Evelyn pages i550build

LINKS above to: wind forecasts......baltimore city yacht assoc....ches bay yacht racing assoc....weather...thomas pt.....DNR tides....HdG results...j24classOrg...Miller Island Weather Station...NPSA...SailingAnarchy...NPSA2004...APS...EVELYN...WBAL radar...INIKI.com...regatta kids...Ches.shorthanded...Northeast River YC...MRSA

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nbayracing.com 2008 PAGES

"Covering racing in the Upper Bay because, pretty much, no one else does..."

We had approx 12,000 unique hits last year from 19 different countries. Thank you very much for visiting and if we miss something you'd like covered definitely send us a blurb and pix.

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11/5/08

More from the North Country

We're happy to add another link to a club from up the bay, the Georgetown Racing Fleet.

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11/4/08

Break out the Kokatats.

Nbayracing is ashamed to say that we've confined all of our frostbiting to keelboats south of Greenbury Point.

For those of us on the northern bay, a schlepp to Naptown for Sunday dinghy frostbiting might be a little farther than we're willing to go, but we just got a note from the nice folks at NERYC that they are the new home of the Upper Chesapeake Laser Fleet and they'll be sponsoring a bunch of frostbite races beginning in early November and extending all the way thru to March 1, 2009.

Click on the image below to get to their Laser Fleet page. And of course, APS is the place to go to get properly outfitted for this kind of masochism!

NERYC seems like they are very committed to ramping up their competitive sailing program and we wish them all the success in the world!

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11/3/08

Like TV.........Only slower

Nbayracing has been complaining (whining, really) for years about how slow it is getting results from races and the general lack of any sort of media coverage of racing, blah blah blah.

Well, big kudos to Scot Tempesta and Alan Block (aka The Ed and Mr. Clean) of SailingAnarchy fame. The Ed sent Mr. Clean to do another On The Water Anarchy version for last weekend's Melges 24 North American Championship right down off our own Severn River and if you missed it, well, you probably got a lot more work done than I did during those 4 days!

Clean's style is part gonzo, part bozo and his shakey, blasted out vids lend a new meaning to the term "subjective camera" but what the production lacks in technical perfection is made up for in spades by a genuine passion for the M24 class and the people and products involved in promoting and racing these boats.

Whatever you think of the work and the general tenor of the echange of "ideas" on SailingAnarchy (ideas that may or may not involve: pornography, consumer sex, the promotion of substance abuse, strippers, profanity, normal sex, abnormal sex, drugs and/or rock 'n roll) you have to hand it to these guys for making sailboat racing look fun, slightly dangerous, and fast!

Whatever...if they can bring mark roundings in 20-25 kn of breeze to my desktop on a Thursday afternoon, mere minutes after they happened in real-time, then more power to them!

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10/25/08

Carnage Central

The 2008 BCYA Leukemia Cup

("Rag Trade" stands by the Schock 35 "Blind Fury" after Fury lost her rig. Photo nbayracing.com)

Left, Bob Yin and his crew on Dolce near the finish line inside Lazaretto Point in BCYA's "Leukemia Cup" (aka, the Harbor Cup). On a day like this, just finishing without a whole lot of busted up stuff is an accomplishment.

Suffice it to say this year's Harbor Cup lived up to its reputation as a gear-buster.

A rig down, a binnacle pedestal ripped off a C&C 110, many, many torn sails and bruises and near M.O.B.'s and wipe-outs galore.

Sounds like a typical Harbor Cup...only windier. We also heard of a Tanzer22 sunk in Naptown and a 210 foundered off Gibson Island.

Nice day to be on the Bay! We're trying to decide which race was more brutal, 2008 or 1999, and I think I'm going to have to say 2008, just because the wind blew harder for longer and the horizontal rain being blown at sustained breezes above 35 kn hurt like hell. The 1999 event was raced for the most part in sunshine. This year's rain didn't make it any wetter, it just made it a little more painful. It was, however, a bit warmer, thanks to the southerly, bringing with it fairly moderate temperatures. Thank god for small favors!

