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nbayracing.com 2012 ................news from 2011 & 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

"Examining racing in the Upper Bay because, pretty much, no one else will"

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5.14.12....It Ain't Too Late:

To sign up for MRSA's Region 2 Spring Classic (Sanction#: 201 & 202)

WHY: because it's this Sunday, it's the end of the school year (pretty much) and you can bring the kids out and race without worrying about how much homework they have and which lax game you'd have to miss.

WHY: because it's a chance to get in TWO high point races in one day, a morning race, a lunck break and then an afternoon race.

WHY: because MRSA provides excellent racing!

WHY: because the yard will be fine if you wait until the following weekend.

So take a break from the lawn and sign up (by Thursday May 17th). Docs here:

http://www.magothysailing.com/bin/racing.php?pg=Info

Entry form here:

http://www.magothysailing.com/bin/race_entry_wed.php

5.10.12.....Remedial Sailing

One of the on-line dictionaries defines "remedial" as: "Provided or intended for students who are experiencing learning difficulties."

Last night was just such a session. A re-education in "Keeping your head outside the boat."

See: http://www.nbayracing.com/HeadOut.htm .

I wrote that about 8 years ago. I could've benefitted by reading it yesterday before leaving work around 4:30.

But, I didn't.

So, in the MRSA Multi fleet, it was just us on Kevin D.'s Farrier 24 and Russ W.'s F27S. We got a decent enough start, did nicely upwind and rounded with a 3-5 BL lead. Nice! Our A-sail set wasn't terrific and it took us awhile to jibe and get dialed-in downhill. In that time, Russ essentially caught us, but we were still ahead on handicap.

The RC wisely chose just one loop around, so with Russ and us trading places in separate puffs (I'd forgotten how quickly you can get gains and losses in these things) we were in decent shape to correct over Russ. We were within a half mile of the finish and looking good, tweaking everything to get that extra bump of speed and stay within striking distance of the F27S.

And that's where things went completely stupid. I noticed some nasty looking clouds to the north and even said, aloud, "there's an ugly gust front over on the right, probably bearing down on Pinehurst."

Let's look up "gust front." One source says it's a "part of a large squall line....." Hmmm. Part of a large line squall. OK. Knew that. Right. So, can someone tell me why I went back to micro-managing boatspeed instead of noticing a completely obvious and quite dangerous looking dark gray wind line charging down the river at us?

Talking with Russ, post-race, apparently they had the same conversation at some point, after the fact. All I remember is those guys carreening off toward Little Island at Warp-factor II and, while we did get the chute down in time, we had no headsail up which was not the sail plan to finish upwind in 15-22 kn. We sat in irons, skating backwards, away from the Finish boat until we cleaned up the carnage enough to regroup, raise a jib and start tacking back up to the finish line.

That gave the F27S folks enough time to get it together and smoke back to the finish line with enough of a cushion to beat us. I commend them for that, and for keeping their boat under control with a halyard issue preventing a total kite douse.

All-in-all, lesson learned. Or, in this case. Relearned.

And relearned and relearned and relearned and...well, you get the picture.

As an aside, I am definitely feeling the pull toward the dark side. Fun boats, and a great bunch of folks racing them.

5.4.12.....Hobie Annivesary to You

Okay, we know it isn't a Hobie (left), but it's a small cat and this weekend, Hobie Fleet 54 is celebrating their 40th anniversary!

They'll be holding their Gunpowder "Points" Regatta this weekend in the Hammerman Area of the park. This is one of the oldest continuous Hobie regattas in the country.

The breeze doesn't look too challenging but it will be, in all likelihood, a very fun event. Spectators can watch from the "concession-stand/restrooms-bathouse!"

More info here at CRAC

4.26.12......Go East

This looks like fun....pretty sure we will not be able to make it over to have a look, though. WoodenBoat mag's WOOD Regatta. Contact info HERE...and please don't contact RHYC for info.

