# 289 SOUTHERN BAY RACING NEWS YOU CAN USE
on Monday March 20, 2006 12:45PM
And now there at 19 - days, that is, until the first
racing in the 2006 southern Bay season!
NORTH CAROLINA boats take two first-in-class at Miami
Race Week - Judd Smith (Oriental, NC) sailed his
Oriental Express to first place in the 28 boat Etchells fleet, beating
the 2nd place boat by 11 points. Worth Harris (Beaufort,
NC), Rum at Six , trounced the 7 boat J/105 fleet.
Tripptease, the Miami based Tripp 33 on which southern Bay racers
Leroi Lissenden and Bob
Krushelnisky (Voodoo Chile) crewed, tied for first
in PHRF 3, but lost out when the tie was broken. Randall
White, another Etchells skipper from Oriental, finished 14th
overall in the large Etchells fleet. A very good showing
for the southern Bay and beyond!
Lots of Boats are Getting Better Right Now -
For example, Larry Bryant's Whisper is
going to enjoy an upgraded sail inventory and Butch Patterson
is putting in long, cold hours of TLC on Small
Potato's bottom. Greg Cutter and the
Gremlyn crew were out testing and practicing both Saturday and
Sunday. Matt Haskell and his crew of
@#$%&*!! (pronounced Punctuation) sailed
yesterday. And, Marty Steffens took advantage
of the warm weather to tune up some systems on Riptide
. Others are adding upgraded, go fast , deck gear like new main
mainsheet systems, winches, vangs, carbon spinnaker poles, etc. Before you
re-install your halyards (you did take them off for the winter, right?),
you might think about upgrading the line; the hi-tech, super strong
,super light stuff all translates to reducing weight aloft. Get 'em
ready - it won't be long before the first warning signal.
CREW + SKIPPERS + BOATS = GREAT 2006 RACING
SEASON: There are lots of ways to avoid the
Whiners' Laments of "I Have No Crew"
or "I Can't Find a Boat" - here are 3 super opportunities right here
in the southern Bay:
APRIL 8-9
(Saturday-Sunday), and 15 (Saturday) - Fishing Bay / Deltaville - On-the
-Water Crew Training For "Big Boat" Racing - This is a
really good, long established event sponsored by Fishing Bay Yacht Club.
There is a pre-course meeting scheduled for March 28 (Tuesday), at 7 PM at
Retreat Hospital (boardroom) in Richmond. Please
contact event organizer David Hazlehurst at dhazlehu@atlas.vcu.edu or
davidhazlehurst@comcast.net
for details and directions.
APRIL
15, SATURDAY, 6 - 8 pm, Hampton - The first Annual Crew
Listing Party - South - modeled on [and sponsored by]
SpinSheet Magazine's Annual Crew Listing Party
(Annapolis) - part of the Downtown Hampton Block Party schedule and hosted
at Marker 20. Admission is FREE. For
info call Hampton Event Makers at (757) 727-1540. Live music by
RYLO Band (great rockabilly).
MAY 2-3, MAY
9-10, MAY 16-17, MAY 23-24 (Tuesday-Wednesday), Hampton - CCV
Learn to Crew on a Racing Sailboat - This is a well established, well
organized course that runs for 4 consecutive mid week evenings. Tuesday
evenings begin at 6:30 PM and involve classroom sessions; Wednesday
evenings begin at 5:15 PM and are the on-the-water part of the
course. For info call David Taylor at (757) 344-5292.
Richard Payne's brand new, out of the box,
J/105, Flying Colors, will be here in time for a boat blessing in
May. He'll be sailing in the PHRF A fleet. Richard owned and
skippered a Hunter 28.5, Miss Anne Thrope, in PHRF C for several
years.
In early March, 17 collegiate teams raced in the
Old Dominion Spring Open South #1 and southern Bay teams
Hampton University and Old Dominion University finished 4th and
5th respectively, thereby qualifying for the coveted America Trophy.
Congrats!
Do you have your 2006 PHRF Certificate?
Go to the PHRF of the Chesapeake web site for application info -
www.phrfchesbay.com
Crewing on Pat Patterson's Taylor 41,
Orion , for the 2006 Centennial Bermuda Race (June 16 start from
Newport) will be Brian McCauley (navigator), Mitch
Brindley (starboard watch captain); Peter Ill (port watch captain), Jim Hawks,
Jimmy Miller, Geoff Hummel, Chad
Wilkins, Christine Accettella, Chris
Groobey, and Randy Ellington (cook). The
Orion Team also will be doing the full Onion Patch Series of 4 races in
Newport and 2 in Bermuda.
When you come to the CCV Racing Clinic and 2006
Racing Guide distribution on Tuesday, April 4th, 6:30
PM at The Mariners Museum in Newport News, you should feel free to wear
your boat shoes and to come sockless, having already burned your socks on March
20th. The clinic topic will be the General Sailing Instruction from the
Racers' Perspective (presented by John McCarthy, US Sailing Advanced Race
Officer). The event is OPEN TO ALL and FREE. If you have not already
signed up for CCV membership, you may do so at the Clinic and receive your
personal member copy of the Racing Guide at that time.
For info you may contact any CCV Board member or call
850-4225.
When Orion heads for Bermuda in June
(see item above), she will have a strong Old Dominion University Sailing
Team influence. Mitch
Brindley is the head coach of the nationally recognized collegiate
sailing team and Christine Accettella is an ODU grad and All
American sailor.
MURPHY'S LAW: Next
Monday, a week from today, March 20th, marks the Vernal Equinox (6:26 PM
(GMT). So, March 20th is the official Sock Burning Day - the day
racers burn their socks as a heathen offering to the racing
powers. There will, of course, be other
"ceremonial sock burnings" as different events mark the beginning of the racing
season. So, save a couple of pairs for such burnings. Yours
Truly, The Murphster, because of biological construction, will not
experience a dearth of sacrificial socks. Spring
cometh!! /S/ Murphy the Racing Beagle, the sailing spirit
in us all.