Well it was looking pretty grim when we all showed up for the skippers meeting on Sunday. The river was glassy, and there was not a puff or air in sight. After an hour and twenty minutes of on land postponement Mike Heinsdorf, our intrepid PRO, informed us that some breeze was slowly making its way up the river and took a vote. We all decided to take a shot and get out there. Boy, were we all glad we did. The breeze filled in nicely to a beautiful S5-10kts and we had a great day. Mike and the all Albacore RC set up a really nice long Windward-Leeward course for us and got us 3 races before calling it a day. 6 Lightnings, 4 Hobies, 2 Albacores, and 1 Bucc came out to play on this gorgeous fall day for some of the best racing of the season. Here are the scores:
PRSA Annual Banquet
PRSA Members, we’re getting to about the half way point of our Fall Sunday Series and coming up in about a month is our Annual Banquet and General Meeting. It will be held Saturday November 19th at Marina Towers. Details are below. Hope you and you crew can make it, please mark your calendars. If you planning on coming please add your name to the “Who’s Coming” list so we can arrange enough food. Click here to see who’s coming.
Also, we have a couple openings on the Executive Board. We are looking for a few good people who are interested in helping lead PRSA into the future. If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, please let me know. Thanks.
PRSA Awards Banquet and Annual General Meeting 2011
Saturday November 19
Party Room of the Marina Towers Apartments
$25 per person(same as usual), pay at the door
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Directions: From the Washington Sailing Marina, go south on GW parkway towards Alexandria. Stay to the right and take the Slaters Lane exit. (It is the first exit you come to). Turn left onto Slaters Lane from the ramp. This will take you across the parkway. Go through the intersection and past the first buildings and look for the high rise on the left. That is the building. It is only five minutes from the marina.
Go to the Front desk, sign in and ask where the PRSA Party is. They will direct you to the party room.
Fall Series #4 Results, 10/16/2011
I can’t add anything to what Aaron wrote below, so here are the scores:
Fall Series #4 Wrap-Up
The PRSA Fall Series #4 was primarily a Lightning class affair, with 5 boats coming out to race and 2 taking care of RC duties (and another 7 representing Fleet 50 up in Annapolis at the Frigid Digit regatta). For the second weekend in a row we had great conditions for racing, with a 12-15 knot SW breeze that allowed PRO Frank Gallagher and his RC to get us four races. Jeff Neurater came out to represent the Buccaneer fleet, Mike Heinsdorf was out in his Albacore, and a trio of Hobie Cats also came out to play.
Keep reading for some more details from Sunday’s Fall Series #4 (from my vantage point in the Lightning fleet), and be sure to post your own comments and observations from the day (just click the little “speech bubble” next to the title of this post, above). You can also scroll down a bit to see a separate post with details from the action up in Annapolis at the Frigid Digit.
Fall Series #3 Wrap-Up: We Had Breeze!
For the first time since the President’s/Leukemia cup we had very good breeze for our racing! The steady NW breeze (which had a lot of left shift in it at times) gave us great conditions, and PRO Jim Graham and his RC did a fantastic job in getting us three races. Eight Lightnings, six Albacores, two Buccaneers, a Laser, and a Hobie came out to play and after a solid day of racing we all enjoyed a great BBQ (thanks to Red and Susan for bringing burgers!) in the picnic area afterwards. Carrie Quinn took some amazing photos from the day, and I’ve posted some of my observations below from the Lightning fleet below. Keep reading for more details from the day’s racing, and make sure to post a comment with your own thoughts, recollections, and tall tales from the day — especially if you were in one of the other fleets!
No Racing This Sunday
The Albacore Fleet is holding its National Championship this weekend and PRSA is hosting. Therefore, there will be no Fall Series racing on Sunday. We come back the following week, 10/16/2011.
Fall Series #3 Results – 10/02/2011
It was cool, cloudy, and breezy this past Sunday. Winds were NW in the teens as we sailed up to the race course, but slowly faded as the day progressed. Jim Graham and the Albacores did a great job setting up a nice long Windward-Leeward course for us. They got three races off in good fashion before the rain came in and spoiled things for us. In all, Six Albacores, 2 Buccaneers, and 8 Lightnings came out to play. Correction, one Hobie also made the trip up, but capsized before starting a race and went home. We also had one intrepid Laser who came out and raced solo. The racing was exciting on the Lightning course with lots of lead changes and close finishes. All in all a fun day. Here are the scores:
2011 Albacore Internationals
The 2011 Albacore Internationals were held from 16-23 September in Toronto, Canada. Over sixty boats from three different countries participated, with wind conditions ranging from extremely light to a steady 20 knots with puffs up to 30 knots. PRSA and Potomac River Albacore Fleet member Barney Harris, with crew David Byron, won the event, with a net score of 22 after 12 races (with two drops). See video coverage of the event here: http://www.youtube.com/user/albacoreusa. You’ve got to see what happens when we find a boat somewhere it shouldn’t be here, in a short video we call “An Albacore on Castaway Bay”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1JuVx2vlxM.
President’s/Leukemia Cup Photos!
Follow this link for some excellent photos of the racing taken by Carl Schaefer during the 77th Annual President’s/Leukemia Cup. Many thanks to Carl for volunteering his time, as well as to Whit Overstreet from Potomac Riverkeeper for the use of their boat as a photograph platform during the regatta.
If you wish to use these pix for marketing, for posting online, or for any other commercial purpose other than for private viewing, please contact Carl (cgschaefer@gmail.com). At a minimum, picture credit should be attributed to Carl G. Schaefer, Jr, Copyright 2011.
Fall Series #2 Results – 09-25-11
I can’t add too much to what Aaron says below. I’ll just say it was one painful day…
Here are the scores: