Bike Bound

Friday... we are out of class and ready for an awesome trip. After checking the wind forecast, we decided to change it up a bit and do the Hatteras leg first to take advantage of the 15-20mph that is being predicted for the weekend out of the NE. we thought of this so its no big deal. Ferry ride Sun. morning instead of Sat. night. Last minute packing is easy when your not hardly bringing anything. Bikes on the car and we'll be out of here. Were dropping off our stuff at Mike's friends house who will take it down to Ocracoke for us so we don't have to carry anything on the bikes save for powerbars, water, and tools. This will probably be the last post until we return so wish us luck. Also...this just in, we are staying with Alan (another Alan) in Kill Devil Hills who we found through http://www.couchsurfing.com/, a network of couches for travellers basically very tiny 5 star hotels everywhere that are FREE if you register a couch of your own. Thanks Alan and dog Lopez for YOUR couch.

Breaking the Silence

School and lack of stuff to post has kept the blog pretty quiet lately but an adventure is afoot so its time to break the silence. It's not sailing, but an adventure to be sure so it definitely qualifies.

3 dudes...3 bikes... One long ride

Announcing the first annual Pamlico Swirly-Whirly. Sailing friend and fellow adventurer Adam "life of the party" Domanski along with Mike "I'll eat it" Rhodes (member of the former Team RAF) and I will set out into the unknown on a two day cycling adventure this Labor day weekend on a bike ride that's got awesome adventure written all over it. Our route is pictured below thanks to the new and improved google earth.

We will drive to Manteo Friday night and set out early Sat. morning riding south west on highway 264 to Swanquarter (71 miles) where we will ride the Ferry from Swanquarter to Ocracoke ($3.00 for bikes) and camp on the island. Sunday we get back on the pain machines and ride the final ~84 miles (including a 4mile ferry over Hatteras inlet) north on Highway 12 up Hatteras island and come full circle back to Manteo.

This is a ride that Adam has been wanting to do for a while and Mike knows some friends who are (by coincidence) going to be camping on Ocracoke island on Sat. night who have agreed to carry a bunch of gear for us like tents and changes of cloths.

Today we rode a mere 15 miles around raleigh and averaged 19mph. Will we be able to make it 150miles? Check back soon for more pics and details of the Pamlico Swirly-Whirly

Camp Don Lee AHOY

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Trey and I headed down to Camp Don Lee located on the Neuse river near Oriental, NC a couple of weeks ago to hang out with our buddy Ryan Boyle (Team Velocity ground crew and future competitor). Camp Don Lee was having their annual Family Camp week hosting a reunion of sorts for all walk of camp alum. We met a lot of cool people out on the water. Two and a half days of sailing around in the Nacra 20 taking the sailing staff out was great fun. We also hauled down four old Hobie 16 hulls that we donated to their sailing center. Check out some pics and video from on board the TVS rocket ship below.

Videos:
1) Nacra 20 CRASH
2) Ryan rides the bull
3) Alan rides the bull

def: "riding the bull", hanging on for dear life on the lee hull of a fast moving catamaran in a reach. Preferably with two buddies on the wire laughing at you. It is a right of passage and if your lucky not done in cold water.

NY Statue Race

Team Velocity held down the fort this weekend at the 2007 Statue of Liberty Race in New York Harbor. Trey and I received line honors as the first boat to finish and also first in our class (NACRA 20) which was also the largest class of boat in the race this year. For the full race story and more pictures, check out http://www.velocitysailing.com/. Thanks to the SHBCC (Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club) in New Jersey for hosting the race.
In other news, congratulations to my good friends Tad Pecorac and Kate Quinn as they celebrated their wedding this last Saturday. Trey, Jen and I were in Maryland this last week for their reception and stayed with James Boicourt. After a day playing with boats in MD, James Trey and another buddy Paul and I treated Tad to a bachelor party we hope that he won't soon forget. (Tad sailed in the Tybee 500 in 05 and 06 for Team Velocity and James was the team manager and boat repairman.) We had a great time visiting with all of them in MD before driving up to New Jersey for the statue race.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Thanks Brian (Capt'n of the "O" Dark 30) for the great picture of the cover of the latest copy of Small Craft magazine. I have yet to procure a copy myself. We are honored to see our creation adorn the cover of the magazine and I cannot wait to read the article. Thanks to everyone who helped out Team RAF. If you want to relive the challenge just read back in time further down this page. There are pictures, videos, and updates throughout the challenge. Hoefully we will inspire more of those fence sitters to go DO IT.

A little update on the team... Mike is somewhere in Colorado working for NOAA this summer on some air moisture research project. Matt, Chris and I are in Raleigh for the summer working and gearing up for the Aerial Robotics Club UAV competition next week. Chris is preparing for his fall semester which he will spend in Prague studying Architecture. I am also preparing for the Missouri River 340 paddling challenge in July with just a few more weekends to go I cain't wait.

How it all started

People sometimes ask me how I ever got started sailing and I enjoy telling them about how when I was little I would go with my family every other year to visit my Grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle on Oahu and my Grandpop signed me up for a sailing summer camp at the Kaneohe Yacht Club where I learned how to sail El Toros and Lasers. After that I was hooked and have just been sailing ever since.

Well Tuesday was my Grandpop's 80th birthday. He is doing well and I miss him very much and wish I could go to Hawaii more often to visit with all of my family. Grandpop, I will never forget how much you encourage me happy birthday.

Back in Raleigh for the summer

The Tybee 500 came to an end and the Velocity crew made it back to Raleigh for the summer. The official results from the race are available on the Tybee 500 website. I am back in realeigh for the summer and will be managing the Aerial Robotics Club at NC State getting everything ready for the upcoming competition in Maryland. Trey and Jen are off to Europe for a month of tramping and exploring along with good friend Don. They are sure to have a blast.

I will try to keep up with the blog over the summer especially with the MR340 coming up as well the next event for Team Velocity, the Statue of Liberty Race.

Not EC 300, but Tybee 500

I thought I would put up a quick post for Alan's sake.

If you didn't already know he and his good sailing partner 'Lunch' Trey are currently in the midst of the 2007 Tybee 500 as Team Velocity. After a calm couple of days at the start, things started abrewin' yesterday with some major surf and wind.

To read all about it you can tune into the Team Velocity website which updated by the landlubber side of the Velocity crew; Jen is at the helm of the keyboard and it seems that Ray is behind the lens. Also you can check out the 2007 Tybee 500 website with a good spread of pictures and video from shore. Be sure to check out this video of Team Velocity battling their way through the wild surf.

Gone Diving

Last Thurs. and Fri. I completed my checkout dives for my NAUI Rescue Diver certification. Last semester I got scuba certified through the diving program at State and this semester I followed up with the rescue diver class. We have a really good diving program here with excellent instructors and equipment.

Fantasy lake scuba park in Rollesville, NC is a great place for beginner divers to practice navigation and basic skills. We completed skills in rescue towing, diver recovery and practicing search and recovery techniques. I don't have my own gear yet but I'm in the market. Hopefully more diving is in my future over the summer.

(Left) Alan taking a bearing on a "downed diver" simulated by a plastic bottle with rocks and holes in the sides that sinks in about 5 seconds after being thrown in. Basically the name of the game was GO FETCH!

A few of the instructors in the diving program at NC state are into cave diving. A highly technical niche in the diving community. Of course cave diving is inherently very dangerous without proper training. Guess I ought to start soon huh. (mom yelling at me now..."NO NO NO, NO CAVE DIVING!") Here is shot of an extreme cave diver using a DPV (diver propulsion vehicle) a rebreather wearing a drysuit and towing multiple safety bottles probably to restock the cave or remove the old ones. This is the most extreme example of cave diving. I wonder what this guys mom thinks.

Spring Fever

The tenth annual spring fever regatta was help last weekend on Lake Hartwell in northern GA. A total of around 80 cats sailed and a great time was had by all. "Team NC State" drove down on Thursday evening having Friday off from school for Easter. We took a whole crew from NC State and in all contributed 4 boats to the regatta. 2 Nacra 20's a G-Cat, and Hobie 18. Friday was the warmest day of racing and also the best for Trey and I . We took two bullets and a second. Saturday took a turn for the cold out on the lake but many sailors braved the 30 degree temps to get some races in. The wind was fierce on Saturday. NOAA reported 20mph with gusts up to 32 for the day and it wasn't far off. We finished up with a one bullet, a second and a third on day 2. Pictured above is Tad Pecorak and Derek Binkley (both members of Team Velcoity Sailing who sailed Tad's Nacra 20 to a respectable finish. Look for lots more pictures coming soon on the Spring Fever Website.

On the last day, the boat was feeling a little slow and we had to be content with a 4th, and a 3rd. The results were in and after the throw out we scraped out first place overall in the Nacra 20 class just one point ahead of Team Seacats who sailed exceptionally well especially on the last day in some really shifty winds. Had more races been run on Sunday, they probably would have had us.

Small boats:
Seacats skipper, Jake Kohl brought along hull number 1 from his Remote control 1 meter sailing project. He and some buddies designed their own RC racing sailboat. Check it out on Team Seacats website.