[PalmettoSailor]

Anyone thinking about doing this?

DOWN THE BAY VIRGINIA CRUISE CUP

It kind of clashes with the dates for the Sailnet Delmarva run, but sure seems like it would be a cool event. I suppose you could do both if you have a lot of vacation time and planned to go counterclock wise.

Just cross the finish line and keep on goin'. lol

 

[zz4gta]

Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about doing this and staying with a friend in Norfolk. Only problem would be trying to race with gear, food, laundry, etc. for a week and a half. Too much stuff in my little bath tub of a boat. However, if you're looking for crew.....

 

[PalmettoSailor]

Unfortunately, available vacation dictates one or the other for me. No way I could get time off for both.

 

[Sabreman]

We're doing it, but I can't make the final committment with my crew since the boat isn't in the water yet. After last year's Gov Cup, I decided to strip the hull to bare glass and put a decent bottom on her. I'm almost done and we should be in in a week. I'm cutting it kind of close, but it should work.

 

[PalmettoSailor]

We're doing it, but I can't make the final committment with my crew since the boat isn't in the water yet. After last year's Gov Cup, I decided to strip the hull to bare glass and put a decent bottom on her. I'm almost done and we should be in in a week. I'm cutting it kind of close, but it should work.

Look forward to seeing you on the water. Since issues with my boat have delayed the start of my sailing season, I've thrown in the towel on the Delmarva trip, freeing me up to participate in this race.

I wish I'd be on my boat but I'll be crew on a Tartan 40 for the race. Really looking forward to this event now. It should be a lot of fun and I look forward to learning quite a bit over the course of the race.

Bill

 

[Sabreman]

I'm out. I removed all the paint from the bottom, faired the keel and was ready to buff the topsides and paint the bottom when work intervened. A short-fuse pop-up project with a hard deadline fell in my lap. Unfortunately for sailing, it represents potentially significant revenue for my company and since I'm part owner, I can't ignore it.

I'm bummed. Had crew lined up and everything.

 

[PalmettoSailor]

I'm out. I removed all the paint from the bottom, faired the keel and was ready to buff the topsides and paint the bottom when work intervened. A short-fuse pop-up project with a hard deadline fell in my lap. Unfortunately for sailing, it represents potentially significant revenue for my company and since I'm part owner, I can't ignore it.

I'm bummed. Had crew lined up and everything.

Sorry that work got in the way but we all do what we gotta' do to fund lifestyle choices like owning a sailboat.

I'm getting pretty psyched about the race though its looking like it might be a long one. I was hoping for a bit more wind that what is currently forecast. I'm hoping the "weather guessers" are wrong and we get a good fast race.

 

[Sabreman]

Sounds like you had good wind and I'm more depressed than I was earlier in the week.

 

[PalmettoSailor]

Sounds like you had good wind and I'm more depressed than I was earlier in the week.

The speeds were right, but it was a beat all the way down (rough at some points) in steady 15-20 knots with periods of higher gusts, until the last couple of miles when we got a shift to the southwest along with a softening to an excruciating drift against a 1.5-2 knot current, the last 3 or 4 miles, desperately trying to keep the spinniker full of the nearly nonexistant breeze.

I will have the memory of my 4am stint at the helm, close hauled in a steady 18 knots on a moonless night for a long, long time. The shooting stars sparking across the constellations like fireflies, as the boat moved effortlessly from my slight corrections at the helm kept me in awe, inspite of my weariness. Occasionally, the navigation lights of a fellow racer would appear, sometimes just to recede in the darkness as we crossed tacks, other times hovering with us, until one boat or the other tacked away again to once again become a solitary speck under the canopy of the Milky Way. Just an amazing experience.

Unfortunately, we gambled on a longer route to avoid the flood tide and it was not a winning bet. We crossed the finish line second in class, but were not far enough ahead of our competition to hold our place and fell to 5th on corrected time.

 

[Sabreman]

I will have the memory of my 4am stint at the helm, close hauled in a steady 18 knots on a moonless night for a long, long time. The shooting stars sparking across the constellations like fireflies, as the boat moved effortlessly from my slight corrections at the helm kept me in awe, inspite of my weariness. Occasionally, the navigation lights of a fellow racer would appear, sometimes just to recede in the darkness as we crossed tacks, other times hovering with us, until one boat or the other tacked away again to once again become a solitary speck under the canopy of the Milky Way. Just an amazing experience.

Now I just plain hate you

Good job. Next year, I'm there!

If you don't mind me asking, what route did you plan to avoid the flood and why wasn't it a good bet? I suspect that you went an inshore route or toward shallower water and the benefit wasn't enough to counter the extra distance?

 

[PalmettoSailor]

Now I just plain hate you

Good job. Next year, I'm there!

If you don't mind me asking, what route did you plan to avoid the flood and why wasn't it a good bet? I suspect that you went an inshore route or toward shallower water and the benefit wasn't enough to counter the extra distance?

I think everyone pretty much ducked in to short tack close to shore when the tide was against us, but we were on the eastern shore tacking in close to the beach all the down to Cape Charles before heading across about an hour before the tide turned in our favor. We seemed to be on our own as I saw no other boats during this part of our race. Our bet was the guys on the other side would have a hard beat back up to the final mark before the finish. It almost worked, but we didn't get quite enough help from the wind and current.