4.26.12.....Go North

No, not the Big Blue sail loft, we mean north of Hart-Miller Island for some racing in late JUNE. Specifically:

JUNE 23rd and JUNE 24th

<---- click for Glenmar page and link to NOR (top of Glenmar's page where it says "HOME OF THE NORTHERN BAY REGATTA)

nbayracing.com would like nothing more than seeing the scratch expand enormously for the 2012 Northern Bay Regatta (formerly known as Northern Bay Race Week...we're glad they've changed the name from "Race Week")

For most of the clubs in and around Baltimore, this should be a no-brainer. It's cheap, it's easy and it offers a tremendous amount of bang-for-the-buck. Free slip, free party, free food, & cash bar. We've always liked that combo. Our days of drinking 35 bucks worth of rum are long gone....doubt they ever really existed, to be truthful.

So, reserve the date and get your crew locked in. Give Glenn Harvey a shout ask him to leave the lights on for ya (contact info is on the NOR).

<----We have a feeling this boat will be there....just a hunch. (Photo: nbayracing.com)

4.25.12.....Parked

I used to find it excruciating to be stuck on the hard, with a project, while the race boats were headed out for a week-night start.

This year? Not so much.

I'm still limping a little from Star Wars and besides that, just being at a boatyard on a really nice April evening was good enough.

It's good to see Inc. looking spiffy, although I had very, very little to do with that. Our work session included beer and pizza and a bit of island time, but still, a few things got done.

What I've really grown to appreciate is the difference between working on a boat in your backyard, and working on a boat in a marina. None of those "Oh sh*t ! did I bring those allen wrenches?" moments as you frantically rummage through the car looking for the right tool or the right fastener or the right tube of 5200/4200/lithium grease/LifeCaulk.

And the clock is always ticking! The half-day you set aside for an arm's length list of projects gets whittled down to an hour or two after the commute, the search for tools and gabbing with those yard mates you haven't seen for 4 months.

Whereas, in the backyard, you realize you need some M.E.K. and it's in the basement. You go in and while you're there, figure on making a sandwich. A sandwich is going to need a beer. And since the sandwich and beer are there, you may as well check the score of the game. Whoa, it's a tie-score. Better watch a little. MIght as well check the email, too. HAH! funny YouTube video!!!

See the difference?

(left, "Incommunicado" looking rather well after a very slick Oak Harbor Marina spray job)

4.19.12....Openers

(Left, off Ft. McHenry, 10-15 kn and 75 degrees...photo courtesy M.L. Gunther)

The saying goes, "it's better to be lucky than good," but it looks like BCYA has it both ways.

Their "A" fleet has been augmented with some amped-up boats, including the newest incarnation of "Cuore de Leone," a J111...and they just received about the most perfect "opening day" weather I can remember in the past 2 decades or so.

Not so the next night, with the neighboring Wednesday night starts. Unless you are fond of racing in intermitent rain, 51 degree temps and a "mostly less than 3 kn breeze."

A quick look around some of the "Above the Bridge" clubs shows a slight decrease in the number of boats that showed up for their annual opener. That may be due to a number of reasons and granted, the statistical sample is quite small, but given the mild weather during the Spring Refitting Season, it does raise an eyebrow. Let's hope it's just an early season glitch and not another sign of decreasing participation in racing.

4.7.12....Rust Wars

(Left, Trevor Harney and Nate Owens yuck it up with Mark, the owner's rep, from J24 "Tribal Pleasures." Having half the fleet behind you is a good thing!)

So, as discussed earlier this month, we went to Star Wars.  I was lucky to have sailed on another High Point winning boat last season (Screwpile and two distance races) and was really thrilled this year about getting a chance to do the Star Wars event one more time. 

This year one of the biggest changes was the clubhouse: the EYC clubhouse is currently just a simple shell, while a total rehab of the facility is taking place. So, their terrific balcony with the great view of the race course was sadly missing.  Nonetheless, it’s a great location and a fun place to hang out while waiting for a J24 to show up.