We were sweating it that this tri (Douglas Dykman's Corsair 31' "Temple of the Wind") would flip and we'd have to drop out and render assistance but, just before things got too gnarly, they doused and retired. Frankly, I have to hand it to them for hanging in as long as they did....it looked like they lifted the hull about 55 - 60 degrees during one monster puff, shortly before they bailed.

But, kudos to Russ Wesdyk and his crew for not only hanging tough and finishing and winning the multi class, but for winning Sunday's Race Back, too! Russ'es Corsair 27 and Ed Tracey's Omega 36 each won the race on Saturday and the race on Sunday, taking both games in the weekend double-header. Nice work!

It was cool to see the Sunfast 3200 at both the prestart and further on down the course. They reported hitting over 14 kns, not too shabby, but relatively slow compared to the speeds Brian Jones et al., saw on the the New & Improved "Problem Child," which won their class in PHRF 2.

Of course, "Problem Child" doesn't have two double berths aft, under the cockpit though, like the Sunfast. We got a chance to climb on board the Sunfast at Henderson's after the race and have to say we were somewhat amazed at the volume below, including those 2 aft berths, which are hardly caves....in fact they are quite airy and spacious...amazing on a boat that's 33 feet LOA and can get up and do double digits downhill! Cool design and we'd like to get a longer and closer look. Those stubby tillers are a mystery, for sure (the boat has twin rudds). I guess they're one way to get a longer cockpit.

No one likes getting rolled, but when Glenn Harvey's Taylor 38 "Kristany" trucked on over us, it was fairly awesome. We were hanging in, baldheaded with a single reef, with the breeze around 40 (this was right at the time when the breeze was strongest) when "Kristany" hammered through and smoked us up to the turning mark into the Patapsco....it was a bit of a fetch to the mark and that Taylor 38 goes to weather like a Metroliner and looks good doing it, too.

Heck, there was plenty of breeze for eveyone, so the passing lane to weather was wide open, no worries.

"Kristany" waves syanora for the time being, making major altitude toward the weather mark in breeze above 35 kn.

Here's the data from Key Bridge...pretty much confirms what we saw, maybe a little lighter as we were out a bit farther from the mouth of the river when the biggest puffs went through (12:38 to 1:08 Key Bridge readings)

Supercool to see Thad Bench'es 58' Sparkman and Stephens yawl "Windalier" competing in PHRF A2. You can find out more about the boat here. She finished 7th, but hey, she finished! More than a quarter of the entire fleet did not!

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10/21/08

Build it

We're thinking an over-the-winter building project might stave off the depression that comes from short, cold days away from the water. It probably won't but what the heck, even if it doesn't you end up with a cool boat in the spring. So, here goes.

(Link to build page is above: i550build)

When H.H. "Dynamite" Payson and Phil Bolger tagged these tack & tape designs "Instant Boats" back in the 80's, I was a bit skeptical. Yeah, right..."instant."

But this thing went from a pile of plywood into something actually resembling a boat in an incredibly short time. In fact, I had done the butt joints (plywood being limited to 8' sections, for the most part, the sides [hull panels] and bottom have to be joined in 3 sections to make up the 18' LOA dimensions of the boat..they are joined, end-to-end in simple, inelegant "butt joints") a weekend or two before....and Sunday morning, after running a 5K event with one of the kids, I came home, turned on the Ravens pre-game show and by half-time I had a hull, maybe 2.5 hours later, MAX!

Single-handed, no less!

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10/21/08

Gridlock

I was looking at some Sat images trying to get an advance look at the weather for this Saturday's Leukemia Cup.

I came across this GOES image of the mid-Atlantic. Nothing astounding until you look closely at the checkerboard pattern over central MD and south central PA.

Man is that weird...the clouds are in an almost perfect X-Y axis line-up, oriented about 25 degrees off the east-west axis. We've seen clouds in atmospheric ripples, like the ones lined up in eastern Ohio in this picture, but never in such an amazing grid as is seen at left.

