December 25

Merry Christmas.

CYC kids are hitting the road to compete in the Orange Bowl Regatta.
Hopefully Daniel will send some reports.

Chip Till is competing with the big dogs in his new Melges 20 in Florida this winter.
Lots of sailings elite are in those boats. Chip and his crew will learn a ton.
You go guys.

NOVEMBER 6

Had a great time in Columbia this weekend. Great breeze on Saturday - but cold. Lesson for the day : dont get new gloves and a new mainsheet on raceday when its blowing.

Was great to see the Hassingers schooling the laser fleet. Was great to see Sally Key pick up a fourth overall race 3 on Saturday.

Thanks to Columbia Sailing Club for hosting the event. Great Venue, Great Fireplace Great Hosts.

November 4, 2011

OK, going to try another regatta. Been at least 3 months since in the laser. Going to be blowing near 20 knots tomorrow . Laser is a great boat to take out in a breeze. Just have to handle the autotacks on the lake. Will try to update the Midlands Regatta in Columbia if not too bushed tomorrow.

Had a great night with the Key's. It's the sailors that make sailing fun. Applesauce makes it fun as well.

OCTOBER 23

CYC Sailors are doing the Charleston Wild Oyster Lightning Regatta.
Here is a link to their blog : http://charlestonlightning.com/
Has pictures and results.
Hopefully the wind will be there today.

US Sailing Men's Championship Report

Below is Paul's report. Good going guys.

-------

Chip Till, Chris Calhoun, and I had the great experience of sailing in the US Sailing Mens Championships this past weekend. We were fortunate enough to win the Area D elimination event at College of Charleston and were representing the Carolina Yacht Club. The finals were sailed in Ultimate 20s which are a 20 foot sportboat (bowsprit and asymmetric kite), and were able to practice ahead of time thanks to Steve Rose from Columbia Sailing Club.

In the mix of competitors were plenty of different class National and North American champions, college sailing All Americans, and so on. When you primarily sail in one class in one region, it'd easy to forget that there are plenty of other classes spread around the country who have different sailors leading them, and this is one event where many of the best people from different classes come mix it up. I had set pretty reasonable (goal was mid fleet) expectations going into this, and was not disappointed by the competition.

The venue (Lake Norman, NC) provided a variety of tough conditions starting out the lightest on Friday(2-7 knots). We started out slowly, and were able to hang in the good pressure but I just wasn't able to transition through the lulls and holes that would seemingly appear out of nowhere. On Saturday we had a little more breeze, maybe 10 knots, and it started to become clearer that there were periodic oscillations of about 30-50 degrees working their way down the course. Things would go from looking great to looking bad to looking great, and we were still sailing a little bit in a reactive mode, but we had some good looks and lead at a couple of marks. By Sunday, with the breeze coming up a little more (6-15), we were more in our element and attacking the fleet in shifts and going for pressure instead of trying to avoid light spots.

While we started out slowly, we had the third best day of the fleet on Sunday, and other teams were congratulating us on sailing well. After 11 races we were only 7 points out of our goal of mid-fleet, and averaged only 2 places behind the second place team. Only the winning team avoided a finish in the bottom half of the fleet, and every team had a finish in the top three. I was just happy to have lead a couple of races and been in the mix.

I could not have done this event without my awesome crew and friends Chip Till and Chris Calhoun, nor without the support of the Carolina Yacht Club, SAYRA, and US Sailing's Area D.

Weekend of Sailing

Disappointing turnout for fall series. Beautiful day on the water. Steady NE wind at 15 knots.

Match race for 2 lightnings , 2 sunfish, and 3 lasers. Though a small group , they made up

for it in enthusiasm. Thanks to the sailors who came out to play.

Sunday's UNCW collegiate regatta was awesome. Sustained winds of over 20 knots with gusts to 30. 9 schools competed which equals 36 kids. Lots of swimming, but the sailors learned to

handle the conditions as time wore on. Thanks to Rick Campbell and the local college kids for

running some great races. Congrats to C of C for winning the event.

Should have some pictures coming shortly.

Up the road at Lake Norman CYC's team of Paul Whitesides, Chip Till and Chris Calhoun took

on some of the nations best sailors at the US Sailing Men's Championship. Each day was a better day for the CYC team staying in the top third of the fleet the last day of sailing with a second place finish in their column. Thanks to Lake Norman for hosting this high level event.

Hopefully will post a regatta report from the team.

