Velocity Sailing

Our powerboat hookup fell through so I am relegated to running practice races from the LLSC flagpole.

It likes being sideways

Practice off to a cold start

Still on the fence about doing the Tybee 500 in 2010? Worried that you don’t have the time to book hotels, get meals lined up, don’t have ground crew?  We can help with all that.   Check out the logistics link at the top of the page or just click this link below:

http://www.velocitysailing.com/?page_id=812

Come join in the fun!

For those who aren’t part of the distance catamaran scene – the logistical challenges presented for a team to complete the Tybee 500 are pretty daunting.  For sure it is much more complicated than hooking up the boat trailer to the family SUV and heading to a weekend regatta.  Multiply the logistical challenges for four separate boats and you have the making of a bona-fide snafu if not handled in a professional, business-like manner.

Fortunately, this isn’t our first rodeo – and we have people on the team who have been doing this now for five years.  I think that between all the team members on Velocity, we have over 30 years of distance racing management experience.  However, nothing can replace the surgical-precision-like management skills that Allison has been able to provide.  Continuing her stellar work from last years’ campaign, she already has the worker ants lined up and marching to the beat of the queen of the colony.  All thats left now is boat preparation.

And in that vein, this weekend Team Velocity is having a practice weekend on our local Lake Lanier to get the boats ready to rock.  After the boats are gone over with a fine-tooth comb, we will be doing beach drills and on the water training with coaching boat.

Altogether things are looking good for our campaign this year and plans have progressed at the pace that we are comfortable with.

TVS 1 Showin off! (Nice Protector!)

Well, here is the official announcement,

Team Velocity will enter 4 boats this year for the Tybee 500 race. This year we are giving the nod to some of our traditional ground crew members, Ryan Boyle and Kirk Spicer, and giving them the keys to the team Nacra 20’s for the race this year.

The team breakdowns are as follows:

Tad’s note: I apologize for the lack of content update on the site in the past months. I’m going to try to ramp updates in the new year. It was my resolution – really.

Brett and Alan at Tradewinds 2010. Photo credit Cindy Cady at http://www.racebook-us.com

Having completed the 13 hour drive from the Atlanta area to with Trey, I have to admit that even in my relatively young years – I was tired. The double stack carrying Trey’s boat and ole Undecided had been parked in Founders Park in Islamorada and we had retired to the social life of the Key’s night life with our fellow sailing friends and competitors. Bailey White had been participating in the A-Cat regatta the weekend previous to Tradewinds and so was already there, ready to greet us to the normally warm and inviting Florida Keys. Unfortunately, the climate for Bailey was anything but warm. A record-breaking cold snap had stricken the normally tropical Keys and had really chilled the shallow waters. The marine wildlife couldn’t take the abuse for so long – and the dead fish had piled up on the beaches all over the islands. An omnipresent stench of dead fish lingered over the area.

Thomas picks up one of several dead juvenile stingrays on the beach of Bahia-Honda State Park in the Florida Keys

Thankfully – by the time that the first race was run – the weather had warmed up considerably. The wind had moderated from the 30 knots that Bailey had sailed in earlier in the week to a pleasant steady 15 knots of breeze. The beautifully therapeutic water was chilly but tolerable with spray gear.

Three days of intense racing, including near blow-out conditions on Saturday, and Trey Brown, sailing with legendary catamaran sailor and fellow Tybee 500 veteran Jamie Livingston scored 9 bullets and a third to walk away from the competition the first place Nacra 20.

Trey and Jamie bear off around the windward mark. Photo credit Cindy Cady at http://www.racebook-us.com

Four teams from Velocity competed at his race – and good times were had by all. Alan Friedman flew over from St. Thomas to sail with Brett Robinson and Sam Carter sailed with ground crew chief Ryan Boyle. I of course, sailed with Bailey White for perhaps one of the last times before I have to relocate away from the area. Good times are ahead though for Bailey and Velocity – as we will announce in the next few weeks.

TVS1 through TVS4, plus ground crew member Kirk Spicer and his N20, have signed up for the “Ya Gotta Regatta” at Surfside Beach, South Carolina August 15, 16. We heard about the return of this ocean regatta and immediately went into action getting ready to attend. We love racing our Nacra 20’s in the ocean, and the news that this regatta will contain a day of distance racing suits us just fine. We look forward to showing Surfside just how spectacular catamaran sailing can be to the general public!  With th 5 TVS teams, plus Jake Kohl of Team Seacats fame, and Todd Hart of Team Cat Fever infamy, that makes a healthy 7 Nacra 20’s for this event.

TVS2 screams into Hollywood Beach - Photo Wendy Dauhmier

Kirk Jockell of saillanier.com (and my good buddy and a swell dude) sent me over some pics taken from this weekend’s Reggae Regatta of the Multihulls.  We had Wind!!! Photos courtesy David Jackson.

(pictures incoming, I hope)

Trey Brown travelled down to TVS 2’s home waters of Lake Lanier to participate with them in the 2009 Lake Lanier Sailing Club Reggae Regatta. While usually, mid-summer regattas in the South East are notoriously light air events, this year the wind gods favored us with 10-15 knots of breeze on Saturday, and barely enough breeze on Sunday to make it around the cans a couple of times.

Tad and Bailey on TVS2 snagged a 2nd place in the open multihull class, and Trey scored a 3rd place.

Hopefully some more pictures will pop up on saillanier.com soon (who by the way, followed the TVS team during the T500). When/if they do, I’ll post one

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