LAST SUNDAY the Melges 15 fleet and the Flying Scot fleet kicked off the One Design sailing season with Spring Series #1. 4 races were sailed in 4-8 knots from the west before the wind did an about face and we had a sea breeze in April.
In the 8-boat Flying Scot fleet it was Len and Barb Guenther who won 3 out of 4 races for the overall win. Hal Starke & Rick Peterson had mostly top 3 finishes to finish in 2nd by 1 point. 3rd was a tie between Rick & Sharon Bauer and Tracy Schwarzschild with the tiebreaker going to the Bauers. Phill Web won the 4th race and finished in 5th.
Have you ever wanted to be part of the Race Committee but did not know how/where the on-ramp was to get involved? As a racer, have you ever been puzzled by a Race Committee decision on the course and wondered why they did what they did? Have you ever wondered how races were set up, executed, or what all those people on the Signal Boat and Mark boats were up to?
Now is your chance to find answers to these questions as the Race Management Team will offer a “Race Committee 101” Training workshop... twice!!... to maximize participation.
Monday, May 27, FBYC Clubhouse, 2nd Floor, 12-2 pm
As we approach the start of our season in the spring - a number of FBYC One Design sailors have been traveling and keeping their skills sharp through the winter. Here are a few highlights:
Flying Scot: John Wake with Mike Chesser and Sharon Wake and Tracy Schwarzschild along with Katie Finn have participated in the Greater Richmond Sailing Association Frostbite. John finished atop of the standing in the 4 day series. [RESULTS]
Our Melges 15 sailors have been prowling the winter circuit in Florida:
Winter Series #1 - January 8th [RESULTS]: Mason Chapman Jr. & Walker Angus; Joe Roos & Conrad Roos
Winter Series #2 - Feb 24th [RESULTS]: Joe Roos & Conrad Roos
M15 Midwinters - March 23rd [RESULTS]: Madeleine Garrett & …
The One Design Division ended the season with the frostbite regatta that wasn’t much of a frostbite. Sailors were treated to temps in the low 70s and winds that reached the double digits.
After waiting about an hour for the sea breeze – it came and gave the 10 ILCA, 3 Flying Scots and 2 Melges 15s 4 nice races.
The Flying Scot fleet saw each boat win a race with Ric and Sharon Bauer winning the tiebreaker race to the dock to win the day.
The ILCA Fleet saw Scott Adam, James Jacob, Mike Moore and Holly Sears mixing it up at the front of the fleet. James Jacob would win the day, followed by Scott Adam, Peter Ill …
The High Point awards for the Spring Series have been compiled and congratulations to our winners - Len Guenther in the Flying Scot and Justinas Petkauskas in the Melges 15. Both fleets had 6 competitors each that sailed in at least 50% of the races over the 3 race series (a 4th day was canceled due to weather).
What started light, turned into a nice day of racing for 6 ILCA and 5 Melges 15s. After a brief postponement on the water the wind started to fill and 4 races were sailed in a breeze that built to 10-12 out of the ESE. The wind shifted, the course moved and 1 more race was sailed from the SE. Bob & Lisa Fleck, Glenn & Becca Doncaster and Ruthana Jenkins were the race committee.
In the Melges 15 class Rob Whittemore and JT Mason won 4 out of 5 races to take the day. They were followed by Mike Miller with John Hubbard and Justinias Petkauskas.
In the ILCA Fleet - it was Jon Deutsch winning 3 races with Alain …
The 6th Annual Jere Dennison Legacy Regatta was a Grand Success! It was a beautiful weather day with 8 to 10 knot winds for the 25 boats registered in four fleets: Flying Scot, Melges 15, Portsmouth, and Portsmouth Classic Three Very Good races were conducted by a quite capable Race Committee chaired by Clark Dennison!
The after race Social/Party and Awards Ceremony was Outstanding! The Social Committee, chaired by Susan Webb, performed "Yeoman's Duty " in causing Jere's Regatta to culminate in a really fun and successful Event !
Phil Webb, Event Chair, is extremely appreciative of all the club volunteer support which caused the regatta and social event to be enjoyed by all who attended!!
