Category Archives: Sailing

Unsportsmanlike Sailing Ruined More Than A Race

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It turned out to be a very short sail yesterday aboard “Dr. Heeks,” a J/24 that races around the buoys on Sunday mornings on Canandaigua Lake. On the third leg of the first race, a skipper who has a longstanding local reputation for his occasionally blatant but often general disregard for the Racing Rules of Sailing, drove his boat directly into the side of “Dr. Heeks.”

The crash amidships was very hard as both boats were on opposite tacks and nearing full speed shortly after a leeward mark rounding. Among sailors this is called getting “T-boned.”

None of the usual yelling of “STARBOARD” occurred this time before the other boat’s pulpit tore through a new headsail just prior to its bow landing on top of us. It stopped at the boom, behind the mast and about 18 inches short of the head of our pit man who at the time was hiked out on the port rail and looking in the opposite direction. The downward impact wasn’t slowed by the lifelines as it pushed a hole through the deck and seriously damaged the interior below.

Neither skipper claimed to have seen the other. It was the incredible noise of the collision that first drew my attention away from sail trimming and to the other boat being so close – close enough to have reached out and pushed the nose off of our cabin top! The other boat quickly slid backward, and with full sails continued on quietly without anyone aboard it saying a word.

Let me repeat that last sentence in a different way.

There was no yelling or screaming. No one on the other boat opened their mouths. No one bothered to ask if anyone on our boat had been injured. They did not pause for even a second to see if we might be sinking.

After the boats were back on dry land, both skippers were rightfully disqualified, our boat for failing to yield right-of-way and the other for failing to avoid a collision. The other skipper didn’t apologize, but he did say he was glad the accident didn’t do any damage to his boat. “Dr. Heeks” was left with thousands of dollars in damages. Replacing the torn genoa alone with a new sail costs $2000.

Accidents happen and thankfully no one was seriously injured. Boats carry insurance for this sort of thing and this should be the end of a story recounting a very unfortunate event. However, none of that story bothered me as much as what happened just a few minutes after the accident.

A minute after the crash, as our crew was double-checking to make sure there were no injuries and while one person was below checking that we weren’t taking on water, while our torn sail was still flapping uncontrollably in the wind… here comes the boat that hit us, under full sail, heading right for us again! This time, the offensive skipper was screaming over and over, “Get out of our way, we’re racing! Get out of the way! We’re racing! GET OUT OF OUR WAY!”

It is this second unimaginable act of unsportsmanlike conduct that should be the reason this skipper should have been disqualified not only from the race, but also thrown out of the series, the season, and if I had anything to do with it, the club altogether.

First RC Laser Regatta was Learning Experience for Three CYC Members

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Below is an article that is being sent to the Canandaigua Yacht Club’s newsletter for consideration for use in the Aug. 1 edition.

A group of members have now purchased three RC (remote control) One Design Laser sailboats and there are two more to be ordered (this week, hopefully) and a couple of other people considering the purchase. Shortly, we’ll be joining the North American RC Laser Class Association and forming an official fleet on Canandaigua Lake and racing at CYC. The current leading name is the Canandaigua Yacht Club Remote Control Sailing Fleet (if the club will have us).

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On Sunday, July 18, three sailors from Canandaigua Yacht Club competed in a “first of its kind” (for CYC) Remote Control Regatta.

Remote Control Laser Sailing

Sailing RC Lasers at Canandaigua Yacht Club

Skippers Jack Bennett (#05), Bill Blevins (#254) and Nelson Habecker (#54) competed using remote control one design Laser sailboats in a series of round-the-buoy races.

Frank Sacco served as the PRO and his boat, Dr. Heeks also hosted spectators, Larry & Nella Neeck. The boat was also the mobile racing platform for the three skippers. The course was set just South of the mooring field and marks were attended by a spectator boat.

Three races were run, although the final race was shortened due to the number of large spectator boats crowding the course which unfortunately blocked the wind for the small competitor boats.