We have absolutely no idea what it signifies, but just think it's interesting....

Freaky.

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10/20/08

Dehler Love

No, this is not audition footage for NPSA's "Piece of the Rock Award"

This is a bunch of sadists thinking up weird and nasty things to do to a perfectly good boat. We like the way things keep escalating.

Things get really ramped up about at about 4:25 in the clip...might want to put in your kid's mouth-guard for this sequence.

Reminds us of the old days, up in the Inner Harbor, with our Columbia 22...and all the stuff we bounced off of back then.

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10/17/08

Reminder

Leukemia Cup (aka Harbor Cup) is next weekend.

We're not saying it'll be like this (click for vid)....but it could be.

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10/13/08

Back in Biz

Racing being almost done for the season, we'll be turning our attention toward making some progress on building the i550.

This warm, dry weather is really helping and if it stays favorable we hope to have a hull by the end of the month (if not next weekend).

There's one more butt joint to make (the hull side panels are done and the tips are on the bottom forward section)...after that the whole thing can come together as a rudimentary hull, waiting to receive the frames, etc.

In the meantime, here's hull number one blasting along in a 17 nm race in about 10-12 knots of breeze, puffs to 14. This is the St. Helena Cup, down under.

Click on pix to get to the vid.

Hopefully by Oct 20th I'll have something that looks a lot like this (Kevin's "Pipe Dream" build near Chicago)

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10/6/08

Things Get Worse Dept.

It's BAaaaCK

Just in case you were suffering under any illusion that people in leadership positions in this country give a rat's red ass about what you think, or what you want, the Supreme Court handed down a decision today that pretty much seals the deal for the Natural Gas industry to set up shop on the corner of Bear Creek and Patapsco.

This facility will have major ramifications on recreational boating and, more importantly, Wednesday Night Sailboat racing in the river.

And, I mean, what's more important...the need for some of us locals to get our jollies in a weeknight beercan jaunt around the Government marks or the needs of millions of selfish juice consumers from Lancaster to Trenton to power their stinkin' air-conditioners on a 97 degree summer afternoon?

I think we all know the answer to THAT little riddle.

This definitely is a pile of crap coming our way but it doesn't look like there's a gull-darn thing we can do about it. Uh...what else is new.

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10/6/08

Things Get Better Dept.

Or How We Kicked Ass in a Minor PHRF Race of No Particular Significance Other Than Our Own Self-Gratification.

Nbayracing isn't about bragging and self-congratulations, but on the other hand, once-in-a-while, it is nice to celebrate a little bit.

Perrenial NPSA'ers Doug Thomas and Yours Truly hopped on Tom Schwartz's J24 (hull number 4201) to serve up a giant can of whoop-ass the other day at Havre de Grace's Fall Invitational, smoking the nearest boat in our fleet by almost 20 minutes on a course just a little over 8.5 miles, in a light, but fairly consistent, breeze.

Once in a huge while everything you do turns out to have been the right call and this was just one of those days. We corrected over a ton of "A" and "B" boats and beat more than just a few "boat-for-boat" despite giving a 5 or 10 minute headstart and in condits that really favored the bigger boats, at least in terms of it being a rich-get-richer set of condits. I think we corrected to 3rd overall out of 45 boats.

A decent collection of boats turned out for the event, including a bunch of multi's, always cool to have a bunch of multi's out on the course, especially at crowded mark roundings...luckily we avoided those. A very eclectic monohull fleet, too, including a rarely seen (in these parts, at least) Thunderbird and one of the few J100's I've seen racing on the bay so far since they were introduced, what, about 2-3 years ago? (As an aside, when these things came out, I climbed on one at the Annapolis Sailboat Show and asked the Jboats guy why there wasn't a prod?

He said, "Jboats wanted to keep things simple." ...uh....ohhh.....kaaaaaaay.

