I was out of town for the first Spring Series day, so I am a little behind in posting these scores. This past weekend was great, and if you missed it, well you missed it. Temps were in the low 80’s and the winds were south 10-15. Conditions don’t get better than that on our river. The Race Committee for week 2 was ably headed up by Bob Astrove and a mostly Lightning crew of assistants. It was nice to see Bill Buck out there lending a hand as well. 6 Lightnings, 5 Albacores, 4 Hobies, and 4 Buccaneers came out to play and were all glad they did. Scores after the break:
Tag Archives: Sailboat racing
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:
And here are some pictures taken by James Vavricek while on RC at the windward mark:
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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 #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:
Week #7 Results:
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 #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:
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 #2 Wrap-Up
Greetings PRSA Sailors! As many of you know, I’ve been writing reports from our spring/fall series racing for the Lightning fleet over the past year. We’re going to start posting these write-ups here as well, in the hopes of starting a conversation among all the fleets and sailors out for our regular races. I’ll do my best to capture what I see on the racecourse each Sunday, but here is where we need your help: if you are sailing in one of the other fleets, go ahead and post a comment with your own experiences from the racing (just click the little “no comment” link above the post to add a comment). We definitely want to hear from you, and we hope to start a pattern of weekly postings and emails (via our listservs) that recount the day’s racing and generate some enthusiasm for the next event. So read on to hear about Fall Series #2, but more importantly, feel free to chime in with your own voice!
The PRSA Fall Series #2 was another day of tricky river sailing. Light and variable NE winds combined with a strong current and stiff tidal flow made for challenging strategic and tactical decisions. If you went south to get a patch of breeze, you then had to fight your way back north against the current to get to a mark. If you sailed to far into the NE corner under Hains Point you found yourself being pushed down the river with no breeze to power you across the way to the leeward mark. As with any given Sunday, there was an element of chance involved…but in talking to folks afterwards, it became clear that the boats that did well also made good decisions–most notably, in “connecting the dots” between patches of breeze. Overall, we were thrilled to see Chris Kozel and his team (Palmer Phillips and Chris Lewton) win their first race in Lightning Fleet 50 on Sunday–congratulations Chris! It was also great to see a few new faces out on various boats, and to welcome back some folks that we hadn’t seen in a bit. Keep reading for a detailed wrap-up of the day’s racing and post-race fun, and be sure to post your own comments and stories from the weekend here!
Fall Series #1 Results – 09-18-2011
The skies were grey with a threat of rain so I think a lot of people decided to stay home. What a shame, it turned out to be an excellent day of sailing. The breeze was out of the NE for the most part with some huge right shifts throughout the day. It came in at about 12kts while we were standing around on the docks for the skippers meeting and slowly faded as the day progressed. The RC, ably headed up by Nathan Marsh and the Albacore fleet, set up a nice Windward-Leeward course running diagonally across the river. Four Albacores, Four Hobies, and Seven Lightnings came out to play in the shifting breezes. With the big right shifts, Jibe Sets were the order of the day for the Lightning fleet which made good crew work a premium. We got four races in before the dying breeze gave up for the day. A good day was had by all. Here are the scores:
Spring Series #8, 06/05/11
Well the Spring Series is now a wrap. We had great turnout on the last day of the series with Albacores, Buccaneers, Hobies, and Lightnings all coming out to play. The weather was… Well it was… what? A bit cloudy, hot, the breezes were light to non existent, and generally east except for the thermals coming off the airport. The current was a major factor. The RC, headed by Nathan Marsh did a good job in some trying conditions. The first race was almost time limited, but most boats managed to finish. The next two races were better, but all in all it was a painful day for everyone. Still a rough day on the water is better than a day spent doing anything else. Here are the scores: