Category Archives: News

Announcements, News, Results

Spring Series #3: Light and Challenging!

We had a great turnout for Spring Series #3.  Unfortunately the weather was a bit less cooperative, providing us summer drifting conditions.  A determined RC eventually got us off on a W2 race in a very light and patchy southerly after numerous attempts to find breeze and set a course.   I know that at least a few boats were glad that we got that race though, as Sunday saw Lisa-Marie Lane earn her first ever bullet in the Lightning fleet.  Staying patient, staying focused on the conditions, and being mindful of finding clear air appeared to be key for her & team As You Wish.  Lisa-Marie was followed closely by Kristen Burke (skippering Progressive Plastics) in 2nd, and I’m told that this might mark the first time in Fleet 50 history that we had female skippers finish 1-2 in a PRSA series race.  Congrats all around!

I was finally out for my first racing of the spring season aboard Lightning #14592  (sailing with regular crew Piercarlo and welcoming new/interested crew Claudio Purificato aboard) and we quickly relearned some of the cardinal lessons of light air sailing: find clear air (especially after the start), find the next patch of breeze, and mind the current.  I was caught to windward of a pack of boats on the start, which was a mistake.  Groups of boats go very slow together in light wind, and we saw that firsthand.  We were too close to bear off and gain speed; tacking away killed the speed we had, so we were fighting back from the rear from the start.

Piercarlo and Claudio did a great job finding breeze and clear air up the first leg, though, so we were in the hunt at the top mark.  The incoming tide was a big  factor on the afternoon, and I saw numerous boats in different classes take themselves out of the race by cutting it too close to the windward mark.  By the time you got clear and did circles you were at the back of the pack.  We all did a good enough job with the current and we maximized our gains on the few easterly puffs that came through such that we were able to reel in many, but not all, of the 11 Lightnings on the course.

After the racing we all enjoyed a great BBQ around the grill.  Keep reading for the scores and for some more details from the racing.  Please feel free to offer up your own comments here or on the PRSA email listserv!

Continue reading Spring Series #3: Light and Challenging! →

Announcements, News

Spring Series Racing is Here!

The PRSA Spring Racing Series started on April 3 and will run through June 12.  Are you ready to race?  Here are a few things to remember:

  • Post to the PRSA Crew Connection or peruse the listings there if you are looking for a ride or looking for crew.
  • Check our PRSA Calendar so you know what is happening each weekend.  We have a few special events this spring, including the annual PRSA Rookie Regatta on May 1 and a new PRSA Distance Race on June 12.  On the other Sundays we will run our regular one-design races around the buoys.
  • Make sure to sign up for your RC Duty slots.  Sign up now so that you know when you’re serving and so that you make sure to do your part for PRSA in helping us run safe and fun races.

Racing each  Sunday is followed by a BYO BBQ in the grill area.   Don’t forget to bring some food and drink for you and your crew!

Announcements, News

Are You Ready For Spring Series Racing?

The PRSA Spring Series starts with Spring Series #1 on April 3.  Are you ready to go sailing?  Here are a few things to remember as you get ready for the racing season:

  • Post to the PRSA Crew Connection or peruse the listings there if you are looking for a ride or looking for crew.
  • Make sure to sign up for your RC Duty slots.  Sign up now so that you know when you’re serving and so that you make sure to do your part for PRSA in helping us run safe and fun races.

Spring Series #1 will be followed by BBQ with all food and drink provided by PRSA, so make sure to bring your appetites for food as well as for racing on April 3!

News

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #15

It was a great day for sailing!  The wind was strong from the southeast at about 10 mph then built to 12-14 from the south as the afternoon went on.  Thank you to the race committee for setting up solid courses and on offset mark for olympic courses.

In the first two races I managed to get solid starts to be at or near the front of the fleet.  The tide was flowing very strong down river all day.  In the second race I cut the last mark too close and had to do a circle, which is a bummer of a way to lose three boats.

For the third and fourth race the wind was up in the 12-14 range and I managed to botch the start of the third race.  I got too close to the pin end with too much time left and ended up over early.  The windward mark had also been moved so I and a few others over stood the windward mark.  The tide also drove me way past the lay line and I was almost reaching by the time I actually got to the windward mark.  The second downwind leg of the triangle planing was possible which added a new challenge we don’t get too often.  I managed to do OK and keep up with the boats around me.

For the fifth and final race the wind was somewhat lighter back closer to 10.  I was better on the current situation so I managed to stay closer to the marks and lay lines.  I tried to keep the boat flat and pointing while going upwind and upright while going downwind.

My lessons learned for the day were: don’t hit marks, know where the next mark is, and be aware of the current and lay lines.  I’ve also waited a bit too long to do the write up and the races have blended together a bit in my memory.  Thanks again to everyone for coming out to make this day fun!

