Tag Archives: Frostbite

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #3

2024-12-02 Farley Will Leave a comment

Sunday was our coldest and most prolific day of the young season. Race committee managed five races (with one shortened finish) in up-and-down wind and temperatures sitting in the low-40s. Overall, it was a pretty good day of racing. Here are a few things I noticed or focused on today.

I am relatively new to sailing on the Potomac, but it has lots of similarities to my native Deep Creek Lake. The wind was often light and the direction could change in an instant. I feel like a lot of my (modest) success today was based on skills I picked up to counter Deep Creek winds: constantly looking around, trying to find the next puff, and keeping the boat moving in the lulls. I was doing my best to stand up and survey the upwind leg during the start sequence so I had a good idea of where and when the first few puffs of the race would be. You can see the course more clearly from six feet above the water than from three. For instance, I saw the wind filling from the left at the start of race four and changed my start plan to get to that wind faster. It worked out and I was first to the weather mark.

Another thing I’ve been trying to work on is teamwork on downwinds. Sometimes it’s helpful to work with the boats in your pack to make ground on the clusters ahead of or behind you, ESPECIALLY in light air. I worked with both Lars and Kaitlyn at different points today to make sure we were communicating and staying out of each other’s air. You can always fight your battles at the mark and on upwinds and have more margin for error.

Last week, Farley highlighted Tom Hutton for footing slightly on a long upwind tack to get clear air and better boatspeed. I’d like to shoutout Kaitlyn Lucey for doing the same thing today and ultimately beating me (going from mid-pack to second in one leg) by doing the same thing. Laser sailors often try too hard to keep the boat on the knife’s edge of the wind. That’s not always the most VMG-friendly path to the mark, especially in low, shifty winds.

Final tip: wear warm clothing. I lost mobility in my toes sometime around the fourth start. Learn from my mistakes and dress for the weather.

Thank you David Metcalf and Mike Scardaville for running the races in tough conditions. Congrats to Steen for winning the day! Everyone have a good week, and I hope to see y’all next Sunday!

-Connor

24-25 Laser Frostbite Series #3

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, Results, 2018

2018-2019 Laser Frostbite Series #3

2018-12-04 Farley Will

Frostbite Series #2 and #3 have been great conditions, good turnout, and fun racing. I regret missing the first weekend. As always, a thank you to our underpaid Race Committee. I was initially skeptical of the leeward gate setup, but variety is the spice of life (it was fun)! Conditions were mostly steady from the south, but became light in race 14 (I think). The last couple races we started to see some significant starboard tack lifts with boats stacking up near the committee boat and puffs from the western shore. A flooding current wasn’t as aggressive as last week’s ebb current, but still worth accounting for during mark roundings.

Tactically, I don’t think I had a favorite side; sometimes I went left, sometimes right. I generally tried to be on the line, have clear air, and not mess with other boats. At least two starts, I severely mistimed and was deep off the line. I immediately tacked out from the fleet to get clear air and play catch up. I find that I perform my best when I sail my own race and concentrate on speed, shifts, and sailing where I want to sail. Sometimes that meant an aggressive duck rather than leebowing a starboard tack boat (to avoid boxing myself in or wasting concentration on fighting the one boat next to me versus the fleet at large). My best race, was when the wind lightened up (again, I think race 14). I eased the mainsheet, probably about 10-inches block-block and focused on weight/boat flatness, keeping the boat powered up, and tacking on shifts. Due to the leeward gate, the fleet seemed to split pretty early just after the windward mark so I found the runs a little less stressful than normal. For finishes, it seemed like boats that rounded the easternmost leeward gate and finished near the pin tended to net better and I lost several places even when I was ahead going into the gate by finishing near the boat.

