VISA Fleet Championships

Our three seniors -  A Sabrina between two Matts...

The last regatta of the season was held at Fort Monroe on a warm fall day. Here is the summary from the race organizers:

Wind built all day from the south to 10 knots with gusts to 12. Sunny, with 0.5 ft waves. There were 18 boats on the water representing 15 schools. The top three overall winners (in order) are: Norfolk Collegiate; Christ Church School; Norfolk Collegiate. The top three finishes in A Division are: Norfolk Collegiate; Christ Church School; and Nansemond Suffolk Academy. The top three finishes in B Division are: Christ Church School; Norfolk Collegiate; and Norfolk Collegiate. A total of 9 races were sailed in each division.

Here are our results, first in A division,

 then in B Division:

Note that, in general, our finishes got better as the day wore on, with Josh's 6th in the last race as the best of the day.

Pics from the day:

Scrimmage at Fort Monroe

We sailed nine races in light winds. I was the Principal Race Officer and tried to set start lines that were long enough for each boat to get a front row start. The wind dropped out during the first race and many boats gave up and paddled back resulting in DNF scores. We sailed in four boats (of the 18 racing.) Our finishes are below:

The top boat:

Our 2nd highest boat:

Our 3rd highest boat:

Our 4th boat:

Our next races will be this coming weekend: The VISA Fleet champs on Saturday morning at Fort Monroe and the VISA JV Champs on Sunday afternoon, again at Fort Monroe. We will be given only one A/B pair for the Fleet Champs and only one boat for the JV Champs.  Specific skipper/crew combinations are to be determined.

A Fleeting Moment

Friday after lunch Susan, my wife, and I drove up to Cape Cod where two 420s were for sale about 10 miles apart. A third was in Mystic, CT. I floated three checks to make the buys. We drove back with a fleet of three: one on the roof with three masts and two on a trailer that was included with one of the boats. After swapping out tires and futzing with trailer lights in the rain we got on the road about 2:00 pm Saturday. We got back home at 3:30 am on Sunday.

Also included in the purchases were dollies, four suits of sails, an extra centerboard and rudder, and trapeze/spinnaker gear. I'll spend the winter getting each standardized and next season, assuming we find water access, we'll be able to write our own practice schedule.

JV Regatta at Poquoson

Saturday October 7th saw most of the varsity members unavailable to compete, so we took the 9th and 10th graders to a dedicated JV regatta. Zach had our highest finishes of the year (a 4th and a 5th). He and Gus traded places at the helm and when one of them wasn't act as a crew we had Tyler pulling the jib sheet. Here is the commentary from the regatta organizers and the overall placings:

A seasonally warm 85 degree day greeted 12 Junior Varsity teams from 10 schools with morning winds at 5-10mph with lulls, clocking to due east at 8-12mph with higher gusts by the time racing concluded at 1:30. Sailors completed 8 races on a W4 course.

Norfolk Academy took first place, followed by Walsingham Academy in second place, and Grafton High School in third place.

We extend great thanks to the Poquoson and Walsingham teams for hosting, to Charlie Brewer for serving as PRO, and especially to the Poquoson Fire Department for allowing the use of their fire boat as the committee boat.

More pics from Mrs Bromley:

The shot below was by Suzanne Krieger from Poquoson. Thanks, Suzanne!