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 15

Announcements, News

SCOW-PRSA-DISC Winter Seminar Series

We are pleased to announce a series of informational seminars that we have organized together with SCOW and DISC.  A huge thank you to Csilla Gal (PRSA & SCOW) for taking the lead in organizing these events.  All events will be held in the Charleston Room at Indigo Landing (WSM).  Mark your calendars now!

Local Knowledge Clinic (3/2, 7pm): PRSA expert Barney Harris will share his wisdom with us all in an updated version of the fantastically informative seminar that he gave a few years back.  Barney has been persistently collecting and analyzing charts, graphs, and observational data in order to help sailors and race committee understand local conditions on the Potomac. This unique meteorological and tidal knowledge may be the extra advantage you need to get ahead!

Racing Rules Clinic (3/9, 7pm):  a group of thee experts will answer questions related to racing and will give their expert opinions on situations brought up by the attendees and make a final verdict on who broke the rule.

Race Management & Protest Committee Management (3/17, 7pm): this seminar will cover matters that members are engaged in running races should know.

Racing Tactics (3/23, 7pm): this presentation from Mike Callahan (GU Sailing Coach) is expected to cover starting, mark rounding, upwind and downwind tactics. Mike has asked for some details on what we would like to hear, so email Aaron at apb99@mac.com if you have suggestions.

Sail Tuning (3/30, 7pm): this talk will probably be delivered by Scott Steels, an Olympic medalist windsurfer from Ullman Sails. He is expected to deliver a talk on sail trimming: a basic intro followed with some more in depth technical discussion.

 

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, News, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #14

Thank you to the race committee for setting up courses is these difficult conditions.  For the first two races the wind was light to non-existent with a strong down-river current.  The first race especially was challenging with the wind becoming too weak to get back up river for the second leg.  I got close to the committee boat then pushed back down river by the current.  The only wind it seemed came from the jets making north landings on the run way.  After twenty minutes of this the wind filled in enough to get around the leeward second mark and finish.

After the first race there was lots of talk of heading back in.  I was definitely in favor of heading in but the race committee wisely waited five or so minutes to see what would happen.  With some light wind from the south race two started.  After a moderately botched the start near the boat end I tacked to port for clear air.  I got lucky with a wind shift to make a long starboard tack all the way to the windward mark near the front of the fleet.  The wind stayed light but consistent enough to to finish the race without any drifting.

The wind picked up greatly for the third and fourth races and I managed to come in first on the fourth race.  That’s my first win in the frostbiting fleet so I was pretty pumped.  I really enjoy sailing every Sunday with so many sailors and I especially like the debrief and hangout after racing.   Thank you again to everyone who came out this weekend!

Tom Hutton

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 14

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, News, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #12

1 Comment

Wind: NE @ ~6-10 knots
Weather: Sunny, high 40s/low 50s
Tide: heavy ebb

First of all, I would like to thank race committee for running 5 races in difficult conditions in which to set a course. They set us up farther east than normal (the windward mark was practically arms length from green channel marker on the east side of the river) to be able to get as much room as possible given the NE wind direction. Despite RC’s best efforts to set a square course, the wind did not cooperate and oscillated between the northeast and east, multiple time during each race. It took a three races for me to get used to all of the conditional factors on the course: the heavy ebbing tide, the oscillating wind direction, and the varying strength of the wind.

The Start: I came out pretty aggressive and found myself over early in the first two starts, which favored the boat. The third start favored the pin, which a few of us predicted. But my timing was off and a few boats got up to speed before I did. I won the fourth and almost the fifth starts by being patient, positioned middle-boat, but mostly by focusing on clear air and getting off the line with speed.

Upwind: Ease, hike, trim (that’s the motto, YOLO). My sincerest apologies for that terrible joke.  As a smaller guy, at 150 lbs, even at the wind speeds we were seeing, I had to start thinking about “medium air” conditions. Through a couple of the whopping 8-10 kts (maybe exaggerating here) puffs I would ease my mainsail about 0.5-1 foot, hike my ass off to flatten the boat, and then trim the main back in. If the puff seemed to be sustained, I would take the slack out of the outhaul, cunningham, and vang. In some of the puffs, I actually had to depower my sail. In the first two races, I went right initially to get clear air from the fleet who were mostly middle/left (I was behind). I found that this did not work, possibly because of the deep channel and the strong current. In races 3, 4, and 5, I tried to one-tack the port lay line, which worked very well in races 4 and 5, when I reached the windward mark in 1 and 2, respectively, with a healthy lead over the rest of the fleet.

