All posts by Aaron

PRSA Happy Hour February 27, 7pm, at Solace (Navy Yard)

Hi sailors,

Our next happy hour will be at Solace in Navy Yard at 7pm on February 27th. This is a great opportunity to connect with other PRSA members, as well as possibly recruit new members to PRSA and find yourself crew! Sailors from DC Sail will be invited as well. Please RSVP (natalierehberger@me.com).
Solace has food options and is close to the Navy Yard metro stop. There is some street parking and there are parking garages in the area.
Natalie Rehberger
PRSA Social Chair

PRSA Happy Hour: January 30, 5-8 pm, Alexandria Bier Garden

Join us for a PRSA Happy Hour at Alexandria Bier Garden this coming Tuesday (Jan. 30), 5-8 pm.  PRSA members, their families, and friends (especially those seeking to get more into sailing!) are welcome. The beer garden is kid friendly with a variety of food and beverage options, and the address is 710 King St, Alexandria.  
 
Please RSVP to our new Social Chair, Natalie (natalierehberger@me.comjust so we have a good estimate of attendees—and many thanks to Natalie for organizing this opportunity for us to get together!  I hope to see you there!

PRSA AGM Wrap-Up

It was wonderful to see so many sailors, friends, and family members at our 2023 Annual Genera Meeting & Awards Ceremony at Port City Brewing!  In case you missed it, here is the agenda handout and racing results summary.  Huge thanks to Melissa for her work in organizing the event, and to all who pitched in for setup, cleanup, and other tasks in between to make our AGM a success.  Here are a  few key highlights:

  • The high point of the evening had to be, in my opinion, our opportunity to recognize Jim and Susan Graham for Honorary Membership (for life) in PRSA in recognition, per our PRSA Bylaws (Article III, Section D) of “…meritorious serve to PRSA, the sport of yachting, or for outstanding performance of seamanship.”  This was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Grahams, who emphasized that they are by no means done with sailing or supporting PRSA (and for that we are immensely grateful!).
  • Recognition of series award winners and perpetual trophy awardees (see posted summary)
  • Recognition and thanks to our outgoing PRSA ExCom Members and Volunteers (Stew Harris, Vice Commodore; Kyra Tallon, Secretary; Melissa Morgan, Social Chair) along with congratulations and thanks to those who stepped forward to fill various roles (Dave Coughlin, Vice Commodore; Melissa Morgan, Secretary; Natalie Rehberger, Social Chair; Josh Seely and John Van Voorhis, Website Development).

Looking ahead, we are still seeking a few volunteers to help with some 2024 initiatives: reviewing our membership & dues structure and heading up sustainability initiatives (huge thanks to Stas for taking this on in addition to his Fleet Captain role through 2023!).  Let me know if you might be interested.

Finally, now is also a good time for everybody to review our PRSA RC policies and procedures (RC & Boat Instructions, and Risk Assessment & Decision to Race, in particular).

I look forward to seeing you all on the water and around the marina!

2024 Dues Are Due!

Hello PRSA Sailors!  A quick reminder that your 2024 dues are due now! You can pay your dues and/or check your dues status here: https://potomacriversailing.org/dues-rc-duty/Dues must be paid on or prior to January 15!

The full terms of our dues are set out in our PRSA Bylaws (https://potomacriversailing.org/about-prsa/prsa-bylaws/ — see Article III, Section 3).  Paying dues on time is important for you, but also for your fleets!  Per the PRSA Bylaws, a fleet needs at least five or more paid members (active, junior, or life) by January 15 to qualify as an active one-design fleet for the year.  Being an active fleet, per the Bylaws definition means, among other things, that your fleet will have a fleet representative on the PRSA Executive Committee and that boats in your fleet will be scored as a Fleet in your racing series (https://potomacriversailing.org/about-prsa/prsa-bylaws/, Article VIII, Section 1) .  Long story short, make sure that you’ve paid your 2024 dues!  (Note that the information in the “Payment Received” column doesn’t update instantaneously when you renew.  When you pay your dues, you will receive an email confirmation, so make sure to look for that email confirmation of your renewal and payment).

PRSA Annual General Meeting: Nov. 18, 1-4 pm at Port City Brewing

Greetings Sailors!
The 2023 Potomac River Sailing Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Saturday, November 18, 1:00-4:00 pm at Port City Brewing Company (3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria VA, 22304).  Please use this form to RSVP: https://forms.gle/2nDrCkt7XbuKHvuE7 
Here are a few AGM details:
  • $35 per person (cash, check or PayPal); no charge for children 10 and under.
  • Fantastic food from Lebanese Taverna followed by Melissa’s famous cookie bar dessert
  • 2 drinks per person courtesy of PRSA; non-alcoholic beverages are also available (please note: no outside beverages).
Brief Agenda:
  • Officer Reports
  • Awards: racing awards, perpetual awards, and a few special recognitions
  • Election of Officers
  • New business/discussion
We’ve also added in a couple of fun items this year, stemming from our used sail upcycling effort through Sea Bags, which got us a selection of tool bags and tote bags made from parts of the sails that were upcycled (see photos, below):
  • 1 drawing for a PRSA tote bag. Any member who donated to the PRSA Commodore’s Club is eligible and will automatically be entered.
  • Silent auction for 1 PRSA tool bag and 1 PRSA tote bag.
And there is more fun news to share!  Thanks to Melissa’s hard work, PRSA has established a merchandise option with Lands’ End so that you can order Lands’ End merchandise with the PRSA logo embroidered on it!  Here’s how:
  • Navigate to – Homepage (landsend.com)
  • From there pick out any item you would like to have the PRSA logo embroidered on.  (Please note some items require a minimum purchase amount).
  • Pick the color and size of the item you wish to purchase.
  • Hit the Apply Logo button on the bottom left hand side of the website
  • The Lands’ End website will allow you customize the logo and the location of the logo.  (As of right now we only have one Logo but in the future we will add iterations of logos that will highlight classes and items that will present well on different fabrics and colors).
  • Add the item to your cart.  The price for the embroidery will be reflected there.
  • If you have questions or run into problems, you contact Lands’ End: Contact Us | Lands’ End Business Uniforms (landsend.com) or 1-800-587-1541
A more detailed agenda and set of notes will be provided at the AGM.  I look forward to seeing you all there!

