Merry Christmas

Fall 3

Mother Nature said no to sailing yesterday. Steady rain and mid 40's all day. Some hardy souls showed up but they - and the RC - were happy not enough sailors arrived to set up some racing.

Congratulations to Greg Zack for winning the Laser Class, Bill Raney for winning the Sunfish Class and Paul Whitesides for winning the Lightning Class. Paul got Richard in a tie breaker.
Full results are in the side bar.

So that brings 2010 to a close at CYC.

But hey - the lasers usually do something on New Years Day - so only 3 weeks without some sailing going on. Some exciting stuff on tap for 2011. The 505 class will be sailing in the ocean the first weekend in April. The Laser Class will be doing the Laser ACC's April 30th, May 1st. And look out old guys , that good group of juniors we have will be another year older.

Fall 2

The promising forecast did not come true today. Light air, heavy current and big shifts were the rule. The 3rd and final race of the day finally got the boats moving. But it was a pretty day and definitely warmer than advertised. Chek the results here and in the sidebar.

Fall 2

Looks like a beautiful Saturday shaping up for fall 2. Windguru predicts a nice north breeze with temps in the 60's and plenty of sunshine

Come out and join the competition.

MIDLANDS 3

Fun in Columbia. Last day below freezing while rigging up. Flipped over in first race. Hands numb up the first windward leg. Caught up despite the autotack flip but ended up in a big hole on the right. Took third despite lots of mistakes. Sugar is a good boat.

Jim Harris took third in the Lightning fleet. Trey Carraway sailed with John Pelosi in that fleet as well.

Chase Carraway took 2nd in opti white with Scott Harris not far behind in 5th

midlands 2

CYC doing pretty good in columbia today.
Jim Harris and crew took a bullet and a 2nd in the Lightning fleet.
The author took first in the first race in the laser fleet = subsequently became overconfidant for the next 2 races.

Columbia Sailing Club is putting on a great regatta to finish the year off.

Going to be even colder tomorrow. Below freezing at the first warning

midlands

On the way to cold Columbia"

Fall #1 sailed today in about 12-15 knots of NE breeze. Nice angle for banks channel.
5 Races sailed - the last one was a bit lighter. Was great to see Jimmy Carter and Bill Raney
match racing their sunfish.

Results here

Ocean 4

Finished up the 2010 season with a great day on the ocean. Forecast was for no more than 10 knots but the sailors were treated with up to 20 knots and some nice waves. Speaking of waves - there were some huge ones just south of the inlet some of the laser sailors tested out after the regatta. Check the Ocean Series results on the sidebar and the pictures below.

Thanks to the RC and all the competitors for another great season on the ocean.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chip.whitesides/Ocean4#

Reminders

1 Awards Ceremony at 6pm thursday evening
2 Fall 1 has been moved to October 2nd to accomodate a collegiate race that
UNCW is hosting on October 9.

Ancient Mariners

7 sunfish sailors competed in the Annual Ancient Mariners race. This event was dedicated to the memory of John Colluci.

Rob McEachern won the event with 4 sailors tied for 2nd.
Congrats to Rob and all the other sailors.

Here are some pictures here

James Match 2010

Thanks to all the RC, Umpires and Competitors for all their efforts Saturday.
Congratulations to Parks Blair and his crew Brendan Bennett for winning the event with a tie breaker in the last race of the day. Exciting stuff.

Here is a link to some pictures.

JO'S REPORT:

Eight competitors and crews gathered for the 39th James Match Race on Saturday August 28th . The all day event is a single round robin race with on- the- water umpires . The Club's 420's were used , and to level the playing field even more , the competitors rotated through each of the boats . This eliminates the chance of being assigned a boat that is exceptionally fast , or slow . So the only variable , as they say , is the nut on the end of the tiller .

This years list of competitors were , Paul Whitesides ,Martin Willard , Pierce Barden , Bill Smith ,Bill Raney , Glenn Walker , Parks Blair , and Tommy Allen .

By the end of the 6th round , or flight , the math was done , and there remained only two competitors and crews who were in the running : Bill Smith and his crew Tom had 6 points , undefeated to that point ; Parks Blair and his crew Brendan Bennett had 5 points. And the two teams were slated to face each other in the 7th flight . So if Bill Smith won , he would be the undefeated champ . If Parks won , he and Bill would be tied on total points for the day . In this match race , the tiebreaker is determined by who beat who in their individual match.

