NYCC Regatta report

The team competed in another regatta at NYCC on October 6th. This was designated a "JV-Team 2" regatta where there was no boat rotation - the sailors stayed in the same hulls (red 1, 2, and 3) for all nine races. Our top three skippers were absent - Jake was sitting for the SAT, Charlie was visiting the USCGA in New London, and Josh was racing in the moth nationals.

Nolan and Mark skippered all day; Maria, Margaret, Oliver sat in the crew slot all day. Chase and Gus alternated as skipper and crew for each other. We finished 14th, 19th, and 20th of 22 starters. Our highest finishes were 7th, 8th, and 9th. All finishes are below followed by the race-by-race report from Mr. Miller who acted as coach:

First and Second race:

Nolan/Maria. 3rd over line.  Great start!

Mark/Margaret.

Gus/Oliver

Maybe some protests there was a ton of bumper boats all across the board.  Need to enforce Port/Starboard rules and 720 exoneration.

Third and Fourth race:

Nolan/Maria

Mark/Margaret

Chase/Gus(crew)

3:  Chase was close for the start but Nolan was very far out of place, all three need work keeping sails full with air in shifty winds.  All three boats last half of pack,  Nolan, then Chase, Mark pulled up the rear.  Crews need to be attentive and move to keep boats flat in puffs.  Again port/starboard interactions boats lost several places while in the right of way to port boats that fouled them but no protest or turns.  Tide started pulling through harder (right side favored)

4:  Nolan and Mark has good positions for start.  Nolan tacked into clear air and pulled out into 7th at windward mark.  Chase needs to keep air in the sails and move.  Nolan lost three spots at leeward gate, needs a plan for gate BEFORE he gets there and rounding technique.  Upwind he got stuck on left, let a port tack boat have right of way, got rolled, then need to duck a cluster of starboard boats to get clear air into the mark, but he tacked and got rolled by 7 boats while in irons.  

Remaining races:

Nolan/Maria

Mark/Margaret

Chase/Oliver(crew)

5:  Mark and Nolan OK start, needed to find clear air so ended up 8/9 through windward mark.  Gate was confusing.  Second leg Nolan went right, gained a lot.  Mark left and got stuck in some bad air and traffic.  Nolan was 8 or 9th... Mark dropped into the mid teens.  Chase needed to keep the sails filled but was a few spots back of Mark in upper teens.

6:  Nolan great start, needs to work on posting and speed. (Main trim all day). Fouled by yellow 4 and lost five spots due to irons.  Nolan went right and picked up a few spots rounded 8th and Mark 11th at windward.  Nolan and Mark went low and got rolled on downwind.  (Need upwind positioning lessons). Nolan finished around 8th again, Mark around 13.

7:  Nolan had OK start, went into bad air, half up had P/S where Nolan t-boned green 13 - green 13 didn’t do any turns and kept going.  Race was wonky with wind dying out, lead pack came 3/4 through the fleet to lap and a lot of back 1/2 fleet just finished after one lap versus full course. Need to through out that race.

8:  Nolan again with great start, has pointing and speed issues, needed to tack away into clear air.   Ended up in 15th-ish.  

Chase and Mark were present for the race...  started in irons, kept it that way and lapped before they reached the gate.  Nolan needs work on scan, fixated on other boats and position and letting sails luff.  

9:  Nolan and Chase great start, Nolan won the boat, Chase mid pack.  Boat speed issues from there. Nolan needed to tack into clear air.  Shifty conditions made it hard with boat speed and p/s crossings.  Chase found some clear air in 5th at windward mark!  Second leg Chase in 6th at windward.  Oliver needs to move to keep boat flat in puffs.  Chase finished 7th.

All in all some good notes to go over and clear items to practice for this week.

2018 Classic Moth nationals

Details here

I first won the classic moth nationals in 1998. This year's win was twenty years later!

Moths in Willoughby

Some of team members had a chance to sail moths at the Saturday extended practice. It's amazing how much one can learn when they're in a boat by themselves! Coach Bousquet will have three moths available to team members for the race at Elizabeth City this coming Saturday. He'll be sailing a fourth himself, hoping to capture another championship.

First completed Varsity regatta report

On Saturday September 22 we competed at NYCC in the first VISA varsity regatta of the season. We entered two teams (Crusaders 1 and Crusaders 2) in the varsity A/B divisions and one boat in the JV division. 

