Tag Archives: PRSA

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! →

Fall Series

Fall Series #5 Results, 10/23/2011

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:

Albacore Fall Series #5

Buccaneer Fall Series #5

Hobie Fall Series #5

Lightning Fall Series #5

Announcements

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.

News

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.

Continue reading Fall Series #4 Wrap-Up →

News

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!

Continue reading Fall Series #3 Wrap-Up: We Had Breeze! →