And so , it came down to the wire , with Parks winnning the start . Bill fought back , but Parks never let go of his very narrow lead , all the way to a very close finish .

Congratulations to Parks and Brendan on a great job on the water !

Check out the video below of the first leward mark rounding in the race between Parks and Bill

james match 2010 one

JAMES MATCH 2010

Come on down to CYC Saturday to watch some intense match racing.
8 skippers will compete starting at 1030am.
Sailed in our Club 420's with on the water umpiring.

SAYRA / Lake Waccamaw

Here is link to all the SAYRA Regatta Result.

Some CYC'ers took a short trip to Lake Waccamaw this weekend to do
a Lightning Regatta. Saturday had perfect weather with 4 races sailed.
One race today in a shifty light breeze.
Thanks so much to the Waccamaw Sailing Club for hosting the event.
Its a very pretty venue.
Congrats to Richard, Katie and Rick for taking first.
Bob Cowen and crew placed 2nd, Paul Whitesides and crew placed 3rd.

SAYRA Regatta

Great weekend of sailing. Inaugural Junior Team Race Championship on Friday.
SAYRA regatta on Sat and Sun. Pretty Ocean on Sunday.

Link to team race photos here.

Will get some results up soon.

Couples Race / Funsail this Thursday.

The season isn't over quite yet

Ocean 3

Great day on the ocean. Sustained 14-18 with 20+ gusts. Some very big waves out there.
Thanks to JO and his top notch crew of RC.
Here's JO's report:

Sailboat racing is 90 % mental . The other half is physical . Yesterday , for Ocean 3 , it was the other way around.

Usually we select a day like yesterday ( winds SW 19 - 24 kts , 4 foot seas , serious lumps ) for the season opener . It's a gear-busting , gut wrenching , get - all -of- those- winter cobwebs-out -of - the-way type of race that makes you wonder where you left your golf clubs anyway . This season we waited for Ocean 3 . The good news- you have 3 weeks to fix everything before the SAYRA Regatta , August 7-8 th. ( Need to sign up soon for that )

Think Billy King's Fun Meter was hovering around the #4 hash mark after the second race . It was good to see Eddie Nowell and Rick Campbell on the starting line yesterday , first time this season , hope that didn't scare yall off .

Can't say enough good things about my RC out there , Sterling Powell ,Bob Thomson , Jay Stokley , and David Nance expertly running mark boats , with Arland Whitesides and Jesse Shumway ( Chicago YC ) on Signal .

Congrats to Pierce Barden , Steve Johnston , and Richard Waldkirch in the Lightning fleet , top 3 finishers for the day yesterday; congrats to Martin Willard , Greg Zack and Glenn Walker for their top 3 finishes yesterday in the Laser class .

Next Ocean Race is a ways off ( Sept 18th ) when we plan to have a J 24 fleet joining us .

Good sailing all !

Results Here

Team Racing - Here we go

Thanks to Arland for providing the structure for advancing our team racing at CYC.
Thanks to Dylan Paiva for showing us the way.
The juniors are hooked. Still gotta work on the old Dudes.

Some pictures

TEAM RACING

Had a 3 on 3 until the wind picked up. Think the juniors are ready to roll with this format.
Rule books were out at the debrief. Thanks to all who showed up.

2010 Youth Challenge

Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club hosted this year's Youth Challenge.
Heard BYSC repeated as winners - so they get to do it again next year.
Think a lot of our new sailing team members had their first experience with this event.

Here is a link to a bunch of pictures.

Ocean 2

Results

PRO race report:

A different kind of day on the ocean today . Very light SE winds with a leftover swell fron the E and very large cumulus clouds looming on the horizon . First time in recent years that boats had to be towed out against a surging incoming tide . Gotta check that calendar next year .

One race started and done , congratulations to Jim Harris , Richard Waldkirch , and John Sawyer for their 1,2,3 place finishes respectively .

In the Laser class , congrats to Martin Willard , Glen Walker , and John Overton for their 1,2,3 place finished respectively .