Vote for PRSA Awards!

With many thanks to those who submitted nominations for our PRSA awards, the ballot to vote for award recipients is now open!  Please vote here: https://forms.gle/x11B8mENtnQSKSFy8
The awardees will be announced at the 2023 Annual General Meeting (Nov. 18, 1-4 pm, at Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA).   One vote per member.  Please vote for one candidate only for each award.  If you wish to write-in a name, please use the “Other” option.  To view the nominating statements that were submitted in support of various nominees, please click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BB8TN5rB1F1rZYyc69rZaW-qCqqOdeGxhxOLRJ_QZRM/edit?usp=sharing This ballot will close at the end of the day (11:59 pm) on Sunday, November 5.
This ballot is for the following awards (note that the Fleet Captain’s Award for exceptional RC duty is an award selected by the Fleet Captains; the award recipient will also be announced at the 2023 AGM):
  • Founder’s Trophy: Promotion of PRSA in general; the highest recognition for service to PRSA.
  • More Boats on the Water Trophy: Awarded for exceptional efforts leading to more boats racing through such activities as providing encouragement to timid sailors, helping get an old boat race-ready, creating a snow-ball by getting getting a critical mass of sailors to commit to racing, and so forth. Informally to be called the “More Boats on the Water” award.
  • Yates Dowell III Award: Awarded for exceptional administrative service to PRSA
Please make sure that you have Nov. 18, 1-4pm on your calendar for our AGM.  Additional details will be sent out soon!

PRSA AGM: November 18, 2023, 1-4 pm at Port City Brewing Company

Save the date!  The 2023 PRSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on November 18, 1-4 pm, at Port City Brewing Company (3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria VA).

Information on pricing/tickets, an RSVP form, and more details will be posted soon!

Scores Posted

Hello PRSA Sailors,

With sincere apologies for the delay, we have updated the “Results” page with the Provisional Spring Series results (final results will factor in RC Service and will be shared at the AGM) along with links to the Fall Series scoring posts.  (NB: we have received scores for Fall Series #2 but those are still being input and will be posted soon).  We, of course, would have liked to have had these posted earlier but some calculation complications and a file format issue (still not fully resolved) got in the way.  We’re working on these things!

Many thanks to Nabeel for serving as scorer (in addition to his regular and required PRSA ExCom Treasurer duties), to Tyler for the final proof and “true-up” (corrections based on RC service, participation, etc.) and John Van Voorhis for volunteering some time to also help troubleshoot the difficulties we encountered.

I look forward to seeing everybody at our PRSA Annual General Meeting on Nov. 18 at Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA (RSVP form and additional info coming soon!), where we will announce the final results of the PRSA Spring Series, PRSA Fall Series, PRSA perpetual trophy winners, PRSA service award winners, and more!

PRSA/Lightning Fleet 50 Sailors Represent at SSA Frigid Digit Regatta

Several PRSA / Lightning Fleet 50 sailors took part in the Severn Sailing Association’s Frigid Digit Regatta this past weekend!

Aaron Boesenecker, Piercarlo Brunino, Jeff Witten, Tim O’Brien, and Ed Stacey were all on the water. It was tough competition, with former NA Champs, the USA Team for the PanAm games, and other top-notch racers on the water. Congrats to Team Beedobeat (USA 14592) on taking 7th in a tough fleet after 5 days of great (and very choppy!) racing in Annapolis! (Photo Credit: Bertie Werley, Pymatuning Yacht Club).  View the scores and read the full regatta report here: https://www.lightningclass.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=93488&module_id=552596

PRSA President’s Cup: Ophelia wins both days

Tropical system Ophelia confounded our attempts at racing on both days of the 2023 President’s Cup Regatta.  We had too much wind, high surf, and flooding on Saturday.  Then, on Sunday, we had one of the calmest days on the Potomac in recent memory (absolutely no wind!).  None of this stopped the competitors from having a good time socializing over the food and drinks on Sunday afternoon, though.  Many thanks to all who attended, and especially to those who traveled for the regatta.  At least we were treated to a nice double rainbow over the cove as we wrapped things up on Sunday.

Debris line on Sunday after some launch area flooding.
Double rainbow over the cove at WSM
Full rainbow over the cove at WSM.