We had some more excellent racing Sunday on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Va., with the wind gods delivering a (fairly) steady 8 to 10 knots from the North, warm air and water and party cloudy skies. Ace Mike Moore returned to the fleet after a vacation in the BVIs (“It seems so long ago now,” Mike said) and shook off the dust in no time to put together a string of firsts and the low score for the day. Nice job Mike.
Hampton Roads speed demon Ron Thompson also felt the temperatures had climbed enough to get back in the saddle. He joined the crew to clear the rust before this coming weekend’s Cap City regatta. (Both Ron and I will be heading up to D.C. And hope you can join us to represent HR. Details of the regatta and the SI are attached below.)
Ron had some excellent races, and after saying he just didn’t have enough left in the tank to do race 6, he went ahead an won it. Of course, there is a back story. I was able to leebow Ron in the previous race to take a place form him. Ron was paying me back by pinning me out to the left – and we just happened to sail into the pressure and favorable current that put us both out in front by a country mile at the weather mark. I got inside Ron on the downwind leg, (we were running half-mile windward leeward courses with a downwind finish) but in trying to box him out at the leeward mark, pointed to high. Ron was able to get some clear air to leeward and forced me to tack out – giving himself the lead again and a clear victory. Nice job Ron. And I get schooled again.
The fleet would like to extend a welcome to Mark Newbold, who came out for the first time this week, stepping in for his son Andrew who was busy running the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach along with Neil Ford and David Tunnicliffe. We missed them on the water, but are happy for their success on the roads.
Race regular Aaron Applegate also made a return after some illness and family obligations. Aaron has been steadily moving up the ranks and put together solid tactics, speed and boat handling to hang tough in all of the races, stealing a place from overall winner Mike Moore in a squeaker on the line in the last race. Way to hold him off, Aaron.
There is an excellent video of the racing posted on YouTube by Lisa, who did the honors as race committee and brought her camera along. Check it out here if you have a moment. It’s short.
A reminder to the fleet: There will be no racing at ODU this sunday, March 25 as I will be heading up to Washington for the Cap City regatta. Racing will resume the following Sunday, April 1.
The results from Sunday (regatta 7 in the series) were as follow:
ILCA-NA District 11 