The water was looking pretty glassy when we got to the marina on Sunday. “Oh say it isn’t so” I thought to myself, the weather was beautiful, but there was not a breath of air to be found. Ever the optimists we all got our boats ready and splashed in anticipation of a little breeze. Yates, our intrepid PRO, decided to postpone on land and see what developed. 8 Lightnings and 1 Albacore sat bobbing around tied up to the dock while we waited. Around 11:15 or so we noticed a little southerly coming up. The RC (Ably manned by the Hobie fleet) went out to the river to investigate. Yes, a southerly was indeed making its way up the river, so in high hopes we set off for the race course. Most of the boats took the tow that the RC was offering. Team Ariel and a couple other boats, however, decided to sail up. Interestingly we all got to the race course at about the same time. RC wasted no time setting up a nice WL course and got us going. The breeze steadily built, and by the time we were finished for the day got up to 13kts or so. Wow, what a great day. We ended up getting 4 races in, with some of the best conditions of the year. Just proves the old adage: Good things come to those that wait. Special kudos go to Yates and the Hobie fleet for a job well done. Scores after the break:
Fall Series #3 – 10/03/2010 Results
We had a great day on the water October 3. Winds were from the ENE and ranged from 8-13 or so. Albacores, Bucc’s, Hobies, and Lightnings all came out to play on this beautiful, if cloudy, Fall day. PRO Robert Bennet set up a great course in the mouth of the Anacostia and got 4 nice races in before calling it quits. Scores after the break:
Fall Series #2 – 09/26/2010 Results
OK, I know these have been a long time coming, so I thought I should explain how the scoring works and why it is taking a long time to post them this Fall. The PRO is supposed to pass them off to me each week. that is fine except when I am not there, as I was not on September 26. I emailed the PRO looking for scores, but did not get them until the following weekend. I then had to track down several instances of people sailing who are not registered. The PRO’s have been getting sloppy about signing competitors in and getting skipper names for me. This week for the Albacores, it was Bob Wilbur sailing Saaskia Mooneys boat, and the Bucs who have been swapping sail #’s and having guest skippers who caused the problems, and the Cats who have about 4 different people who will sometimes sail with the same sail #. I also have the issue of needing to know when a Lightning is sailing short crew, something that happens regularly and affects their scoring. All in all, it is very confusing for your humble scorer. So, long story short, it took far too long to sort out who was who, and to get the scores to come out correctly. I have finally got something I feel confident in and can post, so without further ado, here are week 2’s scores:
Fall Series #1, 09/19/2010 Results
It just goes to show you, never believe the weather man! Sunday morning the forecast was dismal: Sunny, Hot, winds from nowhere @ 0-2. Sheesh! Its no wonder a lot of people voted with their feet and stayed home. What a mistake that turned out to be. The reality? Sunny, Warm, winds South @ 8-11!! It just doesn’t get much better than that. 5 Lightnings, 3 Albacores, and 3 Cats came out to play and got the best racing of the fall so far. Jeff Storck (PRO), aided by Bruce Heida, Becky Mach, Maryann Gallagher, Will Philippe, Chris McGraw and Judy Schramm set up a nice Windward Leeward course off the airport that they slowly lengthened as the breeze strengthened. While the Albs, and Cats went home after 3 races, the Lightnings stayed out for a fourth. That fourth race proved to be a challenge in the strong current and fading breeze. Jeff shortened it to 3 legs, and sent them home from the windward mark. A great day! Scores after the break:
Presidents / Leukemia Cup Results
There is an old Arab curse that goes something like: “May you live in interesting times”. That said, we certainly had an “interesting” weekend for this years Presidents Cup. Saturday, was sunny and beautiful. Perfect in every way except the most important: There was no wind. Rolf Zeisler, our able PRO, managed to get 2 races off in drifty conditions with little more than thermals coming from various directions. The Lightnings were almost time limited out in the first race when the Rc quickly set up a finish line at the Reach? Windward? Leeward? Mark, and finished us with no time to spare. Race #2 was even worse. Oh well. There is always tomorrow, and with rain in the forecast there was bound to be some breeze. Sunday morning brought the rain, but not much in the way of breeze. We got 3 races in before calling it a day. The first 2 races were much like Saturdays efforts. The 3rd race, however, was a fun one. A nice north westerly finally came in and made all of us who had suffered through 2 days of mostly painful drifting glad we had stuck it out. This was the best sailing of the weekend and a good time was finally had by all. Lets all pray that we don’t get any more “interesting” days like the bulk of this past weekend. Scores after the break:
2010 Presidents / Leukemia Cup NOR
The Presidents Cup is coming up next week! Wow, what happened to the summer? It flew by, and here we are ready to kick off the Falls series with the annual Presidents Cup Regatta. I sure hope everyone is planning to attend. Its also that time to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia Society, so get out there and find some donations! 🙂 Anyway, I am a little late getting the NOR up on the site, but better late than never! See the NOR after the break:
Video of The Week: Russ Roberts racing his Lightning single handed
Any sailor will tell you, that sailing single handed is a particular skill, sailing single handed while flying the Spinnaker is really something, but RACING single handed is the thing that separates the men from the boys. On May 2, 2010 a Russ Roberts did just that. In a fleet of 25 Lightnings, he took them all on by himself. You go dude!
