CCV Racing - An Escape from Politics

Waiting for wind and the start.

Sometimes I feel I suffer from an overload of politics and stress in general.  Other than surfing, which I sadly have not done regularly in several years after having a 70 month period of never missing a month surfing, I find sailing a great stress reliever.  I pursue this endeavor through racing at the Hampton Yacht Club where I have been a member since 2012. Today, I raced in the CCV Fall Racing series on a boat owned by a friend with whom I have raced before on a number of occasions. We took second (2nd) place overall and had a wonderful time.  As with surfing, once a race is underway, all else fades away and your focus becomes, the boat, the wind, and the competition.  The camaraderie is also wonderful and the connection with nature is unique (something power boating cannot offer in my view).   Above and below are photos from today which started off slow until the wind picked up but turned into a great day.

The Laser 28 that I crewed on today (and a number of other times).

Some of the 18+ boats competing today.

A view of Hampton Yacht Club - the husband and I were the first publicly recognized gay couple members.

One of our competitors motoring to the start.

Fall Fling Regatta - Continued

More images from this past weekend's "Fall Fling Regatta."

Albacore class flying spinnakers

My crew mate rigging our boat

Some of the flotilla waiting to start

Fall Fling Regatta

Some of the assembled boats waiting to start

Posting was sparse yesterday because in addition to the Achievable Dream event last night, I spent most of the day skippering a boat in the Hampton Yacht Club "Fall Fling Regatta" which continues today provided the fog clears and the wind picks up.   With five separate classes of boats/heats there had to be around 50 boats or more.  It was pretty impressive to see the Hampton Roads harbor with so many sails.  The images in this post were snapped before the races started.  It was my first time as a skipper - I've crewed before - and although we did not place all that well, it was a lot of fun and I meet a great guy from our neighborhood that I'd never met before.  

One thing that continues to impress me is that as the first publicly announced gay members of HYC, we have found nothing but warmth and friendliness among the other members.  Virginia is changing, indeed, and the Virginia GOP needs to come into the 21st century.

One of the other Sonar class boats with our neighborhood in the background

The race committee boat with sails down

HYC - Sailboat Team Racing

No. 95 Holding off an opponent (No.42)

Much of the summer the boyfriend and I have been painting and refinishing floors at my house in Norfolk which I plan on selling as soon as we are finished.  The result has been that we haven't made much use of the sail boats available at the Hampton Yacht Club.  To remedy that I talked him into going out for some team racing on the club's fleet of 23 foot Sonar class of sailboats.   Neither of us had ever done team racing before - only what is termed "fleet racing" which where each boat races to be the first across the finish line of place as close to first as possible.  In contrast team racing is akin to foot ball where blockers keep a path open so a team mate can take first place and the team collectively can get the highest score.  In the process it gets pretty exciting as boats "play chicken " and force other boats to give way often coming with in inches of colliding in the process.

If your idea of sailing is sipping a cocktail and relaxing, team racing will not be your cup of tea.   But if you enjoy excitement and competition with some dare devil tactics thrown in, give it a try.  After racing and putting the boats away most of us stayed at the club and had dinner and drinks and discussed our impressions and talked strategy for the next time we go out racing.  I'll definitely do it again.   

On a different note, the club membership continues to be a great experience and reflects how Virginia is changing from the world that Ken Cuccinelli and the far right are trying desperately to maintain.  When one of my crew mates asked about my wife - when racing you are often thrown together we people you don't know - I explained that the boyfriend was my partner.  The reaction was,"that's  cool" and it was a non-issue.  

Rounding a course marker

More Hampton Single Class Regatta Photos

The photos I posted from Saturday's Hampton Single Class sailing races were taken with my new smart phone which I am admittedly still learning to use after having a 7 year old Nokia that refused to die.    Some other members of the HYC Sonar crews with better photographic equipment and far superior skills took far better pictures, a few of which I wanted to share.  What follows is a selection of a few more of these photos:

Five of the six Sonar class boats owned by HYC

Another good shot of the Sonar class boats

The weather early in the day was less than pretty

Our wonderful sailing director who keeps us organized

Am I hooked on sail boat racing?  Most definitely.  The next step will be to get the boyfriend to help crew in future races.

I will admit that I was a little apprehensive when we first joined the Hampton Yacht Club, but now I have no regrets and I hope our membership (and that of a gay couple down the street from us) will inspire other local LGBT individuals to join.  Pushing the envelop if you will can be scary, but the rewards can be amazing.  And it is the best way to open hearts and minds.

