Hi All,
I want to have a formula windsurfing event at my home on the mouth of the poquoson river on the Chesapeake Bay. I don't know if it should be a regatta or just a sailing get together. I'm thinking 2-3 days with maybe an extra 1/2 day at the beginning. The time frame would be late april or early May while we still get some thermal winds here in Virginia.

I have a nice size lot that could probably hold 20 rigged formula sails, more if stacked...and if we sail into the bay there is room for 100...

Sleeping would be much on your own. I would offer free berthing in my unfinished attic or in the garage. This would shut down fin production for about 1 week, but that actually sounds good as I need a break once in a while. There is also a bed and breakfast that is on the water within 1 mile of my place, but I don't know anything about it yet.

I will have a small motor boat that could be used as an RC or rescue boat, I might be able to get some others and some of the WET (Windsurfing Enthusiasts of Tidewater) to volunteer to help out. I also had an un official offer from John Bertrand to be the PRO so we could have quite the event.

Anyway, what I need to know for planing purposes is who would be serious about coming? What would you like to do? What suggestions do you have about just having a good time...

the closest airport is
PHF 15 minutes
ORF 45 minutes
RIC 1 hr
and the Washington DC airports are all about 3-3.5 hours...

Another note is that Cape Hatteras is 3-4 hours south so one could make a week long trip out of this, note that formula gear does not work well there unless you are willing to sail the ocean and the shore break there can be about the worst in the world....

Post here your comments or send me an e-mail.

Dave

I would come for sure. I ve at the place and it is really nice and we could be having many different conditions..sailing in the bay, out of the bay..we would just need to choose..
dates is important...no overlapping!

Either a party event or a serious event would be great, the bay is huge i think a full fleet party long distance would be in order as well. And I mean long, like a full day sort of thing with pre determined points chosen and then meet at these points and just sail as far as possible with the given day light as the only limiting factor, well ok and the wind of course.......ru sure your up for this Dave??? Especially if Gonza has already committed you know how rowdy he can be;)

Forgot to add preferable dates, April 29,30, May 1,2

a few years back Chris W.... and I did back to back long distance cruises each 4+ hrs all over the Chesapeake and Hampton Roads harbors. If my body holds out I'll do it again. If it does not then I'll just cut one of my harness lines while off shore and go to sleep

The bed and breakfast is not cheap, but REALLY nice. I have not talked to the owner yet because we have not settled on dates. I do think that they will give us some discount as we are neighbors. The web site is https://btmanor.com/Home_Page.html

If anyone has dates they don't want this held on please post I'll try to see what works for most people that would come and narrow it down pretty soon.

Dave

Sounds like fun. I don't really like to sail if it's less than 60° outside so later sounds more pleasant to this Floridian. Dates are reasonably flexible at this time. FL Windfest is April 17-18. There's a Kona/Formula race May 8th.

Micah, your suggested dates of April 28-May 2 look pretty good here, other suggestions are still welcome!

Ron, this looks like it could be just fine for you!
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USVA0550?from=text_bottomnav_undeclared

This link has some nice plots on the bottom, I'd take the wind speeds with a big grain of salt since they are probably not made on or even near the water...

http://www.city-data.com/city/Hampton-Virginia.html


iwindsurf has some data but I'm not sure If I can link to it you may need to be a member to see the data

for April

http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwhere.iws?siteID=1871&archiveMonth=4&archiveYear=2009&archiveSearch=Go&Isection=Wind+Archive®ionID=153&geographicalAreaID=0

and for May
http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwhere.iws?siteID=1871&archiveMonth=5&archiveYear=2009&archiveSearch=Go&Isection=Wind+Archive®ionID=153&geographicalAreaID=0

dave, sounds like a big time brewing. fyi, baba 1, benefit for johns hopkins cancer research regatta is april 25.

