Dane Pedersen and team ran the races. The Albacores were at Rock Hall for their nationals. I was in western Maryland where it was warm and the wind was blowing away tents at the Farmer’s market. On the river, I’m guessing it was a warm day with good wind.
2024 Fall Series #4 Oct 6
With nothing but glass as far as the eye could see, Dana Howe (PRO) postponed for an hour at the dock. At noon he sent the mark boat out to look at the ripples starting to appear to the south. It was still glassy looking north. The sea breeze kicked in, boats put in, and a building southerly carried the fleet up to the race area. At 1315 boats were racing in winds steady from the south at 10 in “it don’t get any better than this” conditions. ”
Many thanks to Gonzalo helping Dana on the signal boat and to Justin and Nic for spectacular mark-boating and boat towing! Nic also took some great photos–thank you!
Call for Executive Committee Officer Nominations
PRSA Sailors,
We are seeking nominations for vacant and soon-to-be vacant Executive Committee positions. Specifically, Vice Commodore and Secretary. You can read the position descriptions in Article IV of our PRSA Bylaws at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hTChVfws3VvGSUgKhIOBLU5gaqIOs2Xr/view?usp=sharing.
As an all-volunteer organization we rely on the idea that everybody steps up to take a turn at volunteering for our various positions so that we can spread these service obligations around, learn from new people in new roles, and not be reliant on the same small cast of individuals each year. Without folks willing to donate a bit of time and effort, we would not exist. Please let us know if you are interested.
The election for ExCom positions will be held at our Annual General Meeting & Awards Ceremony (November 16; precise location and time TBD))
PRSA Fall Series #3 (29 September) CANCELLED
PRSA Sailors:
Due to several unresolved maintenance issues, including the motor on the 19′ skiff (it is not pumping/spitting water) and issues with some of our other equipment, we will have to cancel racing this Sunday. I know this is disappointing, but it is also a consequence of being reliant on a very few people (who also have full regular lives and full time jobs) to keep everything up and running.
I really want to thank Nabeel Alsalam, Bob Gotthardt, and Will Phillippe for the extra time they have volunteered over the past weeks to try to diagnose and replace/repair various things. Unfortunately we’re not there yet with the motor on the 19. Hopefully we can get things repaired to resume racing on October 6 with Fall Series #4 (note: we also need a PRO for October 6).
Looking ahead, we will need some extra volunteer hands to help with equipment maintenance (including some more basic tasks such as patching marks, replacing some lines/tackle on marks, and more–we’re compiling a list). Please let us know if you can help.
Best,
Aaron
P.S. — if you do decide to go for a sail on Sunday, please be aware that a power boat rally is scheduled to make its way up and down the river on Sunday afternoon: https://piratesguidetoboating.com/trump-boat-parade-sept-29/
PRSA President’s Cup Results
Over 40 boats across 6 different fleets participated in the 2024 PRSA President’s Cup Regatta. PRO Nelson Pemberton and his RC crew worked hard to get each class 9 races–no easy feat! We had a nice moderate southerly breeze on Saturday and then a shift, somewhat fickle easterly on Sunday (making the RC’s job even harder!). Many thanks to all of the volunteers who made the event possible as well as all of the sailors–especially those who traveled some distance to participate!
Results: https://nextsailor.com/app/scoring/view_regatta/736
PRSA President’s Cup This Weekend!
We have our signature fall 2-day regatta this weekend! Make sure you are registered, and make sure that you’ve spread the word to all of your friends in area clubs/classes. We expect multiple classes, visiting boats, and 2 days of great racing!
The PRSA President’s Cup is open to one-design dinghies: Albacore, Buccaneer, Flying Scot, I-20, Laser, Lightning.
2024 Fall Series #2 Sept 15
Nabeel Alsalam, Mark Rickling, Natalie Rehberger, and Jon ran the races. (Lindsay Bach got a pass when RC decided to take only one boat out due to lack of motor peeing.) The wind was east-northeast which is a challenge on the river. So they set up the windward mark at the mouth of the Anacostia and a gybe mark half the distance to Roaches run. The wind took big shifts left and right.
Nevertheless, it was a great day to be on the water and the sailors got five O-2 races (triangle, windward-leeward). The Lightnings had a hard carrying their spinnaker on the reaching legs depending on the phase of the wind but the Albacores got in some reaching fun.