MALLORY'S

CYC team will be competing for the Mallory Cup this weekend at Lake Norman. This is the US men's championship. Paul Whitesides, Chip Till and Chris Calhoun will be sailing in Ultimate 20's after securing a spot by winning a qualifier in Charleston Harbor earlier in the year.

Here's a link to the site. http://championships.ussailing.org/Adult/USMensandWomensChampionships.htm
Will try to get the boys to send us some updates.

Also updates from twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/ussailing

James Match

Amazingly the James Match was completed yesterday.
Bad weather was everywhere, but Banks Channel gave us around 7-12 knots of wind a just
a periodic sprinkle.
Congratulations to Martin Willard for winning the event.
Thanks to JO and his RC for getting off a flawless set of flights.
Thanks to our visiting umpires, our local umps and thanks to all who competed.
Thanks to Joe James for starting the event 40 years ago.

OCEAN 4

The seas co-operated and let us run 3 races saturday. Here are some pictures.

Big waves at an odd angle to the wind. Thanks to John Sawyer to doing the PRO job.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107903731024709759464/Ocean402

James Match Races on tap for Saturday. Hopefully will have a full set of competitors.

CYC PHOTOS

https://picasaweb.google.com/chip.whitesides/Sayra02

CYC Regatta Week Friday

Despite very difficult weather conditions the first SAYRA Youth Match Race completed

a full round robin. The first flight of the day was abandoned when lightning interrupted sailing.

Unsettled weather continued until a reasonable seabreeze filled in the afternoon.

Congratulations to Brad Milliken and Cooper Paiva of winning the event in a tiebreaker with Parks Blair and Brendan Bennett.

Think the kids had a good time racing in the match race format.

Lots of smiles.

On to the open event tomorrow

9 laser 4.7's have pre-registered.

CYC Regatta Week

Lots going on at CYC this weekend. Youth Match Race Friday.

Using format of the James Match. Have 6 junior crews with plans to do a double round robin.

Event fully umpired. Will try to run close to the CYC pier so come down and watch these very

competitive juniors challenge each other .

Welcome to the Snipe Fleet for the SAYRA Open. Not sure if they have ever been here before.

Weather forecast looks good. 10-15 sw with seabreeze. Looks like Emily will hang a right and leave us alone to play in the ocean this weekend.

CYC SC REGATTA DAY ONE

Crazy day.

Very hot with 0 wind to start the day.

Seabreeze comes up late and off we go.

Nice breeze for race 1.

Looking ok as we go up 2nd windward , then vang breaks and boom points skyward.

Same time thunder comes from the bridge. Cant go to CYC - thats where thunderstorm is

going. James Island not good - we are at about dead low tide. Chill out and just rerun the

entire vang - almost good as new and now ready for race 2. See the Lightnings heading to CYC as well as the E scows and J's. However looks like its clearing and course B might keep on sailing.

Then Boom another thunder clap. We are all waved in. Chaos at the dock as all try to go in at once.

Will call it a one day regatta - forecast for more of the same tomorrow with blistering heat index.

Just cant tolerate that heat as well as in the past.

Of note, Greg Zack got a bullet for the race of the day in the laser fulls - ahead of a lot of good sailors. Eddie Nowell got 4th. Good luck to those guys tomorrow.

CYC hosting Youth Match Race and our open regatta this coming weekend.

Hope we can get it in before Emily threatens.

CYC SC regatta

The night before the regatta:

Passed Ron Medlin - on the way down to Charleston. Saw John Fragakis in Parking Lot. Hear Dangerous Dan Rohde and Dana are on their way. Paul Whitesides and Chip Till doing J24's. Think Eddie Nowell coming down. Looks like this is turning into a popular regatta as it used to be years ago. Bunch of CYC juniors coming down with instructors.

Looks like a good laser, lightning and J24 crowd for tomorrow.

Chilled in pool tonight. Beautiful sky.

Hopefully good seabreeze to cool us off tomorrow.

Hopefully more to follow unless too fatigued tomorrow night.

July 16, 2011

Think I see some CYC people at Charleston YC open this weekend.

http://www.postandcourier.com/photos/galleries/2011/jul/16/charleston-yacht-club-regatta/

July 14, 2011

CYC sailors take first at US Mens Championship - Mallory Cup -in Charleston last weekend.

Congratulations gentlemen. On to the finals at Lake Norman in October.