Freaking stupid accident involving hazmats shut down I-95 for the way up to HdG, Saturday morning, which made the trip by car interesting, and may have been partially why we were sweating it, a bit, to make it out to the line in time for our start...it's also about an hour and a half motor to get to Turkey Point from HdG, so we were pushing Tom's aging and somewhat tortured Merc pretty hard, too. Luckily, when we got there, the Cat in the Hat was flying from the RC boat, so we had time to switch the chute around for a port pole hoist and tune a little better for the light air. This stuff paid off, big time.

All-in-all, it was a great way to end the season up at HdG (at least as far as we are concerned with the j24 program). Hats off to HdGYC for a fun race, a tasty party and a well-run day on the water. We at nbayracing cannot say enough good things about unpretentious YC's who know how to keep the fun in racing and not get caught up in a load of wound-up-tension-biscuit bullsh*t (to steal a phrase from Scott Tempesta).

Pretty cool to see Brian Jones'es old "Problem Child" up at the headwaters of the bay, now owned by Gary Moler and renamed "Frosty Paws." (We ground them down and left them lingering on the last upwind leg, along with the Express 35, the J27, the Dehler 36 and the Soverell 27...almost caught the Antrim, too. J24 a PHRF weapon? Who'd have thunk it?)

oh...and lest we forget, most importantly: R.I.P. John Heffner!

First place in C/D got our skipper this nifty duck!

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10/6/08

Things Get Weird Dept.

On an eternal quest to find racing in the far corners of the globe, our intrepid reporter Willie White has filed from places like Kazakhstan and China and Australia. As of late he has been in Tibet, looking for the World's Highest Etchells Fleet, or so we hear. He sent these pix from Yamdrok Lake where there was "supposed to be a yacht club" but all he found was a "yak."

Mighty fine looking yak, though. One can only wonder what she rates....

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9/29/08

STUPID

I think I first started going out on boats when I was about 5 years old, so that makes 50+ years of screwing around on the water. And, to tell you the truth, I took a sort of tacit pride in having never fallen overboard.

Sure, I'll been floated off boats as a result being on the leeward rail during some ugly broaches, but I figure that was more along the lines of someone else's operator error, rather than any unforced error (as they say in tennis) on my part.

So it came as a bit of a rude shock, last week, whenI went over, with the boat still in the slip (just to the right of the trawler pictured at left) moments before an NPSA Wednesday Night race.

It pissed me off, in all honesty. Took away some confidence, too. At least for a few minutes.

We were striking an RF genoa to swap out to a #3 because the breeze was supposed to be a bit up range for the number 1 (turned out to be the right call). I was walking back to the cockpit to undo some stopper knots, and I must've tripped on something, which was no big deal, didn't alarm me, I just put my hand out as I was falling and decided to either grab the toe rail, or better yet, the lifelines....no problem.

So, I went for the lifelines. Only, this boat has the g.d. things on pelican hooks and the owner had undone the pelican hooks to onload gear and crew. So when my palm speared the lifeline, instead of a taunt impediment to the effects of gravity, I got the 1x19 version of a sea nettle tentacle and it was all downhill after that, as they say.

oops......splash..........GODDAMMIT!

I must say that the neighbors were awful nice not to make a big fuss out of it and no one bothered to further humiliate me. Thanks to those folks and also to Charlie and Doug who hauled me out and were similarly mild in their taunting. The only damage was a scraped shin and my cell phone bit the dust.

Now, the only reason I bother relating this pathetic tale is: I'd like to think there's a lesson in all this.

If there is, it's this:

Gravity works really really quickly. One minute the last thing that's on your mind is figuring out how to get back on the boat, the next second it's all you're thinking about. So don't be overconfident....it can happen to you. Don't obsess about it, but keep it in the back of your mind that you could go over. Be a little more cautious and a little more methodical and a little less cavalier abotut how freakin' fast gravity works. Gravity is some fast sh*t, hombre.