We (Team Audrey/Trevor Harney) sailed every other race, the even numbered ones, against five other boats, while the other six teams raced the odd numbered starts. EYC was, once again, right on their game with getting the boats in and out and swapping crews without a single mishap (that I know of, at least). 12 teams, six boats. Pretty straightforward math.  My only very, very slight complaint is: we raced against the same 5 teams all day long. A little bit of mixing up the fray, after Race 2, might’ve been interesting, but time was a consideration and, even without the mixing, it was a fairly long day on the water.

Warren Richter, the defending champ from last year, won this year’s event, too! Congrats to Warren.  Conditions were challenging, as a weak cold front was feeding off a moderately deep low, east of Hatteras, to bring a puffy, widely oscillating beeze down the river.

At the uphill mark, laylines were a total crap-shoot. And with 8 –18 working down the river with puffs into the mid to low 20’s, you can bet they never saw a flood off to the north of the USNA seawall.  Exactly how much current you were going to get seemed to fluctuate without any rhyme or reason.

As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time on the pointy end of a J24, I was surprised how similarly most of the Annapo boats were rigged, at least in terms of pole handling and pole lift placement.  We do it a little differently up in HdG and that took a little getting used to. In the puffy NW’er, quite a few boats were spotted doing unorthodox and ugly things to their chutes.

Let there be no argument: early April, there's a lot of rust to shed.

(Left, early morning set-up with air temps about 44 degrees)

Paul Van Ravenswaay was 2nd (no surprise there, to see him at the podium) and Scot Gitchell was third (again, no surprise there, either).

Major props to EYC once again, for getting order out of what could easily be chaos if not done properly. Any criticism (see above) is only meant with the best of intentions and should in no way infer that anyone I talked to was even remotely disappointed in the way things were run. In fact, I've talked to no one who hasn't mentioned what an absolutely spectacular day it was on the water. Throw in the fact that it's still early April!

Also; huge thanks to the J24 owners who supplied boats. I don't think a whole lot of stuff got broken. All-in-all, it was a fairly careful bunch (especially for a J24 fleet) and having the umpires right alongside is a brilliant move. Umpired fleet racing and borrowed boats seem like a match made in heaven.

A bit of the old in and out: nicely orchestrated by EYC volunteers and their handy floating dock out front.

Having SSA's 420 fleet running races just off the floating dock seemed like it was going to be an issue, but, surprisingly, things worked out well for the most part. On the other hand, the Opti kids kept reeling us in and rolling us...that was a bother! ;-)

RESULTS HERE

4.2.12.....Rust is an Insomniac

Paraphrasing an old Neil Young album from the late 70's, I might even go on to say that rust works overtime during the winter. It seemed that way yesterday for me, anyway.

We got a chance to practice on a J24 (for the event this coming Saturday that will be raced on loaner...you guessed it...J24s). Huge thanks to Paul Ford for taking time out of his weekend to let us use his boat and himself for a quick practice stint.

All-in-all, it didn't go too badly, except for twice when the aging bowman blew the jib halyard on the kite douse. Twice. One was on a Mexican that would have been text book. But considering 4 guys up, in an absolutely stellar sunny 12-16 kn southerly, with zero time in the boat and zero time choreographing the set/douse dance, I guess it wasn't too shabby.

At least no one went swimming.

3.31.12....Star Wars:The Season has Landed

Tomorow, April 1, we will sail. It's a practice on a J24 for the following Saturday's "EYC Star Wars." I am lucky in that this will be my third year in a row sailing in this event [edit: 3rd time in 4 years--how time flies!], which pits all the CBYRA High Point Winners against one another in an informal "Champion of the Bay" series of one-design races. This year they have switched us out of J80's into J24's. Does that give us ("Team Audrey," named after High Point Winner Trevor Harney's Merit 25) an advantage? Probably not....but we'll see.