Thanks to Priscilla Parker for the photo.

http://www.sayra-sailing.com

Also , check out SAYRA juniors tearing up the Laser NA's in the radial fleet. These guys graced our club at the Laser ACC's in May. You go Avery , Nick , Rolfe and Dana.

http://www.bbyc.net/Results/show.php?rgtID=198

lightning districts

Lightning Districts

Day 1

Light air, big shifts

Video and pics below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYqe2WLGseY

https://picasaweb.google.com/chip.whitesides/LightningDistricts1#

Sound One , Funsail 2

Very tough night tuesday. Very light winds with huge shift from the east. Thanks

to the RC for running the race in very difficult conditions.

Funsail tonight , fun as usual. Great barbecue and Blue Ribbon after racing. Stayed til dark.

Was good to have the CYC family back together again. Thinking funsail is the best thing

going.

Sound One

First Race of the Sound Series Tuesday Night.

Hopefully all the Vacationers will be on their way home.

Not that we dont love them at Wrightsville Beach.

Ocean One

See our PRO's report below.

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

Light , fluky winds were awaiting the sailors for the first Ocean Race / Dorman Cup Regatta on Saturday , May 21st . As race 1 progressed , the wind went lighter and left , allowing the Lightning fleet to just barely finish before the wind died , and then filled back in with a nice sea breeze for the next two races . Thanks to the skillful weather mark work of Sterling Powell , the RC was able to shorten the race for the Laser class after three legs ., The saying goes , that if you want something done , you ask a busy man . And that's what we did . We were very fortunate to have Sterling and Bob Thomson on the course working the marks for us . Bob Martin and Mike Norris kept us together on Signal all day .
The Dorman Cup is awarded to the winner of the lasgest fleet to compete , and this year it was the Lightning fleet , with nine boats .
Congratulations to the Barden / Van Arsdale boat , who finished first overall on 1-3-1 finishes . Jim Harris was second with 3 -5-2 finishes , followed by Bob Cowen with 4-2-5 finishes .

Seven Lasers came to the line . Martin Willard , with 3-1-3 finishes edged out Eddie Nowell on a tie breaker for first place , and Rob Freschette was third .
The next Ocean race is scheduled for Saturday , June 18 th , with the first warning flag at 1200 . Hope to see you there

FIRST OCEAN RACE - DORMAN CUP

The first club race is this Saturday. The First of the Ocean Series.

First Warning is at 12 noon again this year in order to catch a better seabreeze.

Winner of the biggest fleet gets the Dorman Cup in honor of Bruce Dorman.

See you on the water Saturday.

j24 nationals

Chip Till

Day 2-blade half the day, genoa other half...didn't break anything but SCP twice today (darnit!). Probably fell to 7th-ish...hoping for a great day tomorrow!!!

Thanks

Thanks to those keeping an eye on the blog.

Terribly busy , but will get back to posting after this week.

Laser ACC's was a blast.

Got a video going viral.

Got some pictures to post.

Will try to get Chip Till to report on his drive out to Dallas for the

J24 regatta there.

Ocean 1 and the Lightning districts not far away.

And funsail is just around the corner.

Laser ACC's Day 1

Beautiful day on the water.

Very competitive radial and full rig fleet.

Check results on the CYC website.

Laser ACC's

90 boats registered

Seabreeze in the forecast.

Let the fun begin

Laser ACC's

Less than a week until the Laser ACC's.

82 boats so far pre-registered.

Some very good sailors coming to sample the atlantic ocean.

Will try to post photos as we go along.

CHARLESTON RACE WEEK FRIDAY

Lots of mayhem on Charleston Harbor today. Chip Till and Paul Whitesides ran aground and broke a lot of parts but they are still way up there in the j24 fleet.

Bob Cowen had a very close encounter with another J24 - the other boat coming in to their cockpit. Asked if they got any pictures - but they were in survival mode.

On the Melges course the pin boat operators were routinely tagged by boats starting and finishing.

Super aggressive sailing in what must be the biggest regatta on the East Coast.

After a few Dark and Stormy's everybody is happy.

Except for the guys yelling at each other outside of the Protest Room #2

Not sure how many protest rooms they have.

Forecast is for gusts to 39 knots tomorrow . Maybe a lay day.

CHARLESTON RACE WEEK

Should be a fun time in the Holy City.

Will try to gets some pics and scores.

505 regatta

Beautiful weekend on the ocean.

Some really good sailors tested our waters.

Pictures from today

j24's on Lake lanier

BYSC D12 Laser Regatta

CYC well represented at the first D12 Laser Event in Beaufort , SC. We represented 4 of the 7 out of town sailors in full rigs. Martin took 5th place and Eddie took 6th. Lots of swimming , but the water is warmer down there. Lots of tacking up the left side of the course to get out of the current. Lots of running aground. Some collisions. Some expletives. The dinner was excellent. Huge pieces of roast beef . Had a good bottle of wine. Thanks to Butch , John and the BYSC crew.

