Category Archives: Frostbite

Laser Racing Over the Winter

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, Lasers, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #15

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Hi all,

Thank you all for allowing me to race as a guest at PRSA last weekend and today. It’s great to sail with such an active and helpful group of Laser sailors.

The weather for the day was sunny, but temps just above freezing. Winds were gusty, with huge ranges in speed that changed multiple times in each race. The prevailing direction started from the West but worked North throughout the day, though it seemed like every drop in wind pressure precluded a more Westerly shift as it filled in again. I felt I was constantly changing my controls to match the conditions.

Despite all of that I want to thank those on the RC boat for doing a great job of setting courses, getting 6 races off, and helping a fellow sailor right their boat and get back to the dock safely after spending some time in the water. The 15 seconds I spent in the water last weekend was all I needed to know that safety in cold weather sailing is extremely important. There was more than one capsize today as well. I managed to have a spectacular deathroll coming into the leeward mark while leading a race. I made it onto the daggerboard without going (fully) in the water, but my mast was pointed into the wind. If I righted the boat with it like that it would have likely capsized again to leeward. I opted to wait for the puff to pass, taking the time to make sure my vang was off and the main sheet clear to prevent the same outcome. Something I also make sure to do when I first put on my drysuit is squat down and remove as much of the air from it as I can. If I do go in the water, I don’t have odd pockets of air resisting movement and water is less likely to replace what little air is left.. It helps with mobility around the boat too.

Some other observations:

Strategy: Something I often tell myself in the boat is to “sail the longer tack first”, meaning whichever one I will be on for most of the upwind leg. Or whichever one points me closer to the mark, translating to the shortest distance sailed. Especially in shifty conditions, it is better to sail the longest tack first because it will likely shift again, allowing you to take advantage of that shift later in the leg. I was able to make some passes from people tacking away when they were already pointed at the finish line or mark. The exception to this was Steen’s recognition of the puffs filling from the left side of the course, as mentioned before, and tacking early to catch them on a long upwind. I continued on port tack and got stuck in the doldrums of the mid right side of the course. Sometimes local knowledge or just good wind reading wins races.

Mark Room: I had one bit of contact coming into a leeward mark that resulted in someone doing spins for something I don’t think was their fault. I just want to reiterate Laura’s comment from last week about calling for mark room audibly and communicating if you need more. I knew I owed mark room in this situation, but if the inside boat says they need more room (with respect to the principle of a seamanlike rounding) then the outside boat is obligated to give that to them,

Starts: I always find starts interesting because the fleet becomes more like a hive mind. The group decides the actions of the individual. If the fleet sets up early, someone not already posted up on the line has the opportunity to take an open lane. If it sets up late, then anyone too early will likely get rolled by the fleet behind them. Often times the fleet won’t change its approach very much even through big shifts. I was definitely caught off guard by a lefty on the first start, putting me far below the line at the gun. On another start, the wind had shifted even further left so that anyone on starboard was only just barely crossing over the line. In this situation it may be better to forget the usual procedure of starting on starboard and either try to make an agreement with the boats around you to tack out onto port, or start in a position where you can break away from the pack at the line and accelerate.

Anyway those are some things I was thinking about throughout the day. Hopefully someone finds it useful. Sharing some of this stuff helps me refine and think about my own skills, I can see why you all have made it a tradition.

Thank you all again and I hope to see you sometime in the future.

-Tyler Egeli

24-25 Laser Frostbite Series #15

Frostbite, Lasers, Series, Frostbite, Lasers, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #14

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Hi everybody,

Greetings from 3rd place! After no sailing for six weekends, it was great to see everyone and spend time on the water. The day delivered sunny skies, mild temperatures, a flood tide, and inconsistent wind, especially in direction. It came from the west(ish) at the start of the first race and then mostly bounced between the northwest and southwest. Kudos to Tom and Steen for helping us get in three races and keeping the course as good as it could be in an impossible situation (e.g., during the last race we crossed the starting line sailing downwind and crossed the finish line sailing upwind!). Congrats to visiting sailor, Tyler Egeli, for winning the day!

