Posted from an iPad aboard Loose Cannon as we head North to Fishing Bay towing Prophet, with Lud Kimbrough and Kenny Cobb aboard. We all raced Friday on the inside course as the wind was predicted to be quite strong. But it ended up at 8-15 knots from the South and Southwest. The John McCarthy race committee started the A fleet on time at 10am and sent us on three races, a W6, then another W6, and finally a W4. Everybody was back at the docks by 3 to 4pm, in plenty of time to enjoy the beers at the event tent in the HYC parking area.

Rain began to fall about 5pm, and by 6-7 it was getting squally …

LEUKEMIA CUP EARLY REGISTRATION
DEADLINE APPROACHES
All sailors are reminded that early-bird registration for the 14th Annual Southern Chesapeake Leukemia Cup Regatta to be held in Deltaville over the weekend of July 6 - 8 closes on June 15. After this date, the registration fee increases by $25 and regrettably the names of participating yachts cannot be included on the commemorative Regatta T-shirt. It's easy to register, and it's all online at www.leukemiacup.org/va.

The sensational news this year is that the Southern Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta has been voted Best Regatta on the Bay by the readers of "Chesapeake Bay Magazine." We invite everyone to come and experience two days of racing at the Fishing Bay …

Your Flying Scot District Championship was held this past weekend at the Susquehanna Yacht Club which is located several dozen farm fields northeast of Baltimore on a mile wide strip of the river. The weather was gorgeous and the wind, when it blew, was a tad bit shifty. This made for some challenging races in a 1.5 knot current that presented itself as a permanent ebb flow. Saturday included 1 race with wind from every point on the compass followed by SYC’s celebrated “grill your own chunk of cow” feast complete with generous portions of member prepared side dishes and a keg from America's oldest brewery. On Sunday the wind filled in nicely but the 1:30 pm …

The excellent team of Rob Whittemore and John Wake brought home the silver by outwitting the elements this past weekend up at the Susquehanna Yacht Club in Wrightsville, Pa.  Little to no wind and a strong current was the scene for two days.  Congratulations Rob for getting your name on Captitol District Trophy.  You join a select group.

And FBYC can also be proud that Len and Barbara Guenther took SECOND place.  

Who could ask for anything more?

LAST CALL BEFORE ENTRY LATE FEE KICKS IN AFTER THIS WEDNESDAY, MAY 23.    SOUTHERN BAY RACE WEEK for the BLACK SEAL CUP:   Racing for all PHRF, One-Design, and Cruising boats. Skippers meeting and welcome/check-in for all on Thursday evening, May 31; Racing for PHRF and One-Design June 1-2-3; and, for Cruising racing on Saturday and Sunday only, June 2 and 3. PHRF and One-Design = $150; Cruising = $99 Late entry fee of $50) kicks in after May 23. Regatta info, fees and forms are available at www.blacksealcup.com or by calling 757-850-4225. Regatta Headquarters at Hampton Yacht Club, three racing courses in the Bay off Ocean View (Norfolk). Y’ALL COME RACING!

SBRW also:  One-Design Classes must …

We finally got in the water.

The one-design fleets have suffered cabin fever long enough.  On Saturday, May 12^th, the weather gods smiled down on us and we got in five good races on what was simply a gorgeous day.  And it was a day that beat the odds because the winds were forecasted by just about every weather service (including Predict-Wind) to die off at noon.  This made sense to me as the front that come through with a hard blow on Thursday eventually had to run out of air.  The thinking on Friday was that the most we could hope for would be a seabreeze, which was actually going to be a good possibility …

Bring your blankets and lawn chairs and get ready to bring in summer with a bang at Rosegill Farm. Best Picnic set up gets dinner for four free!

FBYC will host an awesome family picnic for all members and guests of the club. We plan to have a great picnic dinner, refreshments, music and lots of fun for juniors. This year we will feature Chris Stanley and Sky Run. This band plays a great mix of music that all should enjoy! So mark your calendars now to come …

This past weekend Kevin Clark and I packed up Flying Scot 5566 and headed down to Lake Norman just northwest of Charlotte for an annual stop on the Flying Scot circuit, the Great 48 regatta. Due to work commitments we were not able to get on the road early enough to arrive in time for the clinic hosted on Friday afternoon by Dieball Sailing’s Paul Abdullah. The clinic was a mixture of both on the water and off the water coaching. Paul plans to get the video of the clinic up on the internet for everyone’s benefit. We arrived at the club just in time to see hull numbers 1 and 2 heading out for a photo shoot in a …

Plans are underway with North Point Yacht Sales of Annapolis for a J70 demo at FBYC on May 19 and 20, during OD and Offshore racing.  Anyone curious about the new J Boat will be given a ride.  The FBYC RIB will be used to shuttle sailors to the J70, before, during, between or after racing.  In addition, Team FBYC, preparing to race J70s in the NYYC USQS, will get some “time in the boat.”  Lud Kimbrough will be the on-site coordinator for the demo program.  Watch this space for details and email Noel Clinard now saying, “I want a ride!”  See “Read More” below for more exciting news on the J70 racing circuit in 2013.

