We had a good turnout for the 2018 PRSA President’s Cup Regatta, fantastic racing weather all weekend, and a packed spectator boat on Sunday. It was especially nice to see some new faces on varius boats, including Emily sailing with with the Lanes on As You Wish, Bryanna who joined David Beckett on a Flying Scot, and Andrew who stepped in to sail with Aaron on Saturday before going back to his regular ride with long-time PRSA and Fleet 50 member Joe Warren on Joe’s new Flying Scot on Sunday. What a great regatta! Many thanks to PRO Jim Graham (upper course) and PRO Will Phillppe (lower course) and their RC crews for all of the work that they did to get us lots of racing. Results are posted here. Stay tuned for links to photos and more!
Category Archives: Announcements
Register now for the PRSA Spring Regatta: May 26-27
The NOR for the PRSA Spring Regatta (May 26-27) has been posted and registration is now open. Visit the regatta website and register by May 22 to take advantage of the early registration discount. Once you’ve registered, help us spread the word about the regatta!
PRSA Rookie Regatta Results
We had a good turnout for the PRSA Rookie Regatta this past Sunday, with 6 I-20s, 6 Lightnings, 3 Albacores, and 2 Buccaneers coming out for the fun. Several boats had a true rookie on board, and those that didn’t had crews driving and drivers crewing. Results are posted below, and I’ve included a few of my observations from the course on Lightning #14592 (from the middle position while Piercarlo drove his first races in a long while!). You should feel free to add your observations in the comments section!
The weather looked much more promising than the forecast as we arrived at the marina on Sunday. We sailed up to the course in a nice northerly breeze…only to see it become soft and spotty as the first starts got going. PRO Allen Griffen and his RC crew did a great job in adjusting the course but also getting us as many races as possible in a very shifty and variable N/NE/NW wind. With short T1 courses the start was important, and we found that getting a good start and staying in the pressure (generally up the left side of the course along the airport, though this was not the case in the first race) was paramount. Making sure to keep the boat moving forward fast, even when headed, was also important in all of the shifts and swirls. Over the 3 races we saw conditions ranging from nearly no wind to full on hiking conditions (for a few moments at least). Overall, though, the racing was fun and clean, and it was great to see new faces on boats and familiar people in new positions. The sun even came out enough for us to enjoy a nice post-race BBQ and awards ceremony!
PRSA Rookie Regatta This Sunday!
Back by popular demand, this Sunday’s PRSA Rookie Regatta is a chance to introduce new people to sailing, switch up skipper/crew positions, and just have some fun sailing in different combinations than normal for a 1-day regatta (not scored as part of the PRSA Spring Series). Please make sure to review the Sailing Instructions and the Bonus Categories (below). We will have Bonus Sheets for each boat to fill out on Sunday. If you want a hard copy of the SIs, please print them for yourself in advance.
At Long Last, Spring Series Racing Starts!
After a couple of weeks of frustrating weather we finally got the chance to go racing this past Sunday! We had a great turnout this past Sunday with 3 Multi-Hulls, 6 Albacores, 2 Bucaneers, and 9 Lightnings (with 3 more represented on the RC for a total of 12!). I was PRO for the day (with Bob Gotthardt and Lisa-Marie Lane rounding out the RC). All I can say is that it was a very goofy day, with “east” winds varying wildly in velocity and direction all day long. We saw the breeze swing from 35 degrees to 115 degrees and back in just a minute or two. There was more than one instance of a breeze directly out of the south settling over the course for a few minutes, before reverting back to an easterly. Given the wind direction the O2 courses were short, but they were surely challenging for the sailors given the shifty and puffy conditions. We were able to get 5 (!) races in before sending the boats back to shore to enjoy the PRSA season-opening BBQ. Here are the results!
Spring Series Starts in 2 Weeks!
We are just a few weeks away from the start of the PRSA Spring Series! Make sure that you have reviewed the NOR and SIs for our Spring Series. Now is also the time to sign up for Race Committee for the season. Please make sure to read the details below, and then sign up on our PRSA RC Duty Signup Sheet. Here are the details and requirements for the 2108 Spring/Fall racing season:
- Each skipper racing in the spring or fall series is required to fulfill RC service obligations in the spring/fall series. The number of slots each skipper is responsible for filling depends upon the boat class:
- Albacores: 4 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- Buccaneers: 4 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- Catamarans: 4 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- I-20s: 4 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- Lightnings: 6 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- WETA/Laser (single-person boat): 2 RC slots over the spring/fall series
- Serving as PRO or Regatta Chair (rows highlighted in orange on the spreadsheet) count as two slots given the extra organizational responsibility for these roles.
- Detailed RC & boat instructions are posted to our PRSA website: http://potomacriversailing.org/dues-rc-duty/
- As we get into the season I will send out a reminder and some additional instructions to each PRO a few days prior to the weekend/event for which they are signed up.
Sign up now so that you know you have your dates reserved, and so that we don’t have to scramble week-to-week to find RC. As always, please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.
PRSA Membership Dues are Due Now!
Just a reminder that PRSA Membership Dues are due by Jan. 15! Please join or renew via the link on the “Dues & RC Duty” page if you haven’t already done so in order to avoid a late fee. Pay now and you’re all set for the season!
Race Committee Training Opportunity
West River Sailing Club in Galesville, MD, is hosting a 2-day Race Management Seminar on Feb. 17-18, 2018. This class is for people who want to learn more about how to run sailboat races. No prerequisites are required other than a basic understanding of sail boat racing and some previous race management experience. Follow this link for information and registration details (scroll down the page to the date of Feb. 17-18):
http://www.ussailing.org/race-officials/find-a-seminar/race-officer-seminar-calendar/
Attendees must be members of US Sailing. The course fee is $80 which covers the class, materials, continental breakfast & coffee, plus lunch. The two day class will begin each day at 0830 and run through 1630. There is an on-line quiz after the course if attendees are interested in becoming certified.
This is a great opportunity, especially according to this endorsement from Nabeel: “I endorse this class. Bill Kleysteuber and I travelled up to Newport, RI about a decade ago to take the class. We learned a lot. It is primarily based on the RRS but not completely. You get a nice certificate at the end and become certified as a club race officer.”
2017-2018 Laser Frostbite Sailing Has Started!
Our Laser frostbite season has started! We race on Sundays on the Potomac River from November 18 to March 24, and we wrap up our season with the Capital City Regatta on March 30-31. Skippers meeting is at 12PM with the first start at 12:30PM. No races are started after 3:30PM. Come out and join us!
While the fleet welcomes out-of-town guests, we ask in-town skippers to join PRSA (see the membership application). Contact Laser Fleet Captain Tom Hutton with questions.
Order Your 2018 PRSA Calendar!
The 2018 PRSA Calendar is now available for order! Use this link – http://www.calendarlink.org/prsa/home.html – to preview the calendar and order your very own. Congratulations to Lindsay Bach for snapping the winning cover photo!