Downwind: Most of the fleet followed the boat in front, which usually led to a line forming, trying to get the starboard/inside track at the leeward mark. In every race there was a pile up at the leeward mark because of the heavy current forcing boats south. I found that even in these conditions with a moderate amount of wind, the straight line/clear air was fastest. In fact, most of the time I aimed north of the mark because of the ebbing current. Not only was I compensating for the current, but staying to the sailor’s right, cleared my air and allowed me to pass a number of boats.

Leeward Rounding: This was an important juncture in the races. As I mentioned above, the current forced pile ups. But it also left opportunities for boats rounding behind other boats to round inside. Normally, the boat in front of you has rights, as long as there was no overlap as you entered the 3 boat length circle. However, with current like we had, most boats were forced past the mark and could not round up to protect against the boat behind them without heading into irons (I fell pray to this in race 5, rounding the final mark in 1st). Two tips here: 1) for boats rounding behind, be patient, slow your boat down, if you see the boat in front of you starting his/her turn close to the mark (tight-then-wide), wait for the transom to swing around and start to round inside of your opponent. With the current, he/she will not be able to protect his water-at-the-mark. 2) for boats rounding in front of other boats, when you enter the 3 boat length circle, call for room at the mark from the boats around you (unless they had inside overlap of course).

With this amount of current it is difficult but execute a wide-then-tight rounding, shutting the door on your opponents behind you, and forcing them to round to leeward and in your dirty air.

Ultimately, this was a technical Sunday of racing because of the flukey wind directions and wind strengths. You had to really pay attention to your sail to ensure the tell-tails were flying and keep your boat flat.

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 12

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite Series, News, Results, 2015

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite #5

PRSA Lasers,
 
Another pleasant Sunday on the Potomac. About 28 boats showed up which made for some interesting starts and mark roundings.  The wind (or lack thereof at 12:30) started south-southwest and as predicted, built slightly and went south during the 3rd race. In the 4th and 5th races, the wind oscillated between the south and south-southwest.
 
The RC set the course in the same spot as last weekend, just east of the marina. When everyone got out there, RC started us out with a kinetics practice race before the wind filled in, with just a windward mark and a downwind finish. In the extremely light air, this was a great time to practice roll tacking and gybing.
 
The Start: In races 1 and 2 (both windward-leeward 2x around), wind was light but manageable.  The boat was about a boat length high of the pin, which caused some congestion at the boat. I found that starting in the middle was just as effective because I could get off the line with speed and clear air. Fowl tide caused a sizeable line sag in the middle, also contributing to the opportunity for clear air at the start. Race 3 was pretty similar, but I got a little too anxious and was over early. The start line for race 4 was more square; clear air again was the key. For the 5th start, the wind had gone more south, making the pin more favored.
 
Upwind: My controls (outhaul, cunningham, and vang) for the whole day were pretty loose. There were 3 things I tried to focus on that translated into boat speed: 1) clear air—This is so important in a 28 boat fleet, 2) tell tails—I tried to always have both tell tales flowing back, no pinching! 3) heel—in the lightest air, a bit of leeward heel kept the boat moving, while in the relatively stronger breeze, keeping the boat flat worked. Playing the shifts was important as the afternoon went on. Most of the afternoon, there was enough breeze to almost two block the mainsheet and in the puffs (if you can call them puffs) I would two block to get an extra lift. One side of the course didn’t pay off consistently from race to race. Some legs I went right, others left. Focusing on boat speed, using the 3 points above, really made the big difference.
 
Downwind: The fleet’s tendency is to work its way left, to protect the inside overlap. In light air, I have found that sailing a straighter line, close to the rhumb line, can be quicker. This worked in most downwind legs (last week and this week), as many racers sailed extra distance to the left. However, this strategy only works if you can create separation with the boats behind you. 3 points for boat speed downwind: 1) clear air—a little more difficult downwind but if you can create a little bit of separation from the boats behind you, clear air goes a long way, 2) sailing by the lee—typical sailing by the lee worked: windward heel, center board up, and sitting forward of the cockpit, 3) mainsail trim—I don’t let the main out past 90 degrees because this causes some wind to spill out of the top, though this is an area for debate. Also, as the wind built through the afternoon, I added just enough vang so that the leech (the leading edge when sailing by the lee) was tight and could catch the breeze.
 
Mark Roundings: Tide was big factor today. The flood was strong so over standing upwind worked. On the leeward roundings, if you were clear of other boats, a wide and tight rounding mitigated some of the tide. If you rounded with other boats, the tide generally pushed everyone low of the mark, leaving the door open for boats behind. As we discussed in the debrief, communication leading into the 3-boat length circle needs to be more prevalent. If you are entitled to room at the mark, let the boats around you know. If you are not entitled to room, slow down so that you don’t get pin-wheeled, you might get an opportunity to gain a boat or two if they get swept past the mark by the tide.
 
