2023 Fall Series – Cumulative Scores thru 10-29

November 5th will be the last of the fall series.

The cumulative scores below are intended to motivate you to come out.  Please do!

A few notes about the scores:

The race dates and race number are out of order:

Sep 17    races 8-11
Oct 1  races 1-3 & 17
Oct 8  races 4-7
Oct 15 races 12-13
Oct 29 races 14-16

To be counted as a race for your class, there must have been 1 or more finishers

Half, rounded-down, of your worst scores are thrown out

If you were on RC when there was a race in your class, you will get RDG but that has not been calculated yet.  Plus, I often did not know who (sail numbers) were on RC.

I20-thru 10-29 three TOs no RDG for RC

Laser-thru 10-29 4 TOs no RDG for RC

Bucs-thru 10-29 4 TOs no RDG for RC

Lightnings-thru-10-29 seven TOs no RDG for RC

Albacore-thru 10-29 seven TOs no RDG for RC

Vote for PRSA Awards!

With many thanks to those who submitted nominations for our PRSA awards, the ballot to vote for award recipients is now open!  Please vote here: https://forms.gle/x11B8mENtnQSKSFy8
The awardees will be announced at the 2023 Annual General Meeting (Nov. 18, 1-4 pm, at Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA).   One vote per member.  Please vote for one candidate only for each award.  If you wish to write-in a name, please use the “Other” option.  To view the nominating statements that were submitted in support of various nominees, please click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BB8TN5rB1F1rZYyc69rZaW-qCqqOdeGxhxOLRJ_QZRM/edit?usp=sharing This ballot will close at the end of the day (11:59 pm) on Sunday, November 5.
This ballot is for the following awards (note that the Fleet Captain’s Award for exceptional RC duty is an award selected by the Fleet Captains; the award recipient will also be announced at the 2023 AGM):
  • Founder’s Trophy: Promotion of PRSA in general; 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 timid sailors, helping get an old boat race-ready, creating a snow-ball by getting getting a critical mass of sailors to commit to racing, and so forth. Informally to be called the “More Boats on the Water” award.
  • Yates Dowell III Award: Awarded for exceptional administrative service to PRSA
Please make sure that you have Nov. 18, 1-4pm on your calendar for our AGM.  Additional details will be sent out soon!

PRSA AGM: November 18, 2023, 1-4 pm at Port City Brewing Company

Save the date!  The 2023 PRSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on November 18, 1-4 pm, at Port City Brewing Company (3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria VA).

Information on pricing/tickets, an RSVP form, and more details will be posted soon!

Scores Posted

Hello PRSA Sailors,

With sincere apologies for the delay, we have updated the “Results” page with the Provisional Spring Series results (final results will factor in RC Service and will be shared at the AGM) along with links to the Fall Series scoring posts.  (NB: we have received scores for Fall Series #2 but those are still being input and will be posted soon).  We, of course, would have liked to have had these posted earlier but some calculation complications and a file format issue (still not fully resolved) got in the way.  We’re working on these things!

Many thanks to Nabeel for serving as scorer (in addition to his regular and required PRSA ExCom Treasurer duties), to Tyler for the final proof and “true-up” (corrections based on RC service, participation, etc.) and John Van Voorhis for volunteering some time to also help troubleshoot the difficulties we encountered.

I look forward to seeing everybody at our PRSA Annual General Meeting on Nov. 18 at Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA (RSVP form and additional info coming soon!), where we will announce the final results of the PRSA Spring Series, PRSA Fall Series, PRSA perpetual trophy winners, PRSA service award winners, and more!

2023 Fall Series – October 8

Stew Harris and team ran the races.  He reports:

A blustery day of racing. Results and sign-in attached.
Frank Gallagher capsized but got himself up and went in immediately.

I need some tips on best location for reaching mark with Olympic courses. At first, I was trying to imagine best location for symmetrical spinnaker but when they didnt open chutes I had trouble finding the right location so they could reach well. Less room for error when the winds are up.  It took a couple races before I got close.

Also very interesting. I got reports the windward mark was seeing massive 60 degree shifts. Upon reflection, this may have been due to proximity to the airboat hanger on the shore of the airport. In the future, faced with  westerlies, I will set the windward mark farther north or south of the hangar.

Albacore-2023-10-08

Buccaneer-2023-10-08

I20-2023-10-08

Lightning-2023-10-08

PRSA/Lightning Fleet 50 Sailors Represent at SSA Frigid Digit Regatta

Several PRSA / Lightning Fleet 50 sailors took part in the Severn Sailing Association’s Frigid Digit Regatta this past weekend!

Aaron Boesenecker, Piercarlo Brunino, Jeff Witten, Tim O’Brien, and Ed Stacey were all on the water. It was tough competition, with former NA Champs, the USA Team for the PanAm games, and other top-notch racers on the water. Congrats to Team Beedobeat (USA 14592) on taking 7th in a tough fleet after 5 days of great (and very choppy!) racing in Annapolis! (Photo Credit: Bertie Werley, Pymatuning Yacht Club).  View the scores and read the full regatta report here: https://www.lightningclass.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=93488&module_id=552596

PRSA President’s Cup: Ophelia wins both days

Tropical system Ophelia confounded our attempts at racing on both days of the 2023 President’s Cup Regatta.  We had too much wind, high surf, and flooding on Saturday.  Then, on Sunday, we had one of the calmest days on the Potomac in recent memory (absolutely no wind!).  None of this stopped the competitors from having a good time socializing over the food and drinks on Sunday afternoon, though.  Many thanks to all who attended, and especially to those who traveled for the regatta.  At least we were treated to a nice double rainbow over the cove as we wrapped things up on Sunday.

Debris line on Sunday after some launch area flooding.
Double rainbow over the cove at WSM
Full rainbow over the cove at WSM.