Tag Archives: Washington DC Sailing

PRSA President’s Cup

prsa logo triangle2 The 2015 PRSA President’s Cup Regatta, sponsored by Annapolis Performance Sailing, will be held September 19 & 20 at Washington Sailing Marina, continuing the long tradition of competitive one-design racing started by the President’s Cup in 1934.  The regatta will be sailed on the Potomac River on two courses.  One-person dinghies (Lasers, El Toros, Penguins) will race on Saturday in the cove near Washington Sailing Marina (WSM) or off of the power plant just south of WSM.  Other classes (Albacores, Buccaneers, Catamarans, Flying Scots, Lightnings, I-20s, etc.) will race Saturday and Sunday on the north course between Hains Point and Gravelly Point (with the Capitol and national monuments as a backdrop).   Register now for the 2015 President’s Cup and view the NOR and other race information.  Registration fees increase after September 12, so make sure to register and pay online before September 12 to save yourself a bit of cash!

APS-Logo-OrangenoText                          DC Sail

Special thanks to Annapolis Performance Sailing for sponsoring the regatta and providing some additional prizes.  This year we will also have a spectator boat – the schooner American Spirit – thanks to the generosity of DC Sail and the National Maritime Heritage Foundation!  Make sure to tell your friends and family about this fantastic opportunity to view the sailing from the water on Sunday, Sept. 20.

 

PRSA Photo Contest

PRSA is once again partnering with CalendarLink (http://www.calendarlink.org/prsa/home.html) to produce a 2016 tide calendar.  These calendars show the actual tides predicted for the Potomac River at Washington National Airport on the Potomac River!  

This year we are having a photo contest to select photos to include in the calendar.  All PRSA members are encouraged to enter their very best photo.  Each PRSA member may submit one photo for consideration.  The winning photo will become the cover photo for the calendar and the winner will receive a FREE 2016 PRSA Calendar. 

 Here are the requirements for calendar photo submissions:

  • Photos must be horizontal images from digital cameras. 
  • Photos must be a minimum of 300 DPI width of 10.3 inches, height 8 inches or 3100 x 2400 pixels or a 1.3 to 1 ratio.
  • Photos may be submitted in JPEG, GIF, or PNG format.
  • Photos need not be from the current calendar year.

So get out there and start taking pictures!  Then, figure out which one is your best picture and enter it into the contest.  Email your photo to Jeff Neurauter (jmnsailor@yahoo.com) no later than November 1, 2015. 

Summer is Wednesday Night Sailing Season!

It is summer, so that means that it is Wednesday Night Sailing Season!  Stroll down to Washington Sailing Marina and look for our PRSA sailors in the dock/crane area around 5:30 each Wednesday.  If you’re new,  simply introduce yourself!  Wednesday night sailing is very informal, with short races in the cove and lots of fun/practice sailing.  We rotate people in and out of boats right off the dock, so everybody gets to take a turn!

Wednesday Night Sailing 24 June 2015
Wednesday Night Sailing 24 June 2015

2015 Spring Series #6 on May 30

We had a beautiful day on the river with a 10-12 kt. southerly blowing steadily all day long.  Will Phillippe and his RC crew set a nice long racecourse and gave the various classes a mixture of “T” and “W” courses.  The great breeze meant that we finished 4 races in no time and I think most sailors were happy to head to shore to relax, stretch out, and enjoy a beverage with some BBQ after a great (but exhausting) day of sailing.

2015 Spring Series 6 – Buccaneers

2015 Spring Series 6 – Lightnings

2015 Spring Series 6 – Multihulls

May 31 Wind Observations

2015 Spring Series #5

Although there was no wind when the sailors arrived at the marina, PRO Bob Astrove made the call to two boats up to the racecourse.  It was a good decision, as a nice southerly filled in allowing the boats to get in three good races before sailing back to the marina and enjoying a nice BBQ under sunny skies.  You can read the great writeup of the day’s action from Will Phillippe in the Lightning fleet on the Fleet 50 website.

2015 Spring Series 5 – Albacores

2015 Spring Series 5 – Lightnings

2015 Spring Series #4

Sunday turned out to be another predictable day sailing on the Potomac.  You were completely assured that whatever breeze you were currently sailing in would quickly increase or decrease in velocity, or completely change direction.  Once again, our PRO and RC for the weekend (Dan, Barney, Lee, and Jim) deserve praise for focusing on running races in the dynamic wind conditions.

Continue reading 2015 Spring Series #4

2015 Spring Series #3

Well, Spring Series #3 was certainly far different than the previous week’s “puff and shift festival” (to quote Bobby Astrove).  Instead of 15-25 from the east we were greeted with a light and variable wind and plenty of sunshine when we arrived at the marina.  At first it looked like the forecast breeze (NE 8-10, shifting to N and then NW) would fill in as predicted.  However, the breeze shut down completely as we tried to make it up to the race course, prompting PRO Nich Allen and skiff driver Stew Harris to organize tows up to the course.

Continue reading 2015 Spring Series #3

2015 Spring Series #2

Today was an awesome day on the water and the weather gave us exactly the opposite from last weekend.  The breeze was out of the east/south east and was blowing around 16 most of the day.  As is typical of an east wind, the conditions were quite puffy and shifty.  The race committee set us up a triangle course and was able to get 5 races off (3 T2s and 2 O2s).  The conditions gave us some nice long reaching legs that were quite fast at times.  We had 3 Albacores, 2 Buccaneers, and 6 Lightnings and decided at the skippers meeting to just have everyone start together which provided fun races and competitive starts.

2015 Spring Series 2 – Albacores

2015 Spring Series 2 – Buccaneers

2015 Spring Series 2 – Lightnings