective cloud masses we get all summer long that throw down 40 - 50 kn microbursts.
The sky was dark but this photo, which has been processed to enhance the cloud
cover, overexaggerates the ominous effect.
We figured we might see 16-20 and did not bother to run a reefing line...maybe not too smart, but seemed fine at the time.
NPSA racers run for the lee of the point, as the cell that wreaked havoc on the Magothy approaches Bodkin Point and, 2.5 miles beyond the treeline on the horizon, Sillery Bay and the rest of the MRSA race grounds. This cell, which really looks fairly benign in this shot, was responsible for an M.O.B. fatality, two heavy air groundings ("Bella Donna" and "Incommunicado"), a dismasting on the Soverel 33 "Pressure Drop," and a high-speed broach that dumped another MRSA racer in the water...he was able to hang on the the shrouds and clamber aboard without needing assistance.
(Left)
The NPSA scatters as racing is cancelled. Again, skies are dark, but this doesn't
look anywhere near as nasty as some of the stuff that comes in with a big mid-summer
T-storm.
For that reason, I think the preparation level, for most of us out there, was not what it needed to be for this particular wind event.
Lessons learned. We got off a little bit easy at NPSA...wish the same were true with our friends at MRSA.
Of
course, by 7:30, things looked beautiful and most of the racers were saying,
"why aren't we RACING???"
Such is life.
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MAY 21 2008.....VIDS
Say
what you like about Ted Kennedy, but you gotta give the guy credit...he gets
out of the hospital after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and says
he wants to go sailing. The next day, he hobbles down to the pier, sees that
it's blowing stink, goes back to the house and grabs the wife and dogs and heads
out on his Concordia 50, "Mya." video
here.
Farr
40's may not be your favorite one design, rich blokes paying pro crews to win
trophies, but these videos from Gary Jobson from Miami and flat-out cool.
May 20...One Step Closer
The
Baltimore Sumpaper reported, yesterday, that the LNG plant proposed for Sparrow's
Point is one
step closer to becoming a reality.
Won't it be fun when those Exclusion Zones clamp down Wednesday night racing?
________________________________________________________________________
May 13 ....Round Bay "late duck"
Evelyn owner Al Passori sent us this great shot, taken by Tom Rhatigan, of his boat "Leeanne" in a recent crossing situation in a weeknite race down in Round Bay. No gelcoat was scratched, but rumor has it Al did check his sheer pin a little while after the race was over.
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MAY 12 2008
Not
to whine, but I'm getting pretty sick of this sight.
This is Rt. 665 into Annapolis on a Saturday morning and it may as well be Bill Murray in "Groundhog's Day." Rain, 49 maybe 50 degrees. So far this season, the scene doesn't change.
But racing goes on and this past weekend it was the National Hospice Championship regatta, whereby a bunch of teams from around the country, teams that have won their local Hospice Regattas, get to come to Naptown and race each other on borrowed J105s.
The breeze was decent all weekend long, but the weather was not particularly welcoming to folks who had schlepped in from Florida and the Carolinas (no teams from California this year). This beast was looming in the offings, and we were lucky to get Sunday in before the breeze ramped up into the 40's. The Naval Academy's 49 footer "Mameluke" broke a mast down in the West River and the mids and instructors had to be rescued by the CG later that night.
(left)
The visable light image from Monday morning as the storm clears the atlantic
coast, after the center sunk south from over the upper Delmarva (screen capture
from UCAR's GOES-8 satelite)
(left)
Bill York calls the line for Team Havre de Grace on Sunday. We had a rough opener,
a terrific second day and a mediocre third day, pretty much what one can expect
in a round robin, where every day is another boat, another learning experience.
Team HdG heads in as the condits start getting gnarly. There's something special about heading in just as things approach the edge of the comfort zone. You know you've won this time, but might not be so lucky the next. And part of you wants to stay out and get slammed.
At least until you turn 40...
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MAY 08 08 snake bit...ANNAPOLIS YC on MAY 10th
(photo:
Priscilla Parker)
Anyone who's been hanging around these pages for the past couple of years knows we are on a rant for smaller, faster, more exciting race platforms.
We've been singing the praises of the Viper 640 for awhile (especially as a better choice than the SB3) and it looks like the boat is getting a bit of traction here on the east coast (not because of anything we've done, don't get me wrong).
Justin Scott sent us a note this week that they will be showing off the boats at AYC this weekend. He has some good news about the growth of the Viper 640 fleet, too:
"A quick update on the class, since I was in Annapolis in the fall. Since October ( Annapolis Boat show), Rondar has sold 30+ Vipers into the US. This brings the class to over 100 boats in North America. Three new fleets have formed in the last 4 months. Stamford Yacht Club (Long Island Sound), Indian Harbor Yacht Club and Savannah Yacht Club. We had 10 entrants at our first participation at Charleston Race Week last month....... http://viper640.org/content/view/118/41/ and with new boats going to Savannah and Lake Lanier, the South East is aiming for 20+ boats at CRW next year. In the North East, we will have 25 to 30 Vipers at our North Americans in Marblehead in July, with new boats going to the LIS fleet and Rhode Island. Next year we will have some inter-club team racing in Vipers (without spinnakers!). Rondar is building new boats at a rate of about 6 per month. It goes without saying that we would love to have a mid-atlantic fleet on the Chesapeake, linking the North East and the South East."
Justin points out that he has no commercial interest in Viper, he's the (unpaid) Class President...and I'm going to add that he's a terrific Viper sailor, having racked up four bullets in 7 races at Charleston Race Week and taking first class in the 10 boat Viper fleet!
If there's any doubt about how fast these things are, take a look at this and notice the chute is being trimmed with one hand.
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MAY0 de FIVE-O....R33's gone wild
Local
Reynolds 33 owner Tim Layne sent us this video link: http://www.youtube.com/user/chrisslagerman
Tim flew out to Cali to crew on this R33 for the Ensenada Race last weekend. That's the reaching strut of the Peterson 68, "Cheetah," coming into the frame, on the left, occassionally. These R33s are fast when upright!
Speaking of upright, while you're on that You Tube link, check out: Flip Cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRpgZFr6NBs which shows a scene much like any average Wednesday night race at NPSA or MRSA.
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MAY.04.08 THE PINK LIFE
HdGYC’s
“Pink Moon” regatta has struggled in the last few years, hit by
poor attendance that suggested maybe the northern bay J24 racing scene was in
its waning days. But 15 boats showed up this year, including a significant number
of travel teams from New Jersey and Annapolis and the weather served up two
days of extremely decent racing.
In fact, this was a just a darn good regatta. Major props to HdGYC for creditable RC work in challenging conditions (gusty vector switches on Sunday) and a tasty spread on Saturday evening complete with succulent sausages, grilled salmon and pork tenderloin...this was not your average post race cook-out!
Say
what you want about J24's: old, slow, painful, and sinkable, but they are in
the 30th year of successful One Design racing and deliver more bang for the
buck than any other keelboat I can think of.
(left, "Rush Hour" heads out early on Sunday a.m., for some pre-race practice. It paid off because their 4-2-5 for the day kept them alive for second, 10 points behind Paul Van Ravenswaay, who has certainly become the guy to beat in J24 District 6...big congrats to Paul and his Millenium Falcon crew)
Travel
teams took the first 3 spots before HdGYC's Chuck Sheet's 4th, suggesting that
local knowledge is better for fishing than sailboat racing. Speaking of which,
a local bassboat team did happen to snag a passing J24 on its way to the topmark
on Saturday...to his credit, the fisherman took it all in with a smile and joked
with us as we sailed past him and his buddies, a welcome change from some of
the berserk stuff we've both seen and read about, recently, involving fisher-people
and race boats.
And
what's a J24 regatta without a little love-bite along the way? Unfortunately,
this love-bite, punctured straight on through to the other side. J24 guru Tim
Winger took it all in stride, very graciously, and according to witnesses, "barely
even cussed."
Breeze
in the 10-12 range with consistent puffs to 17-18 kept most of us happy, granted
some people were happier than others....as when there're not a lot of boats
behind you to gas your spinny.
Such is life.
_______________________________________________________________
MAY.01.08
N.I.M.B.Y.
The
Baltimore Sun reported in the April 26th issue, that: "Federal officials
are recommending conditional approval for a liquefied natural gas terminal at
Sparrows Point, over the objections of community leaders and elected
officials."
In other words, the Feds are saying, "we don't give
a rat's red ass what the people of Baltimore and Maryland think about this,
the LNG plant is going in THERE."
Here's a cheery little website a lawyer in SoCal put up that details the risks to any community that's in close proximity to an LNG facility.
Like the man says, "I'm from the Federal Government and I'm here to help"
____________________________________________________________________________________________
April 28.... PAY UP.
I
dont think there's anyone on the planet who races sailboats who hasn't heard
this, but, in case you haven't heard:
as of January 1, 2009, if you plan on grabbing the tiller or wheel on a sailboat that is racing in an event that is sanctioned by USSailing, you better have plunked down 60 bucks for a USSailing membership or you could get a DSQ for the race.
I don't know how enforcement is going to work with this, but can you imagine getting protested by some schmuck who has gone on-line to check whether your main trimmer, who took the helm while you were putting on your foulies, has actually paid his dues for the year?
This could be a good thing if it significantly ramps up the USSailing revenue stream and results in some identifiable benefit to everyday, run-of-the-mill sailors, but in the short term it looks like a bad thing.
It looks like one more coersive money-grab on one more front from one more set of authorities.
Or maybe we're just too cynical at nbayracing.
---------------------------------------------------
April 21...."BLUTO" Rolls at CRW...............................further tales of a certain Evelyn 32-2
All photos courtesy: SailingK8
We
figure that, between the dozens (hundreds?) of people who raced on her, in Annapolis,
when she was named "Accomplice," and the dozens of people around Baltimore
who raced on her when she was named "Dire Wolf," there are plenty
of folks who might be curious about what Evelyn 32-2 Hull 26 is up to these
days, so here goes:
Having taken a bullet for the season up at Bristol (R.I.) YC, she then went to Key West a few months ago and took Second Place in PHRF 3.
Then, this past weekend, she nosed out perrenial Chesapeake High Pointer "L'Outrage" to take First Place at Charleston Race Week.
Not bad for a 26 year old design, drawn during the waning days of IOR.
Big congrats to Bill Berges and the rest of his crew. We are wondering if a "Bluto" vs "Remedy" match-up will happen at Block this summer!! (meaning John and Bill Fries celebrated Evelyn 32-2 "Remedy," not Bert Carp's Donovan 27 "Remedy," pictured at left behind "Bluto."
Left, Bluto noses out with Bert Carp's "Remedy"
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April 16...big fishies
Got this shot of a whale shark and a whale from 2 different sources, almost simultaneously:
The one on the left is whale shark, behind my neph's outboard (barely visible, lower right corner) from down in the FL Keys, and the other is from Doug Mackey who sails Evelyn 32-2 "Rock Lobster" out off Bainbridge Island in Washington.
It's stuff like this that makes me glad the Chesterpeake's most menacing sea life has tentacles. Whale sharks may be compeltely harmless, but imagine wailing into that sucker at 10 knots.
I prefer my sea life small, thank you very much.
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April 15... aka, Getting Totally Hosed Day.
Nbayracing.com
hates April 15th and we are not ashamed to say so.
That having been said, it is sorta nice that the date is also a reminder that Annapo NOOD Regatta is coming up real soon. And there are over 250 boats registered as of today!
