Today was a great day on the water. We had a very shifty North West breeze which was deceiving upon arriving to the club. I thought today would have been light but instead, we had strong breeze with significant velocity and directional shifts today allowing for lots of passing opportunities. Days like today are reminders of just how demanding the laser is. We sailed out in the river and the tide was fairly slack, I didn’t pay much attention to it today. The starting line and mark roundings were exciting and busy with 25 lasers out! Today it was important to stay in the middle of the course and tack on the headers, have all controls trimmed for the breeze that you were in and hike hard. I trimmed the vang, outhaul, and cunningham much more than i usually would given the wind velocity was constantly changing. It is exciting to have such a large group out, I look forward to the next one.
First, as newcomer to the fleet – hello to everybody! I moved to DC late last year and – after seeing the fleet out one day having too much fun while I was driving by in slow traffic — I decided to get back into Lasers. Turns out, one of the best decisions I’ve made recently. Actually that’s not a high bar in my case, but still….
Seventeen boats came out for Day #2. The wind started out lighter than forecast and then picked up to forecast about 10-12 mph. It started out west-southwest and shifted south-southwest half way through the day. Len and Barb Guenther set a windward-leeward course out in the river. The current was the opposite of last week (coming in all day) and I believe played a big factor in the racing today more on that later. There was some big debris/speed bumps (tree trunks) out in the river causing some to fall out of their boats and other to stop for a minute. If you have not made it out yet this season it has been near perfect sailing conditions and just in luck for you we sail again next Sunday same time same place. Keith Barron and William Kruse will be providing the RC.
Our annual Hangover Regatta will be held this Sunday Jan 1st. The weather is looking really nice, its predicted to be 60F with winds in the low teens. Hardly frostbiting weather!! Info and pre-registration is located here. Hope to see you on the water.
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
One Design Racing In The Nation's Capital Since 1935