Thanks to the fine work of David Nance and Braxton James , a shorter -than- normal course was skillfully shortened to a finish at the second weather mark . Great RC team work all the way around , with Bob Thomson multitasking at Pin , Leeward , Finish , and getting the right flags to the shortened finish :) PRO thinks he must have maldistributed the gear this morning . RC abandoned the scheduled second & third races , just as thunder started rumbling on the western horizon . Must have been interesting sailing into the inlet and into the teeth of a huge thunderhead . Fortunately for us , the thunderhead drifted to Carolina Beach and all its teeth fell out .

Next Ocean Race is July 17th , hope to see you there.
JO

Last Place Report:
First Race in a Lightning. Family affair. Learned tons. That Spinnaker is a big sail. Appreciate how important team work is on the boat. Big thanks to the RC.

Team Race Inititation

Pig in the Middle. Intense , fast - this is going to be fun.
Next Team Race 6/29.

We lost a real gentleman this week

We lost John Bonds this week. Great read here.

Lightning District Champs Day 2

Congratulations to Pierce Barden ,Tommy Vanarsdale and Emily Aspland who won the regatta
with 5 bullets.

Here are some pictures from today

Lightning District Championship Day 1

Great day of sailing for 17 Lightnings. Pierce Bardin and John Sawyer are on top of the leaderboard at one and two respectively.

Pictures Here

May 9, 2010

Beautiful day on the ocean. Sustained 18-20 knots with 20 + gusts. Three races completed. Tired but exhilarated bunch of sailors had plenty of stories post racing. Great start to the season. Thanks to JO and his RC.
Would like to welcome David Nance - our newest BIMBO.

Results here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhmjqjgr_284gnbfs9c4

JO's report below:

May 8th was the kickoff for the Ocean Series and the Dorman Cup . This year there were 8 Lightnings and 9 Lasers that made it to the noon start off the CYC .

Three races were run in winds that started at 12- 15 and steadily built to 18 , gusting to 20 at the end of the third race Sterling Powell , David Nance , and Bob Thomson in their mark boats ,set an excellent windward leeward race course , about 0.7 miles in length

Congratulations go to Pierce Barden on finishing first on the day in Lightnings with 1 , 2, 1 finishes.

Second in Lightnings was Steve Johnston , with 3,1,4 results .

Third place for the day went to Chris Stone / Billy King with 5,4,2 finishes .

In the Laser fleet , Martin Willard took first place on 2,1,1 finishes .

John Overton came in second with a 1,2,3 for the day .

Glen Walker took third place with 5,3,2 finishes .

Many thanks to the fine RC work on the Signal Boat from Jay Stokely , Mike Norris , and Jenny Blair .

Repeat Performance

Chip Till's Murder Incorporated repeats as J24 Champ at Charleston Race Week.
Bob Cowen's Nugget also placed well in the same fleet. Good going guys.

Here is Chips report.

Charleston Race Week

some pictures

more pictures from circle 1

J24'S AT LAKE NORMAN

Congrats to Emily Aspland, Hanna Garland, Chip Till, Paul Whitesides, and Kevin Bradley!

Check Chipster's report HERE.

Final Post from 2010 Southern Circuit

Sounds like the Sawyers are looking forward to returning next year - despite the mayhem:

Click here for link to story.

More Lightning Tales from the Southern Circuit

Go to the link: John Does Miami

John and Becky's adventure continues

Thursday: Alligator Alley

The drive over from Miami only involved one argument with the GPS lady but that was the last straw the Brit is now an American. The highlight was the alligators sunning, as Becky says whole families were hangin out. The road side is fenced to keep them off the road when gators get on the road they assume the temperature of the road and go to sleep, fences are a great idea for all of us along alligator alley.

Arrived in St Pete at 2:30 and set up the boat. Fixed a few more things, shopped for groceries and arrived at the club for the competitors meeting and general meeting. Paid fleet 511’s dues again this year, will try to remember to collect this summer. The annual meeting is followed by a potato bar, drink bar and welcoming party at St Pete. Two or three races are planned for tomorrow, but we are under a high pressure and it is not hot enough the produce a sea breeze so the chance is there for a land breeze , sea breeze conflict resulting in little wind.