.....i'll be there

So far the only one who has given a different date suggestion is Farrah Hall who may be in Europe doing RSX. I told her we can do another one later in the year if this one works out. I've also heard by e-mail from
Eduardo,who said he might bring Fernando, Martin, and Monica. Ron K will likely be cold but here, Alan Bernau is on a mission to loose some weight before mid-winters and will be a new man by then and will for sure come. Tomaso has no confilicts with his BABA schedule, Of course I'll be here. Bart Kronas (I think from new england somewhere) said he is in. Steve Sylvester says he will check flight prices from San Francisco. (That would be 10) I would think another 5 locals from Virginia and Maryland will come, Britt V from Florida said that is a busy time for him as he runs a windsurfing business down there so he is doubtful, but not out yet. Micah and Gonza who knows maybe they would really come we will have to see. Tonight is a homeowners meeting and I'll be speaking more with Mark and Paige Stephens who run the "Bay Tree Manor" the bed and breakfast I mentioned above and they will give me more info on rates if your desire for comfort out weighs your need for a new piece of hardware.

Keep the replies coming, I plan to do breakfast and lunches here, we might order in dinners or go out but those decisions are down the road. I'm sure if we get 15-20 people there will be lots of people at all levels to learn from each other. At minimum we will do some informal racing and some long distance sailing. If people want more formal racing let me know that soon and I see if I can get volunteers. A coeworker who used to race Hobie 16's has already volunteered to be on a RC.

Dave

Dave:

Keep the info coming, I will see if I can drag the Movie Star and at least one or 2 others up for the event. I would think that area would be great for an epic long distance style event using mostly government marks.....

Dave,
I've checked on flights and seems like RIC is the airport for American. So far dates around Apr 28 - May 1 look good. I like the idea about long distance races but I know nothing about the area we'd be sailing in. Now for an account to ship gear back from VA on...

Steve

Hey Steve,
I'll check into getting an air freight account.

To all WET, the Windsurfing Enthusiasts of Tidewater has agreeed to lend support and help to run this instead of our normal WET Spring Regatta. Unless the formula turn out is low it would be a formula event only so all the rest of the local knowledge would be helping with running the event, registration, cooking, party planning etc. The Bed and Breakfast I mentioned above as offered all rooms for $120/night and those who register first get the nicest rooms!!

So we could do a 2 or 3 day NRT and have a one day or two day Longdistance fun sail... what do you think?

Dave

Now it looks like I have a massage company ready to spend the weeekend at our place and registration will probably include one 10 minute chair massage. With pay as you go for the entire event. more details to follow!

Dave,

I'm in, the April to May 2nd would work for me perfectly.

Darren

Hi Dave at all:

Sorry - it took me a while to retrieve this thread, Steve B drew my attention to it earlier.

First of all, congratulations with your new place. Sounds fantastic!

I have fond memories of the time I spent back in 07 with Dave and his family, and of course of the sailing we did - getting up at 5am to catch an early morning breeze, doing insane long distances, in particular the one Dave mentioned earlier where I believe we sailed for 4 or 5 hours straight, all the way out into the ocean and back again... great time. The Chesapeake area is just perfect for formula sailing, and so huge. Needless to say I'd love to go back, and this would be the perfect time. Unfortunately the timing is wrong for me.

However, I'm seriously considering coming over for the Nationals in SF this year, and could maybe squeeze in a stop-over on the east coast on the way.

Have fun & hope to catch up soon.

Cheers

Chris BEL29

Chris,
Your weekly 3r drives down from Washington DC to my place allowed me to really have fun on my formula gear. It's kind of a tough game to ride it alone and so I will always remember our time together. Especially when we dropped in on the far side of the Bay Bridge tunnel and looked back at the bay and out into the ocean. Those were fantastic sessions I hope one day soon someone near me will realize the amount of fun and real SAILING that can be done windsurfing on formula gear. I am sorry you won't be able to make this event! I think it could be something really special. Our local club members are being really supportive even though most have never even ridden a formula board. I expect we will have quite a party Saturday night. It looks like the insurance thing is nearly cleared up. So then its just all about planning as much as possible, being ready for whatever the winds bring. (5am starts???) No problem when you "live" or stay on the beach. Instead of taking a lunch break just come in and have a cup of coffee and breakfast then go out for races 3 and 4. Who knows???

We will post more details soon. Everything seems to be falling into place!

Chris if you do go to California, come here first, its not the best time of year for wind especially for training to sail San Francisco... I think I'll be going there too so maybe we can tune up hear as much as possible and fly there together...

Thanks for the note and the memories
Dave