NEW …

On Sunday the Laser Fleet hosted a Laser clinic for a dozen sailors on a cool windless day.  Mike Toms and Jon Deutsch took the sailors through the various simple, intermediate and advanced ways to rig a Laser and covered topics on the methods of dress and techniques for the various maneuvers.  After a break for lunch, Jon demonstrated various aspects of boat handling while Mike narrated from the dock.  After that, the boats rigged and everyone got a chance to try out a boat while drifting Fishing Bay.  While it wasn't the best sailing day, it was a great day for sharing and learning knowledge about the Laser.

More Pictures

Calling all Cruisers!   We will start our weekend off with a dinner on Friday night at the club, complete with karaoke, so bring your voices and something to drink! The latter helps a lot! The cruise chair will provide the main dish and participants will bring a side dish to share. You will be contacted to bring a salad, veggie, or desert. BYOB.

If you prefer to dock on Saturday rather than drop the hook at Rosegill, Urbanna Town Marina is a good choice. They have 15 transient slips with 30 and 50 amp service. $1.50 per foot. A dinghy dock is available. Call 804 758-5440 to make your own reservation.

On Sunday afternoon we will head over …

Recently on a typical April, fog-laden Saturday morning in
Newport I packed my sailing bag and headed up to Bristol, RI.  Agenda for the day included a private tour, led by Jeff Johnstone, of the factory and build process for the new J-70 ‘Speedster,’ and later sneaking onto the prototype hull #1 for a test sail.  The J-70 is J-Boats’ most recent installment and much hyped design representing their first new small keelboat one-design in 18 years (since the J-80 from the early 90s).  She’s a 22.75ft asymmetrical keelboat sporting a trailer-launch able lifting bulb keel with an all carbon, deck-stepped masthead rig with furling jib.

To paraphrase Jeff’s words, the concept of the design is …

The DCA published a 2 page insert in the Southside Sentinel thanking the community for the many contributions towards rebuilding after the April 16, 2011 tornado.  A 1.2MB download of the two pages is available for FBYC members only here or in a larger format from http://deltavilleva.com/2012/04/18/a-word-of-thanks-from-the-dca/

Sunday, the rains came, but at least there was no  s-n-o-w  on the southern Bay.  Lasers, big boats, and one-designs, hunkered down to buckets of rain, north winds, and warnings for small crafty people.  On Saturday, though, the FBYC Spring Series (Day 2) completed 4 races and 19 boats had a great pre-storm day.  Craig Wright, Afterthought (J109) won the day in PHRF A and has the lead in the Series.  Close behind Afterthought in PHRF A is another J109, Sam Mitchener's Double Eagle in second and Rob Whittet's and Steve Utley's Wavelength in third.  In PHRF B, Miles Booth, Shenanigan, had a 2-1-1-1 day and is atop his fleet, followed by …

I have decided to abandon all One Design Races scheduled for tomorrow for the One Design Opening Day Regatta.  A Notice to all One Design competitors that abandons all races tomorrow, will be posted on the One Design Official Bulletin Board shortly.

Abandoning racing before the scheduled race day is difficult, but I am attempting to save all involved time and gas required to drive to Deltaville when there is no reasonable expectation of racing tomorrow.  The reasons for this decision at this time are as follows:

NOAA's latest forecast has been trending to more wind and rain.  Small Craft advisories are posted for tomorrow afternoon and winds are now forecast to be NE 15-20 tomorrow …

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Mariners’ Museum is hosting a Safety at Sea Seminar on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The day-long seminar is designed and conducted by sailors and experts, providing both novice and experienced mariners with information and skills required to sail the Chesapeake Bay or offshore, handle heavy weather, conduct rescue procedures and more. The seminar is open to all cruising and racing skippers, crews and their families, recreational boaters and commercial fishermen.

Seminar topics include damage control; Coast Guard rescue procedures, crew overboard and rescue; First Aid; Chesapeake Bay weather and life raft demonstrations. Program moderator will be renowned sailor and instructor Capt. Henry Marx, owner and president of …

Sunday, April 29 is an empty day at the club so the Laser Fleet will be holding a clinic and practice day.  There is no cost and it's open to anyone interested in learning the laser and any current Laser Sailors.  Mike Toms and Jon Deutsch will give a talk from 9am until 11am on rigging, tuning and other go-fast Laser tips.  We'll break into separate groups to suit the experience and familiarity with the Laser if necessary.  At 11 we'll take the boats out for some skills practice and short races.

If you've got a boat, bring it. If you don't have a boat, one isn't necessary, we'll …

The Flying Scot and Front Runner fleets will kick off their 2012 seasons this Sunday on One Design Opening Day.  Racing will feature the two fleets sailing buoy courses in Fishing Bay.

Be sure to Register online or check out the list of who has already registered.

Schedule
0900 Registration
1000 Skippers Meeting
1100 First Warning

The Typhoon class will be hosting their National Championship just down the road at Rappahannock River Yacht Club on June 22-24.  FBYC's own Gary Hooper finished 2nd there at last years national championship.

From the regatta website:

The Typhoon National Regatta to be held in Virginia June 22-24, 2012
IRVINGTON, VA, April 11, 2012 –Rappahannock River Yacht Club is hosting the Cape Dory Typhoon National Championship Regatta June 22-24, 2012. For the second straight year the Typhoon Nationals will be held on the Northern Neck of Virginia, home of the world’s largest Typhoon fleet with over 60 Typhoons plying nearby waters. There were over 2,000 of the Carl Alden designed Typhoons built between 1967 and 1986, affectionately …