The Fishing Bay YC Sonar Team, Blake Kimbrough, skipper, John Wake, jib/bowman and tactician, and Matt Braun, middle crew, finished 7th of 17 at the Sonar New England Championship Regatta sailed this past weekend in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Races were conducted just outside Falmouth Harbor by FYC in moderate to heavy air and massive 3-4 knot Woods Hole current. The team was very competitive in boat speed and were 4th after day 1, but slipped to 7th on Sunday.

***STINGRAY POINT REGATTA – August 31 – Sept 2. Celebrate Labor Day Weekend at a long standing southern Bay regatta racing on the Bay (in the vicinity of the Rappahannock River) off the mouth of the Piankatank (Deltaville area), hosted by Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Regatta check-in opens at 0900, Friday morning and, again this year, SPR will offer a Friday distance race, starting a 1300. The distance race is scored separately from the Saturday and Sunday races. The regatta is open to all PHRF classes, Cruising fleet boats, and one-design [keel boat] classes (with a sufficient number of entries). Shore side regatta activities include post-racing dinners, continental breakfasts, a Labor Day cookout (Sunday), awards presentations, and plenty of socializing! There is also a competition within the competition among yacht clubs represented by boats in the regatta for the coveted Potts Trophy. The Brent Halsey Jr. Memorial Trophy is awarded to the best overall performance in the regatta. Deadline for entries is August 30 – entry form and on-line entry is available at www.fbyc.net For information please contact event chairman David Hinckle at 804-370-7650 or go to www.fbyc.net. Stingray Point Regatta is a great way to spend Labor Day weekend and visitors to Fishing Bay even have Monday (Sep 3rd), the Labor Day holiday, open for delivery home.

Southern Bay Small Boat racing heats up in August:

** HAMPTON ONE-DESIGN NATIONALS – this weekend (Aug 10th – 12th) at Norfolk Yacht and Country Club. KC Fullmer is the event chairman. Registration materials are on www.hamptononedesign.com at the very bottom. Crew spots are available on some of the boats - contact Leigh Morgan Chapman at 757-726-9640 or 757-593-0250.

** ANNUAL ONE-DESIGN REGATTA – Aug 11th-12th at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. This is the 73rd edition of this one-design regatta that, this year, includes the San Juan East Coast National Championships. Expected are Albacores, Flying Scots, Front Runners, HODs, Lasers (Full and radial), Optimists (Red, White, Blue, and Green fleets), Typhoons and 420s. Classes with 5 or more entries will be given individual starts. Shore side activities include dinner and live music for dancing on Saturday night. The regatta pricing includes package deals as well as a la carte costs. For details and to enter, go to www.fbyc.net and click on the regatta logo. Event chairman is George Burke.

** INVITATIONAL ONE-DESIGN REGATTA – Aug 18th – 19th hosted by Rappahannock River Yacht Club. This regatta is set for two days of racing in the Rappahannock River off Irvington. The regatta is open to Flying Scot, Typhoon, Laser Radial, Club 420 (non-spin), Sunfish, Optimist (red, white, blue, and green) classes and additional classes may be added. Classes with 5 or more boats will be given individual starts. Early check-in is available on Friday evening, 1700-1900. The regatta begins in earnest Saturday with continental breakfast and registration at 0800, skippers meeting at 1000, and first warning scheduled for 1130. There is a post-race social and dinner on Saturday and post-race refreshments and awards presentation on Sunday. Check the RRYC website www.rryc.org for nformation and entry forms or contact event chairman Debbie Cycotte at 804-761-3048. There is a late fee for entries received after THIS FRIDAY, Aug 10th.

