Tag Archives: Laser Class

2016 Hangover Regatta

If you grow up sailing on a small creek, as I did, you are no stranger to shifty winds, land bends, dead spots and downdrafts. While the Potomac is a far cry wider and wilder than Beaver Dam Creek in Point Pleasant, N.J., it was no less fickle wind-wise on New Year’s Day for the Potomac River Sailing Association Hangover Regatta, which saw a very tight fleet of 30 boats, scrambling through an oscillating breeze that seemed to switch on and off at will.

All in all, conditions were, in my opinion at least, near ideal for a frostbite regatta (though many including me, were wishing the unseasonably warm weather of the week before had stuck around for a day longer) with a nice 8-knot breeze ushering the fleet out of the marina and past the runway of Reagan International Airport  and quickly building into fresher, sustained gusts.

As many of you may know, I usually sail on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk with the Hampton Roads Sailing posse.  Four of us, Charlie Brewer, Britt Drake, Grant Simmons and myself schlepped it up I-95 for the regatta and by the time I arrived at 10 a.m. Charlie and Britt had built a nice little firepit with some of the river driftwood down by the boat hoists and were keeping their hands warm by the crackling fire. The out-of-towners drew a bit of amusement, but at least it took the chill off.

And it was brisk: The weather station at Reagan International Airport recorded a mean temperature for the day of 37 degrees with a maximum in the partly sunny afternoon of 47 degrees. Winds were generally SSW at about 8 mph with a maximum recorded wind speed of 21 mph and a few gusts up to 24. (There were a fair number of upturned hulls during the day for those caught out by the blasts. I got caught trying to sail deep by the lee when one of those gusts caught me. My scramble up the deck was too late, but I didn’t get wet, so I am not counting it as an actual capsize even though I brought some souvenir Potomac River bottom mud home on the head of my sail.) Charlie said he got dipped twice, once going upwind when a gust came at him behind the sail. “normally you can just hang on and it will switch back and lift you up,” Charlie said. But not that time, apparently. I spent a lot of time looking ahead (upwind) and behind (downwind) to try to read the gusts from the angles and heal of other boats. It served me pretty well as I was able to prepare for a few major onslaughts of wind before they got to me.

Race Committee Chair Nabeel Alsalam set a perfect windward-leeward course with a leeward gate and a short-leg upwind finish. Races were run twice around the course and, given the conditions, lasted about 30 minutes each. A total of five races were run and the scoring included a throw-out. Starts were run in three minute sequences with a whistle countdown, so if you are like me and sail without a watch, you were not at any significant disadvantage. (We run with three minute starts down in Norfolk, too, and it seems to be a lot better for dinghy racing, even with bigger fleets. How hard is it to choose a spot on the line and set up in a Laser, after all. And less time to get cold. If the line length is about 30 seconds, two minutes is plenty of time to run a check and commit to a strategy, I think.)

Despite the very shifty gusts, the line was very square all day, with a slight committee boat bias. This was balanced out by a slightly favored left side of the course which seemed to pay off with a bit more pressure and for those boats that went deep enough into the corner, a huge lift to the windward mark along the western shore of the river.

And that seemed to be the challenge of the day: how to tap into the shifts and very localized pressure zones. Upwind, the pressure seemed to emerge from the right, but the better lifts seemed to favor the left. A key was not to get caught in the middle too early on the course.

In the first race, both Charlie and I joined the massive fight for a spot near the committee boat and got caught up in the air sponge of sails losing whatever advantage might have been gained by the line bias and losing options to tack out in the throng of boats. After seeing the left-side boats cash in, we both found ourselves switching plans, moving down to the center of the line below the scrum and able to blast out with a clean lane. This seemed to pay off in several races as the lift back to the mark seemed to be greater the deeper out you got.

Regatta winner Charlie Brewer had another idea which twice paid dividends for him (and burned him once, too.) He ducked the entire fleet on one start to go out far to the right to try to get to the pressure lines first. He was out nearly by his lonesome and it wasn’t looking good for awhile, until he came zooming into the top mark clear ahead of the fleet with only (I believe) Eric Peterson nearby. I have seen Charlie do this before in Norfolk and his thinking is, (correct me if I am wrong, Charlie) if you are in clear air and sailing fast rather than mixing it up in the crowd you are likely to do well. The shifty conditions certainly helped that strategy. If you were attentive to the breeze you could climb the ladder pretty fast. If not, there were a lot of snakes around.