A few observations:
  • The conditions kept me on my toes! Since nothing was consistent for very long, it felt like the entire afternoon had an extra layer of intensity because I was constantly looking out for wind or trying to feel the wind and adjusting boat position and controls accordingly. It was also a weird mental game because positions could change so dramatically so quickly, both in my favor and not – and so I just never gave up and it mostly worked.
  • In terms of controls, I found I played with the vang a lot – keeping it two-blocked when going upwind, then easing varying degrees when reaching, and then letting it off a lot during those few moments of going downwind. This seemed to help with speed.
  • Going high on the “downwind” (aka reach) legs during latter races generally worked well and on at least one occasion it was a great passing opportunity.
  • There were at least two rules situations on the water that involved the offending parties doing turns (one of whom was me). One re-learned lesson on my part was to make sure when I need room from another boat to actually vocalize that loudly at the earliest opportunity (we all know this, but friendly reminder!) and also to try to anticipate situations as much as possible, especially when things are weird (e.g., reaching to/from the windward mark) (we all know this too, but friendly reminder!).
  • Speaking of reminders, it is also great to have an extra line and electrical tape onboard when things go wrong. The mainsheet block end of my hiking strap liberated itself during the first race and I’m grateful I had my bow line that I could spring into temporary strap duty for the rest of the afternoon. I’m also grateful that it wasn’t extra windy b/c my temporary solution would have been less great given my lack of electrical tape to secure my now floppy strap to the line.

Over and out for now. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Laura

Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #7

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Well today was our first true frostbite day of the season.  The temperature was ok while the sun was out but during the second race, the sunshine went away and everything started freezing.  All my knots were frozen when we got on shore and all my control lines needed some extra help to release while racing.  The main sheet got icy and continually shed small ice chips from the block with every trim.

Thanks to John and Min for running races on the worst day for RC this year!  They were able to get 4 races off before getting too cold (and the wind died so we were all happy to go in).  We had a mostly west wind that was very shifty but not terribly gusty.  The first two races seemed to have a nice breeze around 12 knots with some occasional puffs but the shifts mostly were persistent which made for calmer sailing and few capsizes.  Then the wind started to drop off and had really come down by the end of race 4 and our sail in.  The water was much lower than normal with all the wind earlier in the week blowing it out of the river.
My day started rough with a reminder to make sure you dump the water from your mast step at the end of sailing.  I put my sail up and noticed that my mast was about 3 inches higher than needed.  Luckily Tom loaned me his sponge on a stick (something I am buying tonight) and a water bottle to get hot water from the marina office bathroom to pour in to melt the ice.  Otherwise the most important advice from today was watching the wind shifts and using them since they were more persistent.  As for boat things, mostly just deal with the ice and help lines move.
We will see what the cold temperatures this week provide us to see if sailing next weekend will be possible but let’s all hope for no ice!
Farley
Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, Lasers, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #6

This was my first windy day of this season! I tend to do better when it’s windy and today followed that trend. I usually attribute my better races in the heavy stuff to my height and weight, this helps but I’m sure there is also some technique in there. I had my outhaul pretty tight and was working my cunningham pretty hard, very tight up wind to depower and looser downwind for what I hoped gives some better shape. I also loosen my vang before the windward mark as I find the looser vang really helps with bearing away. Mostly I know the laser likes to be sailed flat which is a ton of work in heavy breeze. I’m not in as good shape as I have been in past seasons, so I definitely had some “fade” over the races. I was flat and fast in the first race to two, then I had to depower more and was not as sharp as the races progressed.

I like the triangular and olympic courses as the triangle legs require different strategy than the straight downwind legs. The first leg is more about staying in line and not getting rolled. The second leg is more aggressive, seeing if you can go above those in front to get an overlap and steal some wind. Nabeel managed to cruise past me to leeward once, the opposite of how it should work, which was very impressive. I find I’m not as fast downwind as others, but I can make up for it upwind (see flat and fast).

Lastly on windy days I try to minimize my tacks, for me this is a good way to get caught in irons or otherwise lose ground with a bad tack. James Jacob snuck past me with a much better tack near the end of the 5th race.

Thank you Kaitlyn and Lars for running RC and taking care of us out there!