The biggest is the J105 fleet with 32 boats registered, not quite last year's massive 45 boat fleet, but still pretty darn impressive.
This is the first year in the last 5 or 6 we aren't going. I made the decision last year, actually, for personal reasons, but I won't miss a few things: 1) it's damn early and big-boat racing in tight quarters around drop marks is one thing when you've had a few weeks to practice, but (at least on the boats I've done NOOD on in the past few years) practice is usually non-existant prior to the event mainly because people have just splashed their boats a week or two before. 2) Skills are at an all-time low in mid-late April, no one is at peak and weather can be down right nasty. Not 18-25 kn in 80 degree weather and 78 degree water temps, but 18-25 in 40 degree temps and water barely out of the low 50's.
Unless you've done KW or Charleston (this weekend) or maybe some frostbiting, and you've kept your skills fairly sharp over the winter, the Annapo NOOD can be an early season exercise in pain management. I don't need the pain this year, but I hope everyone going has a blast and sails safely!
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CHINA SHOW: Our intrepid reporter, Willie, went to Shangai's "China Boat Show" to get us a keel for the i550 (below, left of Willie). He says,"Mega million dollar yachts at the First People's Congress Hall, oh the irony."
Wonder if you can get a happy ending with that Double Happiness...
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Build It: i550
Been
in sort of a state of hibernation, but I think it might be time to crawl out
of the cocoon and get to work.
This is a bunch of oak sections ripped to rough out a NACA0012 foil.
I got a
bit of a start on laminating all 13 pieces over the weekend. It didn't take
me long to screw something up. This i550 thing is going to be a huge, but fun,
learning curve.
Note
to self: 3 bar clamps on a 60" section are not enough...
You can follow more of this idiocy on the i550 BUILD PAGE
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3/18/08....Singing to the Choir
I
gave a little spiel, last week, at NPSA's monthly meeting, to maybe start an
initiative to reintroduce things like PHRF C & PHRF D boats to racing fleets.
Remember, as a kid or younger adult, racing somewhere, using Gov't marks, on
boats that had cushions and galleys and once you got there, you threw out the
hook and cooked something and you sat around at night and had a couple beers
and then woke up (without a hangover) and raced home?
There are more than a few people on the bay that would like to see races like this come back, where you race reaching legs on a fairly even playing field against other displacement hulls. Maybe bring the wife and kids along.
If this evolves, this initiative to plan some short distance races including starts for Non-spinn, corinthian and shorthanded boats, nbayracing.com will keep you posted. We think this is important, but who knows, maybe our culture has "evolved" to the point where kids can't be away from the video games for the duration of an entire weekend, or we can't be away from the the piles of stuff waiting for us on our desks.
The irony of last week is: NPSA is already doing what has been proposed to boost older boat participation. By sponsoring fun weeknite racing (with reaching legs) and a few fairly laid-back weekend events, NPSA has continued to promote a more family-friendly type of sailing. My half-hour talk was pretty much a reiteration of what the clubmembers already knew!
BTW, a new link has been provided to Glenmar Sailing Association. We hope to include a lot of Glenmar's events this season.
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3/09/08 Politics 101
Don't
know about you, but I find myself having less cash around these days...certainly
less to spend on sailing.
Some of our missing dough is going to a good cause, though, like to give our wonderful Gov's friends and subordinates decent raises. The same kinds of raises you and I are likely to see this year...like 25.7 percent in one case.
So, just to get an idea of other great ideas coming out of our Gov's office in "The Sailing Capital of America," we've provided a link to a website that keeps a weather eye out for us. Enjoy.
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2/24/08
Getting it done
The
guys at DIYC (Tampa) decided to have a "for-fun" feeder race over
to St. Pete for the NOOD regatta a couple of weeks ago. Since it was agreed
upon that it was basically a "no rules" event (and the breeze was
pretty light) some enterprising J24 sailors decided to fly a J30 chute from
the 24's masthead.
We like the way these guys are thinking!
