Block Island Race 2011 update from Andrew Campbell

by Andrew Campbell on 6 Jul 2011 Block Island Race 2011 update from Andrew Campbell:

It’s been a busy couple weeks of traveling since we got home from England mid-June. The day after we got home from England, Ian and I enjoyed a great reception at the Tred Avon Yacht Club where nearly 100 members joined us for dinner and a presentation about what an Olympic Star Campaign is all about. Photos and video showed the crowd where we’ve been since January and gave a glimpse into the work and fun we’ve been into on and off the water.

Block Island
A couple days at home to do laundry and prep for the next trip of the month and my first time on Block Island. We drove up and took the ferry across for a great week of fun but terribly light-air race week. Honestly the Island came across as very similar to Portland (where we had just spent three weeks in England). The countryside in Block Island with its sweeping ocean views, small farms, rock walls, rabbits and sailors was similar in many ways to Old England. Ironically the breeze at BI didn’t live up to its English counterpart. The round-the-island race was far and away the most interesting part of the week for me. The breeze filled nicely for the race, and I was a bit out of my element trying to navigate with a paper chart with my notes for what I thought the current would be doing. Our bowman did have the GPS running and was navigating with me, but making decisions about tactical placement against our competitors as well as current decisions on the fly was an exciting change of pace from windward-leeward racing. We led our fleet the entire way around the course even after short-tacking the sandbar to the north end of the island and then blowing out our spinnaker on the eastside run. We finished second of the Farr40s but I think that everybody had a great time and learned a few things over the course of the week. I have to thank the McNeils for their hospitality all week and for always having a fun team.

Upstate NY
After BI, we headed west to spend a couple days on Keuka Lake with my grandparents there. The big excitement certainly is the celebration of 100 years of Naval Aviation thanks to Hammondsport local Glenn Curtiss. Grandpa Art has had significant involvement in the Curtiss Museum there for many years and they have been a major focal point for the US Navy as they celebrate their centennial in the air thanks to Curtiss’ flying boats. The things are incredible to watch take flight on the lake. I love to see this centennial parallel the Star class centennial. Naval aviation has gone from one dude and his crazy flying boats on Keuka Lake to supersonic ship-launched hell-raisers. The Star class has been there for the duration, maybe not supersonic but no less persistent.

Chesapeake, fourth of July
We made it back to DC in time for the fourth of July weekend. What better way to celebrate than head to the Eastern Shore and go for a boat-ride. We took Jackie’s family’s 35-foot Hallberg-Rassy Koala from its berth in Oxford, through Tilghman Island and around to St. Michael’s for fireworks there Saturday night and back to Oxford for Sunday’s show. I think I might be navigated out for the next month between avoiding rocks while going around Block Island and then avoiding sand bars and Chesapeake boaters on the shore this weekend. What better time spent on the water? We’re heading out to Sheboygan this weekend for a bit of match-race practice. July is going to be a light month of Star sailing, before we look to get back into gear August and CampbellSailing website