Toward the end of the day, the river current began to sweep out along the eastern shore and played an interesting role at the bottom mark. Logic seemed to dictate that if you sailed to the left (going downwind) the outgoing tide would sweep you into the gates. But that led to a more direct downwind angle which actually turned out to be slower. (In my experience on the course) Those sailing deeper to the right, sailed hotter angles at the bottom and often got a little lift of speed near the gates that squirted them forward. It worked for me, anyway, once I cottoned on. The big key downwind, I found, was just to look aft for the pressure lines on the water and try to position in front of them well ahead of their arrival. Then, work the waves and gusts building speed ahead of the waves and soaking down once the pressure is full on.

Thanks again to Potomac River Sailing Association for hosting this event and inviting your friends from the south up to take part. It was a great time and the after-race brew and chew was a lot of fun. Hope to see you next year.

Robert Suhay

2016 Hangover Regatta

Regatta Photos (courtesy of Jim Lane)

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #6

All,

Today turned out to be a nice day.  Temperatures were close to 70 and the wind was 10 to 20 our of the south.  We had 9 boats make it out to the course and we ran 6 races all olympic courses that were running about 15 minutes each.

I think that there were a couple of important things sailing today with the top one being don’t capsize (though I think everyone did this at least once).  With the wind, the best way to sail fast was keeping the boat flat.  For the last 2 races, the wind built and the wind clocked left slightly.  When the wind shifted, the second leg of the triangle was definitely faster to sail by the lee.  You could tell this by watching Eric’s speed.  I chose not to do this however because of the shiftiness of the gusts and heaviness of the wind.  My opinion is that it was safer to not sail by the lee today on that leg.  Eric had one chicken gybe at the mark after doing this because of the puff that he was currently in.  The other important thing today was checking for stuff on your blades.  With all the rain there were a ton of leaves in the river and the blades were constantly building up.

The other important thing today was coming off the start line (as always).  With the brevity of the races though I think that starting well and keeping the boat flat and fast were about 90% of the racing.

Look forward to seeing everyone out next weekend or on the 1st.

Farley

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 6

2016 PRSA Dues Are Now Due!

Now is the time to pay your PRSA dues for 2016!   As a reminder, the PRSA constitution was amended at our Annual General Meeting and Awards Banquet on November 21, 2015.  As a result, the annual PRSA membership year now runs from December 1 through November 30.  The 2016 membership year started December 1, and you have until January 15 2016 to pay your dues without late fee.  On or after January 15, 2016, a late fee of $25 will be added to the dues of returning members.  After you fill out the membership form you will be offered the option of paying via PayPal or sending a check to our PRSA Treasurer.

I want to emphasize that having our association members pay dues up front each year is of immense help to all of our PRSA volunteers.  We can better allocate expenditures over the year, organize RC requirements, set up scoring systems in advance, and more.  Your PRSA dues support boat and equipment maintenance, insurance, slip fees, and everything else that goes into allowing us to race each weekend.  Of course, skippers must be paid PRSA members in order to qualify for the Laser Frostbite Series and the Spring and Fall series racing series, and to be eligible to vote at the PRSA AGM.

As you pay your dues I would also encourage you to support the PRSA Commodore’s Club (a donation can be added to your 2016 membership payment).  Donation’s to the Commodores Club go directly to our fund for boat and equipment maintenance.  Whether big or small, any additional donation is a great help as we work on maintaining our equipment and conducting safe and fun racing each year. 

A big thank you to all of the members who have already paid their 2016 dues.  Many thanks, as well, to all of those who contributed to the PRSA Commodore’s Club in 2015 (see listing here: http://www.potomacriversailing.org/applications/membership/CommodoreClub.php) I’m already looking forward to the 2016 sailing season, and I hope that you are as well!

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite Series #3

Gang,

Great day on the water. Excellent temps and decent wind – I always want more of the latter. The best part of the day was doing about 30 roll gybes on the way in – Jamie and I had fun with that.
Starting: With 20-some boats racing, getting off the line clean becomes a little trickier. I kept seeing wind to the right – but it never seemed to pay off. Eric started at the pin and it worked very well for him. Important to be at the line at speed especially if you are in a crowded spot. I felt I started accelerating earlier and earlier as I was originally in the habit of 20-knots from 2 weeks ago.
Upwind: Keep the boat moving. Don’t pinch. Not something I did particularly well. The Laser needs flow over the foils to give you height. So putting the bow down and getting up to speed will actually allow you to sail higher in the long-run. Also keep the boat flat in Sunday’s conditions. I am in the camp of having a flat boat even a touch to windward – it’s harder to sail with less pressure on the rudder but will pay off. I saw a lot of people sailing with leeward heel and while I think the speed was decent, the height was not. I felt like I had average speed but a lot of point (in comparison) – caught several boats on the last leg just by keeping the boat perfectly flat and out-pointing  people that rounded in front of me and was able to lock them out on the right corner.
Downwind: The fastest course to the mark is not always the shortest. Make sure you are either a slight reach or by the lee – running is pretty slow. Also, look behind you all the time. Two reasons: the wind fills in from that direction so you can track where puffs are and you want to make sure you are in clear air. I did well downwind by going either inside or outside – either seemed to work so long as I had clear air.
See everyone next week!

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite Series #2

The forecast was fairly accurate with some rain before racing and overcast the rest of the day and moderate winds at 9 and below.  It made for a good day to race on the river.  Jim Graham, pro for the day, said not to dawdle on shore as he was going to start races at 12:30 when 6 boats were on the line.  Good decision.  I dawdled and heard the 3 minute gun when I was 3.5minutes from the committee boat. Being late, I started at the pin and headed right as everyone else had gone way left.  The wind seemed to be a little stronger on the right most of the day and in the first race I played right and caught a few boats.   I just sailed on the lifts and puffs as they came in most cases was further right than the majority of the fleet.  Downwind was  slow and I kept left while some competitors went right and caught more wind.  I tried to minimize my usual mistakes, didn’t foul anyone, made clean if not fast rounding’s and didn’t get into squabbles with other lasers.

During the races I sailed on my own and didn’t pay particular attention to the rest of the fleet. This helped me keep focus but was a mistake in the 3rd race when 2 boats caught me 40 yards from the finish.  In that race I fell behind but got a burst of air on the right and hiked out of the first time and reached into the mark as I had overstood.

Lessons learned:  be on time, minimize mistakes, good starts, clear air.  As we get more lasers racing the hardest part seems to be getting the lasers docked and up the ramp.  Thanks everyone for helping each other !!  And good race committee work as well !!

For more details here is Cary Comer’s observations.  Welcome back Cary !

According to the powers that be, I may have come in third place…or, I may have come in close enough such that a few shaved points may have bestowed this responsibility upon me.  Regardless of how it came to be, here’s my take on today.  Given this was my first time out in about a year, I was mostly focused on two basic things: stay dry; and, come home in one piece (those that know me are aware that these are both challenging).

Today was generally a damp, light day.  Winds were consistently between 5 and 8mph from the north.  We sailed out in the river, almost due east of the ramps.  There was no traffic on the river aside from the steady flow of aircraft landing at DCA.  The current was moving pretty fast as high tide was at 10:30.  Jim and Nic got off four races before calling the day as some weather threatened from the north.

Starts were relatively straight-forward today, as there was plenty of space on the line, the ends were relatively square and there was not much fighting over positioning.  I really wanted to have clear air and stay out of the current heading upwind, so tended to mind my own business and focused on starting down by the pin.  It was important to keep a hole to leeward to allow for acceleration in the last five seconds before the gun, which I was moderately successful in keeping for two of the four starts.  Over the course of the day with the breeze tending to fill more so on the right, the pin didn’t really pay off much, so by the last race, I started right at the boat.

Going upwind, clear air seemed critical–when I didn’t have a clean angle, I would tack out and come back when I had a better lane.  For a couple of the beats, the breeze would shift way off to the right allowing us to sail way above the mark at times, but you had to stay aware to make sure your trim was right as the breeze bounced around.  Another interesting thing about the beats was the windward mark rounding–given the current and the light breeze, it was easy to get caught pinching up to the mark and losing speed particularly as things got congested.  I saw a few people coming in from the left have to tack out at the last minute to avoid this bottleneck.  Lastly, with the breeze shifting, I got greedy trying to cross someone on starboard as I was getting headed, and ended up fouling him.  That was a blessing in disguise: I did my turns, went back out to the left for some clear air, and made out much better than I had been prior to the foul.

Downwind was a different story, as this was not a strength for me today.  I’d like to blame the Thanksgiving over-eating for my dragging performance there, but it’s probably more a combination of bad decision-making, poor boat-handling, and being heavier than I once was.  I tried a number of different approaches like heading to the boat-side of the leg to ride the current (which didn’t pay off) as well as sailing by the lee whenever I could (also didn’t pay off).  All the while, I wasn’t really looking upwind enough to see the puffs and how others were setting up, and this cost me a lot of time in all races.

Leeward mark roundings were a great opportunity to make up distance today, as the short races allowed for a lot of congestion here.  The current was pulling people way south of the mark as they made their way through their turns, so starting my turn wide and early helped me stay tight to the mark and gave me speed coming out of the rounding.  More times than not, I was able to sneak inside of a boat or two, as well as have a better angle coming into the beat and some clear air to work with.

Thanks to all for a fun afternoon–I hope to see everyone out there again soon.  Maybe even next Sunday–I may surprise you.

2015-2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 2

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

PRSA AGM & Awards Ceremony Wrap-Up

We had over 50 people attend the 2015 PRSA Annual General Meeting and Awards Ceremony, making it one of the best attended in recent years!  I want to extend a very special thank you to Melissa Morgan and Heather Howard for all of their work in planning the AGM, organizing the food and drink, decorating the room, and generally ensuring good cheer such that a great time was had by all.

The PRSA Executive Committee was pleased to highlight  our growth over the year, including a 4th consecutive year of membership growth, the best attendance at the PRSA President’s Cup Regatta and Spring Regatta in the last 5 years, and more.  We were also pleased to recognize Lee Sayasithsensa, Rolf & Sue Zeisler, Lisa-Marie Lane, Stew Harris, and Lindsay Bach with PRSA awards.  You can keep reading for additional details and links to the relevant documents, including the AGM Agenda, the list of PRSA Spring and Fall Series winners, details on the perpetual award winners, and your 2016 PRSA Executive Committee.

Continue reading PRSA AGM & Awards Ceremony Wrap-Up

2015 PRSA Fall Series #6

What a fantastic day for some fall sailing!  It was a bit blustery when we headed out, but weird westerly that dominated the first race faded and the breeze then settled in for another couple of races in a 8-10 kt southerly.  In addition to the usual Lightnings, Buccaneers, and Albacores it was great to see 6 Lasers come out to race as well as 4 I-20 scows!  We even had a number of people dressed to celebrate Halloween!  Congrats to Will Summers for winning our impromptu costume contest.

PRO Jim Antonivich and his crew did a good job in getting us some nice long races on the south course near the power plant (something new!) and we were back on shore in time to enjoy a nice BBQ after the racing as the sunlight faded.  Since I was double-handing with John I didn’t have a ton of time to look around.  The first race was a bit funky, with all sorts of shifts and swirls as the W/SW breeze that was there in the morning tried to figure out what it was going to do.  The RC sent us on an O3 (!) and we managed to lead two of those three laps, only to be passed by Nabeel on the last full upwind leg.  Once we got ourselves sorted out, though, we were able to hold with the rest of the pack, even downwind (John did a great job flying the spinnaker and working us through some perfect jibes as I drove).  The 2nd and 3rd races – both O2 courses – saw some ups and downs in pressure but not too many shifts.  The line was a bit boat favored in both of those races, and I managed to put us over early in each one of them so we were playing catch up quite a bit.  The left (east) side of the course seemed to have more pressure as it was away from the shadow of the Alexandria shoreline, and that generally paid even as the current and tidal outflow became more of a factor later in the day.  In the Lightning class Nabeel won two races, Frank won the last one, and on 14592 we were consistently in 2nd all day long.  I’d welcome any additional thoughts and observations from other boats!