Here is a description of the conditions on the varsity and JV courses from the event organizers:  

Today was a beautiful day with a high of 81 F. There were a total of 16 teams with a total of 24 boats racing for Varsity. The JV course had 11 teams and boats on the water. The top Teams for Varsity are: Norfolk Collegiate Oaks 2; Christ Church Seahorses 1; Norfolk Collegiate Oaks 1. The top Teams for JV are: Norfolk Academy; Kecoughtan; Maury. Winds were a high of 8 MPH with some gusts to 15 MPH. 

Our results are below. The highlighted line shows each finish position, the cumulative points accrued and the relative placing in the fleet. High points for the day include Nolan skippering in his first regatta and taking 5th of 12 boats on the JV course, with a highest finish of 3rd, Josh finishing above mid-fleet in one race on the varsity course with a 9th out of 24 boats, and muffins by Margaret.

First Nolan and Cam's finishes, placing 5th of 12 overall, ahead of teams from York, Christchurch, Granby, Norfolk Collegiate, Poquoson, and Walsingham:

Here are the finishes of Jake and Josh with their crews of Maria and Chase sailing as Crusaders 1, placing 21st of 24 overall, and finishing ahead of teams from Walsingham and Poquoson:

And here are the finishes of Charlie, Mark, and Maggie with their crews of Oliver, Margaret, and Chase sailing as Crusaders 2, placing 24th of 24 overall:

Some pics from Mrs Brittain. I will add additional pictures as I get them.

Florence puts us on hold

Even though the storm shifted south and missed Hampton Roads, we had to pull all of our equipment from the Naval Base for safety.

Thanks to Jake, Charlie, Josh, and Margaret who helped de-rig and load the boats and to Nick, and Mr Campbell and the cross country team who helped unload the boat from the roof.

Weather permitting, we'll probably start moving equipment back on Monday or Tuesday with practice re-starting on Wednesday. The regatta schedule has been obviously affected. The Maury regatta scheduled for the 15th has been cancelled. No word on whether it will be made up. The Moth Nationals have been postponed with an anticipated date of October 6th and 7th.

Stay tuned!

Fleet regatta at Christchurch

The picture above pretty much sums up the event. Drifting conditions on the varsity course resulted in only 2 A division races. B division was shuttled out for their races but never even got a start. Then the rain came. Then the wind came. Then the lightning came. Then we went home.

The JV fleet did manage to get 3 triangle races in, the minimum to count. Since one of our sailors couldn't make the trip, we were one person short. Nolan crewed for another unpaired sailor from NSA (a 7th grader) and they won their event with finishes of 4 - 2 - 1. It didn't hurt that Leila (the skipper) had raced Optis for 4 years and knew how to manage starts pretty well.

The regatta summary from the regatta organizers is here:

Saturday, September 8:

Sixteen teams representing 11 high schools arrived at the Rappahannock River to light winds, high humidity and temperatures ranging from the mid-70's to the mid 80's. Initial northerly winds around 5mph oscillated west and died by noon. JV racing was then concluded before the afternoon pop-up thunderstorms commenced. Three single division races were completed on a port triangle course. Bishop Sullivan took first place with 8 points, followed by Kecoughtan in second with 11 points, and Norfolk Academy Team 1 in third place with 14 points.


On the varsity course, further out in the river, eighteen varsity team one A Division boats (FJ's) were able to complete only two W-4 races due to diminishing winds, resulting in a non-event. Had those scores counted for anything, CCS Team 2 would have taken first place, followed by CCS Team 1 in second, and Kecoughtan High School winning third place with the tiebreaker against Norfolk Collegiate Team 1 and Poquoson Team 1. On the team 2 course, again only two A division races were completed which resulted in a non-event. Had those scores counted, CCS 1 woud have taken first place, followed by CCS 2 in second, and Norfolk Academy 1 in third place.

			School	Team	A		TOT
	1		Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School	Crusaders	8		8
	2		Kecoughtan High School	Warriors	11		11
	3		Norfolk Academy	Bulldogs 1	14		14
	4		Maury High School	Commodores 2	20		20
*	5		Norfolk Collegiate School	Oaks 3	21		21
*	6		Norfolk Collegiate School	Oaks 2	21		21
*	7		Norfolk Collegiate School	Oaks 1	22		22
*	8		Grafton High School	Varsity	22		22
	9		Poquoson High School	Islanders 2	27		27
	10		Maury High School	Commodores 1	29		29
	11		Walsingham Academy	Trojans	33		33
	12		Christchurch School	Seahorses	34		34
*	13		Norfolk Academy	Bulldogs 2	35		35
*	14		Poquoson High School	Islanders 1	35		35
	15		Hampton Roads Academy	Navigators	36		36
	16		Granby High School	Granby	40		40

This week we'll be preparing for a visit from Florence. Stay tuned.