Video from New Years Day race

[tonybinTX]

Red Eye Regatta.

Awesome wind! My first time trimming the spinnaker on a race. I need to hit the gym - I was gassed! We got the boat up on plane and hit 14 kts and took second in our fleet.

The wind originally called for 5-10 kts, so we talked my wife into coming out. Weatherman was wrong! Good news - she loved it - even when the boom was dragging in the water and we were shouting "BLOW THE VANG!".

A couple videos from the chase boat.

[Saildoggie]

A little pokey on the hoist but decent gybe anyway, a gybe set would have been better!

Seriously, looks like lots of fun, good job!

Appears you were ahead of the whole fleet.

[Bene505]

Tony, nice videos! Thanks for posting.

[tonybinTX]

Yeah - agreed on the slow hoist. It was our foredeck guys first race - ever. He'd done plenty of sailing, but never any racing. He did pretty well considering.

My wife had only done a few beer can races on our big, slow, chute-less, Hunter, and one Leukemia Cup on a Catalina 36.

We were chasing another J80 that ended up first in fleet. We caught a good puff that got us up on plane on the second downwind that he missed and we ended up about 20 seconds out of first. If not for that puff, we wouldn't have placed.

It was a great way to start off 2009, that's for sure!

[smackdaddy]

Oy Tony! Great vids, dude! CharlieCobra and me actually sailed my C27 right through the regatta as you guys were warming up prior to that race. We were the chuckleheads that blew the jib near Sometimes Islands. You're right - it was the perfect way to start the year! Great winds.

Maybe I'll see you on the lake sometime.

Smack

[NOLAsailing]

Nice vids. Those J/80's are cool boats. There're a couple here, but I rarely see them out. You have a fair amount of them on the Texas coast, right?

I wish I could just roll up my genoa like that when we turn the corners...

[tonybinTX]

I must have missed that blown jib. I was doing a bit more on the boat this time and didn't have much time to look around. You racing in the frostbite series? I think I'll be crew on a j105 for that series if we can talk the owner into it.

We'll see you out there. Look for Caribbean Run! We sail out of yacht harbor. Once the powerboaters come out, we don't make it toward the dam much, but this time of year we normally head that way.

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

Oy Tony! Great vids, dude! CharlieCobra and me actually sailed my C27 right through the regatta as you guys were warming up prior to that race. We were the chuckleheads that blew the jib near Sometimes Islands. You're right - it was the perfect way to start the year! Great winds.

Maybe I'll see you on the lake sometime.

Smack

[tonybinTX]

Thanks!

I like the j80s. Just the right size in my opinion. We took this boat (not my boat - I just crew) down to Houston for a few regattas in the gulf last year. Fleets were normally 8-12 boats, if I recall. If you include the inland lakes, TX is one of the bigger fleets. I hear rumor the worlds may be in TX this year.

We went to the north americans and there were 16 boats, but very few traveled due to cost of gas. Most of them were California boats.

Originally Posted by NOLAsailing

Nice vids. Those J/80's are cool boats. There're a couple here, but I rarely see them out. You have a fair amount of them on the Texas coast, right?

I wish I could just roll up my genoa like that when we turn the corners...