In other news, the i550 is close to the point where it will be flipped so that the bottom can be glassed, faired and painted. "The Flip" is a huge milestone in the building process and one that we are really psyched about. Most builders take the trouble to document the ocassion, here are a couple:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrR3mPXHS5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IIZmlnjdDk&feature=related

And the i550 attempt to take over the world still continues: approx. 450 licenses out there now on the planet, and plenty in the U.S.A., with a decent number of boats east of the Mississippi and a lot in the mid-Atlantic states. (Green pins are boats that are sailing, red is in construction phase and blue are hull licenses). Get your license, tyvek templates and building materials from the great folks at Watershed Sailboats, great prices and an amazing way to get into the sportboat phenomena without having to take out a second mortgage. For the younger crowd who are obsessed with sailing and racing, if you build a boat you will gain an amazing amount of knowledge about boats in general. Stuff that translates to the race course, the cruising world and just plain old daysailing. If I were advising any 15 year old who wants to get into racing seriously, and needs a fast-track learning curve, I'd say two things:

1) Race J24s or Lasers for a few years

2) Build your own boat: something that's within your means, but also something that's a challenge!

2.20.12.....Totally Wired

Nothing gets more tiresome than the macho posturing and general level of B.S. you often find on the Sailing Anarchy forum, but once in awhile there's a thread that shouldn't be missed. In this case, in a quest to find one of the old Maxi war horses from the 70's, some interesting and potentially lethal characteristics of the old big boats turned up. Give it a read here.

And don't miss the Toohey's ad.

We were glad when wire halyards disappeared from boats. The thought of extreme-loaded wire sheets hissing across decks...whoa.

2.10.12.....The Mid-20's

(left, shot from the bow of a Merit 25, a Kirby 25, a J24 and another Merit 25 converge at the finsih line at Screwpile)

Beginning in the late 70’s and extending well into the mid-80’s, some pretty cool little performance cruisers were built and marketed, primarily driven by the MORC measurement rule.

The MORC rule got a little too loose though, and purpose-built boats up to 29.99’ pretty much killed the class. Or, at least that’s what some people think. Botom line, It was hard to compete in your production $15K Kirby against one-offs drawn by talented designers like Jim Donovan that cost two or three (maybe 4-5?) times what you spent on the Kirby. As the MORC fleets diminished, the rule was extended to 33.99 feet.  That was certainly the death knell for the rule.

As a consequence, the impetus these days to revive the MORC racing fleet keeps getting derailed because the people who had the fast boats, and who paid a lot of money for those boats, and who also paid to get a MORC cert., well, they want to race too.

So you’re back to square one. That is, do you really want to race against a  Mumm 30 (back in the MORC day, they were still Mumms) with your Olson 30? Do you really want to race your small boat, that actually is capable of offshore racing (the O.R. in the acronym M.O.R.C., e.g., equipped with a proper galley and head and berths for 2/3rds of the crew) against a flush-deck, buoy racer with virtually no amenities below?

Recently, out of a few conversations, another idea has arisen: a PHRF alternative which is basically a 24-26 foot class of boats that rate in the 174 range, give or take 6 seconds either way. While not a measurement rule, and therefore still vulnerable to the political whims of measurers everywhere, it does offer a certain haven to people who still race little boats like J24s and Merit 25s.

The idea has come up a few times over the winter on different SA threads.  An SA forum poster who now sails in the NW mentioned,”Great racing [in San Diego] with Merit's, J24's, WL 24's (162), Capri 25's, Capo 26's (162-165) etc.” Those are five boats that perform similarly in most sea states, with PHRF ratings from 162 to 171.

That’s sort of the idea.

PHRF racing nowadays (such as with CBYRA PHRF C/D, as it exists), you might find yourself in a 25 foot boat racing against a Catalina 350 (PHRF 168) or an  ODAY 34 (PHRF 171) or a  Rhodes 41’ (PHRF 171). That's just wrong. If you’ve ever tried to go to windward for 30 miles, in 15+ kn, against a boat with the same rating but with 9 feet more LWL, then you know what I’m talking about.