President’s/Leukemia Cup Regatta
Calling all skippers, crew, and PRSA members and CBYRA sailing clubs of past, present, and future!!!
On behalf of the Potomac River Sailing Association (PRSA), I’m pleased to invite everyone and inform all classes that the President’s Cup and Leukemia Cup Regatta is right around the corner. Do you have your crew lined up yet? Have you registered yet? Have you been practicing so that you can win this PRSA signature event? Make sure you don’t miss out—block September 11-12 on your calendar today! Typical nominal entry fees are required but support of the Leukemia Society is encouraged. On Saturday after sailing, Terry Hutchison of Olympic fame will speak.
This regatta will also be a celebration of PRSA’s 75th anniversary (1935). How do sailors celebrate? We throw parties, and the PRSA 75th anniversary party will be even bigger than normal. In addition to the always excellent Leukemia Cup Regatta party following sailing Saturday night, we’ll also have a party after sailing on Sunday–which will be a Cajun feast of grilled sausages, muffuletta pasta, red beans and rice (both meat & veggie versions), and sides—as well as a keg, soda, and water before the trophy presentation. Rumor has it we’ll also have a classic rock cover band Sunday night. Sounds like a great time to me!
Even if you can’t sail in the regatta (though no excuses are good excuses), at least don’t miss the Saturday party and Sunday PRSA birthday party!
Click here for registration info:
http://www.potomacriversailing.org/PresidentsLeukemiaCups/
Sailing @ 126 mph?!?!?!?!? Yes!!
Wow, this is intense. Watch this “boat” set the land speed record under sail as he tops out over 126mph. Incredible.
Message From Our Commodore
Dear PRSA sailors,
PRSA urgently requests your membership renewals. As of July 2010 we are 26 paid members short of July 2009’s paid membership. What this means: For the year starting January we have spent exactly what we have collected. Last year at this time, we had $1,500.00 cash on hand in the operating budget for the upcoming fall 2009 expenses. At the moment we do not have the money in our operating budget for fall 2010 slip fee renewal, fuel and routine boat maintenance. Our expenses for this year have not changed dramatically, so our income issue is definitely membership renewals and not any unusual expense.
It is not my intention to sound dire, but this will be a definite warning sign for PRSA if we don’t renew and/or build memberships very soon.
If we receive your dues PRSA will be maintaining status quo. As all of you are aware PRSA’s participation has been slack and new member acquisition is off. Traditionally, we have been able to replace members as fast as they move on. Recently, perhaps due to the country’s economic distress, this has not been the case. So when I say status quo, I mean hanging on, and not depleting our resources until better days return. Better days will return, but probably not by the time our fall expenses come due.
Please renew, and consider the Commodore’s Club for donation (any amount helps). Encourage your crew members to renew or become members, or consider renewing on your their behalf.
Thank you for your attention,
Pat McGee
Commodore
To renew: http://www.potomacriversailing.org/applications/membership/MembershipApplication.php (if you wish to mail your renewal the address is at the end of completing the form)
To check if you’ve paid (the url page is called 2009 but the information is current):
http://www.potomacriversailing.org/2009MembershipDuesPaid.htm
P.S. PRESIDENT’S CUP — More info will come but I would like everyone to sail this President’s Cup Regatta, as it is our 75th annual. If you absolutely cannot race, please try to stop by Sunday for the party. We will officially be celebrating our 75th year at the Sunday President’s Cup Regatta awards gathering. Rumor has it Cajun will be served with the keg.