Thank you to the Race Committee for running 5 fun races and dealing with the light conditions. Thank you Eric for bringing the TV and DVD player to the debrief. Looking forward to watching The Boat Whisperer!
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite Series, News, 2015

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite #4

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to Keith  and Magda for running our races last week. Keith found a good spot for us to sail in, just out in the river due East from WSM, and a little north of our regular ‘power plant’ spot.

The wind was roughly out of the south, but also somewhat shifty. As I was one of the first boats to get out in the river before the races, I probably should have been trying to figure out if the MD or the VA side had better wind, but I was not really paying attention. Lesson learned: I guess if you get out early you should try to figure these things out. The tide was running out all day and was significant (low tide at 4 PM that day).

We only raced two races, as the wind died almost completely by the end of the second race. For the first race, I estimate we had about 4 kts steady. The second race was maybe between 4 and 1 kt. I’ll just sum up information for both races together below:

I set up my outhaul so that at max draft, my sail was about 3” from the boom, my cunningham was completely off, and my vang was left pretty much untouched and was on maybe about 1/3. Before each race, I raised my centerboard to clear any grasses, and I also checked my rudder as it too would pick up twigs.  Also, on downwind legs I tended to raise the c/b all the way once to clear it.  If you pick up stuff on your rudder, you will feel it in a slight vibration of the tiller. Any plant life stuck to your blades will really slow you down, so be vigilant.  I thought the start line was pretty square so I set up to start in the middle of the line which gives me more options. At the last 15 seconds or so before the start, I keep up boat speed so that if someone comes in and attempts to get on my lee side, I can sail down hard and prevent him/her from getting that overlap. I was surprised at how much room I had in the middle of the start line for both races. So coming off the start line I felt like I had good speed. From that point, (as was taught to me from Erich Hesse) it is vitally important that you focus on speed and getting those first few feet out in front of everyone else. (In other words, this is not the time to take a break.) This is the time to really focus all your attention on sailing as fast as you can to get in clear air. Now, as this was a light air day, and my body weight is lower than most, I had a big advantage, and I knew if I could just not make any mistakes, I’d come out ok, as was the case. On heavier air days, I usually way behind the heavier people.

Upwind, I just look for which side I thought the wind was stronger, and I kept in mind that as the current was going south, the laylines for the windward mark would be shifted a boatlength or so to the north. So I tacked onto the starboard layline a bit earlier than if there had been no current. This put me right at the windward mark and I did not end up sailing any extra distance. As for mainsheet,  mostly I had about 8” between the traveler and aft boom blocks, but when the wind really died, I let it out even more in an attempt to keep the boatspeed up.

Downwind, I just looked behind me and tried not to sail in dirty air from the boats behind me. Oddly, I was still able to pretty much sail the rhumb line and still get pretty clean air. The boats ahead of me tended to go way left to protect anyone from getting an inside overlap on them prior to the downwind mark, so I let them go left and just kept to the rhumb line.  Remember as the current was going south, to give the downwind mark extra room or else you’d be swept into it by the current.

In both downwind and upwind sailing, I tried my best to keep my weight very far forward in the boat, even at some times sitting ahead of the centerboard. Maybe that is too extreme, I don’t know.

Hope I have not left anything out. First time for me in 8 years to do the 3rd place write up.

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 4

Frostbite Series, News, Results, 2015

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite Series #1

As is our custom, the third place finisher on the day (me, in this case) provides a summary of the day and hints on how they were successful. Here is mine for Sunday:
It was definitely a wild start to the season with winds from the NNW in the 15-20 mph range with gusts into the 20s. We got off three races on an olympic course with 16 sailors racing, dwindling to 10 last race finishers.
Congrats to Young Guns, Adam and Jamie, who beat last year’s champion (me), Not-So-Young-Gun (Len) and everyone else!
A few things that I was foccusing on:
  • I started at the the pin end of the line, since it was favored in all races and was not crowded
  • Upwind:
    • I set up the sail with max. outhaul and cunningham in order to de-power the sail
    • I also used a lot of vang (bent boom) in order to allow me to ease the main if necc. while keeping the sail flat
  • Reaching and Downwind:
    • I eased the vang and cunningham and made sure the boat was flat before trying to round the windward mark and to make sure the the end of the boom didn’t dip into the water
    • I worked on keeping my weight back to plane and keeping my weight over my feet to make quick corrections to avert disaster
Many thanks to the race committee (Jim Klein and Richard Kaiser) for running the races and checking on struggling sailors!
Eric