We had 8 boats racing a great turnout. Bobby was back in the saddle with Potomac Red after a required hiatus after surgery. Beppe, age 14, was helming Shadowfax. Despite an OCS he did great. Kevin’s son was helming 14566. An Aero sailor was helping Jeff Witten on Mighty Moose.
Only two more Sunday to go. Then the long-dark winter sets in. Carpe Diem.
A beautiful fall day to sail. The wind started off with a lot of east in it which the Pro Bob Bear and his team set up for Race 1. By the time of Race 2, it had veered to the SSW and the RC readjusted the course. By the end of the day, we were getting big shots from the SW and the wind was up. Fun.
Winds from from the NW, strong, and gusty. Only Frank went out with Tom Hutton and Scott Bradford as crew – very experienced crew though. His competition was Barney in the Albacore but Frank decided not to fly the spinnaker because of the gusts.
Only three more Sunday to race. Come out to make sure you are over the 50% threshold to qualify.
It was a cloudy day with nice winds were from the NE. Our course was from near the airport shore to the mouth of the Anacostia, twice around. The finish line was an obstruction that could not be sailed through which created a strategic question about which way to sail around it.
Frank started off slow but ticked off three bullets after the first race. He banged the right each time and even though we thought there were some shift worth taking to the left his strategy prevailed.
It was a very windy day and only 5 boats raced. They all started together and Barney showed that Albacores are faster than Lightnings in those winds. Well, to be fair Frank did not fly his spinnaker — wind was too gusty.
The Albacore had their North American Championships Saturday – Monday and PRSA raced on the same course on Sunday. Nelson Pemberton ran the races from the bridge of a large cabin cruiser. The wind was from the NE, so Nelson set up the start line fairly near the airport and the windward mark was almost in the Anacostia.
The finish line was an obstruction that could not be sailed through which created a strategic problem of which way to go around it. And occasionally someone simply forgot about it and was disqualified.
51 boats registered for the 40th Annual Laser Masters at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Just like on the Potomac the weather was beautiful and the winds were fine if not a bit on the light side for my tastes.
James Jacob was third beating out three whipper-snappers who had to take extra points for being young. (James apologized to them.)
Jim Graham took second place in the Legend Division. Yes, for the first time this year there was a division for those aged 75+ .
Lloyd Leonard Steen Byskof had a great last race finishing 5th and 6th, respectively. I was crushed on day 1 but pulled myself up by my bootstraps and managed a respectable 15th in the last race.
Next year, this event will again be the first weekend in October — put it on your calendar. BTW, the US Laser Masters will be in Norfolk in September and the Laser Words in Mexico (Puerto Villarta) in August.
It was a beautiful day to sail today with sunny skies mid 70s and wind to sail in. As PRO I was certainly challenged today with our NNW winds moving to WNW. I made use of the Postpone before Race 1 because we needed a few extra minutes to get setup (remember as PRO the postpone is your friend). The forecast of NW winds with a later shift to WNW came earlier than I expected so race 1 the windward mark was off. We moved it closer to Gravelly Point to be more NW but it continued to move WNW and the gusts putting it closer to West. I was torn about trying to adjust the course and to get races off but with it shifting back and forth I opted to leave and keep running races.
