Regatta at NYCC

 

Our first regatta of the year ended up being a non-event. We attending the varsity regatta at Norfolk Yacht and Country Club (NYCC) on Saturday the ninth on a hot and humid morning with teams from Christchurch, Norfolk Academy, hampton Roads Academy, Norfolk Collegiate, Maury, The Hauge School, Grafton, Poquoson, Kecoughtan, Heritage, and Peninsula Catholic. The high school sailing rules require at least three races in each division to qualify as a scoring event. With the light breezes before the thunderstorm we only managed 3 A division races and 2 B divisions.   

Since this was the first regatta of the year (and the first regatta for most of the team) the results were disappointing. Ben finished with scores of 18, 16, anf 19 and Hunter finished with scores of 19 and 20.

I was able to record some of the starts. Here is Ben in boat #1 (near the RC boat) with about 20 seconds to go. Not a bad start but was forced over to the other tack and had trouble regaining boat speed.

Here is Hunter in boat #3 well below the line. Note the team in #1 from Poquoson deliberately slowed and managed a slightly late start right at the RC boat but got off the line ahead of many of the others.

Leeward Mark round practice

 We practiced rounding the leeward gate marks. The key is to exit the gate going upwind close to the mark. Swinging wide is to be avoided because trailing boats can sail in the gap between you and the mark and pass you. 

In the first video you see how giving a trailing boat a gap will cause you to be passed.

 1st video of flying scots

In the second video you see a opti dinghy rounding with the basic idea of "enter wide, exit tight." This doesn't give any trailing boat a gap to pass you.

Optimist rounding

The next two videos show Lasers in a leeward mark rounding. Again: approach wide, exit tight.

Laser video 1               Laser video 2                 

Lastly, here are the videos I shot:

         

Fall 2023 regatta scheduled posted

 See the sidebar for the regatta dates and venues. The Classic Moth regatta is for skippers only and is optional.

First practice of the year

 Five team members sailed at the naval station sailing center in moderate breezes. Skippers were Ben and Hunter. Switching off in the crew position were Sebastian, Brandon, and Noah.

https://youtube.com/shorts/TedGUuLUjLY

https://youtube.com/shorts/AZVbLlDcMxg

JV Champs October 29th

 Pretty breezy. The two crews decided to only use one boat, swapping off every other race. Results below.

The bottom six boats in the results are those that did not sail, so we effectively as a school finished 6 out of 10.  Here is the running total calculation:

Awaiting pictures of the team.

Grafton regatta at YSV

 Our first competition at Youth Sailing Virginia at Fort Monroe saw light and shifty winds as we struggled in every race. The results:

and the running totals:

Regatta on October 8th

 

Is this sailing or swimming? Yep, a little breezy at times with boats turtling and folks falling out of their boats. We sailed conservatively and stayed upright the entire day.

Abbie and Kelly working to windward.

Abbie and Kelly trying to chase down Hunter and Sebastian

Hunter and Sebastian

Finishes here:

Hunter and Sebastian

Abbie and Kelly

Final scores