PLANTATION LIGHT RACE. With the wind South and steady, 17 boats saw Plantation Light, aka Cape Charles Lighted buoy “1”, in their evening travels. The PHRF A and PHRF B course (58.90 nm) included Wolf Trap Light and the PHRF C and PHRF NS course (46.10nm), York Spit Light. One of the PHRF C skippers, Justin Morris, sailing his 26.5 Hunter, said he and the crew “…finished around 5:30 this morning... pretty hard night!” And, one racer reported 20+ knot winds on the way back from the Eastern Shore. RESULTS: PHRF A (3 boats) 1.Martin Casey, Bow Down (Olson 30); 2.Gene Thayer, Pterodactyl (Evelyn 42). PHRF B (3 boats) 1.Ben Cuker, Callinectes (Cal 3-30); 2.Harry Tenney, Margarita (Roberts 43). PHRF C (6 boats) 1.Neil Ford and Lis Biondi, Rocket J (J 24); 2.Justin Morris, The Hunter (Hunter 26.5); 3.Alan Bomar, roundabout (J24). PHRF Non-Spin (5 boats) 1.Leo Wardrup, Black Widow (Irwin 38-1); 2.William Barnes and Vicki Zimmerman, Bona Dea (Hunter 37.5; 3.Bob Howell, Cymru (Beneteau 440). Principal Race Officer – Bob Thomas. Hampton Yacht Club sponsors the annual Plantation Light Race.

ADMIRAL’S CUP RACE. Chuck Eldred’s Gail Force is overall winner in the 16th annual running the Admiral’s Cup. The race was held off Seaford on Saturday in herky-jerky conditions where the wind built to over 15 knots by the race finish. The winners of the three fleets were: PHRF A/B/C (4 boats) - Mike Austin, Movin’ On; PHRF Non-spin (5 boats): Chuck Eldred, Gail Force; Cruising: (4 boats): Bob Strieter, Fortuna. This annual race is a competition between the Seaford Yacht Club and the York River Yacht Club. Two End-of-Summer BIGGIES on the southern Bay - don’t let either one pass you by:

***CAPE CHARLES CUP – August 18-19. Let the late summer craziness begin! On Saturday, the fleet races from off Little Creek (Norfolk) to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. And, on Sunday, the race is from Cape Charles to Buckroe (Hampton). Skippers meeting – welcome party is on Friday at Bay Point Marina gazebo on Little Creek (East Beach - Norfolk). The Saturday Night party at Cape Charles (Bay Creek Marina) is legendary. A beautiful spot, great entertainment and plenty of food and drink. There are 4 dinner tickets included in each entry fee along with one free regatta T-shirt. There is a CCCup regatta entry form available at www.CCCup.net and it includes order info for extra T-shirts and/or Saturday evening dinners. CCCup bills itself as “The Cruising event for serious racers and the Racing event for serious Cruisers” - therefore, something for everybody!! There are classes for all PHRF racers, Cruising Fleet boats, and multihulls (vessels designed for open-water voyages, i.e. no beach launched vessels). The deadline for entries is Monday, August 13th at 1500 hours. Entry forms, accommodations, docking info, etc. are available at www.CCCup.net The CCCup grand awards celebration is on Tuesday, September 18th at the Ships Cabin Restaurant (Norfolk – East Beach). For info and how-to-enter, please contact event chairman Hank Giffin at 757-375-1491 or CCCup@broadbaysailing.org. This is a Broad Bay Sailing Association signature event!

New app combines NOAA charts with weather radar From a press release at Weather.com WSI (Weather Services international) has launched "Intellicast Boating" -- the first application to integrate NOAA navigational charts with the most advanced weather data available in a rich interactive, customizable map environment. A must-have app for the more than 12.5 million registered boaters in the U.S., Intellicast Boating is an essential tool to help ensure a safe and enjoyable boating experience on the water. The new app, providing expert-level content without advertisements, is available from iTunes at special introductory prices for the iPad ($6.99) and the iPhone ($4.99) until August 10th*. Intellicast.com is WSI's expert consumer web and mobile service.

A T-shirt significant to those who were there, the “I SURVIVED THE HAMPTON TORNADO” T-shirt already has been delivered to each 2012 SBRW skipper. Two southern Bay racers and sailors were the main stays in the T-shirt project. Woody Woodcock recognized the need for the shirt and the plan. Buddy DeRyder created the design. There has been demand for additional T’s. To get yours, please order from Richard Ash, Manager, Hampton Yacht Club – manager@hamptonyc.com. The T’s are $10 each (postage is an additional $3.50).

MURPHY'S LAW: In case the network covrage of the London Olympics does not include it, Yrs Truly, the Racing Beagle, is proud to announce that cousin Splash O’Murphy, won the Gold Milkbone in the 20 meter Dog Paddle. He won by a nose, of course! /S/ Murphy the Racing Beagle, the sailing spirit in us all.