Tom Hutton

24-25 Laser Frostbite Series #6

Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, News

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #3

Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, News, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #2

Well today was a tough day.  We had a mostly westerly that seemed to have oscillating directions of about +/-45 degrees at times and velocity chances from 2 to 10.  Generally speaking the breeze was out of the west at about 5 knots I would guess though.  The shifty conditions made racing tough with lots of position changes throughout the race and no one really owning the day.

Eva and Dan did a nice job running races and were able to get 4 races off in the tough conditions.  They adjusted the windward mark and line after the first race which made things a bit more even for the shifts.
I do not really have any great tips for the day but would like to highlight a decision that Tom Hutton made in the last race.  There were several of us stacked up at the leeward mark rounding and Tom and I rounded in 4th and 5th with 3 boats ahead of us.  I had a nice tight rounding and managed to not be getting bad air from the 3 boats stacked in front of us and Tom was outside of me on the rounding.  He chose to foot off some and get to clear air for the “upwind” beat which was mostly just point at the mark and get there.  Several lifts occurred on the leg and I eventually found myself in bad air from the 3 boats ahead of me.  Tom on the other hand had clear air all the way to the mark and won the leg and race due to his choice at the leeward mark.  Just a reminder that pointing high and being inside at the mark is not always the best choice!
I hope that everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing who shows up on Sunday for Series #3!
Farley
Frostbite, Series, Lasers, Frostbite, Fleets, Lasers, Results

2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #1

On a puff and a shift: First 3rd place write-up of the season

To those who are new to frostbiting, it is our tradition that whoever gets 3rd place circulates a short write-up about the day, and I volunteered to do this first one. It was great to see 18 boats on a day when the forecast wasn’t exactly promising. Also great to see both familiar and new faces. The first gamble of the day was whether to race at all, and we gave it a go. After bobbing around with no wind from changing directions, we ended up with a slowly building southernly light breeze and had three good light-air races. Good on Farley and Tyler for calling when the wind direction stabilized, resetting the course, and getting us going. A few lessons from the sailing today:

Starting well and not early with light breeze and the current pushing us to windward is tricky.  My plan was to stay a bit behind the line and make sure I have space to build up speed before the start. I didn’t execute any of the starts particularly well including being the sole boat across the line in race three – thanks to Farley or Tyler who called out a crisp “405”.

Being fast upwind required staying alert while the boat imitated the motions of a crib lulling you to sleep. I had the vang slightly looser than 2-blocked, a deep curve from the outhaul, and absolutely nowhere near using the cunningham. Finding clear air, doing your best to roll tack, not having to duck others unless really necessary helps. But the big gains were on calling the puffs and the shift.  In my read, the puffs were particularly important, and they’re easier to spot than the shifts.  It’s always a gamble whether you get it right, but you can improve the odds by looking at the water down river and at the boats ahead of you.

Downwind legs felt long with the current against us, but they seemed more predictable to me than the upwind legs. Speed came from keeping the wind flowing across the sail either by the lee or on a broad reach, i.e. avoiding going dead downwind, and keeping that slight windward heel that avoids weather helm. Also, with 18 boats, being on the left side is tactically helpful when you approach the mark.

Racing on the Potomac in light air has a crapshoot element, so take the knocks in your stride – sometimes it really works out.  At the last leeward mark of the last race, I was well behind Jim and Laura.  A strong puff and a nice shift helped me catch up so much that Jim had to yield to me on starboard just before the finish line, and I barely crossed the line ahead of him.  I surely didn’t deserve that one, but it will help me feel better next time the puffs and shifts don’t go my way.

Altogether a nice and easy kick off to the frostbite season, and thanks to Farley and Tyler for running the races today.

Steen

PS: don’t forget to sign up for RC duty!

24-25 Laser Frostbite Series #1

Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, Results

2023 ILCA Frostbite Series #18

Hi everybody,

Greetings from 3rd place — belatedly, thanks for your patience! —  on the last day of the frostbite season (can hardly believe it). Many thanks to Tom and Jim for taking one for our collective team and doing race committee and helping us get in 6 races – glad it was a nice afternoon for you guys! Kudos also to Steen and Farley for taking the top two spots.