2024 Fall Series #1 – Sept 8
Mike Heinsdorf, Dave Huber, Tim Dickson, and John Van Voorhis ran the races.
11 Albacores, 1 Buccaneer, 3 I-20s, 2 Lasers, and 4 Lightnings competed. All 5 fleets were able to compete in the first 3 races, after we started the 4th race for the Albacores the wind died so we opted to send the rest of the fleets home. The early high winds were a bit too much for the I-20s.
The first 2 races were W2, the last 2 races were W1.
Get Ready for the Fall Series!
We are just one week away from the start of our Fall Series! Please make sure that you are registered for the series and that you’ve signed up for RC duty, using the links provided below. In addition, we will be holding a “Running Races at PRSA” Webinar on September 5 (details below). Finally, make sure to sign up for the PRSA President’s Cup, our signature fall 2-day regatta. Keep reading for all the links and details!
Prior to the start of the Fall Series, we will hold a Running Races at PRSA Webinar on Thursday, September 5, 7:30 pm (on Zoom: https://american.zoom.us/j/99437900322?pwd=EQCvuR2F7Ml6whtDdoR2qZORelIGHb.1). No matter whether you have extensive experience running races or are just learning, this is a good opportunity to review our procedures at PRSA so that we can have safe, fast, and smooth racing each Sunday.
Fall Series#1: with hopes of good weather, we are planning on grilling out after the racing. I’ll bring some extra brats and beverages. Please make sure to bring something for your crew and feel free to invite friends and family for the post-race fun!
PRSA Fall Series: Our PRSA Fall Season starts on Sunday, September 8. Please keep the following in mind as you prepare for the series:
- Registration and RC Service: if you didn’t in the Spring, don’t forget to register for the Fall Series! In addition, make sure that you have signed up for Race Committee service. As a reminder, you’ll need to fill at least one RC slot to be scored for the series and two to qualify. The complete details are available here. Thank you for taking the time to volunteer to help run races, without your support and time PRSA would not be possible!
- NOR and Sailing Instructions: there are no changes to the NOR and SIs.
- Crew Connection: as you prepare for the fall season, remember to post to the PRSA Crew Connection (link on our homepage) and to peruse the postings there. We’ve had a number of new people interested in sailing with us join the Crew Connection forum since May. If you are interested in crewing, please go ahead and put up a short post with your experience and availability.
PRSA President’s Cup: our signature fall 2-day regatta will be held September 21-22, and registration for the President’s Cup is open! Visit https://nextsailor.com/regatta/PRSAPresidentsCup2024 to register. Mark your calendars, organize your boats and crew, and spread the word to sailors you know at other clubs! We’d love to welcome visiting boats in all of our classes for a great regatta. Many thanks to Tyler, who will be serving as Regatta Chair. Finally, if you’re interested in some President’s Cup history, check out this Regatta Program from the 1955 President’s Cup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2wMQVqjmo-XODh0Z1NHWEVYUTQ/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-iYyMWIjUUpp4oDwrGCC7Kw (this booklet was spotted in a secondhand bookstore by Bobby Astrove’s son several years ago—a great find!).
Commodore’s Summer Update
Greetings PRSA Sailors!
I hope everybody has had a relaxing summer and has also hat the chance to do some sailing. For me, I enjoyed racing in a very competitive Lightning District Championship Regatta down at Leesylvania State Park (a beautiful venue) and I also enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July weekend cruise aboard a Dufour 430 with some PRSA and SSA Friends. I’m writing now to share some summer updates as we head towards the start of the fall sailing season.
PRSA Fall Series: Our PRSA Fall Season starts on Sunday, September 8. Please keep the following in mind as you prepare for the series:
- Registration and RC Service: if you didn’t in the Spring, don’t forget to register for the Fall Series! RC sign-up will open around noon Monday! As a reminder, you’ll need to fill at least one RC slot to be scored for the series and two to qualify. The complete details are available here. Thank you for taking the time to volunteer to help run races, without your support and time PRSA would not be possible!
- NOR and Sailing Instructions: there are no changes to the NOR and SIs.
- Crew Connection: as you prepare for the fall season, remember to post to the PRSA Crew Connection (link on our homepage) and to peruse the postings there. We’ve had a number of new people interested in sailing with us join the Crew Connection forum since May. If you are interested in crewing, please go ahead and put up a short post with your experience and availability.
