A week on the water

David Hazlehurst on Friday August 1, 2003 07:36AM

The dog days of summer may be here, but there are ample opportunities for spending time around the water, although this past week has provided too many for the writer. Four days, starting Tuesday July 22 with family at Smith Mountain Lake, 893 feet above sea level, so it gets down into the 60's at night. A 240 mile drive Saturday to get to Fishing Bay to catch the end of a 420 Fest, and the second Summer Seabreeze Regatta. Unusually good conditions for late July. And fabulous after race food prepared by Susan and Phil Webb, another great effort by members of the Flying Scot family.

Looking at Fishing Bay early on Sunday, there was promise of a great day on the water. This was the day the Flying Scot fleet had been waiting for, the return match against RRYC, the Rappahannock River YC, who won the June 29 Team Race at FBYC on June 29, by a score of 3-2. Conditions on the Rappahannock were close to ideal, a steady 14-16 knots out of the SSE. The three FBYC teams, John Beery and Debbie Cycotte, David Lee and Geoff Cahill, Mike Schmidt and Noel Clinard, won four straight races to claim the series. A beautiful day on the river, and as always a pleasure to visit RRYC. Allan Heyward served as a judge on a small boat, while Tim Blackwood and the writer lived it up on the top deck of a Grand Banks yacht. Age has it's privileges! After this year's experiment in team racing I suspect this activity will be on the FBYC sailing calendar for many more years.

My week on the road finished on Tuesday with a 370 mile drive to and from Oxford, Maryland, to join the Juniors in an away regatta. A great location, three race courses, some 100 boats but only one from Fishing Bay. Can anyone figure that out? Maybe attendance will improve at the Junior Regatta on August 12.

A week on the water

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