Thanks to Lambert Lai, USJCA District 7, Fleet 41 for the shot (slightly modified to show both boats a little closer), and yeah, we agree these guys get extra credit for originality!
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2/23/08
LOCAL TALENT
Baltimore
sailor Donald Lawson has thrown his hat into the ring, for the 2010 Velux 5
Oeans Race (link). This is a huge undertaking and we here at nbayracing.com, hope our
local sailing community gets behind this and supports Donald’s effort.
The info, below, is from a communication nbayracing.com received recently from Donald:
“Since 1999, Donald Lawson has worked with and taught children, high school students, college students, adults and disabled persons how to sail.
Donald’s mission has been two-fold: to gain valuable experience out on the water, and to expose those less fortunate to his passion and love: sailing on the oceans.
In 2004 Donald started the non-profit organization, Offshore
Adventures.
The mission of Offshore Adventures is to address the significant shortage of
minorities in sailing by introducing economically deprived students to the world
of sailing and providing an introduction to the career opportunities in the
industry, and leveraging existing resources within the community.”
-----
Donald needs to raise funds to purchase the boat and complete
the project. His goal is to raise this money by the end of July so that he can
purchase the boat and begin training and outreach programs.
www.myspace.com/dnloffshoreadventures
is Donald’s site, where you can access more pix and videos.
Donald
trims on Tim Lyon's Corsair 43 "Triple Threat" in last fall's Harbor
Cup (aka, The Leukemia Cup)
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2/19/08
By
now, everyone's heard how Groupama broke up off the coast of NZ. There are a
couple of dynamite vids on the cammas-groupama website you should see if you
haven't already.
click images for linky.
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2/5/08
KWRW
We've been following (okay, stalking) the successes of the old nbayracing ride, Evelyn 32-2 hull #26, now recommisioned as "Bluto."
New owner Bill Berges racked up a second a couple weeks ago at Key West Race Week, in challenging conditions. We got this in the mail a few days later from Bill:
(photo
courtesy of Craig at Ft. Walton Yacht Club)
"Bluto finished KWRW 2nd in PHRF 3. The crew included Bob Evelyn and Ben & Nan Hall. I sailed with Ben on his 32 "Dark Star" in 1983. Meet Bob in 1984 and took delivery of hull #1 Evelyn 42 "Stainless" in 1985.
Bob,
Ben and Nan where all part of the crew
winning many races including our class in the 1986 Newport to Bermuda race.
This
reunion on a 32 at KWRW was special. "Bluto" will be at Charleston
Race Week April 17-20, hope to see other Evelyn 32's there.
Regards,
Bill Berges
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more pix here on the Evelyn 32-2 page
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ORGAN DONORS
We
here at nbayracing.com have a soft spot in our hearts for Catalina27's, the
Chevy Impalas of the sailing world.
A lot of us (older dudes) cut our racing teeth on Hunters and Catalinas, Cals and Pearsons and when we see something like this, it's painful.
Personally, racing on Catalina 27s like DESPERADO, Redact, Toybox and Cadence represent some of the most fun I've ever had on boats, even if it wasn't exactly the fastest ride...and Fleet 8, the Catalina27 One Design racing group in Annapolis still gets huge props as being the most fun OD fleet at area regattas.
So,
here are some shots of Catalinas that got beat up by Katrina and then put down
after donating some body parts to a survivng boat. Our contact "SailorChef"
down in NOLA sent us these shots of some boats that were cannabalized to rehab
a later build from Catalina (C27 hull number 6115...remember, they built many,
many thousands of these beasts before they retooled and made the 270).
After a boat gets stripped it says hello to meet Mister Backhoe...
Let's
hope all our coastal brethern (and sistern) avoid the ravages of this kind of
storm in 2008. For that matter, let's hope nothing like Isabel marches up the
western shore this coming season!
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THE DISTANCE
Take
a few minutes and watch some of these Australian
Surf Boat competition vids. It'll put the dangers of racing sailboats in
a whole 'nuther perspective.
