Category Archives: Regattas

Albacores, SI's & NOR's, Lasers, Buccaneers, Inland-20s, Flying Scots, Lightnings, Lasers, Regattas

PRSA Spring Regatta May 25-26

Registration is open for the PRSA Spring Regatta!  Sign up now and help us spread the word about our signature spring event:  https://www.nextsailor.com/app/page/regatta/672.

If you are interested in volunteering to help out with some regatta organization, please let Regatta Chair Kaitlyn Lucey know.  This is a great chance to get involved with one of our events, learn more about regatta organization and operation, and help out PRSA!

Frostbite, Hangover Regatta, Lasers, Regattas, Lasers, Results

2024 Hangover Regatta Results

Greetings from 3rd place (Hangover-style),

Fun times on the water Monday! Thank you MUCH to Dave, Lloyd, Dan, and our guest photographer, Jeff, for helping to run 5 great races. The wind was moderate with some good puffs and shifts, and the current was heading out all afternoon (more on that shortly). We had 14 boats on the water, including two from SSA (thanks for making it out, James and Mike!).
A few observations:
1- Current. With a high tide around noon, we had an ebb tide the entire afternoon. And this meant a few notable adjustments to stay out of trouble/be fast, including:
  • Making sure not to be too close to the pin end when starting b/c it was hard enough to get over the line on starboard without the added stress of likely hitting the pin.
  • Keeping an eye out on where the line actually was when starting – and starting to accelerate a bit earlier than usual because it was easy to be a boat length or more from the line at the gun due to the current. (Related: I noticed there was often line sag, which made it much easier to get clean, front-row starts.)
  • Making sure to overstand the windward mark a bit and be careful about fully passing it before starting to head downwind (note: with the shifts, I unfortunately overstood a bit a couple of times, but it did help with avoiding the mark).
  • Making a tighter/earlier turn upwind at the leeward mark to avoid losing some unnecessary ground (this is more of a “note to self” for next time).
2- Starting. Yes, the current was an issue to recognize and adjust to — and the line became port-favored over the course of the afternoon. I had pretty consistent success being in the middle (or middle/boat side) and just below the line at about 30-40 seconds, which got me close to the pin by the start and gave me a great view of the line (and helped with starting roughly on time and on the line). I found the other critical element was making sure to be on the favored tack just after the start; increasingly, this meant a quick tack to port as soon as I could. There was one start earlier in the afternoon when the wind shifted pretty much at the start – and tacking over to port pretty much immediately helped a lot.
3 – A few other observations that might be helpful:
  • With such puffy/shifty wind, I found myself looking around a lot more when going downwind to a) see if any puffs were coming so I could be prepared (e.g., by preemptively tightening my vang and being ready to give my mainsheet a good tug in to avoid flipping); b) see how other boats were pointing as a hint of how I may need to change course.
  • Cunningham. I’m still amazed at how well I can depower the sail and make my boat easier to handle (while still being fast) with the MK2 sail. (That said, global reminder to us folks who are on the smaller side to not be shy with the cunningham when overpowered regardless of our sail – we can likely put on more than we think — and best to do this BEFORE the start (letting it off before rounding the windward mark) and BEFORE the leeward mark) to make it easier to give it a good, hard tug). (And all that said, it can also be helpful to loosen it in the lulls upwind if they seem to be hanging out for a while.)
Hope everyone is having a good first week back after the Holidays!
Laura
Photos can be found here.  Photo credit to Jeff Scudder with Viva Loudon.
Fleet50, Pictures, Lightnings, Fleets, Regattas, News, Results

PRSA/Lightning Fleet 50 Sailors Represent at SSA Frigid Digit Regatta

Several PRSA / Lightning Fleet 50 sailors took part in the Severn Sailing Association’s Frigid Digit Regatta this past weekend!

Aaron Boesenecker, Piercarlo Brunino, Jeff Witten, Tim O’Brien, and Ed Stacey were all on the water. It was tough competition, with former NA Champs, the USA Team for the PanAm games, and other top-notch racers on the water. Congrats to Team Beedobeat (USA 14592) on taking 7th in a tough fleet after 5 days of great (and very choppy!) racing in Annapolis! (Photo Credit: Bertie Werley, Pymatuning Yacht Club).  View the scores and read the full regatta report here: https://www.lightningclass.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=93488&module_id=552596

Regattas, News, Results

Combined PRSA, DISC, and SCOW Team Wins OBDC Foundations Regatta!