This is otherwise going to be a short writeup b/c Farley kindly accepted the trade for — what I hope will also become a tradition, at least occasionally — a travel regatta write-up. So see an email shortly about my experience sailing in the Uganda Laser Open earlier this month.

But back to Sunday, briefly. It was forecasted to be a dying wind after gale/near-gale conditions and sometimes it was quite light – but the wind generally held up. The current was going out all afternoon and sometimes it felt like it was the main propellant downwind. The wind was fluky – sometimes the left was better, sometimes the right. Mostly, I tried to look for puffs and keep the boat going fast regardless of where my wind indicator was pointing. I also tried to keep tabs on who was where and how they seemed to be doing (but could have done this more, it would likely have helped!).

Finally – don’t forget to sign up for the Capital City Regatta next weekend!!! —>  https://nextsailor.com/app/page/reg_start/644

See you there!!
Laura
Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, Results

2023 ILCA Frostbite Series #17

I think this is the second time I have raced a Laser since Y2K. Here are some thoughts.

CURRENT: High tide was at 1518, however recent rains to the west must have filled the river as we had an out going current all day.  I am not intimately familiar with this part of the Potomac. Reviewing my RaceQs record (see attached file), the extent of the course for races 2-5 was roughly mid way between the east and west shores. The bathymetry would have gradually increasing depth from right to left looking upwind. I would expect the current to be slower on the west side of the course due to it being shallower water and in the “lee” of the mud flats surrounding the airport landing lights.

WIND: While rigging I had forgotten to install the battens in the sail. Everyone had departed, so I slid the boat from its dolly onto the grass and rolled it over. In the process I saw the dirt and grime covering the hull – figuring that no one would be racing in such light air – and gave it a quick cleaning. By the time I got to the course area I saw the fleet in the final throes of race #1 that was started in an easterly that morphed into a nearly non-existent southerly for the final two legs. The breeze gradually, sporadically filled in from the south for races 2-5. This was nothing like our regular, thermal-driven southerly. More often than not, we saw gusts from the east. The combination of favorable current and SE gusts drew me to the left more often than not. Now, the day’s forecast was for a southerly breeze shifting to west and increasing at around 1400. I was half expecting people to come from the far right, planing into the mark – but this never occurred. The westerly finally showed up, nearly two hours late and right after the final race. Bottom line is that if one were going to pick a side, in the absence of any other indications, the left (east) appeared to be favored. What will it be next time? No freaking clue.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS: I kept overstanding the windward mark. I don’t recall the Laser being that close winded. Maybe it was me mis judging the current. We had a few fleeting moments where we had to hike and almost enough wind to blow the leech open. I put tell tales in the middle of the sail. None on the leech – its always stalled anyway. My new dry suit worked really well: the relief zipper served its purpose – a heretofore untested and critical piece of technology!

IN SUM: The PRSA frostbite program continues to function well. I recall my first sail on the Potomac during the winter of 1982-83 in penguins and then lasers. Just about all the names have changed but the sailing is still tricky, challenging, and fun. The informal post race social was fun and enhanced by the bright sunshine and 74 deg F temperatures. GF Lee drove down and brought some snacks. Celeste brought Elmarie. Special thanks to Tyler and Eva for serving as RC.

Barney

23-24 PRSA ILCA Frostbite Series #17

Frostbite, Lasers, Lasers, 2024, Results

2023-2023 ILCA FROSTBITE #14

Sunday was one of the best days of racing I have had this season. While light winds had been forecasted, the wind quickly increased to around ten knots with gusts well above that. It came from the south-southeast but would periodically shift farther southeast and less commonly would shift farther south. The puffs almost always came from the left side of the course. This combined with the prevailing shifts meant that the far left seemed the place to be for most of the day. While the pin was not significantly up for many of the starts, I felt that starting at the pin and taking off left was the way to go. The tide was outgoing the whole day, and so there was very significant up-course current. It took me seven seconds to travel upwind one boat length upwind at the first start while luffing.