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9/22/08

A Word on Havre de Grace

I raced on 11 or 12 different boats last year and just slightly fewer than that this year, so I end up racing with a lot of people who don’t know me. When they ask where I usually race and I answer. “Havre de Grace,” I usually get some odd looks. Most people don’t know much about Havre de Grace, at least as the place relates to sailboat racing.

After a few years of racing there, I’ve come to like the place more and more for its quirky breezes, numerous on-course hazards and very consistent and competitive J24 fleet.

We usually find ourselves in the top three boats of the J24 standings and that’s rewarding in terms of a one-design weeknite program, but the place would still be fun even without our relative successes there.

For one thing, there’s almost always flat water. Big bumps can be fun sometimes, but for a weeknite race, who needs the misery? HdG is pretty much always a dry beat and a bruise-free morning after. The biggest breeze we’ve seen there was 25-30 and that was from a small fetch direction (NNW) and also it was on a weekend regatta. So Friday mornings are usually pretty painless.

The geography sets up a breeze matrix somewhat akin to lake sailing and the interplay between the water coming over the dam upstream at Conowingo and the normal tides and wind-driven current can be a bit of a puzzle. One would think local knowledge would pretty much ice a weekend regatta, but the Millenium Falcon guys have come up to HdG and schooled the locals, so I guess it isn’t rocket science. Nonetheless, it is a challenging venue.

The occasional gravel barge parked near the rhumbline, on some legs, the courses through the mooring field off of Tidewater Marine and the ability of the Portsmouth boats, mercifully reduced to just Stars this summer, to pop out of nowhere (always on starboard tack) mean that a good time to relax is never.

It’s a great venue and it’s totally unlike any weeknite venue I’ve sailed on the Bay. It’s probably not for everyone, which is fine because the fleet sizes have stayed consistent and probably even grown since I’ve been going up there and, let’s face it, there isn’t THAT much water up there! 25-35 boats on a Thusday night is plenty, especially when it’s light and everyone, from Starboats to 35 foot cruisers, coverges simultaneously on a downhill mark.

Good times!

Pretty nice manners when 10 or so boats pile up at the downhill corner...a star or 2, a few j24's and some assorted Capris and J27's......still it was a lot quieter than the epic J105 pinwheel at the 2007 Annapolis NOOD.

One thing you learn to do quickly up at HdG, especially as the season progresses, is back-down. The invasive species "fanwort" (Cabomba caroliniana) gets pretty nasty in mid to late August and there's nothing fast about it. Dropping your boat into a mess of this stuff is pretty weird, but you deal with it...only once in the past 2 years did someone have to jump over the side and deal with the stuff by diving...although I must say that when I did this, I had to have a line thrown over to grab because there was no way 150-200 pounds of this stuff was coming off the keel easily. It felt like removing a dead body from the bottom.

Wonder if a J24 can be retro-fitted with a kelp cutter....

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9/21/08

simply huge..........Vendee 2008

When it comes to hardcore, pretty much nothing tops the Vendee Globe.

Non-stop. Singlehanded. Around the world.

Those three criteria pretty much define a level of madness for anyone who signs up and qualifies to compete in this race. And yet, this year's offering has, at this date, a record TWENTY NINE boats participating!

above photo shamelessly lifted off the Vendee site, but what the heck, we're promoting the race here!

And it goes off in about 6 weeks, which is perfect timing as we approach the end of the season and most of us are stuck at a desk staring at a computer screen anyway, for the next five months....what a great distraction this will make!

I was on a plane last weekend, headed down south at 5:30 a.m. after, like, 1.5 hours of sleep. I felt like complete crap, and there I was, relatively safe, warm and dry, with a competent crew getting the plane in the air and back down on the ground, no worries and I felt like absolute dog-doo, and I thought to myself, imagine feeling like this (just from sleep deprivation) and being in the Southern Ocean, it's blowing 50 and you've got a busted block aloft and you've gotta go up.....and you're alone.

We should be in absolute awe of the maniacs who elect to compete in this race. They depart from Las Sables d'Olonne on Novermber 9th.