Staying at the Ponce de Leon hotel for about the 5^th time. It is old but renovated with funky 1930s bathrooms & stuff that does not work half the time; but we love it, the owner / manager is in this hotel for life. The best thing about the Ponce is that it is next door to St Pete and relatively inexpensive. When here, we park the car and walk to everything. 53 boats are registered, and our RC is one of the best.

John Sawyer

14318

No Wind

Race report from yesterday.
No wind today.
On to St Pete.
Here is John's last installment :

Yes we did race.

Tuesday: Sailed three races in Biscayne Bay, beautiful skyline in the background, tropical waters. 41 boats sailed, our finishes were 19,27,14. We finished 19^th overall. First race was in about 8-9 very shifty out of the NNW. Second race was also very shifty with some dead spots. Third race was in the sequence and then postponed due to a wind shift that made the line and first beat poor for the competitors, this happened twice. Race three also had one general recall, we were losing the afternoon, the RC finally got the race started under the black flag, 5 or 6 were over early and DSQ’d. A big shift on the second downwind leg surprisingly did not warrant a course change by the RC and the final windward leg was also a reach, unusual at this racing level.

Even though my crew slandered me and besmirched my stellar reputation in the previous posting, I bought drinks for my crew at the club tiki bar tonight, fortunately we were tired and only had a few drinks. Tomorrow is ladies lunch day at CRYC we have been advised that parking will be limited. Looking forward to mingling with the ladies. Becky says I’ve got it wrong.

Wednesday: Arrived at CRYC at 8am to make some rig adjustments. Weather is overcast light wind, Most boats were launched by stood by for a possible postpone ashore. AP did happen and the wait for wind was on, light rain and no wind persisted all morning, at about 11:30 the RC abandoned the remaining races.

Lessons learned: when the breeze is manageable for you and your crew, with effort you can keep the boat flat, and water is not smooth. The skipper and crew need to move their weight in the boat to kept it flat, steering up, pointing higher to keep it flat is not the way to go.

John

Sawyers on to Miami

After 3 races the Sawyers are in 2oth out of 41.
Not too shabby.

Results

Johns story for the day:

Sunday: Got out of Savannah a little early and stopped at West Marine to replace some of the stuff that is now at the bottom of the Skidaway River. Fortunately none of the sacred parts like mast blocks are missing, if that were the case we would have to do a voodoo ritual, incense etc. to make new mast block that were eggzackly right. Drove as long as possible, had an Italian dinner in a restaurant next to the roadside hotel. Me and a few bikers and a lot of restaurant employees.

Monday: More driving, my GPS wanted me to take toll roads to Miami, I did not agree and we argued several times about it. She is British, I thought maybe a

Proper brit would be more respectful of my wishes but at every possible interchange she would demand that I exit I 95. I finally gave in.

By the way following my British lady through the Miami interchanges was a joke. Arrived at Coral Reef YC late morning and settled in to my spot with the boat. Had a glorious day of fixing stuff on the boat, meeting lightning sailors originally from Australia then Nigeria and now Houston. Coral Reef YC is great , warm and sunny. Crewed for a new Lightning owner in on the water coaching this afternoon in about 15-16 wind, coached by Skip Diebold. I knew I was in trouble when I noticed no vang on the boat, flashback to Savannah, being the guy on the boat with experience, I forced my host into rigging the vang before leaving the harbor.

Retrieved my rock star crew, Becky and son Jack at Miami Airport. This arrangement promises to buy me several get out of Becky jail cards.

Monday (crew version): Late pickup at Miami International. Some excuse about “helping some guy with his vang”. Captain smells like rum and has glitter on his pants. We see a “Gold Club” valet ticket on the dash. Crew has suspicions but we stay quiet. Next stop: the Miami equivalent of the “Heart of Charleston” hotel. Dinner from the vending machine as the captain rants about some Fireball race from the 80’s. I imagine the captain will be ornery tomorrow and want to re-rig the entire boat. Better get some shut-eye…

Tuesday: Our regatta registration includes a big hot breakfast followed by the competitors meeting, racing starts at 11am, three races today.

John Sawyer

14318

OH SAVANNAH

John Sawyer is again doing the Southern Circuit in the Lightning Class.

