Category Archives: Spring Series

Spring Series, 2016, Announcements, News, Results

2016 Spring Series #8 Wrap-Up

A handful of Lightnings and one hearty Buccaneer came out Sunday for what turned out to be a beautiful day of sailing.  The forecast was for high winds and possible thunderstorms, but despite a few gusts early in the and some grey clouds it ended up being a wonderful day on the water.  PRO Kyra Tallon and her crew got us 4 beautiful races in a steady southerly breeze.  The wind filled in over the course of the day such that the gusts diminished and the overall velocity became more consistent in the 12-15 range.  There were a few shifts on the day, notably a big lefty in race 3 that ran counter to the overall advantage one gained by sailing right (west) to find breeze and some shifts.  It was a great day to work on boat balance, trim, and downwind angles in a bit of breeze (but not too much).  Fun was had by all and we were back to the dock by 2:30 thanks to a high tide that allowed us to sail just outside the airport pier (though I did dig my centerboard into the mud a few times later in the day).  Overall it was a great way to round out the Spring Series racing!

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Spring Series, Results, 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

Spring Series, News, Results, 2015

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

Spring Series, 2015

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.

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Spring Series, 2015

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.

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Spring Series, News, Results, 2015

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

Spring Series, Results, 2015

2015 Spring Series #1

The opening day of PRSA’s 2015 Spring Series arrived clear, blue and still: the river was glass smooth and only faint wisps of breeze out of the north were all that remained of the frontal winds from the day before. Race Committee PRO Jim Graham pulled everyone together for the skippers’ meeting at ten and announced a one hour delay, noting that we all had to be off the water for the PRSA BBQ scheduled to begin at 3PM. Four Lightnings were present– Frank Gallagher, Nabeel Alsalam, Bob Astrove, and Lindsay Bach– along with groups of three or four each of Albacores, Buccaneers and Interlake Scows. So everyone milled about for an hour or so when Jim came walking through the clusters of sailors blowing his whistle, announcing another one hour delay. About halfway through the second hour, Jim decided we should all splash and the RC would tow the boats up to the course. This took about about three quarters of an hour during which time the the scows dropped out. The wind was still mostly absent though the forecast was calling for the breeze to come up out of the South sometime around one o’clock. So the fleet drifted and bobbed for about another three-quarters of an hour in the luxurious sunshine until a faint southerly breeze of about 3 mph began to fill in, right on schedule, a little after 1:00 PM.

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