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!

Regatta Results from 30 Sept at NYCC

We sailed at NYCC in more much breeze than we've had there all season. Due to death rolls downwind and the gusty conditions, there were at least a half dozen capsizes, but all of our boats stayed upright. Here is the description of the conditions from the regatta organizers:

     Another perfect regatta day on the Lafayette River brought blue skies, lumpy seas, and winds 10-16 mph with gusts higher out of the NNW clocking to NNE with minor oscillations.

     On the varsity course 27 teams representing 15 schools completed 7 races in each of 2 divisions on a W4/W3 with gate course. Norfolk Collegiate Team 1 captured first place, followed by Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in second, and Norfolk Academy in third place.

Below are the results, first from Crusaders 1 (the juniors and seniors) :

Skipper/Crew combinations and finishes. There were 27 boats.

A1-4 Charlie/Mark 25, 22, 23, 25

B1-4 Matt/Maggie 21, 17, 20, 26

A5-6 Jake/Mark 25, 25

B5-6 Maggie/Matt 25, 23

A7 Jake/Charlie 11

B7 Matt/Maggie 10

Note that our best finishes were at the end of the day.

Here are the finishes from Crusaders 2 (the freshmen and sophomores.) There were 27 boats.

Again, the skipper/crew combinations and finishes:

A1-4 Josh/Tyler 24, 25, 26, 21

B1-7 Zach/Oliver 26, 22, 25, 27, 24, 25, 21

A5-7 Josh/Gus 24, 24, 21

Note again that our best finishes were at the end of the day.

23 September regatta results

Were were again at NYCC for a fleet regatta. Here is the description of the conditions from the regatta organizers: 

    Sailors arrived to another perfect sunny day on the Lafayette River with gentle seas and winds of 10-12 mph out of the N to NNS with minor oscillations.

    On the varsity course, 26 teams representing 15 schools completed 6 W4/W3 races in each division. Christchurch School Team 1 took first place, followed by Christchurch School Team 2 in second, and Norfolk Collegiate School Team 1 in third place.

We entered four boats. Here are the results for Crusaders1:

Our skipper/crew combinations with their finishes were (26 boats racing):

A1-6 Charlie/Mark 24, 20, 22, 24, 21, 23

B1-6 Jake/Matt M. 18, 24, 8, 19, 23, 16

Here are the results for Crusaders2:

Our skipper/crew combinations with their finishes were (26 boats racing):

A1 Maggie/Zack 26

A2 Zack/Maggie 18

A3-4 Zach/Tyler 25, 25

A5-6 Maggie/Tyler 26, 25

B1-6 Josh/Oliver 16, 17, 21, 22, 18, 25

Regatta results 16 September

Sailing at NYCC for the first fleet race this year, we entered one varsity A/B pair and one JV boat in the regatta. Here is the report from the regatta organizers:

    Sailors were met with a beautiful clear day on the Lafayette River with temperatures in the 70's. Breezes were NNE 10-15 mph with gusts higher and some oscillations to the east.

    On the varsity course, twenty-four teams from 15 schools completed 5 W4/W3 races in each division. Norfolk Collegiate Team 1 took first place, followed by Christchurch School Team 1 in second place, Christchurch School Team 2 in third place and Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in fourth place.

    The JV competition saw twelve teams from 9 schools complete 6 W4 races. Norfolk Academy Team 1 took first place, followed by Norfolk Academy Team 2 in second place, Poquoson High School Team 1 in third place, and Walsingham Academy in fourth place.

Here are our varsity results:

Our A/B pairs and their finishes (out of 24 boats) were:

A1-2, 5 Jake/Mark 24, 24, 23

A3-4 Matt L./ Matt M. 23, 22

B1-2 Maggie/Sabrina 23, DNF

B3-4 Charlie/Sabrina 8, 13

B5 Charlie/Maggie 15

Charlie's 8th out of 24 was the highest place we've had all season.

In the JV fleet of 12 we entered one boat. Here are the results:

Races 1-2, 5-6 Zach/Tyler 11, 11, 12, 12 

Races 3-4 Gus/Oliver 12, DNF

As the day wore on we were definitely getting closer to the pack. The JV racing ended at 1:00 p.m.

CCS regatta report 9 September

We had eight team members race at Christchurch on Saturday September 9th. The conditions started around 10-12 knots but by the time racing concluded had built to 15-20. This was certainly more wind than we had sailed in all season and our technique was sloppy at times (including a couple of capsizes.)  The results were less than spectacular. Below are the scores for Crusaders 1 (the juniors and seniors).

The skipper/crew combinations and finishes (of the 11 boats)  were:



A1-6 Jake/Mark DSQ, 8, 4, 5, 5, 8
B1-2 Matt/Gus 4, 8
B3-6 Josh/Gus DSQ, DSQ, DNS, DNS

Note that Jake's DSQ was for not passing through the leeward gate. Josh's scores were counted as DNS/DNQ due to having Matt leave early for the retreat. Sailors cannot compete on different "teams" and Josh was sailing in A division for Crusaders1

Here are the finishes for Crusaders2 (the sophomores and freshmen):

The skipper/crew combinations and finishes (of the 11 boats)  were:

A1-6 Josh/Oliver 7, DSQ, 11, 9, 7, DNF
B1-6 Maggie/Tyler 11, 10, 9, 9, 8, 10