A cross-club and multi-team effort led to a win in the Spinnaker Division of the Old Dominion Boat Club Foundations Regatta (August 26).  PRSA Sailors Aaron Boesenecker (helm and main trim), Bob Gotthardt (jib/spin trim), and John Van Voorhis  (helm and main trim) combined with DISC Sailor Tara Brannigan (pit) and SCOW Sailor Marco Ovando (bow) for a great day of racing on the S2 7.9 Too Many Cooks (with thanks to PRSA members Nelson Pemberton and Tim Dickson for letting us sail their boat!) in support of local and national charities.  We had fun, we went fast, and we helped raise funds for some great causes!

Regattas, Announcements

Sept 23-24 Presidents Cup Registration

Join the Potomac River Sailing Association to race in the largest one-design regatta on the Potomac with the National Capitol and monuments as a backdrop, and to carry on the tradition of competitive one-design racing that started with the 1934 President’s Cup! All one-design classes 20 feet or under are invited.

Visit the Regatta Network Site for the NOR and Registration Links!

President's Cup Logo

Regattas, Announcements

PRSA Spring Regatta May 27-28

Updated 29 May: we had a great weekend of racing, with all classes getting 9 or 10 races in a shifty and variable easterly.  Results are posted here: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/26050#_newsroom and we have some fantastic photos from Lindsay Bach (from the mark boat) posted here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mS7iMjrp9u6yJ3to8

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Register now for the PRSA Spring Regatta (May 27-28) and enjoy two days of racing on the Potomac River with the monuments and Capitol as a backdrop.  Head to the Regatta Network site – https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/26050 – to register and to view the NOR.  Additional regatta information will be posted on the Regatta Network site.

Hangover Regatta, Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, Results

2023 Hangover Regatta

Sunday was a refreshing day after such a chilly Christmas weekend The sun was shining, the temperatures were hovering on either side of 60 degrees, and the A-team was running races. The only problem was the wind never freshened beyond 4 or 5 mph.Nonetheless, we had four fun races.

Thinking about the race course a couple of variables came to mind. First, the wind was oscillating about 15 degrees either side of 180( 30 degrees total).Second, the flood was hard, so that meant that the middle and right had far less current.Third, the course seemed port biased. Finally, the line varied between pin favored to extremely pin favored. When weighing these variables I felt that a pin vicinity start( not necessarily winning the pin) was critical. Every race there seemed to be a left hand shift reasonably soon after the start. This allowed a quick tack to port with an easy long tack to the top of the course. I pretty much dismissed the stronger current given the combination of pin end bias and weather mark bias. Downwind, I felt that looking for wind lines was paramount. For the most part I stayed to the right( looking downwind) of the rhumbline given the current as long as wind was present. I made my mark-room moves only at the bottom of the course. The second weather leg offered a bit more to think about. In race one for instance there was an extreme left hand phase until we passed the airport landing pier. At that point Alex and I traded tacks along the jet blasts all the way to the weather mark. In races two through four the breeze seemed best in the middle of the course on that leg.On those legs I just attempted to stay in phase with the shift pattern noted above.
Boat speed, boat handling, set up, etc: There are countless pieces written on this website, SSA Fleet 10s’ Cedar Point’s, Newport’s and many others, some even written by me. Therefore I won’t bore you with detail. Here are some observations of some mistakes I saw: 1.Boats were too heeled. Heeling the boat creates rudder drag.  2. If your vang was loose upwind you were slow. The draft needs to be between 1/3-1/2 way back. The vang achieves this. 3. If you trimmed your cunningham one time Sunday, you lost boats. The leech is too loose and the sail entry too fine with a tight cunningham in a drifter. 4. Outhauls were almost all too tight.
In sum, I thought the key on Sunday was to prioritize the variables based upon each one’s risk and reward and to make sure that the boat had as much power as possible to keep moving in the light conditions. We all owe huge thanks to Len, Barbara, Tom, and Kevin, the RC team, who sacrificed their sailing day to make the racing possible. I also want to thank Alex and Jake for driving from NYCC to spice things up, and for Mike for coming from SSA.
Happy New Year!
James Jacob
Additionally: Thanks to everyone that brought delicious food to potluck.  Particularly the sailor’s wives that cooked while we were out sailing!