Love his narratives

--------------------------

From: john sawyer [mailto:johnsawyer@ec.rr.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 10:14 PM
To: 'Chip Whitesides'
Subject: Oh Savannah

I’m a little wiped out, but here goes. Around 30 boats participated in this first leg of the southern circuit, that’s lower than normal. The big question was where’s the heat. It was freakin cold Sunday morning. This leg is only 3 races, Saturday wind was SW at 16 gust to 20. Lots of carnage unfortunately. 9 boats capsized including yours truly. Our dirty deed as we call it happened in the second race final downwind run. We still don’t know why for sure, but after getting upright the spreader was severely bent and the vang broken. The safety crew gave us second place to Tommy Allen for time to get back up, Tommy sail out of his capsize and finished mid fleet. New mast tubes are always on the lawn at Savannah Yacht Club, they are not free replacements but if you travel from Canada as some have for the southern circuit and you break your mast it’s good. One broken mast was replaced, three tubes are left. Tom Allen had a few spare spreaders and the part I needed to fix the vang so by 7pm I was back together. Except for the all the #*!()&%$ stuff that came out of the boat when we capsized.

The club roasted oysters for dinner Moose tried to work a deal for snottier oysters , that’s his way of saying not cooked so long. Appetizing thought, and I watched my NC State lose to George Tech with a bunch of GT fans to complete the day from hell.

Sunday: Even the snowbirds are complaining. The wind has not layed down and it is about 50 degrees. I decided not to sail which my crew, shivering with hot coffee in hand loved hearing, they would have sailed but I just did not want to risk another day of damage, within 30 minutes I regretted not sailing. My crew and I assisted on safety boats. Watching the race from the weather mark, the current effect was very interesting. I actually learn some things. The wind did drop and only one boat broke down. If you go to sail, SAIL.

From our district Will Tyner and crew were outstanding, they won the second race and were top ten for all races.

On my way to Miami, more latter.

John Sawyer

14318

PARALYMPICS

Thanks to Anne Allen who as usual is doing her work with the Winter Paralympics in Canada.
See her note and link to live action below.

Hi all,

I am in Vancouver working at the Paralympic Games and just wanted to give you the link / article below so that anyone interested can watch the opening ceremonies tonight and some of the events on the internet beginning tomorrow.. Unfortunately it is not broadcast on TV in the USA, but we have lots of great athletes competing here, and just like during the Olympics, the city is "buzzing" ! Just go to www.ParalympicSport.tv as below. II hope you all are well !

Anne

Race Management Seminar

Students hard at work this weekend at US Sailing Race Management Seminar.
Thanks to John and Gracia Slater for teaching us a bunch of good stuff.

Check out CYC Sailors doing the Heineken Regatta in St Maarten.


http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhmjqjgr_272hpchk2hr

Florida Masters

Sailed a radial on Saturday. 8ft swell running from the east, with a west wind anywhere from 10 to 25 knots. Kept up until the lulls hit. Did not flip over in those shark infested waters. Felt bad about my finishes until saw Dick Tillman was just a little ahead. With 9am start on Sunday at 40 degrees with 35 degree windchill decided to sleep in - also wanted to beat the traffic out of Daytona Beach - what a race that was. Laser Masters sailing is still the best.

Pictures of Domenic in Richmond Hill and Warming up after racing on Saturday.

Richmond Hill

Half way to Palm Beach.
Passed one laser heading north on I 95.
Great night talking sailing with the Rohde's.
Met Domenic.

Forecast for 15-2o knots on Saturday at palm beach.

Race Management Seminar / Florida

Here is link to Race Management Seminar to be held here at CYC. Cant beat the price.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhmjqjgr_269dm4fs2fd

On way to Palm Beach tomorrow. Florida Laser Masters. Looks like it will be blowing 20+
in the ocean. Time to ride some waves.

From Chip Till :

Paul Whitesides and I have my J/24 team down here in Tampa for J/24 Mid-Winters. 3 races-our finishes were 21, 3, 8. 35 boats- we're in 10th but will drop the 21. Light NW breeze.

------------

Meanwhile 5 lasers did the frostbite race - it was a bit cold. Thanks to Glenn and Kerry for running the races.

Looks like we will be running a race management seminar here on march 13. Details coming.
Will make it affordable.

Schedules Posted

Unofficial CYC NOR and schedule posted.
Please verify with the CYC website.

New Years Day 2010

12 lasers had a great time on the water to start the new year.

Results here


See photos in the photo zone