- Running Races at PRSA Webinar: we will hold another webinar on running races on Thursday, September 5, 7:30 pm. We will send out the Zoom link and additional info a bit closer to the date.
PRSA President’s Cup: our signature fall 2-day regatta will be held September 21-22, and registration for the President’s Cup is open! Visit https://nextsailor.com/regatta/PRSAPresidentsCup2024 to register. Mark your calendars, organize your boats and crew, and spread the word to sailors you know at other clubs! We’d love to welcome visiting boats in all of our classes for a great regatta. Many thanks to Tyler, who will be serving as Regatta Chair. Finally, if you’re interested in some President’s Cup history, check out this Regatta Program from the 1955 President’s Cup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2wMQVqjmo-XODh0Z1NHWEVYUTQ/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-iYyMWIjUUpp4oDwrGCC7Kw (this booklet was spotted in a secondhand bookstore by Bobby Astrove’s son several years ago—a great find!).
PRSA Executive Committee Positions: we are seeking individuals interested in serving in the PRSA Vice Commodore and PRSA Secretary positions as members transition out of their service roles. You can read the position descriptions in Article IV of our PRSA Bylaws: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hTChVfws3VvGSUgKhIOBLU5gaqIOs2Xr/view?usp=sharing. As an all-volunteer organization we rely on the idea that everybody steps up to take a turn at volunteering for our various positions so that we can spread these service obligations around, learn from new people in new roles, and not be reliant on the same small cast of individuals each year. Please let us know if you are interested.
PRSA Financial Audit: our bylaws stipulate that we conduct an audit of our books each year. If anybody has relevant expertise and would be willing to volunteer for this task (we think it should be fairly straightforward), please let us know.
PRSA Membership: we have good news to report here! Our membership numbers are up a bit compared to this time last year. In August 2023 we counted 77 total members (skipper, junior, associate, and life members). As of August 2024, we have 84 total members. This modest growth is good news! Keep telling your friends about PRSA (and tell them to tell their friends!) so we can continue this growth.
PRSA Annual General Meeting & Awards Ceremony: save the date, November 16, for our 2024 AGM. Specific information on the exact time of day and location will be sent along as soon as we’ve finalized those details.
Awards Nominations: later this fall we will open up nominations for several of our PRSA Awards: the Founder’s Trophy, the More Boats on the Water Trophy, and the Yates Dowell III Award. I’ve included the award descriptions below. Now is a good time to reflect on the spring season and to keep these awards in mind as we start the fall so that you’re ready when we start collecting nominations. The awards ballot will be circulated a few weeks before the Annual General Meeting (November 16) and the awardees will be announced at the AGM. Here are the award descriptions for the awards that the PRSA membership will vote on prior to the AGM:
- Founder’s Trophy: this award is the highest recognition for service to PRSA.
- More Boats on the Water Trophy: awarded for exceptional efforts leading to more boats racing through such activities as providing encouragement to sailors, helping get an old boat race-ready, creating a snowball by getting a critical mass of sailors to commit to racing, and so forth.
- Yates Dowell III Award: awarded for exceptional administrative service to PRSA
Please note that, per consensus among the Fleet Captains, the PRSA Fleet Captain’s Award (for exceptional RC Service) will be decided on by the Fleet Captains (not by a general membership vote, like the other awards). If you have somebody who you’d like to recommend for this award, please talk to your Fleet Captain.
PRSA Merchandise: PRSA has partnered with Lands’ End so that you can choose the items you want and have them embroidered with the PRSA logo. Here’s how you can get the gear of your choice with the PRSA logo on it: Navigate to our PRSA Lands’ End page: https://business.landsend.com/store/potomacriversailing/. Pick out any item you would like to have embroidered with the PRSA logo. (Please note some items require a minimum purchase amount. There is a handy filter on the menu sidebar to get to items that require no minimum purchase quantity). Pick the color and size of the item(s) you wish to purchase. Hit the “Apply Logo” button (usually on the bottom left hand side of the website). The Lands’ End website will allow you to customize the logo and the location of the logo. As of right now we only have one logo but in the future we will add iterations of logos that will highlight classes and items that will present well on different fabrics and colors. Add the item to your cart. The price for the embroidery will be reflected there. Should you have any questions regarding your order please contact Lands’ End directly at https://business.landsend.com/store/potomacriversailing/customerservice/contact-us
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us (prsaboard@gmail.com) if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you all on the water this fall!
Cheers,
Aaron