Registration is now open for the 78th Annual One Design Regatta, August 12-13, 2017. One of the biggest events of the year at FBYC, you won't want to miss this! We are happy to welcome the Hampton One Design 2017 National Championship as well! Come for two great days of racing, and a Saturday evening with friends, great food, and live music! Register now at https://www.fbyc.net/Events/2017/08.12.onedesign/ssi.dtml Volunteers like you make this event happen, so please take a minute to log into Signup Genius and see if one of these fun volunteer opportunities fit your schedule!
This week our own Austin Powers was named the 2017 Robert Purrington Award recipient for the Mid-Atlantic Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association. Austin is a senior at Christopher Newport University, and sailed all four of his years at the school on the varsity sailing team. He served as co-captain for three of those years. The award is given to “recognize a graduating senior from the conference who has made outstanding contributions to college sailing”. Here is the link to the full press release: http://cnusports.com/news/2017/5/1/sailing-cnu-senior-austin-powers-captures-robert-purrington-award-from-maisa-conference.aspx
For those who do not know Austin, he literally grew up at FBYC, crewing on his parents’ boats on club cruises and races from …
FBYC Laser Race Team at the 2013 North Americans, Kingston, Ontario.
The summer issue of Virginia Sportsman Magazine, published today, has a full length article about the FBYC junior race teams. Included with the article are many photos of our kids. The article is a follow-up to last year’s article about our junior sailing camps, and covers the successes and adventures of our teams. You can pick up the edition at any magazine retailer, or purchase and view it online at https://www.thevirginiasportsman.com. Are you junior moms and dads ready for the summer?!
Oh no! We had a glitch! Registration for OptiKids, Junior Week, Race teams and August OptiWeek will be available again February 2. If you already registered, we have your registration!
Registration for Junior Events opens today, February 1 Member preference ends on Tuesday, February 28
We are excited about the 2017 Junior sailing season at Fishing Bay Yacht Club, and looking forward to another great year of FUN! No matter your sailor's age, experience, or sailing goals, we have a sailing activity to excite them and get them out on the water with their friends. Our philosophy is that if kids have fun sailing with their friends, they will come back for more.
New for 2017 is FBYC’s first 420 Race Team! We are partnering with Christchurch School this summer to create a 420 Race Team that will run parallel with our Opti and Laser Race Teams. Similar to …
We are excited about the 2017 Junior sailing season at Fishing Bay Yacht Club, and looking forward to another great year of FUN! No matter your sailor's age, experience, or sailing goals, we have an event to excite them and get them out on the water with their friends. Our philosophy is that if kids have fun sailing with their friends, they will come back for more.
New for 2017 is FBYC’s first 420 Race Team! We are partnering with Christchurch School this summer to create a 420 Race Team that will run parallel with our Opti and Laser Race Teams. If interested, email our Junior Division Commander, Doug Bendura at …
The summer edition of the Virginia Sportsman, published this week, features both an article about our junior sailing program and an article about club member Jerry Latell, of Ullman Sails of Virginia. The junior article features a full description of our camps and is illustrated with many recent photos of sailing and camp life-including action shots on Fishing Bay and fun at the pool. The article about Jerry highlights his sail loft in Deltaville, and the fact that he is currently making sails for the USCGC Eagle, the Coast Guard sail training barque.
The magazine also has plans for a feature length article about our junior racing program in an upcoming edition. You can …
Future College Sailors: members of the 2015 Race Team
2015-2016 was a banner year for FBYC junior graduates! FBYC had 4 sailors in major college programs: Alexander Hanna sailed for Texas A&M; Eric Roos for William & Mary; Jeremy Herrin for Old Dominion University; and Austin Powers for Christopher Newport University. We also had a graduate coaching at the college level-Cori Radtke coaches at Bowdoin College in Maine, which has one of the top collegiate sailing programs in the nation.
In the last two years, FBYC junior alums Ellen Hubbard, who sailed for the University of Virginia, and Ben and Mary Catherine Buhl, both of whom sailed for Christopher Newport, completed highly successful collegiate sailing careers.
Fishing Bay Yacht Club is excited to announce its 2016 professional coaching staff! Once again, we will have world-class coaches with a breadth of experience as both racers and coaches. They have over 40 years of combined coaching experience. Four are returning, with our Head Coach, Tomas ("Tommy") Dietrich, in his third season at FBYC! Three of our coaches grew up in the Junior program. They will be led by Head Coach Tommy, who is himself a National and South American Champion!
SUMMER COACHES
TOMAS DIETRICH - HEAD COACH & OPTIMIST RACE TEAM COACH
We are extremely excited to welcome Tommy back for his third year at FBYC! In 2016 he will serve as both Head Coach and Opti Race Team Coach.
We are excited about the 2016 Junior sailing season at Fishing Bay Yacht Club, and looking forward to another great year of FUN! No matter your sailor's age, experience, and sailing goals, we have an event to excite them and get them out on the water with their friends. Our philosophy is that if kids have fun sailing with their friends, they will come back for more.
And remember, parents and grandparents are always welcome to join in the fun!
The Fall Opti Race Team has won the inaugural South Carolina Yacht Club Invitational Optimist Team Race Regatta! The regatta was sailed last weekend, November 7th-8th, in Calibogue Sound, near the entrance to Windmill Harbour, at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Our team was made up of Benton Amthor, Nathan Smith, Guthrie Braun and Reed McAllister; and was coached by our Spring/Fall Opti Coach, Bob Lippincott.