Or, instead, you could find yourself in a fleet of 12-15 boats where the LWL varies by inches instead of feet. That's the beauty of the 24-26 class.

There are oodles of racing sailboats on the bay between 24 and 26 feet that rate between 168 and 180. Having 12 or more doing the Summer Oxford or the EYC Invitational Race would be a hoot. Having a separate start at SPLC would be amazing.

2.06.12

The AntiOchtion

Jim Lee, owner of Left Coast, a product development company in Anacortes, WA, is doing something a little differently when it comes to selling a boat. He started off offering one of his new boats for $64,000 and is taking off $1,000 a day until it's sold.

That was 6 days ago, it's now down to $58,000, with racing sails, with trailer, with an O/B...and DELIVERED anywhere in the country. That's a heck of deal, and it's getting better every day!

Until it won't.

It'll be gone.

1.03.12

Not to be a Total Homer, But:

Congrats to two of the skippers nbayracing.com has the pleasure to crew for on occasion. Trevor Harney's Merit 25 "Audrey" won CBYRA High Point for PHRF C/D in the 3SE Region. Tom Schwartz won the Havre de Grace J24 Summer Series.

(left) Trevor Harney at the beginning of SMSA's Hooper Island Lt/Pt. No Pt. Race.

It was honkin' in the mouth of the Pax and Trevor wisely decided not to go with the kite for the downwind start. We were super glad by the time we approached the turn to the south, out at the light. The breeze had built well into the 30's and seas were a very steep 4-7 feet.

Trevor has racked up a great record for distance racing a small boat. He's super gung-ho but prudent enough to know that the boat has to finish to win.

We did the Eastport to Solomons Race with him this year, all 3 days of Screwpile and the race pictured at left. All of the events were a blast and there is nothing better than sailing on a fun boat with great peeps.

Hats off to Trevor and hey, winning High Pt. before you turn 30 is nothing to take lightly. They are a lot of us codgers on the bay who have been trying to for decades and never will!

Tom Schwartz, pictured at left on the Leach'es Antrim 27, started the J24 Summer Series with a bang, winning 2 of the first 3 races. He had the third in the bag, but a misinterpretation of that night's course resulted in a DNF with four other boats (just 3 out of 8 got it right).

Still, team "Just Right" hung in and completed enough good races to qualify in a series depleted by floods and hurricanes and a night without breeze.

I first met Tom, sight unseen, when he consented to drive my boat a bunch of years back at Screwpile. In the ensuing years, I have learned more from Tom than all the other people I've raced with put together, including sportsmanship (still learning that, actually...) and fair sailing.

I'm sure anyone who has ever been on a boat with Tom would agree.

So a big salute and congrats to these two racing skippers. In my opinion, people like Tom & Trevor make the sport of racing sailboats a better endeavor just by having them out there on the course, competing and doing things "just right."

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1.03.12

RESOLUTION (another one) for 2012: More Multihull coverage

The reality of the situation is this: the multi-hull community on the bay is growing and we here at nbayracing.com are damn glad of it!

We get the feeling that the organizing authorities on the bay are FINALLY coming around and ridding themselves of the opinion that multies should be treated like pariahs.

Proof of this is on the Screwpile 2012 website: the 2012 Consair Nationals will be hosted by the Screwpile Regatta! How cool is that? The buzz is: as many as 50 Corsair tris will show up and be based at Calvert Marina, with OD starts for the 27's and 31's.

SLickkkkk!!

Also: the Chesapeake Multihull Assoc. has decided to split their racing fleet into two groups, based on their ratings. This is great news on two fronts: 1) it shows the growth of the multi racing fleet on the bay and 2) it makes for better racing for the boats that turn out (in impressive numbers, usually!)