The first start, we were in a left shift and most of the fleet was set up for the pin. I was OCS and decided to gybe and head upwind on port. I was lifted for a long time but eventually found a more average angle to tack on and head left. I rounded the weather mark in the back, but caught up to the fleet. The downwinds all day were very interesting. Because the pressure came from the left, a balance had to be struck between staying in the puffs and working to get the inside around the leeward mark. Personally, I found that by staying on the left side I could usually cleanly pass people I might have gotten tangled up with around the mark. I passed a few boats downwind, rounded the mark, and tacked immediately. I was headed for a while, but I got clear air and a very nice shift on the left side that put me in the upper half of the fleet around the top mark. The next downwind was fairly standard, I don’t remember passing anyone. The finishing leg was played very differently to the rest of the racing and overall I thought it was something I could have done better all day. It seemed like it was preferable to stay on port until on layline for the boat and then tack. I ended up finishing around fifth.

The second race went very similar. This time I accounted for the current more and was not over, but did not have a very good start. I decided to stay on starboard longer than anyone else to get clear air, and as a result overstood the layline. All day, I was right on the edge of being able to keep the boat flat in the puffs ( I am very light for the full rig). Being overstood definitely hurt more than normal because it was harder to keep the boat flat in low mode. I rounded the top mark in fifth but had a bad rounding and lost a boat right after. The downwind was very standard and I caught the boat that had passed me. All day, I thought staying more to the course left than your opponents was the only sure way to prevent them getting an excellent shift and making a comeback both upwind and downwind. By the end of the leg, I was overlapped with many boats and attempted to go wide and fall in behind the pinwheel. This did not quite go as intended and I ended up on the outside of a group. I tacked underneath and managed to gain a boat or two back on the upwind just by staying left. By now, the fleet was spread out and again I finished fifth.

The third race, I got an amazing start by winning the pin. Pretty quickly, I got headed but decided to just keep going because of good pressure up ahead. This turned out to be pretty costly and I dropped back to around third. I stayed there for the downwind but closed some distance. Rounding the top mark, I tacked on the first right shift and headed left. Shortly after, the wind began to die all over the course. It stayed a little longer on the right and it looked like some people made good gains over there. However, I could see whitecaps just before the bridge on the left and so headed that way, trusting that the wind would fill in. I have found that in general if the wind is dying and then coming back, betting on the new system rather than the old is favorable. I caught the shift perfectly as the pressure came back and ended up rounding the weather mark in first. I held this to the end of the race and took the win.

Race four, I had another great start at the pin. I found that setting up low was crucial because of the current and that there was enough wind a long runup was not essential. This was another advantage to going left upwind. Deeper water means more current so heading near the channel allowed for better speed upwind. I tacked in a much better place than race three and rounded the weather mark in first. I held on for the downwind, but going back up the wind had increased and I was struggling to keep the boat flat. I was passed by sail 603 as a result. I got close to catching him on the downwind but was unable to and followed him for the rest of the race.

Race five was very similar, I rounded the top mark in second by banging the left corner on the upwind. I was unable to catch the boat in first but managed to hold on until the last leg. Going upwind on port tack, the whole fleet was very lifted. I found a decent shift back and decided to tack sooner, mostly to cover the boats behind me. This turned out to be a mistake as I lost one boat and finished in third. I noticed someone behind me getting to the inside of a pinwheel by going very by the lee in a puff and planing for a few seconds, this seemed to work very well.

Race six, I had a good start but lost my lane quickly and was sucked back into the pack. I stayed left longer than any of the boats near me to get clear air, but two boats went further and both beat me to the weather mark along with a few others. I caught two boats downwind, but lost one back upwind because I went too far left and overstood. On the second downwind, I was sailing by the lee trying to get to a covering position when I was hit with a surprise puff and spun out into a capsize. I got to the board quickly but the sail was on the windward side so when I brought the boat up it flipped over again. I probably should have california rolled, but I had touched the bottom while righting the boat and was unsure if it was deep enough (as well as if my drysuit neck seal was good). I finished last in that race.

All told, it was a fun day on the water with near-ideal conditions that made the racing very interesting and enjoyable. If you could find a good angle on starboard tack, there were almost always opportunities to gain. While the downwind was fairly straightforward with no gybe until the end necessary, this led to great opportunities by playing for the inside and covering your opponents.

Credit to Kaitlyn for getting a good photo!

23-24 PRSA Frostbite Series #14