Bennett’s racer seemed to develop a mind of its own, and on multiple occasions did penalty circles for no apparent reason. Mark-set-and-spectator-boat driver Gary Schmidt was sent to rescue the wayward craft a few times throughout the afternoon.

Habecker’s craft was on course for the gun and a bullet in the first race, but at the last minute, the skipper decided to ride a wind shift directly into the beam of the Race Committee boat which left Blevins clear to overtake from behind and cross the finish line first.

Two other races were completed but the results are still under review for various reasons, and thus are still deemed unofficial.

Informal races are planned for Sunday afternoons at the South end of the CYC waterfront, sometime around 4 p.m., or whenever the crews and boats arrive and feel like sailing. Additional regattas will be announced in the future. For more information on joining in on the fun around this exciting sailing opportunity, contact club members Bill Blevins or Nelson Habecker.

If you are interested in obtaining a RC Laser Sailboat, visit http://www.sailrclaser.com. The boats are available as a ready-to-sail kit that includes the boat, 3 sails, transmitter and travel bag. All that is needed to sail are double A batteries. Setup time is about 5 minutes from the bag to the water!

Everyone is welcomed to participate (with a RC Laser or any other RC sailboat) or just come out as a spectator.

We’ll bet you haven’t seen racing like this before!

Racing By Myself on Canandaigua Lake

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How can the only boat that starts a race end up in forth place?

I raced in Canandaigua Yacht Club’s 75th Anniversary History Regatta a few weeks ago, sailing my 2.4 Meter. The race was pretty neat. It took the fleet from the starting line in front of the club, down Canandaigua Lake and around marks that were set in front of all of the old locations of the yacht club in years past.

Canandaigua Yacht Club 75th Anniversary Race

View while sailing down Canandaigua Lake in my 2.4 Meter during the CYC 75th Anniversary Race.

Before the race, I reviewed the racing instructions. The document stated that we would have a windward start.

The morning of the race, I attended the skipper’s meeting. At the end of the meeting I asked the question about the starting line and if we were doing a typical start to windward. I was told, “Yes” we’ll be starting to windward with the first rounding mark “off of the mooring field in front of the club”.

Once I was out to the course, I watched the marks get set, the RC flags to go up, and then I noticed that most boats were tacking back and forth OCS (on course side) of the line.

I sailed around behind the committee boat, approaching on a starboard tack, hailed the PRO and asked about the starting line and if we were still going to windward at the gun.

“Windward start, round the pin and take a sharp left,” was the reply from the PRO or  ”Principle Race Officer”.

Cool.

With a minute to go to the start, I made my way on down towards the pin on a close starboard reach and waited. With 30 seconds to go, I was STILL the only boat behind the starting line and everyone else was on the course side coming right at me!

I’m not sure how many times I could have asked for clarification and in what other form I needed to check, so when the gun went off, I pinched up to a close-hauled course, crossed the line just after the signal, then reached off a hair and jibed around the pin end of the line, barely missing a couple of larger boats coming towards me in the opposite direction. At that point, I headed on down the lake behind everyone else.

No other boats started the race to windward, in the same direction as I did.

Everyone else reached across the line starting line in the OTHER direction, sailing on down the lake when the gun went off.

The rest of the race was uneventful. I managed to stay in about the middle of the pack of boats, not bad considering I probably have one of the slowest boats on the water and three legs of reaching isn’t my strongest point of sail.

I crossed the finish line between a couple of other cruisers and Ensigns and then decided – just to be safe – that I should round the committee boat and cross the line in the direction I started the race. After the technicalities were taken care of, I headed on in to shore for the after-race awards and party.

When I got to the clubhouse, I questioned the President of the club, who was on the committee boat for the start of the race, about the start. She said, “You were the only person who technically started the race.”

No one else had crossed the start line in the proper direction!

Awards were given out for all of the fleets. I was awarded the first in fleet for the cruisers. Then, surprisingly, my little 2.4 Mr had been calculated to be the first place boat overall – kewl!

