Category Archives: Fleets

PRSA Fleets

Lightnings, News

Sailing Tomorrow? Lightings in Leesylvania and some sweet sailing videos

Tomorrow looks like better weather than we had last weekend, so who’s up for some sailing? After last weekend, the weather can only get better. The Lightings are in Leesylvania, so I’m hoping to see a good number of cats, Bucs and Albacores, as everyone is guaranteed at least one more start than normal!

This weekend is the annual Doc Gilbert Regatta in Leesylvania State Park. This is the first of two regattas hosted by Lighting Fleet 50 the year – the second is the Dixie Districts. Information on the Doc Gilbert Regatta is here: http://lightningfleet50.org/?page_id=416

The Olympics are this year, and the US Sailing Team is well represented, but the Swiss, so far, have the best multimedia. If you find yourself stuck inside, check out some awesome video of the Swiss Sailing Team here: http://vimeo.com/30784621 and here: http://vimeo.com/35598342.

Lasers, Videos

Frostbite sailors scream downwind

March 4th, 2012 was a big wind day*.  The Laser frostbite fleet went out onto the river to avoid the puffs and shifts in the cove.   Here is some video the RC boat — Steve Yelland and Kevin Crowley — took of us flying downwind.

Lasers fly downwind

* Observations at the airport: 12:52 – N at 15 mph with gusts to 22, 13:52 NW at 22 with gusts to 31, 14:52 NW at 21 with gusts to 31.

Frostbite, Lasers

Laser Frostbite Day #5, 12/18/2011

It was a beautiful day on the Potomac River with the wind from the northwest 7-15, which was more than the forecast that I saw. The sun was behind the clouds making it feel like a frostbite race but the wind was enough to keep you working. It was another great turnout with 23 boats making it on the last sailing day in 2011. Will Summers and Istvan Pely set up a windward leeward out in the river. The current was coming in/slack at the beginning of the day and was going out pretty aggressively by the last race keeping the fleet off the line.
Getting a good start was essential and the mark roundings were crowded which put an emphasis on making the right decision in a short amount of time. The firsts were well spread out in six races with six different people winning a race (Erich, Frank, , Len & Robert). The wind was very shifty which caused many lead changes. Results are posted here.
I have been excited by all the new faces this year and the turnouts thus far. I hope that we can keep it up in 2012.
The next Sunday is the Hangover Regatta January 1. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year and hope to see you on the water on the 1st.

-Erich

2011, Lasers, Pictures, Regattas, Results

PRSA Spring Regatta 2011, Lower Course Results

If you missed Saturday you missed a great sailing day with a south breeze 10 mph and warm temps. We had sixteen boats with a few people who have not sailed in quite sometime. Steve Parsons sailed with us for the fist time in about a year and Cheryl Taylor has not sailed in over a year.

The day started out with a very solid breeze with very few wind shifts (unusual conditions for the river) but by the fourth race the river had found its wind shifty groove.

Cary Comer came out of the gate rounding all of the marks in the first race in first and finished fourth on the day. Len Guenther warmed up after the first three races and finished with a 3-1-3-4 and good enoguh for third place overall. Justin Pollack was very consistent and finish the day with a first in the last race and second in the overall standings. Erich Hesse loved the steady southerly and took the first place honors.

Thanks to Jim Graham for organizing the regatta. Big thanks to Rick Welch, Aaron Boesenecker (thanks for the pictures) and another Lightning crew member for great RC and crunching the numbers by hand afterwards. Thanks to Steve Parsons, Len, and Farley with helping flipping burgers and rolling hot dogs. I think a great time was had by all.

Erich Hesse (Laser Fleet Captain)

2011 PRSA Spring Regatta – Lasers

Pictures: Lasers on the Lower course

Lasers, Pictures, Results

Laser Frostbite 1/30/2011

Fourteen people showed up to take part in a 40 degree day on the last Sunday of January. The wind was from the east-northeast starting out light to variable in the last race. Erich Hesse and Ridley Nelson set up a windward-leeward course in the cove with the starting line within a stone’s throw of the Mount Vernon bike path. The winner of the day was Nabeel Alsalam and his winner’s write-up below. We had one new boat owner join us for the first time, Justin Pollack, who bought a boat that has been sitting at the marina. Justin had a good day after a long hiatus from Laser sailing and finished 2nd overall. We also had a friend of Alex Jacob, Shawn Golden, join us and they both showed the older/heavier people how to do it in the light air.

Here is a cool shot by Erich of Nabeel ghosting toward the finish. (Click to enlarge)

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2011, Lasers, News, Regattas, Results, Videos

PRSA Hangover Regatta – January 1, 2011

What a day! We had our biggest Laser regatta ever today, 33 boats. Thanks to all that traveled to join us to help us push over the 30 boats mark. The weather could not have been better with temps in the 50’s and a south breeze 7-12 mph. We sailed in the river with the current coming in throughout the racing. There were 5 races.

Tim Zimmerman was untouchable with four firsts in five races and won the regatta handily.

Special thanks to our RC for the day Nabeel Alsalam, Rob Young, Collette Bolton, Mike Heinsdorf & Tom Berlin. Thanks also to Adam Dolezal who provided hot dogs for those who stuck around after racing.

— Erich (Laser Fleet Captain)

Some of the 2011 Hangover Regatta Sailors

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Albacores, News, Videos

Albacore 2010 Video Mashup

Check out the Some great shots of Albacores in anything from 10-30 knots of breeze from Sarasota, the Chesapeake and Canada.  Some great shots and commentary of Barney Harris, local Albacore sailor and current World Champion.  But will he be able to defend the Championship in the 2011 Internationals in Toronto, Canada?  Watch for the encore presentation after the credits.

2010, Flying Scots, Lightnings, Results

2010 Doc Gilbert Potomac Cup Regatta

The annual Doc Gilbert Potomac Cup Regatta was held this past weekend down at Leesylvania State Park on the Potomac River. This year, in addition to the 25 Lightnings on hand, we had 9 Flying Scots join us for two days of great racing. Saturday was mostly clear with breezes from the SSW at 6-12kts, and on Sunday we got 10-15 under mostly cloudy skies. The conditions were just plain ideal for some really tight racing at times. The Lightning class was won by Ed Adams in a tight match with John Faus. I have to point out, however, that young Justin Copan really dominated the weekend with 4 bullets and a third. Why didn’t he win? Unfortunately for him, one of those bullets turned into a 26 as he was OCS. DOH!! Other than that faux pas, he really put on a clinic for us. On the Flying Scot side, David Neff won the top honors with 3 bullets and 2 deuces. Another dominant performance. As usual, Fleet 50 put on an excellent regatta, with some great RC work headed up by Bruce Bingman. Of course the awesome weather didn’t hurt either! complete scores after the break:

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