Stephen Duncan ran the races with the help of Kyra Tallon.
Down at the marina, the wind was easterly and shifted left and started to die.
(Races 19-20)
Category Archives: News
2023 Spring Series #7 (May 21)
John Van Voorhis, Bob Bear, and Steen Byskov and son ran the races – four of them.
(Races 15-18)
2023 Spring Series #6 (May 14)
Jim Graham ran the races with Barney Harris running the mark boat. Natalie Rehberger, Mike Heinsdorf, and Eva Hogan assisted.
The Lightnings were finishing day 2 of the Doc Gilbert Memorial Potomac Cup.
The winds were from the NE with shots from the ENE. During the 3rd race, the winds died completely leaving the sailors helpless against the current pushing them up river. The wind finally came back in to allow them to finish.
Lightning Doc Gilbert Potomac Cup Results
(Races 12-14)
2023 Spring Series #5 (May 7)
Dana Howe, John Van Voorhis, David Roberts, Austin Bradham, and Walter Truluck ran the races.
Winds were very light and a number of boats were still working their way up to the starting area at 1125 prompting a postponement. About 25 or so minutes later the Southerly filled in enough that we could manage two starts but we sent them on a W1 for Race One. The breeze filled in a little more allowing us to post W2 courses for races two and three.
At best I’d say we saw 8 kts with moderate current all day. The wind was mostly from the south (strait upriver) and would drift easterly once in a while.
— Dana Howe
Here are the results:
(Race 9-11 in the series)
PRSA at the Annapolis and DC Boat Shows!
PRSA Sailors: I’m excited to share that PRSA has been invited to participate in the Annapolis Spring boat show, April 28-30, and the First Annual Washington DC Boat show May 5-7. Both shows are showcasing local sailing / boating clubs, which gives us a great opportunity to promote our club and fleets. Many thanks to our PRSA Secretary, Kyra, and to Melissa for all of the organizing work here! Please take a moment to read the details below and then let us know if you might have some time to volunteer to staff the booths at one or both shows. If you plan on stopping by just to visit the shows, let us know as well (and be sure to wear some PRSA gear!).
- The Annapolis Boat show — April 28-30 — is providing our members a discount code, “PRS23”. This will get you admission to the show for $12. Spinsheet has coordinated the club showcase, and will be taking photographs through the event, so wear your PRSA gear, especially if you are willing to volunteer at our PRSA booth.
- The DC Boat show (May 5-7) will be held at National Harbor. We will be there with other local clubs to promote sailing on the river and collaboration among our area clubs.
2023 Spring Sunday Series #3
What a crazy wind day! It started from the NW. Died. Came back from the east. Went west. Filled in from the south. To their credit, the RC led by Justin Harler and Stas Burgiel of the I-20 fleet held their noses and started races.
Below are the scores. Some sailors are falling through the cracks because they have not registered their intension to sail the series. The only skippers I have in the scoring program are those that have registered. So please register here.
2023 Spring Sunday Series #2
Stew Harris and I-20 team ran the races. The southerly was steady and the wind was easy to handle.
The scoring has changed this season. (And we are still figuring out the edge cases.)
1) boats must register their intension to sail in the series, Use this link to register: https://forms.gle/
2) all registered boats are scored in each race,
3) race committee is given a provisional score of number of finishers but eventually will get their average among non-DNC (doing RC will help your series score), and
4) showing up at the marina gives you a DNS ( = number of finishers + 2) which is better than DNC ( = number registered) even if you don’t splash your boat.
2022-2023 Laser Frostbite #10
Somehow an out-of-practice clown show landed 3rd place on Sunday’s score sheet. My day was more about recalling than performing. Here are some recollections. The current was flooding, the wind was southerly, and the starting line was a comfortable length, so getting off the line with a good lane was relatively easy. I typically found myself below the boat at 1 minute, danced a bit up to the line with others, then cranked on the vang at ~10 seconds and bore off into my hole for speed. I likely started too far off the line because I never remembered getting a good line sight. There were gains to be made by being in phase with the wind, in retrospect. Clearing the mainsheet so it will run out at the windward mark; yeah, do that. Getting into proper position in the boat and looking over your shoulder for wind on the downwind leg, probably ought to do that too. Ensuring clear overlap communications and being practiced at pulling in the mainsheet with both hands at the leeward mark jibe, ditto. Overall, well-run races on a nice windy day, thank you Tyler and Jim. It was fun cranking the vang and working that ease, hike, sheet cycle to keep the boat flat. Now, where did I put the ibuprofen?
-Len Guenther
2022/2023 Frostbite Series #10
2022-2023 Laser Frostbite #9
It was another light and variable day on the Potomac, but with enough wind to get in 6 races I have no complaints. Wind was 2-6 out of the south, then southeast, with strong current flowing out at the start of racing, then trailing off. I tried to start towards the pin end of the line (and on time, a personal challenge) I think most of the earlier starts in particular had a pin favor, and going left tended to pay off as the wind shifted to the east throughout the day. It was a challenging day as no one could quite predict where the next puff would be on the course which definitely helped me claw back to the pack after some less than ideal starts. The puffs were shifty as well; staying laser focused on my telltales on the upwind really helped.
The course had a leeward gate which made things interesting, but is always a challenge to keep straight. The [course starboard] side mark was favored for most of the early races and I definitely lost boats by trying to avoid the mess over there and going to the clean, but further gate. I’ve been using far more vang than I used to in light air and it seems to be helping. I also played with my outhaul in the puffs and lulls on the upwind (it was so light I often had time to fiddle), letting it off downwind. Kudos to Dave and Morgan on the race committee for keeping things straight as they could and banging out 6 races in some tricky conditions.
Ethan
2022-2023 Laser Frostbite #8
You should have been there. It was a beautiful winter day for frostbite sailing. The temperature was in the low 40s. The sun was out. According to sailflow the winds were in the 15 to 20 range with higher gusts but it did not feel that high to me. There were waves that were not aligned with the wind when we first went out but they flattened out.
My goal was to sail conservatively and stay upright. I succeeded! One time I “tea-bagged” but I I kept my cool and my feet in the hiking straps trimmed in and bore off some and the wind pulled me back up. I did lose a boat but it could have been worse!
Jim Klein and Michael Liss ran the races for us and they set an olympic for the first race and two-triangles for the next four probably because they wanted to keep us from sailing dead downwind, rocking and rolling (and capsizing).
The course was skewed left, so that starboard was the long tack upwind. I started every race at the boat end with speed and was able to use starboard rights to keep people to leeward of me from crossing me. My vang was pulled to the block-to-block mark and I kept the mainsheet eased a bit so that I could sail relaxed, flat, and fast. This worked as I was first to the windward mark four of five times. Plus, I noticed a left shift as I got closer to the Virginia side which was perfect for tacking and getting up to the layline.
Downwind, I was conservative. At the windward mark, I was careful to bear off and gain speed before bearing off more. I did not completely ease the vang. I did not bother easing the outhaul or raising the board. I wanted to feel and respond to the gusts instead of messing around fine tuning. At the gybe mark I experimented staying on port and extremely by the lee. It felt fine and stable but probably a bit slow.
The weakest part of my sailing was rounding the leeward mark. With the extra pressure from the wind, I pulled in the mainsheet with my left hand only instead of using both my left and right arms, so it took what seemed like an eternity to get up to close hauled. Something to work on.
Nabeel