2015 Fall Series 6 – Albacores

2015 Fall Series 6 – Buccaneers

2015 Fall Series 6 – I20s

2015 Fall Series 6 – Lasers

2015 Fall Series 6 – Lightnings

2015 PRSA AGM & Awards Banquet – UPDATED with Dues Proposal Information

The 2015 PRSA Annual General Meeting and Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, November 21, 6-9 pm, in the party room at Marina Towers in Alexandria, VA.  Dinner & drinks will cost $25 per person (pay at the door with check or cash).   This is always a great chance to see everybody and reminisce about another year of great sailing, so I hope to see you there!  Please sign up here as soon as possible so that our volunteers can plan for the appropriate amount of food and drink.  Please submit your nominations for PRSA awards (see below) via email to prsacommodore@gmail.com no later than the end of the day on Monday, November 16.

A full agenda and details on the PRSA business meeting will be posted soon.  In the meanwhile, here is the basic schedule of events:

  • 6:00  Appetizers & Drinks
  • 6:30  Dinner
  • 7:30  Business Meeting & Awards
    • 7:30-7:45  Officer Reports
    • 7:45-8:15  Discussion of PRSA Dues Proposal (see docs below)
    • 8:15-8:20  Vote on PRSA Dues Proposal
    • 8:20-8:30  Discussion on 2016 PRSA Goals
    • 8:30-8:45  PRSA Spring & Fall Series Awards
    • 8:45-8:55  PRSA Perpetual Awards
    • 8:55-9:00  Discussion & approval of 2016 PRSA Executive Committee
  • 9:00  Adjourn & Cleanup

Award Nominations: we have several perpetual awards that are bestowed upon Association members at the AGM to recognize service to PRSA.  The list of these awards is below.  Please email me if you would like to nominate an Association member for one of these awards:

  • Founder’s Trophy  (for the general promotion of PRSA; highest recognition for service and dedication to PRSA)
  • Fleet Captain’s Award (for exemplary service on Race Committee Duty)
  • Nabeel Alsalam Award (for exceptional service coordinating the many activities of PRSA)
  • Yates Dowell III Award (for exceptional administrative service to PRSA)

PRSA Dues Proposal

Last year at the AGM the PRSA Executive Board raised the question of our dues structure, which has been unchanged since 2001.  Over time we have lost approximately 25% of the purchasing power of our dues intake.  We are also starting to consider the prospect of major equipment purchase/upgrades as PRSA continues to grow.  After the discussion last year the Exec Board was tasked with reviewing the dues structure and bringing a proposal to the 2015 AGM.  The documents below provide you with the proposal that we, the PRSA Executive Board, have developed.

Pursuant to Article XI of the PRSA Constitution (Amendments) we are providing this proposal to the membership 15 days in advance of the Annual General Meeting.  The proposal and supplementary documents attached to this message are also available on the PRSA website.  We will discuss the attached proposal at the AGM and a vote will be taken.  The voting procedure, described in Article IV of the PRSA Constitution, is also detailed on the attached proposal.

The following documents are attached (click on each document to access):

Comments and questions about the proposal prior to the meeting should be sent to commodore@potomacriversailing.org with “Dues Proposal” in the subject line.  We will try to respond to emailed comments/questions as appropriate.  However, only the comments presented and the votes cast at the AGM will constitute the official record on this matter.  I would strongly encourage you to attend the AGM to discuss the proposal there and to cast your vote.  Proxy votes may be cast according to the procedure described in the attachments.

PRSA Dinghy Open

UPDATE 5:15 PM 3 OCT: THE PRSA DINGHY OPEN WILL BE HELD AS SCHEDULED.  SEE YOU AT THE  MARINA!

Back by popular demand we will once again the PRSA Dinghy Open this  year!  This one-day stand-alone regatta on Sunday, October 4, is your chance to race boat-on-boat against other classes.  The regatta is open to any boat under 20′ in length.  Races will be scored using the Portsmouth Yardstick system.  Start organizing your crew now!  Click here to view the NOR and click here to view the Sailing Instructions.