Sailors from all over – including Seattle, Tampa, and large contingents from North Carolina and Maryland – came to Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s 84th Annual One Design Regatta this past weekend. When all was said and done, 95 boats across nine fleets hit the waters of the Piankatank. The Championship course, with its seven fleets and six starts, set up in Hills Bay and each fleet completed four long races on Saturday. Fishing Bay YC welcomed two multi-hull fleets this year, six Isotope catamarans and nine Weta trimarans, marking respectively, the first ever trimaran fleet and the first catamaran fleet since the early 90’s at this event. Unfortunately, the wind did not hold into Sunday, and only the two Opti …
Thought it would be useful to share some perspectives on how participation for various fleets at the Annual One Design Regatta has ebbed and flowed over the last two decades. The most number of boats was 127 in 2011. 2023 was the first return to over 90 boats since 2016.
They are coming from all over for the 84th Annual One Design Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club this coming weekend. We’ve got 95 boats in 9 classes on 3 courses ready for a great weekend of sailing. This year will feature not one, but two fleets of multi-hulls with the FBYC debut of fleet racing in the Isotope and Weta classes. Other highlights include 16 boats in the Melges 15 class. 11 Hampton One Designs and a 9-boat Portsmouth fleet.
There is still time to join the fun by either registering a boat or volunteering to help out. We have a number of spots throughout the day we could still use a few extra hands.
Summer Sea Breeze got off to a great start on Saturday with 22 boats in 3 classes racing in 6-16 knots out on the Piankatank. The storms rolled right around us and never really approached. Tom Roberts and his Race Committee team got 4 races in during the afternoon.
In the 10-boat ILCA class Jon Deutsch and Scott Adam were neck and neck trading places to tie points for first. The tie breaker would tip to Jon on account of his finish in the last race. Mike Moore came in 3rd and William Sutten was 4th overall and the top boat in an ILCA 6.
Not to be outdone – the 7-boat Melges 15 fleet was also settled on …
The 84th Annual One Design Regatta is coming up in just over a week and we've got some great regatta souvenirs. First up is the regatta t-shirt - supplies are limited so be sure to get your size by registering ASAP.
The other keepsake is a little harder to come by - you'll have to finish atop of your class for one of these!!!!
If you are into one design sailing - then now's your time to shine with a full slate of One Design Events planned in the next month for Flying Scot, ILCA, Melges 15 and any other fleets wishing to come join us.
It all kicks off on Sunday, July 2 with the One Design Long Distance Race - don't be fooled by the moniker - this is open to ANY small boat under 24' at the waterline and is sailed around government marks using the Portsmouth Handicap System for scoring. Do you have a Laser II, Mobjack or Front Runner? Then this is the event for you! REGISTER HERE
The Second weekend in July features the Summer Sea Breeze I regatta for double …
Registration is now open for the 84th Annual One Design Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We’ve got two days of racing and camaraderie planned for a new earlier weekend on July 22-23. Look for fleets of Flying Scot, ILCA 6, ILCA 7, Melges 15, Hampton One Design, San Juan 21, Windmill, Optimist (Red, Blue, White and Green fleets) and Portsmouth Handicap class.
The low fee covers registration while dinner, shirts and commemorative bottomless beer glasses are available for purchase. Be sure to register early to get yours while supplies last.
Complete information including the Notice of Race can be found on the event website.
FBYC has made two changes for this season to our Portsmouth Handicap racing for small boats to improve the racing and make it easier to register for and (score these) events.
First, FBYC is adopting the DPN-2 handicap numbers for Portsmouth racing this season in place of the base DPN numbers we’ve traditionally used. The reason for this is that the base number is calculated for a very low wind range, and it’s very rare that we see that wind for the whole of our race days. Some of our participating boats have very different (higher) performance characteristics in more wind and the base rating wasn’t as fair to the other boats. Using DPN-2 – which is a …
Thanks to Rick Klein's amazing RC team (and his apparent ability to control the weather) and Rick Peterson's culinary expertise, OD Spring 3 was a fantastic day of fun on and off the water - with 6 Flying Scots, 7 M15s, and a San Juan 21 "showing and going" under ideal temps and winds. Thanks to ALL who volunteered and participated!
If you are not smiling in the picture below - you should be. OD - Spring 4 is 6/11 so register early and often!
After a rained out attempt at Spring Series 1 last weekend, the One Design season officially got underway with Spring Series #2 and 20 boats in 3 fleets enjoying 5-10 knots of breeze out of the south and mostly cloudy skies. PRO David Clark and his team got in 4 races for the fleets.
The 5-boat Flying Scot fleet was led by Len & Barb Guenther who took home bullets in 3 of the races. Hal Stark/Rick Peters and Phil Webb tied for 2nd with the tiebreaker going to Hal/Rick on account of their win in the final race.
The Melges 15 Fleet had some close racing with the Garrett/Patrick clan aboard 3 of the boats …