These guys (and gals) don't even wear helmets.
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THE DISTANT...
As
in the Distant Past, here's a shot of"Bluto," the former "Dire
Wolf" preparing to race at KWRW this week. It's been a while since we've
seen a new wardrobe on Evelyn 32-2 hull number 26 and those panelled carbons
look pretty spiffy (Elliott Pattisons?).
Looks like other upgrades include a carbo luff foil, some new instrus, a carbon spinn pole and a new rig(?) and what's missing are the old O/B mount and the babystays. Looks like the ridiculously heavy cascading backstay thay we had on when we acquired the boat is still aboard!
As of today, Thursday, Race Day 4 at KWRW, "Bluto" is in second place in PHRF 3. Keep in mind that it's now 1400 hrs and to date only 3 races have been run.
This
has been a great KWRW to sit out....too much air on practice day and Day 1,
and not much to work with on Day 3 & 4.
(all KWRW pix: Joy Dorethy)
Speaking of One and Done, Annapolis PHRF dominator "L'Outrage" lost their rig just after they got in one race...their rig went when a tang on the uppers gave up the ghost and the mast folded above the spreaders. A real bummer for Bruce & Company in what has proven to be a very tough year for the L'Outrage program. (The boat left the slings of a travellift last summer and got severely nailed on a piling...extensive damage). The good news is that a crew member assured us they'll have the boat re-rigged in time for Charleston Race Week.
Another bummer is SMSA sailor Mike Ironmonger's Colgate 26 "Bob" losing their rig on Monday, Day 1, the day racing was abandoned when sustained wnds stayed in the mid to high 20's. One of the larger IRC boats recorded a masthead puff in the mid-40's.
So, this has been a weird KWRW and we here at nbayracing.com send our heartfelt condolences to the Chesapeake crews who had to stop racing early. Safe trip home for everyone!
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MORE DH STUFF
Chesapeake
sailors interested in short-handed racing can now look at the new website that
is promoting SH & DH racing. The URL is a bit unwieldy, so the link is HERE
The site has a schedule of what will be shakin' this summer for the Going Off Light crowd.
Big props to Rich Griner at HHSA for the work he has put into the shorthanded racing effort!
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BOAT SHOW SNOB
Just
got these shots from a friend who is in UK on business. He had a chance to hit
the London Show and says it is
MASSIVE.
The Baltimore Show starts in a few days and I don't think I'll bother. I like powerboats well enough, but a bunch of reverse sheer clorox bottles and bass boats is not going to do it for me.
The London Show looks like full-bore entertainment though, everything from 60' motoryachts to blo-carts.
I
can't comment on the Balto Show but somehow I have feeling it would be slightly
less enticing to area performance sailors, but if anyone goes and wants to comment,
have at it.
Maybe they'll have kite-boarding demos, like the show in London...who knows?
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2008 Building...the i550
As
mentioned below, building one of these is the next project and people have been
asking me what's up in terms of progress. The pre-cut boards have been ordered
and will probably arrive in February. In the meantime, I plan to build a rudder
out of laminated oak sections. Pix as the build progresses and anyone in the
Balto/Annap area thinking of building one of these, please shoot me an email
at the webwolf address above.
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2007 RECAP! we really dislike recaps but........................................................
Pix AND it happened!
Look, 2007 was such an amazing season we need to mention it. Our bay gets a sometimes-deserved bad rap about being breezeless, but if ever mother nature wanted to fight back and resurrect our bay's reputation it must have been last year because there were truly EPIC CONDITIONS on the Chesapeake in 2007.
No, not exactly like The Weather Channel's embarassingly stupid take on the Chesapeake (complete with cut-away shots of VOR boats in the Southern Ocean), but some honkin' great breeze showed up at a lot of the bay's biggest events in '07. Nbayracing was at some of them and here's proof, in chronological order, that our local sailing venue can look a lot more like Berkeley Circle than a Talbot County millpond (all photos: nbayracing.com except where noted otherwise)
Okay,
Annapolis NOOD was a bit of a washout, but the big breeze did show up finally
on Day 3.
