Category Archives: News

11/07/2009 PRSA Fall Finale Scores

Wow, what a beautiful day for sailing!! Temps were in the 60F’s, winds were blowing straight out of the south at 8 to 12MPH, and the sun was shinning. We sailed out on the river down by the power plant. Got five windward/leeward races in on a fairly long course. Winds were unusually steady, with small waves coming up the river. We had ten Lasers, two hobies and one albacore on the course. Thanks to Frank, Mladen, Brenna, Barney and Jill for doing RC. We had awards, chili and apple cider/rum after racing.
Scores after the break:

Continue reading 11/07/2009 PRSA Fall Finale Scores

New Video! Albacores & Lightnings

Check out “Blue Skies”, a 7 1/2 minute video of footage shot on September 20, 2009. We had 2 video cameras out that day, I had one on the chase boat and Keith Strasser the other on the start line, and shot some good footage of Albacores and Lightnings racing. Be sure to click the full screen button on the lower right corner of the player. Enjoy:

Oh yes, Why is it on Youtube and not Zest Factor? This is HD video, and Zest Factor can’t handle that yet. Soon though.

Fall Series #7 11/01/2009 Scores

OK, so I got up looked out the window, saw just how miserable it was… and went back to bed. Shame on me and all the rest of us who voted to stay dry. The rain dried up, the breeze came in and 5 Lightnings, with the odd Laser and Hobie Cat for company came out to play. They got three races in before calling it a day. Rick Welch won the day for the lightnings, while Jim Klein (Laser) and Rod Sellers (Hobie Cat) get honorable mentions for coming out to race by themselves. Scores after the break:

Continue reading Fall Series #7 11/01/2009 Scores

PRSA Sunday Series # 7 – November 1 – Last one for 2009!

Eric Johnson was PRO, with RC provided by Jim Graham, Steve Parsons, and Wilda Heiss.  We got an extra hour of sleep Saturday night, as we switched from Daylight Savings time back to Standard time, so we were rested and ready to compete.   The AccuWeather forecast (always subject to change)  called for a partly sunny afternoon (with rain ending in the morning), a high of 53 degrees, and winds from the NNE at 10 – 9 MPH. High tide was at 6:48 AM; low tide at 1:05 PM (and high again at 6:59 PM)  Sunset was at 5:08 PM.  The river flow was above normal for this time of year, at 7,710 CFS (gage height 3.7 ft). The water temperature was a seasonal 57 degrees.   Five Lightnings came out, along with one Cat and one Laser.  The rain ended a little after one PM, and the wind picked up, making for good racing for those who came out and stayed out.  Results to be posted soon.

News, Pictures, Etc.

ZestFactorLogo2 

 

For the last several weeks I have been trying out/building/creating a new way for PRSA to host images and videos. It is called Zest Factor (http://www.zestfactor.com) and is still very much a work in progress. However, its at a stage I need to start seeing if it all works.  I have uploaded and set up 3 play lists of images to share, including the pics Erich Hesse took on 09/20 FS#1. Also pics of Nabeels boat after the T-bone, and Pats boat after the capsize. Enjoy. 

 Links and pics after the break:

Continue reading News, Pictures, Etc.

Fall Series #6 10/25/2009 Scores

Well it looked promising as we left the dock with northerly breezes in the low teens. By the time we got up to the race course however, it had started to fade. We sailed the first race in 6-8 with big shifts from right to left and back again. The race committee set up a nice long course, triangles for some and WL’s for others. The second race started in 1-4 and faded to near zero by the time I crossed the finish line. Very painful and frustrating race. Anyway, it was a beautiful day to be on the water, and the beers were cold so a good time was had on Ariel. In all 3 Cats, 4 Albacores and 6 Lightnings came out to play. Where is everybody?

 Scores are up after the break:

Continue reading Fall Series #6 10/25/2009 Scores

PRSA Fall Series # 6, Sunday, October 25!

Eric Johnson was PRO, with RC provided by the Albacores and others.  The AccuWeather forecast  for Sunday called for mostly sunny skies, a high of 65 degrees, and northerly winds at 10 MPH.  The river flow was above normal,  at 5,360 CFS (gage height 3.4 ft).  The water temperature was a seasonal 58 degrees. Low tide was at 8:42 AM and high tide at 2:25 PM.  Winds were lighter than predicted, and it only made it to 61 degrees, but it was still an improvement over the previous weekend’s weather. The Marine Corps Marathon was Sunday morning, so there were street closures in downtown DC, and a view of the runners on the road in East Potomac Park during the first race.  Here is Eric’s report:  “It looked like it was going to be a great day was we were motoring up to the course, with a cool, steady 10-12kt northerly breeze, but the wind started to drop out right around 11:30.  We were seeing pretty dramatic changes in direction, oscillating from NE to NW on about a 10-minute cycle, as well as steadily decreasing wind speeds, so we called it a day after two races. We wound up towing several of the boats in, as the wind dropped to zero after (and during) the last race.  There were six Lightnings, three Cats, and four Albacores in attendance.”  Results to be posted soon.

Fall Series #4 10/11/2009 Scores – and Photos!

What a simply beautiful day on the river yesterday. 7 Lightnings and 8 Hobies came out to play (The Albacores were away at their National Championship) on a gorgeous fall day with temps near 70 and light breezes out of the North. Rick Welch dominated the Lightnings with 4 (count ’em) 4 bullets. Wow. On the Hobie side Bob Etheridge won the day. It was really nice to see such a great turnout from the Hobie class this week.  Photos by John Butler here (thanks, John!) Scores are after the break:

Continue reading Fall Series #4 10/11/2009 Scores – and Photos!

PRSA Fall Series # 4, Sunday October 11!

Eight Hobies outnumbered the seven Lightnings on the race course on a beautiful fall 69-degree sunny day!  Not only that, five of the 7 Lightnings were short crew!  PRO  Nabeel Alsalam set a long leeward – windward course with the windward mark near the entrance to Roaches Run, and the leeward mark near the entrance to the Anacostia, and got off four races in quick succession.  The winds were in the range predicted (7 MPH) but were up and down, with some serious shifts. One gust knocked over a Hobie in the second race, but other than that the winds were gentle enough to allow double-handed spinnaker flying, some successful.  Low tide was at 9:14 AM and high tide at 2:32 PM.  The river flow was well below normal for this time of year, at 1,410 CFS (gage height 2.7 ft) and the water was a seasonal 64 degrees.  Results and stories to be posted soon