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9/20/08

really big ..............DUCK OR CROSS.

Here's a new entry to the European One Design scene, the Giant Duck Class. This hull number 8 and supposedly there are orders in to build another 25 of these things. Apparently they are not exactly speedy, upwind, but downhill these babies have wings.

Get a load of the peeps in the lower right hand corner in order to get a sense of scale...we hear the interiors are simply incredible.

We're not sure they'll catch on over here, but we're sure of one thing: we want one!

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9/16/08

BIG

The upper bay is no stranger to enormous one-design fleets, as anyone who's ever done a J24 or J22 Worlds in Annapolis can attest.

But the Laser SB3 Worlds taking place next week and starting on Monday (Sept 22) amp up the sportboat OD equation massively with a mind-boggling 140 boat fleet.

Say what you want about the SB3, relatively heavy, aluminum rig and not particularly innovative (no kite chute, for example) the boats have earned a terrific following on the other side of the pond and we think it's cool that everyone is converging off of Dublin, Ireland to race these things around for 5 days in what is sure to be a huge logistical challenge for the YC, the RC and the lift operators.

Hat's off to Laser and the National Yacht Club of Ireland, Dun Loaghaire, for having the gumption to pull off an event like this.

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8/30/08

ARW DAY 1

Pretty much true to form, ARW DAY 1 turned out to be a total turd of a day.

There was breeze before the rendezvous and breeze at the start, but it was clearly dying.

On the X-Yacht, we had a smoking uphill first leg, were way ahead and even beat a fair number of AO boats to the mark....then: total dog poop on the way down and, after an excruciating wait-fest, we finally got the "all racing abandoned for the day" call from the RC.

From a distance, we were watching the one boat in our fleet that had a chance of being scored for the race. Thompson 30 "Wairere" was awful close to finishing and still had 5 minutes before the TLC signal, when, for some reason, the RC fired 3 guns and everyone went home. Maybe there's more to it than that, but we'll have to wait and see....

Update: "Wairere" apparently was recognized, after the abandonment anouncement, as having finished before the TLE, and her time was taken. That should earn her a bullet as the only boat scored in PHRF A1. Hat's off to her crew, as finishing in almost zero knots of breeze against a strong current setting her down the bay, was quite an accomplishment. Especially when you look at the CBOFS graphic, above left, that pretty much defines the word "hole" for the courses off the mouth of the Severn.

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8/26/08

TEE - ELL - EEE

Few things in sports are as frustrating as working your ass off in a really light air race, and putting the boat in a position to win, only to have the Time Limit expire as you approach the finish line.

Race committees need to be flexible and creative, and also need to be able to anticipate, well ahead of time, when a shortened course is going to mean the difference between a race that goes into the books and a race that gets abandoned...with a bunch of boats filled with disgruntled crew heading back to the docks.

Make no mistake, nbayracing.com deeply appreciates the unpaid heroes who do RC work on weeknights!

But we believe that if you are able to get a race off, then 9 times out of 10 you should be able to shorten a race that uses the local Gov't marks, all of which are in close proximity to the RC boat.

We've seen the letters TLE quite a few times this season, out in the mouth of the Patapsco.

We're all for supporting and praising volunteers who put their energy, time and love for racing into action by providing race management on the water, but we also feel like sometimes they need a little constructive feedback. The ability to read current conditions, and the ability to anticipate new ones, and then change the course to compensate, is an important skill in Race Management, as important, we feel, as setting square lines and accurately recording finishes.

RCs need to work with their Fleet captains to make sure there are adequate provisions for shortening weeknight races...especially here on the Upper Bay, where "sunset" is often synonymous with "shutdown."

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8/26/08

GOOD OLD BOAT Regatta....October 11 & 12 in Annapolis

We'd be lying if we said the idea of a Good Old Boat regatta was a turn-on, initially, here at Nbayracing.

But in the spirit of owning up to certain stupid past tendancies, which is becoming a tradition on these pages, we are now happy to admit that we've done a 180 on this event.

The fact that there were more boats participating in last year's GOB Regatta, on that weekend in October, than there were boats participating in AYC's Fall Series, speaks volumes, in our opinion, about where the sport is going, or rather, more accurately, where the sport has been and what's become of it.

Somehow, despite what the numbers at CBYRA sanctioned events would suggest, there are tons of older boats out there who still want to race (and have fun while doing so). Yet the dynamics of racing, nowadays, clearly has set up a set of conditions that discourages their participation.

We think that's a damn shame.

So, along comes the magazine Good Old Boat, which must be experiencing some level of success because the lifespan of new magazine launches is usually pretty short and I think GOB has been around now for 7 or 8 years, maybe more. This will be their 9th Annual Regatta and if you own a boat who's first hull was built before 1975, you should give this event a good look...but don't look too long, entries cap at 80 boats due to limitations at the party site!

Imagine what this event could be like without the cap on the number of entries....

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8/17

Fit to be Tied

We dont make any attempt to hide our deep affection for NPSA, here at nbayracing.

Here's a club that sticks to its maverick roots, refuses (or ignores) any movement toward getting "sanctioned" by CBYRA, schedules races whenever they feel like, regardless of what's going on with the "official" calendar, and basically just exists in order for a bunch of nice folks to get together, once a week (and sometimes on weekends) and go sailing under the excuse of having a boat race.

It works for us, although we wouldn't be totally honest if we didn't admit that there was a time when we here at nbayracing seemingly didn't "get" NPSA and, inadvertantly, brought some bad vibes to their house, a period in the learning curve of nbayracing that, believe me, is deeply regretted. But time marches on and those days are over and the club is doing pretty well despite the fact that the PHRF A fleet has pretty much evaporated....this might be due more to the fact that it is a tough environment on boats that draw more than six feet as the creeks have silted in quite a bit and there are also some "sunkers" that have ripped some of the deeper keels assunder in the past few years. But anyway, regardless of what's going on with PHRF A boats, there is always a steady core of good old boats (and an awful pretty fairly new one) out there in front of Old Road Bay on Wednesday nights, and we like to get down there as often as we can, given family and work demands and certain One Design commitments and stuff like that.

NPSA holds a singlehanded race every August. They liked the idea of holding a singlehanded race and so they decided to schedule one. They didn't consult with CBYRA or cluck-cluck over whether it would conflict with Summer Oxford...they just said, look we'll be out there in an RC boat and you can show up and race, if you want to.

It went pretty much like this (yesterday), according to NPSA's Commodore, Charlie Rouse: Out of 5 registered boats, 3 dropped out, "so as the flies were munching on our legs due to a lack of wind (I said I would rather be playing in poison ivy), but plenty of power boats to kick up a few waves, Jack and I called it a tie and came home."

That's all there is to it.

A certain beauty to its simplicity.

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8/17

Annapo Drift Weak....Looms

Nbayracing really does try to keep a positive attitude, but the line gets pushed when it comes to Annapolis Race Week, which starts in 13 days. Some people hate the Governor's Cup, we here at Nbay reserve the right to share similar feelings for ARW.

First of all the name is stupid. It's 3 days.

3 days is not a week.

Second of all, the days with breeze are usually lacking. People can say what they want about Screwpile, but Screwpile is the freaking Columbia Gorge compared to the last couple of days of August, off the Severn. We've been miraculously blessed by decent air this summer, but I just have a gut feeling the run of luck is going to bottom out when I get to Naptown next Saturday morning. I'll be doing just one day on board the IMX 38 "Equilibrium" thanks to the kind Equil-people, who have invited me on board for the day. I'll take a few snaps and report on conditions, but I have no illusions that things will look anything like the snap, above left, of a sistership "Excession," honking along under a kite somewhere off the coast of Holland.

Yet, ya never know. I'm thinking at the very least, powerboat traffic will be slightly less than years past...it almost makes me wish for another petrol price spike in the next few days. Almost.