A
couple weeks later, Havre de Grace's Pink Moon event saw puffs well into the
mid 30's.
The
National Hospice Championship, sailed out of Eastport YC saw puffs to 30 on
the last day.
The
Race to Baltimore ("Sail for Kids") started light but ended with puffy
blasts in the Inner Harbor.
The
Eastport to Solomons Race Friday afternoon; the SMSA Hospice Regatta on Saturday;
and SPLC on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday all saw solid breeze in mid-July. Five
straight days of decent breeze off Solomons in mid-summer...who'd ever believe
it?
Puffs
to 35 at NASS Oxford Race. Keep going.
HHSA
Marathon Race in mid-October. We saw a puff to 32 and sustained breeze in the
mid-20's.
Great
breeze in late October and early November: both the J24 East Coasts and, the
following weekend, the J105 N.A.C. and the IRC East Coast Championships saw
very good breeze for all races.
(photo: Eddie Hornick)
No huge surprise here, but we are hoping like hell 2008 lives up to the kind of conditions 2007 showed us. Of course there were a few days when we bobbed around and sweated our butts off, but all-in-all it was amazing.
So here's to a breezy '08. Starting in April, of course. We don't need 40 degrees and puffs to 30 while we are on the hard, spraying on Baltoplate.
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12/17/07 .....Puffy
All that breeze last night had me thinking glad thoughts about not having a boat tied up in a slip or ever worse, sitting out on a mooring somewhere.
To those of you who do, I hope everything is OK. Peek gust at Key Bridge was about 49 kn, e.g., 56 mph, e.g., Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale. It was a brief spike into Force 10, but it was pretty much Force 9 all afternoon and into the evening out in the river.
Reminded me of the last day at Charleston Race Week (except for it being 30 degrees warmer, down there). Going into the last day, we were one stinkin' point behind the leader and really wanted to race. But once we got to the docks, it was pretty obvious the operative word was "forgeddaboutit." It was blowing 25-35 in the marina and the beach recorded a top wind speed of 62. The RC made the right call, a bit of a no-brainer, but we still heard people griping about the ALL RACING CANCELLED TODAY sign on the board and on the NA flags on the Signals Made Ashore hoist. It takes all kinds, I guess.
Bit ugly in Charleston Harbor, April 2007...lots of loose stuff in the marina.
I rolled out of town around noon and there were palm fronds & tree limbs in the road everywhere and traffic signals out and sirens wailing from 3 or 4 different directions.
Sort of like last night.
Only....warmer.
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12/11/07...in 11 days, the Sun begins coming back
CHILLAX.......THE
ALTERNATIVE TO BECOMING A TOTAL TUBE ZOMBIE.
Instead of watching 10 straight hours of the National Felons League on the tube, yesterday, we hauled ourselves off the couch and trucked on down to Herring Bay for HHSA's last frostbite race of 2007.
Not
a lot of pressure (fine with me), a little rain (not so fine), and temps in
the mid 40's, so it wasn't totally brutal, the pic to the left notwithstanding
(Tim Nuhfer at the helm of Carl Schaefer's ETAP 30, "Cadence II").
Nbayracing has been loosely keeping tabs on the frostbite scene around the bay and it looks as if the popularity of this admittedly insane style of racing is holding its own, if not increasing! HHSA had a very respectable17 boats participating in its Frostbite Series this fall!
It's interesting how some clubs handle the concept of frostbite racing...most require all crew stay in the cockpit, which makes sense. Yesterday it was pretty calm, but water temps were about 44 degrees and an M.O.B. in that stuff, as everyone knows, is wicked dangerous.
Still, it beats sitting around the house. Light condits don't suit the ETAP 30 and we were way back in the pack of nine boats...and it was gloomy and cold and gray.