Thanks for the heads-up from Corsair owner Kevin D. (whos boat I hope to see a lot of in 2012)

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1.01.12

RESOLUTION for 2012: A better website

Apologies for the stale nature of this site for the past 2.5 months. A lot of stuff kept me away from Dreamweaver® (including Dreamweaver®)

At any rate, here is what the priorities are for 2012:

- Promote a viable, active sportboat class on the Bay

- Promote Northern Bay Race Week

- Promote the i550 design

- Get on as many boats as possible with an SA/D greater than 30! (we can round off the A27's 29.95 to 30)

(left, the articulating pole set-up on the Antrim 27, "Bad Mojo")

There have been a lot of theories put forth as to why there has been such a pathetic Ches Bay response to the sportboat phenomena.

The most common rap is: "They are uncomfortable to cruise."

One response to that might be: how many people actually use their boats for cruising these days?

Unless you own something 40' or larger, and have unlimited vacation time away from work, the vast majority of sailboat racers will seldom subject their wife and kids to a week on a 30 foot racer/cruiser and will cruise their keelboats at most once or twice in the next 3 years.

So, how important is standing headroom, a proper head, and 4 comfortable berths on a boat these days? We are saying "not very," and we're hoping to see some movement toward faster, funner racing in the next 365 days.

This won't happen unless:

- people get involved and

- organizers of important bay-wide events, like Screwpile, get on board and help promote racing where planing hulls race against planing hulls, not Navy 44's.

Enter Brian Jones:

(left, the original "Problem Child," sold and recommissioned as "Frosty Paws on the upper bay a few years back...sorry, Brian, I know you hate this photo! ;-)

Brian Jones is well known on the bay as the guy who built and campaigned the original BC27, "Problem Child." "PC Mk l" (left) was an amazingly successful design over the course of seven years. Then, Brian sold it and upped the ante by designing and building a new version, "Problem Child MK ll (below)." (here's a link to Brian's results page)

We're not sure of what the process was, nor do we care, for that matter, but Brian has now taken on the mantle of "2012 Sport Boat class fleet captain" and we here at nbayracing are really psyched that he has. Brian has the cachet and respect among racers in the mid and upper bay to effect some change and an effort to promote communication among sportboat owners has already begun.

Enter the economy:

Look we're not going to soft-pedal this thing. Let's face it, the economy stinks and most people are going to want to stick to racing their 35 year old 5 knot crap-boxes instead of plunking down $40-50 K for a boat that sails best 3-4 up, no proper head below and requires the dexerity of a 9 year old to get into the V-berth.

We get that.

But there are alternatives. You can pick up a decent U20 for $18-22 K and if you're handy you can splash an i550 for less than 12K. Companies like Seascape in Europe and Open in Marina Del Ray, CA are trying to lure buyers into the lower price range sportboat market. An older B-25 or SR Max could be a nice low-cost intro to the world of boats that get up out of their own wakes in a decent downhill breeze. Heck you can probably luck into a used Viper 640 for less than $20.

Will many owners make the jump into faster (and, most likely, smaller) racing boats? Probably not. Who is most likely to do so?

- Affluent parents who have kids that are into sailing but bored out of their minds doing 6.3 knots on the family leadmine.

- Racers who have been doing the same thing forever on their leadmines, with kids that are out of college, still fit and athletic enough to want the challenge and thrill of doing 14 kts close to the water and now have the $$$ to do so.

- Younger guys with decent jobs and no kids who want to race fast sailboats.

- Women: Heck, even the Women's Match Racing circuit has adopted the Elliott 6m as its platform.

Enter 2012:

We'll see. A couple of i550s will probably hit the water this summer. Throw in some new factory-built sporties, Brian's efforts to organize and, at the very least, get a Sportboat Class start at Screwpile, and who knows? Heck, even dowdy old Marblehead, Mass (keepers of the Rhodes 19 and I.O.D. one-design flames) has a Viper fleet!

We've begun fiberglassing the decks of the i550, so one more sporty is on its way for 2012.