Last night, (six weeks after the race) I got a call from the Vice Commodore. He let me know that the results had been disputed and I was being moved to 4th overall after the revision.

How can the only boat that started a race end up in forth place?

EF1 Tornado hits Canandaigua Yacht Club

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Canandaigua Tornado, originally uploaded to Flickr by SailorBill.

Boats everywhere!

An EF1 tornado scored a direct hit on the grounds of the Canandaigua Yacht Club in Canandaigua, NY on Saturday afternoon, August 29, 2009.

There are trees down everywhere. Power lines were also down because the poles had been snapped in half.

Several boats were sunk in the mooring field with just the masts or a small portion of the hull showing. But the major damage was done in the parking area where “Shark Park” was a total mess. I don’t think I saw one Shark that was unscathed.

J-24′s were tipped off their trailers or blown across the lot.

The whole Vanguard 15 fleet was blown off the end of the parking area and most were in the water by the beach and underneath the North dinghy rack which landed on top of them.

The pavilion was off of the foundation and will have to be seriously repaired before it can be safely used again.

Wow! For a storm that reportedly lasted only 90 seconds, it caused a major mess. No one was hurt, so there is some good news.

Cleanup begins as soon as the insurance companies do their documentation.

More to follow… There is a post on the Canandaigua Yacht Club homepage with a note to stay away until Tuesday and to keep checking the site for updates.

I’ve posted damage photos on Flickr.

Sunday Racing

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You may need to get a free account at http://kattack.com to view these. It will be worth it.

When? Sunday May 31, 2009

Where? Canandaigua Yacht Club

Who? J-24′s Albatross (Blue boat) and Dr. Heeks (Red boat)

What? Sunday morning one-design racing!!

Here’s Race #1.

Race #2.

Race #3 (Note: Dr. Heeks veer off to Starboard on the first downwind leg. That was what sailors call a broach. Too bad there isn’t video or pixs!)

Fun was had by all.

Time Warner Cable “PhotoShow” live in Rochester

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Time Warner has partnered with Roxio to use their PhotoShow program to allow the public to upload photos, create a slide show and then publish them on a local TV channel at no cost.

This free version also hosts the finished “show” for people like me to post to a blog like this test I that did today.

The site will also email the show to your friends and another option is to order the show on a DVD. Premium members (paying members) get additional slide show styles, borders, music, transitions, etc.

Neat. A few of my friends have already tried this out and I’ve received several invites to their shows on local Rochester channel 822. I had to try it out too.

Oh, don’t forget to click the button below the show above to turn on the groovy music (also free).

J-22 Worlds first day wrap-up

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Before yesterday I couldn’t have said, “Well, I remember this one time when I was in a regatta that was so large that in one race we tied for 64th place with 42 other boats”.

Now I can tell that sailing story!

After waiting for the winds to build and settle in a somewhat straight direction, the race committee tried to get all of the 105 J-22′s heading towards the windward mark. A general recall and then a timing error on the second try delayed the race for 30 more minutes. We were in position to nail both of those starts on the pin end but that didn’t matter in the end.

The third try send all of the boats off without incident. We were one boat length behind a bunch of over-early boats that didn’t get caught and we were mid-line on the pin end side of the line.

After about 5 minutes, the wind went left and got lighter and we tacked to port and headed up the middle of the course. Wrong call!!

The middle went almost totally dead and we struggled with the steering and trimming in the light conditions finally making it to the top mark and then half-way down to the leeward mark before the breeze dropped to under 2 knots.

Finishing somewhere near the back of the fleet, we crossed after the time limit expired and joined company with a third of the fleet in the same predicament as us!

Race committee called it a day and then I had another “first” for my sailing career – being the 17th boat in an 18 boat tow line back to the harbor!

Today, the weather isn’t looking much better as far as sailing goes. Winds of 5-7 from the East (which means ‘no wind’ up here in New York). I hope we get another race in today.

Tonight, I’ll post photos and links to other blogs and report on what happens out on the water. Time to head to the boat!