News

DC Sail Rules Seminar w/ US Sailing Race Administration Director Chris Petracco

In the interest of building bridges with our fellow sailors across the river, I’m sharing this great opportunity from DC Sail – a rules seminar with Chris Petracco, the Race Administration Director at US Sailing.  Tickets are $30 and proceeds will benefit youth sailing.  The rules seminar should be good, the scotch tasting is a nice touch, and attending the event will give you a chance to chat with other sailors (and potential members!) about PRSA and our great fleets as well!

US Sailing Presents: Racing Rules Seminar & Scotch Tasting
Friday, March 16, 2012
5:30 – 8:00 pm
Capital Yacht Club, 1000 Water Street SW
http://www.dcsail.org/

Enjoy!

Aaron Boesenecker
Lightning Fleet 50
Fleet Captain

 

Frostbite, Lasers

Laser Frostbite Day #5, 12/18/2011

It was a beautiful day on the Potomac River with the wind from the northwest 7-15, which was more than the forecast that I saw. The sun was behind the clouds making it feel like a frostbite race but the wind was enough to keep you working. It was another great turnout with 23 boats making it on the last sailing day in 2011. Will Summers and Istvan Pely set up a windward leeward out in the river. The current was coming in/slack at the beginning of the day and was going out pretty aggressively by the last race keeping the fleet off the line.
Getting a good start was essential and the mark roundings were crowded which put an emphasis on making the right decision in a short amount of time. The firsts were well spread out in six races with six different people winning a race (Erich, Frank, , Len & Robert). The wind was very shifty which caused many lead changes. Results are posted here.
I have been excited by all the new faces this year and the turnouts thus far. I hope that we can keep it up in 2012.
The next Sunday is the Hangover Regatta January 1. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year and hope to see you on the water on the 1st.

-Erich

Fall Series

Fall Series #8 Results

Wow, what a way to end the season. 8 Lightnings, 5 Albacores, and 2 Bucc’s came out to play on our last day of the Fall Series, and what a day it turned out to be. Winds were SW 14-21 with a few gusts over 30.  Most of the afternoon the wind stayed up in the 20 range so it was exciting out there.  We got 4 races in before crying uncle and the Race Committee, headed up by yours truly, was kept busy with multiple capsizes and a couple of broken boats. Pat McGee broke his rudder in the third race, and one of the Albacores (Can’t remember who) broke his Jib Halyard(?). We anchored the 2 of them while we got 1 more race in for the die hards. We then towed the wounded sailors back to the docks and put the boats away for the last time this season. Here are the scores:

Albacore Fall #8

Buccaneer Fall #8

Lightning Fall #8

And here are some pictures taken by James Vavricek while on RC at the windward mark:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111908965227869597659/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6GxIb3tN7migE#5674913539383060162

News

Fall Series #7: Another spectacular day of racing!

Fall Series #7 was another great day on the river, with 4 races and a good turnout all around.  It was predominantly a Lightning affair, with 10 boats showing up to race.  A couple of Bucs and Albacors also came out to play, and with all fleets starting together we had a lively starting line and good racing all day long.  I’ve included my observations from the Lightning perspective below.  Keep reading for all of the details and, as always, be sure to contribute your own comments and recollections!

Continue reading Fall Series #7: Another spectacular day of racing! →

Fall Series

Fall Series #6 & #7 Results

I was out of reach last week, so I have scores for both weeks here. This past Sunday was a nice day for racing. Breeze from the NW when we got out there, but after a 40 minute lull a really nice southerly came up. Here are some comments from Yates, our PRO:

Fall Series No. 7 was a pleasant day on the water this late in the year with lots of sun and with moderate winds in the 5-8 range most of the day.  For the first race, the wind was generally from the East but it died, so we shortened course.  Then new wind came in from the southwest and during the day gradually moved to a more southerly direction.  With the tide coming in all day, there was plenty of water for the later races.
At the Skippers’ Meeting, the consensus was to start all classes together which we did.  So there was a long start line with Lightnings, Albacores and Bucaneers all jockeying for positions but being conservative, so the only over early boats all day were several in the final race, the fourth race.
Early on, we noted that the classes spread out a lot, so for the last two races, we favored somewhat shorter courses to help lessen the lag between the first finisher and the last finishers and therefore the wait time until the next race start, also mindful that we wanted to get everyone heading home a bit early because of the loss of an hour of daylight.

 

Here are the results:

Week #6 Results:

Albacore Fall 6 10/30/2011

Buccaneer Fall 6 10/30/2011

Lightning Fall 6 10/30/2011

 

Week #7 Results:

Albacore Fall 7 11/06/2011

Buccaneer Fall 7 11/06/2011

Lightning Fall 7 11/06/2011

News

Fall Series #6: A bit chilly, but some great racing!

I think that the last thing that folks thought as they watched the snow swirl down last Saturday was that we’d get in 5 races under a sunny blue sky and in temps that were much milder than the frostbiting conditions we all expected!  As it turns out, Fall Series #6 ended up being another fantastic day of sailing as PRO Ron Buchanan and his RC got us 5 races and then had us back on shore in time to enjoy some cold beers and hot dogs around the grill.  Read all about the racing below – hopefully the writeup will spark your appetite for some great racing in Fall Series #7!  Also, be sure to post your own comments and recollections, especially if you were one of the Albacores or Buccaneers that came out on Sunday!

Continue reading Fall Series #6: A bit chilly, but some great racing! →

News

Fall Series #5: If you went home early, you missed some great sailing!

I’ll admit, I was the first to think that we’d never sail on Sunday.  Having seen the forecast, the glassy calm river on my drive along the GW Parkway, and the somber faces at the marina, it seemed clear that we’d postpone a bit, then end up grilling and going home.  Well, let me just say that if you went home early, you missed some of the best racing that we had all season.  The wind filled in around noon, we headed out to the river, and Mike Heinsdorf and his RC did a great job of getting us 3 excellent races!

I’ve included here a wrap up of the days racing (which proved to be quite challenging and exciting) from Jeff Storck in the Lightning fleet.  Jeff, Becky, and Bruce on Team Ariel won the day with two seconds and a spectacular bullet in the second race, and Jeff has sent along an excellent writeup of his “view from the front” – a view that he enjoyed far more than most of us on Sunday!  I highly recommend that you click the “continue reading” link below to read Jeff’s reflections on Sunday’s racing; as always, I’ve learned something from Jeff’s account of the racing, and I’m sure that you will as well.  It’d be great to hear from anybody else that was out on the river, as we did have a couple of Albacores, a Buc, and a handful of Hobies out racing as well.

Continue reading Fall Series #5: If you went home early, you missed some great sailing! →