Sunday Morning Reflections - Sailing, History and Entertaining

Some weekends the boyfriend and I get ourselves over scheduled socially.  This weekend is one such weekend and began with a small dinner for a friend's birthday Friday evening at the yacht club, I had the regatta much of the day yesterday and then we had dinner at historic Warner Hall plantation in near Gloucester, Virginia.  Today we are throwing a brunch for some of the boyfriend's clients who are more fun than the law should allow.

The regatta was great fun and my boat (image above) managed to place second in all three heats even though none of the three of us had ever raced before.  While you cannot fully see it from the photo, the boat has a rainbow flag like stripe along the waterline - I suspect I was assigned to it due to the sailing director's sense of humor (she has a gay cousin).  The image below is of the boat that was our nearest rival and with which we were in close quarters - as in a few feet away - as we fought to be first around a couple of the marker buoys.  After a cloudy start with some rain showers, the day turned hot, sunny and gorgeous.

Once the regatta was over, I had to literally jump off the boat as it headed to dock and race home to shower and get ready for dinner at the Inn at Warner Hall near Gloucester, Virginia.  The property is amazing and dates back to 1642 and was owned by George Washington's great grand father.  

Here's a bit of history from the Inn's website:

Ideally situated at the head of the Severn River in Gloucester County, the manor house at Warner Hall stands on a neck of land that has been occupied and built upon continually from the mid-17th century. Referred to as “Austin’s Desire” in the 1642-land patent, the original six hundred-acre plantation site was established by Augustine Warner as a “land grant” from the British Crown. Augustine Warner received the acreage in exchange for bringing twelve settlers across the Atlantic Ocean to the Jamestown Settlement, a colony desperately in need of manpower to survive in the New World.

The two families associated with the property from this early period until well into the 19th century, the Warners and the Lewises, were among the most prominent families in Colonial Virginia. Over the years, Warner Hall Plantation thrived, as did the descendants of Augustine Warner. Some of the most recognized names in American history are direct descendents of Augustine Warner – George Washington, the first president of the United States, Robert E. Lee, the most famous Civil War General and Captain Meriwether Lewis, renowned American explorer of the Lewis & Clark expedition. George Washington was a frequent visitor to his grandparent’s plantation.

Queen Elizabeth II, the current monarch of England, is a direct descendant of Augustine Warner through the Bowes-Lyon family and the Earl of Strathmore. In England, Warner Hall is referred to as “The home of the Queen’s American ancestors”.

Besides dinner on weekends, the plantation house is open as an inn 365 days a year.   The accommodations are elegant.  It's not inexpensive, but by many standards it is an amazing deal.

Virginia has amazing history and things to see.  Regrettably, the state remains anti-gay - the inn decidedly, is not - and LGBT travelers sadly have good reason to take their money and vacation elsewhere.

Shortly, I have to get going to help "Martha Stewart" prepare for the brunch.  The table is set:

My First Sailing Regatta

Although I have sailed for many years - since childhood, actually starting at the family Adirondack camp and later on my famly's 25 foot Cape Dory - today I will be crewing in my first regatta.  There is a national regatta for Albacore class sailboats (see image below) based out of the Hampton Yacht Club, and additional classes will have races as well.  I will be aboard one of the Club's six Sonar class boats (see image above).  The weather could be prettier, but it ought to be a lot of fun.  As the club's first membership wide announced openly gay couple, our experiences at the club to date have been great and have shown that not all of Virginia is inhabited by knuckle dragging Neanderthals.  I'll let you know how the day goes.

Sailing 101, Etc.

I've mentioned in previous posts that the boyfriend and I recently joined the Hampton Yacht Club and found ourselves announce as the first gay couple to be announced as members in the club newsletter.   I've sailed before, both at the family lake house in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and later in Virginia Beach when my parents owned a 25' Cape Dory, but one of the attractions of the yacht club membership is that the club currently owns five (5) sonar sailboats (a groups of Sonars are pictured above) - a 6th boat is going to be purchased - that club members can sign out once they have been certified by attending a class put on by the club's sailing director.  Hence I am taking the certification class and had my second class tonight.  Starting next week, we will spend all of our class time out on the water in the boats.  And when my schedule permits, I plan on signing on as crew for one of the evening or Saturday races that the club puts on for is own small fleet of Sonars on Hampton Roads Harbor.

In addition to the boats and opportunities to sail and crew, the club also has a great social life and the boyfriend and I are working to take advantage of it.  The photos below are from Easter Brunch at the club (the boyfriend not surprisingly knows many of the members who are patrons of his salon) with my sweet granddaughter:

 

Yes, the boyfriend is going to spoil her