FBYC received the invitation to sail in the regatta last spring, along with Opti teams from the Chicago Yacht Club, the Edgewater Yacht Club, the Florida Yacht Club and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Ontario. The host club, SouthCarolina Yacht Club, also competed. The regatta consisted of a round-robin and …
2015 has been a banner year for FBYC’s junior race teams! We had 3 race team members sail in international events in 2015; and 3 of our sailors have already committed to represent the United States in Optis in 2016! The United States Optimist Dinghy Association holds two qualifying regattas yearly to set the teams which will represent the United States in upcoming international competitions. It is the ultimate for an Opti sailor to be invited to be a member of “Team USA”! We sent our FBYC Opti Race Team to the qualifying regattas, along with our coaches, when these sailors qualified. In addition, in 2015, we had a race team member helm a J70 in 2 international events!
FBYC Fall Opti Race Team at the ACC: Reese Bragg, Madeline Amthor, Guthrie Braun, Benton Amthor, Nathan Smith, Coach Bob Lippincott, Reed McAllister, Logan Hayes, John Vail and Josh Bendura
FBYC’s own Benton Amthor has WON the 2015 United States Optimist Dinghy Association Atlantic CoastChampionship! The regatta was sailed last weekend, October 24th & 25th, at Annapolis Yacht Club. 201 boatscompeted in the Championship Fleet, not including the Green Fleet. The regatta was billed as the largest regatta ever hosted in Annapolis. After a highly competitive and hard fought battle through the last race, Benton edged out the current United States National Champion for first place. Benton won 1st Overall and 1st in the Red Fleet. Teammate Reed …
FALL OPTI RACE TEAM QUALIFIES MEMBERS FOR SPRING INTERNATIONAL TEAMS!!!
FBYC team members under tow at Newport last Saturday
The United States Optimist Dinghy Association Spring Team Qualifier was sailed this past weekend, October 10th-12th, in Newport, Rhode Island. There were 245 of the best Opti sailors from across the United States racing; all hoping to earn a spot on one of the USODA spring teams.
Our kids sailed fantastic; although we did have one scare. We had four members make the trip: Benton Amthor, who finished 22nd; Boyd Bragg, who finished 23rd; Nathan Smith, who finished 71st; and Guthrie Braun. Guthrie had finished as high as 4th in one race, but had to withdraw from the regatta due to …
FBYC Fall Opti Race Team at Camp Sea Gull. Left to right: Madeline Amthor, Guthrie Braun, Benton Amthor, Nathan Smith, Reed McAllister, William Cornell, John Vail, Coach Bob Lippincott, Chase Brewer, Josh Bendura, and Ava Cornell
This past weekend, September 19th & 20th, our Fall Opti Race Team dominated at the 2015 USODA Southeast Championship! The regatta was held at Camp Sea Gull, on the Neuse River, in North Carolina. There were 86 boats on the water, and all of our kids had outstanding finishes, including 2nd, 4th and 5th! That is 3 in the top 5! Benton Amthor was 2nd overall, Nathan Smith was 4th overall, and Guthrie Braun was 5th overall. In addition, Reed McAllister was 1st in …
Fall Opti Race Team Members Logan Hayes, Jayden Jones, Gannon Troutman and Alex Resio, at the 2014 Halloween Howl, Annapolis Yacht Club
FBYC’s junior fall sailing season has kicked off, and we are offering opportunities in Optis, Lasers and 420s!
Fall Opti Race Team. The Fall Opti Race Team is racing next weekend at the USODA Southeastern Championship at Camp Sea Gull, near Oriental, North Carolina. Next up will be the USODA Spring Team Qualifiers at Sail Newport, in Newport, Rhode Island on October 9th-11th; and finally, the USODA Atlantic Coast Championship at Annapolis Yacht Club on October 24th-25th. We are extremely fortunate to have Bobby Lippincott coaching the team this fall. Bobby is a vastly experienced coach and successful …
A lot has happened since our last full newsletter in July! Our kids have raced from Brant Beach, New Jersey, to the bath-warm waters of Pensacola, to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, back north to the “invigorating” Atlantic off Salem, Massachusetts, to Ware River Yacht Club, and finally, back home for the Annual One Design. As always, our kids were a force in every venue and had a lot of fun along the way. The kids and their families explored the haunted houses of Salem, swam on the beach at Pensacola and rode the rides on the Jersey Shore, rolled down famed Jockey’s Ridge, climbed the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and raced go-carts in …
The Opti Race Team returning to Salem Harbor after practice
The FBYC Opti Race Team is currently in Salem, Massachusetts, for the Opti New England Championship. But it’s not all work-since they are in Salem, the kids and their families took a traditional ghost tour. Check out their faces in the photo below! Racing begins Tuesday, and runs through this Thursday. There are over 300 boats racing. Wish them luck!
Scared? Ghost Stories in Salem!
This past weekend, August 1-2, the Opti and Laser Development Teams raced-and placed-at the Ware River Yacht Club Governor’s Cup; and the Laser Race Team finished up at the North American Championship on the North Carolina Outer …
Walker Angus-First Place Opti Overall at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club Annual Jr. Regatta
Opti and Laser Development Teams Bring Home the Hardware!
This past weekend, July 23rd through the 26th, was a rocking great time for the Opti and Laser Development Teams! It began Thursday with the teams practicing at the club, and then loading the coach boats and sailboats for the weekend’s first regatta, Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club’s Annual Junior Regatta, on Friday, in Kilmarnock.
The teams left early Friday morning, and as usual, the kids had plenty of nervous butterflies! But our coaches did a wonderful job smoothing out the usual problems and pumping up the sailors. Our kids did great! ODT member Walker …
