On Saturday, at the end of October, we had a beautiful day on Mill Creek just west of Fort Monroe. This was the first time we sailed at this particular venue. The regatta was the VISA JV championships and 18 teams were entered. The crews had to be ferried out to a floating dock where the boats are stored. The day started a bit chilly but warmed to around 70 degrees. The breeze was about 8-10 knots all day.
We had the best showing all year: we finished 5th of 18 teams, with Jake taking our first bullet of the season. The final scores are here.
The shot below shows Jake and Charlie with a hefty lead approaching the finish line. It certainly helped that the boat in second just behind them at the final weather mark death rolled and created a lot of havoc for the rest of the fleet to avoid!
Below are a couple of additional shots. Thanks to Mrs Schoenig and Mrs Kiggans for the pictures!
We participated with seventeen other schools in FJs supplied by the Washington College sailing team in Chestertown, Maryland. Saturday was very frustrating with very light winds and an aggressive ebb current. With general recalls, postponements and abandonments there were only two A fleet races completed in seven hours. After a nice day enjoying the sun and waiting for a steady breeze we went to Mass in a 160-year old church and then dinner. The motel accommodations were an adventure by Sunday dawned with a nice breeze the allowed another 12 races to be run.
Obviously it was a challenging regatta. We learned a lot and look forward to next season's out-of-district events. Next up are the JV champs at Fort Monroe (on the 29th) and our fleet regatta at NYCC (on the 5th.)
There are 85 schools in the MidAtlantic Scholastic Sailing Association. The top eighteen teams will be sailing for the Gold Fleet Championship at Fort Monroe. There are 16 teams, including ours, that will compete for the Silver Fleet Championship at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. Each is a two day regatta on Saturday and Sunday, October 15th and 16th.
We will enter one A fleet and one B fleet crew. Since it is a four hour trip up the Eastern Shore, we'll be leaving at 4:30 Saturday morning to make the 9:00 a.m. check-in and registration. After sailing Saturday we'll go to Mass at a nearby Catholic Church and then have a group dinner. The hotel will be nearby. Sunday's activities start at 8:30. No races will start after 2:00 p.m. so we should be back on the road by 3:00 and home by 8:00 p.m.
Our fourth regatta of the season was on October 1st, again at NYCC. The day was warm and humid and there was very little wind for the 22 boats on the line. The first two A division races were run and our skippers struggled to find ways of generating speed. After the rotation, the first B division race was run in even less wind. Just as the RC was about to abandon the race, a slight zephyr filled in and most crews managed to finish. In this race our B division skippers Jake and Matt Beauchamp (who was filling in for Erynn who was taking the SAT) finished mid-fleet with a 14th and 15th.
After a postponement awaiting a more stable breeze, the second B division race was started. Unfortunately, the breeze fell out just as the tide began to ebb. When most of the fleet was carried down current of the weather mark out toward the harbor, the RC had no choice but to abandon. The fleet was towed back to the dock and the regatta was officially ended. Since a minimum of six races (3A and 3B) are needed to score the regatta, the day was basically a non-event.
Our individual finishes were:
Iggy 20, 21
Nick 22, 22
Jake 15
Matt 14
I will upload some video shortly. If anyone managed to take some stills, please send them to me.
One ugly situation raised its head in the light air - Rule 42 and kinetics. After the start sequence of race 1B was begun, a few teams found themselves upwind/down current of the line and needed to get back to the pre-start side of the line. Any action is permitted before boats are racing ("racing" starts at the preparatory signal - with the sound signal starting system that is at the 2 minute mark.) So between 3 minutes and 2 minutes the boats may paddle, rock, pump, fan the sails - any action that can propel them back to the start area. However, at the 2 minute mark only the natural action of the wind on the sails is permitted. A number of boats were protested by the RC for using kinetics and were disqualified after a hearing.
I'll make a video about Rule 42 in the near future. All of our team should know what is permitted and prohibited by the rule and how to "call" others on their disregard of Rule 42.