Lastly, I’d like to thank my corporate sponsors, Intensity sails for their MKII practice sail (just kidding, but I will thank them nonetheless). I have only used the MKII sail these past two weekends, but I have really enjoyed it. I am not going to outright say it is a faster sail design, but I think I can make the boat sail faster because it seems to look/perform more like other sailboats I’ve sailed. Again, I’m not saying you can buy your way to speed, but I am giddy when looking up at a pretty sail while racing (maybe its all about the right emotional attitude). Anheuser-Busch, what can I say, other than Len wants everyone to drink the free Bud light he’s been offering.

2018-2019-Laser-Frostbite-Series-3

News

Winners Write Up Day #2, 11/29

2009-12-04 Scott

Tim Zimmermann won the day, below is his write up.

It was a perfect day for Laser racing on the Potomac: not frosty at all (temps in the 60s) and a light sailable breeze from the SSE at 4-6, shifting to SW and increasing a bit.

The first course was set up in the channel. There were plenty of boats racing and a shortish line, so getting a good start (not usually my strong point) was key. The line seemed to be slightly pin-favored and in the first race I set up a few BLs short of the line with about a minute to go because I expected boats to be up on the line fighting for a place in the front row. The tide was coming in, and held boats off the line, so it was easy to hang loose until 10 seconds, before accelerating for the gun. And perhaps because of the current many boats were off the line as the clock counted down, so there was room to put the bow down. I got a good start, and legged out toward the left looking for a header to hitch back to the middle on. The breeze looked okay on the left, and better in the middle. It also looked okay on the right, but up against the shore line it might be unreliable. Boats started to flip over behind me onto port to go back to the middle and I hung on for just a bit longer, lucked into a header and tacked back toward the middle. That was just enough to get a little cushion on the fleet and I was free to sail the shifts up to the windward mark and held that lead twice around, finishing downwind. It was a reminder of how easy tactics and sailing the shifts can be when you are not worrying about clear lanes.

Sometimes things just go your way, and the second race was almost the same as the first. I got another good start and sailed left with Robert Bennett on my windward hip. With the tide very low, I gave him a heads up that I would call for room to tack as the water got thin, and he courteously tacked away. I sailed a few more boat lengths, and tacked into a nice little lift (I wish I could say I planned it that way, but…). So again I had just enough lead to play the shifts and the fleet up to the windward mark, and established a nice cushion that held up twice around.

Continue reading Winners Write Up Day #2, 11/29 →

News

Frostbite Day #1, Nov 22nd

2009-11-23 Scott

Wow, we had a spectacular first frostbite day with excellent turnout!! Twenty six people participated with twenty one boats! It was a sunny day and the winds were fairly steady at 10mph all day coming out of the north east and temps were in the mid 50F’s. We set up an Olympic course in the cove that was approximately 1 mile long and proceeded to have seven races. Erich won the day and Kevin Cowley won the inaugural handicap scoring. Click here for the scores. We had a good group of new faces and a couple faces we haven’t seen in awhile. Don’t miss the fun, come on out and sail with us this Sunday and burn off some of that thanksgiving turkey! See you on the water…

Announcements

PRSA Fall Finale Regatta, Today, Saturday November 7!!

2009-11-05 Scott

Today (Nov 7th) is the PRSA Fall Finale Regatta. This is the last regatta of the year for our fair weather sailing friends, and the first of our winter Laser frostbite season. Right now the weather looks perfect, A high of 59 degrees is predicted, with sunny skies and winds from the S at 8 – 9 MPH all day. We should have a big turn out for this regatta. Last year we had 3 Albacores, 2 Buccs, 3 Hobies, 3 Lasers, and 5 Lightings show on a day with questionable weather. This year we should do better than that! The Skippers Meeting is at noon and the first warning at 12:40. Frank is PRO, with Mladen, Brenna, Barney, and Jill as helpers. We’ll be sailing in the cove or down by the power plant depending on the weather and how many boats show up. Bring hot Chili and cold beer for the party after. Hope to see you on the water!

Potomac River Sailing Association