Alexandria, VA 22304
Port City is a family friendly brew pub. Please note that Port City is only licensed to serve the beer they produce, no outside alcohol is permitted.
Port City is a family friendly brew pub. Please note that Port City is only licensed to serve the beer they produce, no outside alcohol is permitted.
The Friday Night Capitol Riverfront Concert Series is kicking off on June 10th, this Friday! It’s a free concert on Friday nights at The Yards Park; which is on the Anacostia near Nationals Stadium. The concerts start at 7:00 pm and the first band playing is La Uncia who play Irish Latin Rock. There are more details about the bands and concert if you follow the link below.
The Yards Park is about a 45 minute sail from WSM, give or take the wind levels. The plan would be to leave the docks around 6:15pm to give time to sail over and listen to the first half of the concert. On June 10th the sun sets at 8:32 pm and nautical twilight until 9:44 pm. Leaving after the first half should give enough time to sail back to the marina with plenty of light.
Boats under 7 meters (23 feet) are required to “keep ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern (flashlight) that shows a white light”. So skippers should keep this in mind and bring a flashlight just in case getting back takes longer than planned. It’s also suggested to bring an anchor, as there may be other boaters and being able to stop and listen is helpful.
https://www.capitolriverfront.org/do/friday-night-concert-series-1
Earlier this month the Safety Review Committee complete their review and report on Safety and Standard Operating Procedures at PRSA. They took a deep dive into what we do for safety, and what we need to look at to increase safety and reduce risk going forward. There are new safety rules that will be going into effect in the Spring Series.
There are also a number of recommendations that we’ll be looking to implement going forward.
The report itself is a very good read and a compact 12 pages so I’d suggest
Safety Review and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Committee Report
Thank you to Aaron and the rest of the committee for your many hours of work and dedication to the safety of your fellow sailors.
-Tom Hutton
The PRSA Board met Thursday, May 14th and decided to cancel both the Spring Regatta and the Spring Series. We hope that we will be able to return to our regular Fall Series racing which is scheduled to start in September. We’re hopeful to have some organized events over the summer pending the ongoing pandemic situation. We will continue to monitor the situation with Covid–19 as it develops and provide updates to the club.
This was the first racing of the 2017-2018 Laser Frostbite series. It is traditional for the sailor who finished 3rd to do a write up of the weekend. I have no intention of deviating from this tradition, however, we don’t have the contact info on the sailor that got 3rd and my 4th isn’t that far off. Next week we’ll get to the 3rd place finisher faster to let them know about their finish and duty.
The weather cooperated and was at the higher end of the fun scale, 8 to 10 with gusts at 15 to 18 blowing from the northeast. RC set a good Olympic course and got a whopping 6 races in with 20 sailors turning out. The wind slowly dwindled as the afternoon went on so the first races were all speed and hiking then the later races were searches for the big gust to keep speed up.
My first 2 starts were my best and I worked the left side of the course. Not really for any strategic reason but in higher winds I’m looking to minimize tacks as those sometimes go poorly for me. I think the left side of the course had more wind all day so this generally helped me being on that side of the course. I didn’t have any issues at the marks so these finishes were solid.
The third race saw my best and worst start. I had a great boat end start that got cancelled due to a general recall. The second attempt I botched by getting into irons on the wrong side of the committee boat. I ended up playing catchup with some pretty successful upwind legs as well as a windward mark rounding that paid off. In a big crowd I try to remember that over standing is better than getting close. Lots of boats make bad air and in the past I’ve sat barely fetching the mark with other boats sail around me. Not today! I got to be the boat sailing around others
The last 3 races saw lower wind and some second row starts. My plan with a second row start is to work to clear air then get on the right tack ASAP. Second rule with a second row start the laylines are off limits; boat ahead will tack on them and you’ll have to eat their bad air. In the last race I spent a little time on the right side of the course thinking I had the lifted tack. I got to watch the smarter folks go fast in the more regular puffs that came down the left side of the course.
Overall the day was very fun and I was only a little sore. 20 sailors turning out over thanksgiving weekend is encouraging. We had some new faces which are great to see out! I’m sure the rest of the fleet will welcome them as we see them out racing more. See everyone next week!
Tom Hutton