Posts for July 2007

If patience is a virtue then the FBYC Optimist Team was put to the virtual acid test after waiting two days just to see a race through on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota last week. In spite of the weather, our stalwart sailors found lots of fun stuff to do from their lair on Bug Island including swimming, “bailer fishing” cards and best of all, the “2007 National Trash Boat Regatta.”

We still don’t know who won the trash boat regatta but on Wednesday the Lake Minnetonka Yacht Club R/C was able to punch out four races in one afternoon in light to moderate conditions. However, Wednesday’s racing success was followed by yet another period of calm on Thursday …

The Girls Optimist Nationals were sailed on Sunday with 90 participants who got in 4 races.

Madeline Alderman, Kendall Swenson and Erin Jacob participated (12th, 42nd, 48th). Conditions were fairly windy, very unsteady 8-12 knots, lulls below 7. Erin Jacob won 2nd in white fleet!

Congratulations!

Cori Radtke took home a 5th place in the Girls Division of the 2007 US Sailing Junior Olympic Festival Regatta held at Island Heights, NJ July 23rd and 24th, and 31st overall. Michael Keane finished 13th overall out of 63 sailors, including a bullet in the last race!

Michael and Cori found challenging conditions ranging from cold and wet with up to 25 knots on the first day to 2.5 knots on the second day.

We're all very proud of their fine efforts and look forward to seeing Cori and Kyle Swenson carry the FBYC burgee to the Hyannis Regatta this weekend.

After two days of cancellations for lack of wind, the 280+ participanst in the 2007 Opti Nationals - www.2007optinationals.com - finally got in a race day yesterday with 4 races. Results are available here

There are 8 FBYC sailors listed, with top 1/2 finishes by at least 4 of the sailors. Alex Jacob has an 8th overall, Ben Buhl is 65, Madelaine Alderman is 89, Austin Powers is 105, Conrad Roos is 147, and Madelaine Alderman is standing 12th out of 80 in the Girls Nationals.

The weather forcast for today shows continuing wind, so let's hope they can improve their postions before the awards ceremony this evening.

Good luck, guys and girls!

Photo courtesy of Jon Fauer. For rights to this photo: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/deed.en-us

Alex Jacob has just returned from the North American Optimist Championship held in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico between July 9th and the 14th. Alex competed with 191 sailors from 19 countries that qualified to sail in this event. The US team was comprised of 25 sailors selected at the US team trials held at Coral Reef Yacht Club in early May. Nuevo Vallarta is a new resort area of Puerto Vallarta featuring a large hotel and timeshare community.

The sailing conditions started daily with a light easterly coming off the land. As the noon temperatures passed 90 degrees the wind went dead …

While the rest of the FBYC Junior Team raced on the Bay, Alex Jacob was representing the United States in the North American Optimist Championships in Vallarta Mexico from July 9-14. Alex was chosen for the team based on his outstanding performance at the U.S. Team Trials in May. And boy did Alex come through with flying colors! Out of 185 international top-flight sailors, Alex finished 9th overall. He was the 3rd U.S. sailor in the competition. Congratulations Alex, and the FBYC Opti Team welcomes you and Erin back in time for the U.S. Nationals!

The FBYC Optimist Team coached by Diego Ravecca has shown top-to-bottom strength racing this season. Kendall Swenson competed as “Blue Fleeter” for the first time in the West River Regatta on July 10th and finished 11th overall out of 51 boats. The rest of the team stayed back in Deltaville to receive more outstanding coaching from Diego. The results were evident in the July 12th Sandy MacVickar Regatta. FBYC fielded 7 sailors out of 55 competitors. Their accomplishments speak for themselves! Madeleine Alderman (2nd overall, 2nd Red Fleet), Austin Powers (4th overall, 1st Blue Fleet), Kendall Swenson (7th overall, 3rd Blue Fleet), Ben Buhl ((14th overall, 7th Blue Fleet), Graeme Alderman (17th overall, 1st White Fleet), Conrad Roos (30th overall …

The FBYC Laser Team coached by “Dingo” Luis Canuto has been delivering some outstanding results in Bay racing this past week! At the West River Regatta on July 10th, Kyle Swenson led the way with 1st place out of 22 boats! He was closely followed by Cori Radtke in 3rd place. Ben Shelton, competing in only his second big regatta, tied for 20th, an excellent start to his racing career. The Laser Team and Dingo continued their winning ways with at the Sandy MacVickar Regatta on July 12th. Out of 22 boats, Kyle finished 4th, Michael Keane 6th, and Cori 14th. Cori capped off the week by competing in the Junior Olympics July 14-15 at Corsica River. She was rewarded …

SCREWPILE partying begins Saturday and racing on Sunday. Skippers are making sure they have a diver available for the last wipe down on Sunday morning. Navigators are figuring out what time the delivery crew must pull out to catch the flood bubble, and crew are getting their best regatta party duds ready. Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, July 18 (late fee applies). For general info check the web site at www.screwpile.net or contact Event Chairman, LG Raley at (301) 862-3100. It's here - the 2007 Showdown and Partydown at Solomons.STREGA WINS VET CUP; KINGFISHER Tops A Fleet and VIRGINIA H is 1st in Non-Spin: Seventeen of the 19 boats entered in the 2007 Veterans Cup, took …

A total of 14 FBYC Junior Sailors descended on Hampton Yacht Club last Friday for their Annual Summer Junior Regatta. Attending were 10 of our racing Optimists and four Laser Radials. Our juniors encountered challenging conditions with light shifting winds that at one point almost completely reversed direction in one of the races. In spite of it all, FBYC prevailed, grabbing five of the top six spots in the Optimists class and all three top slots for the Lasers.

Competition was keen as the top three Optimist finishers fell within a point of each other. Austin Powers (2nd overall) was narrowly edged out of the first place slot by Billy VanBuren of NYCC. He tied for points with FBYC's …

Since FBYC Junior Week wrapped up on June 23rd Fishing Bay Junior Race Team sailors grabbed many of the top slots in both Virginia and Maryland State Championship Regattas. With spring practices and no less than a week of expert coaching from FBYC coaches Diego Ravecca and Luis Canuto, the extended race team much to be proud of in the standings at both of these very important events.

In the top five overall slots in the Optimist class at both events were Alex Jacob (1st in both), Ben Buhl (2nd and 3rd respectively) and Austin Powers (4th and 5th respectively). However, the FBYC team showed its real depth by having Graeme Alderman and Erin Jacob join the top ten overall …

I was quite surprised to see that two primary marks were not operative Saturday night. FBYC Mark G - which is G "1R" Fl G 6s and Stingray light were both out. We had one boat actually hit G since the spinnaker was up and they were headed sraight for it.

Enjoyed the race but missed seeing some of regular competitors.

Wayland