Laser Districts in Beaufort

Will be posting some pics and reports from the first D12 Regatta in Beaufort , SC this weekend.

Will have a good view from the back of the fleet.

Lake Lanier J24 video

BREAKING NEWS

SAWYERS PICK UP A TOP TEN FINISH IN LAST RACE OF REGATTA IN ST PETE.

Southern Circuit - St Pete

3-18 St Pete

High pressure is camped on us so we have 3 knots or less out of the SE. not a good thing. The RC postponed ashore for 4 hours. I did some blogging reports and got up to date but my #$%! Road runner would not send. We were also postponed indefinitely all afternoon. Washed the boat, argued with the laptop dysfunctional email. Visited the rum party on the main dock SPYC marina and hung out with the NC group: Richard, Mickey, Jack Sawyer, Doug & Katy Sherwood, Rick Essman, John Pelosi and Toby Wells. First time in memory of not getting on the water to sail at St Pete.

Mickey & Richard provided the before dinner hospitality suite in their room complete with hors d’oeuvres borrowed from the Hampton Inn lobby.

Rick is from St Pete, provided great local knowledge for our group, and lead us to a good restaurant a few blocks away for dinner.

We all hope for wind tomorrow.

3-19 St Pete

We are still without wind, 3 knots or less out of the SE. Not a good thing. The RC postponed ashore for 4 hours again this morning. So the NC group and our guide Rick hit the road for Fort Desoto beach. Most of us took a swim, the water is a bit chilly even down here, but it was beautifully clear water. Did some beach walking, not as may shells as Masonboro.

Returned to St Pete and hour before this AP ended to visit the Saturday Street Fair / Market just a few blocks from SPYC. Great food, music, arts & crafts, loads of friendly dogs and people. Happens every Saturday between October & May . We highly recommend it.

Sailing is still stalled due to light wind. The NC group decides to go out anyway for a little light air practice, and we had a pretty good sail with about 10 other boats also out on the water. The RC and the rest of the 57 boat fleet arrived around 3pm and the light wind died. So we waited as the late day breeze finally filled in for one short race. We finished 28^th Richard 29^th, so we drive 13 hours, spend a bunch of $, sail in a 57 boat fleet and we could still spit on each other as we finish. So…… it must be some sort of CYC magnetic force at work?

The warning signal tomorrow has been moved up an hour to 9 am to attempt more races before the start time limit on a final day of regatta, so we have a really early morning ahead of us. Tomorrow will go on well into Monday early morning as we pack up the boat after racing and drive through to Wilmington non-stop.

John Sawyer 15285

Southern Circuit Compilation from John Sawyer

Southern Circuit 2011

Miami

This is a very beautiful, sunny place, clear water, wonderful skyline, we enjoyed being out on the water but did not sail well. Some interesting participants are doing the circuit this year.

The team next to us in the boat yard is from Columbia, sailing on mountain lakes, some having an elevation of 9,000 ft above sea level. (Denver is at 5,000) Teams from Mexico, Chile & Argentina are also here.

I arrived around 1pm on Monday and lightning friends helped with removing the bottom cover and stepping the mast. My rock star crew AKA Becky Sawyer and Jack Sawyer will arrive by limo from MIA later tonight.

Tuesday; Lots of frustration on the boat today with the Sawyer team, our decisions did not fare well and we had horrible finishes in all three races today. Wind was ESE all day 12 mph in the morning dropping as low as 5mph in the afternoon. One of those conditions where the morning breeze left a choppy condition as the wind speed dropped. Made some modifications to the boat after racing, showers, dinner at Coral Reef YC featuring Lightning sailors of all ages stepping out with hoola hoops, cold beer, a night of sleep and we will try again tomorrow.

3-16 Miami

Light air again today. After fighting with the traveler control crossing the boat for a few days I finally removed it, this old dog was doing fine without it, and I’ve tripped up on it for the last time. Drilling two holes in the deck stressed out the crew and neighbors but, as explained by Becky, I do it all the time, just part of getting to know the boat well.

We set the bar really low yesterday , we have nothing to protect, nothing to lose. Planned our start to assume a mid line sag and it worked. Got a good start with speed and clear air. We choose to minimize tacks today and continued left up the first beat. Looking OK at the weather mark, but it is amazing how the fleet collapses back in on the first mark, near the front is a big advantage, we are not quite there and have disturbed air. Did OK downwind choosing to round the less crowded left gate mark. Continued up the left with a few other poor soles, who like us lost many, many boats as the right side worked. Re-learn tactics 101: late in the race, splitting with the fleet is a low percentage option, hang with the fleet , get the same wind they get.