So why is that better than watching Bill Cowher flap his gums and hearing Terry Bradshaw gushing about how wonderful the Pats are?
I
dunno...it just is.
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12/7/07 Pearl Harbor Day (lest we forget)
SHARP!
About 15 years ago I bought this book written by Reuel B. Parker on sharpies (The Sharpie Book). I always loved the designs for their simplicity of construction, understated elegance and shallow draft! I figured one day I might give it a go and build a small one, just for grins. Cut to 2007....I'm boatless and thinking about that the next vessel might be.
Criteria:
small. trailerable. 3 crew max. Potential for OD.
A-sail. Sprit. CHEAP.
Then I saw this on Sailing Anarchy and this on YouTube and this on the designer's site.
Well, HEY THERE! Whattaya know!!!
I figure when all signs point in the same direction you might as well tag along. I will be starting hull #87 soon! If you're at all handy, motivated and CHEAP, like me, get in touch and we can talk about getting a local (read: Patapsco) One Design fleet started!
Stay tuned....
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SOS...Save Our Sport - Things That Work
(above, images from Yacht Scoring's Day 3 camera at the IRC East Coast Championships, courtesy Yacht Scoring)
THEY SHOOT, THEY SCORE
Nbayracing has been a big fan of Yacht Scoring since they got going as a start-up enterprise, a couple of years ago, offering an amazingly effective package that’s both an across-the-board scoring program, (IRC, PHRF, OD) and a regatta management service. Regatta management services include such monumentally labor-intensive tasks as: registration, event management, and communication between racers and the public and also the news media (in venues where that could be relevant…I don’t think “The Sun” would be particularly interested but the Annapolis Capital, might be).
The neatest thing about Yacht Scoring, though, is they provide results on the web in“near real-time.” So, a fleet finishes a race and those of us at a desk, wishing we were there racing, AT LEAST have a clue as to whether our friends and/or family are having a successful day on the water.
Yacht Scoring bumped it up a notch a couple of weeks ago at the IRC East Coast Championships in Annapolis. Notified through “near-real-time” alerts on Sailing Anarchy, folks at their computers could click on to LIVE video feeds from the RC boat on the start/finish lines in Annapolis. It wasn’t exactly ESPN, but it was live broadcast sailing! You could witness finishes in Annapolis from the comfort of your couch or desk!
(Left: Yacht Scorings Day 3 camera at the IRC East
Coast
Championships, courtesy Yacht Scoring)
Why does this matter? It matters because, by all accounts, competitive sailing is losing popularity as measured by the number of participants. And this kind of immediate access to the sport can help to retain, foster and rekindle interest.
An Example:
I was at a fairly big regatta, this fall, a very competitive event, with over 50 boats on the line in a One Design fleet. Racing was intense and, once off the water, racers were anxious to see where they ended up for the day. But, results were woefully slow to reach the internet. In fact, they didn’t really show up, in any sort of public format, until late Sunday night. There were certainly valid reasons why results were slow to be posted (it was an extremely busy weekend on the water) but not having results available to competitors, their friends and families is yet one more source of frustration in this sport.
Contrast That With:
The next weekend, I was home and had Yacht Scoring's live IRC feed on the laptop when a friend, who is a non-sailor stopped by. He saw the live feed and said, "So you guys are on television now? That is very cool." He hinted at maybe coming out for a few starts next season. Strictly anecdotal, but...
-----
Yacht Scoring brings one component of performance sailing into the 21st century. If, and when, we make a concerted effort to market the sport of competitive sailing more agressively (hopefully that will be soon...more to follow), Yacht Scoring's product will be one to point to as an illustration of racing's vitality and freshness. Our sport is losing participation, in part, because people can easily catalogue their sources of frustration and decide their bucks are better spent elsewhere. Yacht Scoring can certainly eliminate a LOT of frustration!
Click here for a glimpse at Yacht Scoring’s past and future gigs.
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