Nbay swore off ARW a few years ago after a couple of brutal days slatting around on a J35, getting waked by every Rodney south of The William Preston Lane Memorial Bridge in their 40 foot Clorox bottles, hurrying through the race course circuits to go nowhere. We're hoping against hope this year's breeze lures us back into the event.

Please excuse this brief departure into negativity.

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Don't Worry, We're in Total Control Dept.

We like Tucker's coverage of NYYC Race Week at Newport, and the last couple of minutes of Sunday's racing (7/27) are definitely pretty entertaining. Check it out at http://www.t2p.tv/

If you haven't already done so, you'll have to register but the low-rez stuff is free.

The vids from the opening week's coverage of the 12 Meters are pretty cool, too.

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J one twenty 'tude

Got a chance to take a ride on a J122 the other day. God knows there are tons of idiots who take an enormous amount of pleasure in dissing Jboats, but nbayracing.com takes a more realistic approach and tries to appreciate each Jboat offering for what each model has to offer.

The 122 is a recent, IRC-optimized retooling of their 40 footer, the 120. The 122 is a bit more powered up, with 4 more feet of hoist and a tiny bit of an increase in the SA/Disp ratio and a tiny bit less LWL than the 120.

My impression after 5 hours on the boat in 8-15 knots is: WOW.

Here's a shot taken while cracked off, maybe an inch or two, on the ride back up into the river on the way home. In 12-15 kn we had the speedo pegged well into the 8 knot range and the boat simply shrugged off the confused slop that's generated off the sea wall in front of the Academy and Spa Creek on a summer Sunday afternoon.

With four more feet of hoist than the 120 and a giant, masthead assym, on a carbo rig, the 122 feels a lot more lively than, need I say it, the 105 in light air. The friend who invited me along said he'd love to see the boat powered up in 20 kn.

Same here.

This would be a very slick ride to take to Bermuda.

Huge thanks to all the Plum Crazies who were nice enough to extend the invite to me!

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All Hail Dept.

Mark Jefferies owns Balto Light with a few other people....he shot these vids from the lighthouse when a fairly violent T-storm rolled through on Sunday July 27th....check out the lightning strike sequence.

Vids are here

No one was hurt but we are sorry to report that his newly installed inverter got fried.

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SPLC-2008

We're not even going to bother with the superlatives...Screwpile is 15 years old, now, and if you haven't figured out that it's the most fun you are going to have racing on the bay, in any given season between 1993 and the present, then you're a lost cause.

About a hundred and forty boats this year...not a record, but a pretty solid turnout and we were able to get 5 good races in despite a total fluke on day 3 when a rare mid-morning Chesapeake T-storm rolled through somewhat unexpectedly. (a T-storm at 10:30? coming out of the almost cloudless blue sky at that existed at 10 a.m.?...when the RC hailed the fleet with a "racing postponed--head for cover" announcement, we pretty much figured they were goofing...at least for a few seconds. Then the report of strong winds and the potential for hail came through and we fired up the saildrive on the ETAP 30, "Cadence ll" and hauled butt back in.....tied up just in time to see this beauty whailing in from the NW at 29 knots:

So, we played the waiting game for awhile, until Race Management blew the 3 note sonata and then packed the boat up for the delivery back home. Another Screwpile down the drain and another 362 days of looking at that yellow banner at the top of their website until SPLC 2009!

(waiting for the inevitable...3 toots signalling Regatta Over, Man. Nonetheless, 5 races wasn't too shabby even though Day 3 was a bit of a disappointment. Wait'll next year, eh?)

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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.

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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:

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"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.

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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.

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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.

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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....

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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.

Go for it!

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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

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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>>

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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.

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JUNE 2, 2008....BIG TIME

Cookson has posted this vid on YouTube...sea trials of Speedboat in Auckland, NZ.

To put it simply: wow.

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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?

R.I.P. Sharon Faye Beazley

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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.

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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"

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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.

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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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