So the bar is still low enough for my Basset hound to walk over.

Packed up the boat, cleaned up and headed to South Beach to see the Latest Frank Gehry building, the New Symphony Hall. Very cool, tonights free outdoor movie projected huge on the wall and well attended is Avatar, starts at 8pm, pre movie entertainment: drinks at Maxine’s bistro with the occasional earth Avatar trolling by.

The movie scene was amazing and hard to leave, but we need food and a visit to Berries on 27^th before leaving Miami.

3-17 Going to St Pete

We are happy to report that the alligators along alligator alley appear to be doing fine. Becky wants me to slow down for a longer look. But we are on a mission to raise the bar.

Fleet 511 Cape Fear paid its dues thanks to Richard Waldkirch, me & new boat owner Rick Essman . When you see Rick, give him $5. Richard and I are in the construction industry, are therefore broke, and could only cough up $5 each, so Rick added $15.

Looks like this entire circuit is going to be a light air series, Toby Wells is with us for St Pete and is in the cat bird seat due to the low bar thing. According to Toby, I have done a great job of setting the stage for a brilliant performance which occurs upon his arrival.

Laura Jeffers Circuit Organizer extraordinaire, master of activities, her minute to win it team and competitors entertained us all. I did catch 8 pencils at 59 seconds, but not 12. I think my performance was affected by the Malibo Breezes, if you can’t see the pencils you can catch them.

John Sawyer 15285

Southern Circuit

John Sawyer from Miami

Southern Circuit 2011

Miami

This is a very beautiful, sunny place, clear water, wonderful skyline, we enjoyed being out on the water but did not sail well. Some interesting participants are doing the circuit this year.

The team next to us in the boat yard is from Columbia, sailing on mountain lakes, some having an elevation of 9,000 ft above sea level. (Denver is at 5,000) Teams from Mexico, Chile & Argentina are also here.

I arrived around 1pm on Monday and lightning friends helped with removing the bottom cover and stepping the mast. My rock star crew AKA Becky Sawyer and Jack Sawyer will arrive by limo from MIA later tonight.

Tuesday; Lots of frustration on the boat today with the Sawyer team, our decisions did not fare well and we had horrible finishes in all three races today. Wind was ESE all day 12 mph in the morning dropping as low as 5mph in the afternoon. One of those conditions where the morning breeze left a choppy condition as the wind speed dropped. Three races today 1 mile+ weather legs made it a long day on the water. Made some modifications to the boat after racing, showers, dinner at Coral Reef YC featuring Lightning sailors of all ages stepping out with hoola hoops, cold beer, a night of sleep and we will try again tomorrow.

Not all boats are as bummed as we are of course, Martha Fisher crewing for Ryan Rhulman is in first place after three races

J24's on Lake Lanier

From Chip Till

The District 8 J/24 Circuit kicked off it's 2011 Season this past weekend at Lake Lanier Sailing Club just north of Atlanta, GA. A group of (14) boats were in attendance made up of a strong local contingency including (2) Teams from Georgia Tech in addition to several out of town traveling boats from Burlington/Goldsboro/Wrightsville Beach-NC and Columbia/Hilton Head-SC. RC was able to get (6) great races off and it ended up with James Howard on "Classic" and Chip Till on "Murder Incorporated/Team Layline" knotted at the top...in the end the tie-breaker fell James' way! Next J/24 District 8 Circuit event in June 11-12 at the "J/24 Coastal Invitational" in Oriental, NC.

----

Thanks for the update Chipster

John Sawyer are you out there?

It's Time

Time to start the sailing season. Hear the lasers might go offshore and practice this weekend.

Time to check the RC Equipment. Just have to get to the dock box with no ramp.

Next Week John Sawyer begins his journey on another Southern Circuit Tour - first stop Savannah.

Less than a month from now 10-15 505's will be racing in the ocean. If you cant get on the water, go sit up on the porch and watch these crazy guys sail.

In two months CYC will also host the Laser ACC's. Looks like a good contingent from Canada will make their way south and our hot junior sailors from SAYRA will try to defend their home turf - or make that surf.

So hold on to your hats, the big seabreeze is coming.

SAYRA CONVENTION

Looks like a bunch of CYC'ers are in a caravan to Hilton Head for the SAYRA convention.

Plenty of learning. Plenty of fun.