Kyra Tallon ran the races with help from Jeff Witten.
It appears the winds were from the east and dying.
This is being posted late. Sorry.
Notes:
Laser 177053 competed but I don’t know who she is. That sail number is not registered or signed in.
2022 Spring Series #7 (May 22)
Dana Howe ran the races. Thank you!
This is being posted late. Sorry.
Races 15-17
Notes:
Sail number 806 is listed twice on the finish sheet for I-20s in race 3. I recorded the first finish.
Sail number 67 is listed on the finish sheet for Lightnings race 2, but I don’t have that boat registered.
Friday Night Concert/Jazz Sail
The Friday Night Capitol Riverfront Concert Series is kicking off on June 10th, this Friday! It’s a free concert on Friday nights at The Yards Park; which is on the Anacostia near Nationals Stadium. The concerts start at 7:00 pm and the first band playing is La Uncia who play Irish Latin Rock. There are more details about the bands and concert if you follow the link below.
The Yards Park is about a 45 minute sail from WSM, give or take the wind levels. The plan would be to leave the docks around 6:15pm to give time to sail over and listen to the first half of the concert. On June 10th the sun sets at 8:32 pm and nautical twilight until 9:44 pm. Leaving after the first half should give enough time to sail back to the marina with plenty of light.
Boats under 7 meters (23 feet) are required to “keep ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern (flashlight) that shows a white light”. So skippers should keep this in mind and bring a flashlight just in case getting back takes longer than planned. It’s also suggested to bring an anchor, as there may be other boaters and being able to stop and listen is helpful.
https://www.capitolriverfront.org/do/friday-night-concert-series-1
PRSA Spring Regatta Writeup and Results
Another Win for the Red Boat at the PRSA Spring Regatta
By Steph Mah
A few weeks ago, Barney Harris made Raines an offer to come down and race in the Potomac River Sailing Association’s Spring Regatta. It was one of those offers Raines couldn’t refuse – Barney was providing his Republican red boat, his house, pick up and drop off from the airport, and a lot of beer. Raines asked me to tag along knowing that I wouldn’t be able to resist getting into political arguments with Barney and possibly wind up epoxied to a dock.
The forecast was for light air on Saturday and even less on Sunday – but if you didn’t want to hike (like me), this wasn’t a bad thing. Unfortunately, like pollsters, weather forecasters can be completely wrong with no consequences, and what we actually got on Saturday was a gusty 10-15 knots with a small craft warning in effect.
An albacore is an albacore is an albacore – unless it’s Barney’s, which has about 99% more control lines than what we’re used to. Writing down what some of the lines did was helpful, but that didn’t stop us from falling down a couple of times during tacks and gybes. It seemed like going left was the payoff move, but being Canadian and polite, we went right to stay out of everyone’s way. Eventually, with some skill (from Raines) and luck (being the ant infestation in the boat Barney was using), we got ourselves settled and Barney’s red boat squeaked out a bullet in the last race over Barney’s other boats,
giving us the lead for the day. Dinner was a huge spread of tacos, nachos, salads, cookies, and beer.
Sunday was one of those days where you discovered how cruel or kind the RC was. The wind was looking bleak (except for when the planes were landing), so the only decision was whether they would postpone us on land or make us go out. Fortunately, they went with the former, giving Barney more time to murder ants, and eventually they called the day off to the relief of many. And more tacos and nachos were served!
We got some very nice prizes, but the real champions of this regatta were the volunteers. I understand there was a four(!!!) person regatta committee with many more hands that pitched in to pick up the food, pack it away, set it back out, run the races, get the prizes, get the ice, and the list goes on and on. And it was an amazing event – there was a ton of good food, coolers full of Hapco-sponsored beer (that Raines orbited like a little moon), and lots of helpful and friendly people. It made me feel welcome and made me want to come back. I hope the volunteers all know how much the sailors appreciated the work (and plan to pay it back), and how proud PRSA should be of them.
Again, a huge thanks to everyone for their work on this regatta, and the biggest thanks to Barney for making this happen and for not watching us while we took 40 minutes to de-rig his boat.
2022 Spring Series #6
The weather looked like it was going to be a gray bummer but the wind came up to 8 mph and the sun came out. It ended up to be a beautiful day for sailing and we got 5 races in. We started with a 1lap race when the wind looked like it might not fill it, then switched to 2 laps once the wind and sun came out. Each fleet got another 1 lap race to end the day. There were 3 Albacores, 3 Buccaneers, 3 Lightnings, and 6 I-20s. Thanks again to Jess, Dana, and Eva for helping out on RC.
— Tom Hutton
PS: The protest was about using kinetics, i.e. rocking the boat to gain speed.
Leesylvania Volunteers
Eleven Fleet 50 sailors and friends met at Leesylvania State Park last Saturday and spent an easy couple of hours working and chatting while we worked.
It was really good to see Bob Gotthardt back and looking strong after his health event last year.
Jim and Bob used the small amount of available paint to freshen up the kitchen in the pavilion. The rest of us traded off the four available rakes to clean the camping area next to the pavilion of gum balls.
In return, the park gives us the pavilion to use free of charge for our regatta (normally $700).
Spring Series So Far
This spring started off with two very heavy wind days, followed by a near zero wind day, and finally a moderate wind day. Below are the cumulative results so far.
Next weekend is the Potomac Cup and then four more Spring Series Sundays and the PRSA Spring Regatta on the river. Nearby on the bay we have the Dixie Districts/No Gas. Lots of sailing opportunities before the hot summer settles in on us. Plan to get out as much as you can. You won’t regret it.
2022 Spring Series #4
John Van Voorhis ran the races with Jim Greenly on the signal boat and Tim O’Brien and Pam Maple on the mark boat.
John reports “Nice south breeze as we set up switched to SSE. Edited first start and then to ESE for second start. ”
John sent us home at the end of the third race as the western sky was looking ominous. That front sucked up all the wind as the sailors made for home. Paddles came out on some boats. Then a gentle rain helped the sailors clean their boats before putting them away. 🙂
Congrats to the I-20 fleet for fielding five boats, their largest start to date.
2022 Spring Series #3
It was a very very light wind day. Nevertheless, the cranes were working and the water temp was up to 60 degrees so 16 boats launched and with the help of the flooding tide slowly made their way up the river.
The winds were forecast to be light and from the NW and eventually clocking to the east and picking up. But they were not. Any puff of wind that was came from the WNW.
The RC decided to spare the sailors trying to get all the way to Haines Point where the winds were no better, and set up a course on the other side of the airport landing pier. That despite only four feet of depth but with the hope that as the tide continued to flood the depth would get better.
The first race was declared a W-2 but the RC decided to shorten at the leeward mark with the hope the wind was going to clock to the north. The RC reset for a more northerly wind but, alas, it came back to the WNW. So race 2 was a port tack start and a reach-reach course. Oh well. The RC was still hoping for that north wind to fill in for a third race, but it was not to be and the sailors were sent home around 2:30.
RC was Nabeel Alsalam, John Hart, and Henry Rood on the 19 and Michael Bors and Peter Pietra on the 17.
2022 Spring Regatta registration now open
Join us this Memorial Day weekend to race! All one-design classes 20 feet or under are invited. Bring family and friends to enjoy lawn games at the Marina while we’re on the water, and we’ll celebrate the regatta and the holiday with dinner Saturday night! Registration is now open for the 2022 Spring Regatta here: https://www.
Photo credit Nic Bogren