Team Allinghi is licking their wounds tonight after getting absolutely thrashed by BMW/Oracle in the first race. I was able to watch today and both boats were incredibly fast – sometimes topping out at over 26 knots of boat speed in just 8 knots of wind! It seemed to me, however, that B/O’s Wing mainsail is a technological game changer like we have not seen since the winged keel of 1983, and the race almost as lopsided as the catamaran vs. the 90′ keelboat Cup races of 1988. The B/O boat has speed and pointing ability to spare. The commentators kept saying that once the boats came around the windward mark and turned down wind that Allinghi would catch up by being able to sail deeper and faster due to its lighter weight, but it sure did not turn out that way. If anything B/O was even faster, leaving Allinghi far astern and beating them by about 2 miles and almost 15 minutes! Allinghi had better find some mojo if they hope to compete with the Americans in the next race. Here is a video short from team Allinghi talking about the days racing. Enjoy:
Blizzard of 2010 Dumps 3-foot Drifts of Snow at WSM!
Photo by Cheryl Taylor
Per Joe Warren’s Sunday night report, the marina roads are not plowed and snow has blown into 3′ drifts in places. Many Lightings were covered in heavy, wet snow, putting stress on their covers. Skippers will want to check on their boats this week, but at the moment there is a problem entering the marina — huge piles of snow from the plowing on the GW Parkway are blocking the entrance. Here is Joe’s report:
Sunday Evening, 2/7/10:
Hello Skippers,
Doug and I did go to the marina. Nothing was plowed so we parked in the turn-in lane in front of the marina entrance. Walked through drifts that were over 3 feet in places–worthy of some pictures. The trail had become a cross-country skiing path.
Good News–none of the covers we checked were torn although several under severe stress. We cleared snow and ice off all six covers (David; Jeff; John; Laurie; Rick; Marian) and the one near John’s boat in K-20. It has a dark green hull; don’t know who owns it.
A word of warning–the entrance to marina off the parkway is closed due to a wall of snow piled up by plows. And, no plowing of the road inside the marina.
Joe Warren
We don’t yet know the impact of “Round 2” (Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday night), but it did drop another 10 inches of snow and then whirled it around in 20 MPH winds with gusts above 40. The first person to make it to the marina today — please send pictures! Per Brian Pavlik, as of Thursday morning the entrance to the marina is cleared, but there is no place to park. Plowing is scheduled for today (Friday).
Laser Frostbite Videos 1/31/2010
We had a great Sunday sailing last week. Near perfect frostbite conditions… Temps were in the 30F’s, sun was shining and the wind was blowing (a little light though…). Fourteen people came out and we had seven races in the cove.
Robert took these videos from the RC boat.
PRSA Burgees For Sale
PRSA began in 1935 making this year our 75th anniversary. To commemorate this, PRSA created special anniversary burgees with ‘1935’ written within our swan and we are selling these burgees for $20. The normal burgee is also for sale at $20. See pics below.
Many of you have already purchased one of these burgees so I now only have 6 of each left. Use it to decorate your yacht club themed bar at home, give it as a gift for a local sailor, or proudly fly the burgee on your megayacht (after inviting me for a sail).
If you are interested in buying one, please contact Robert Bennett at rb1367@gmail.com.
Video of the week: Very cool Hobie action
OK, I know I’ve had a lot of Lightning stuff up here, so its time to share the wealth with our other classes. This week its the Hobies turn. There is some great Hobie Cat racing footage here. Check it out. Enjoy:
Video Of The Week: Cool Lightning Action from Lansing Michigan
Found this on Youtube as usual. Some good footage from Lansing Michigan’s Tune Up Regatta. Check out the guy who hits the pin on a start and keeps on going! Winds reported as NW12-20 kts. Enjoy.
Video Of The Week: Sean Fidler race start & first windward leg
I found this pretty cool video of Sean Fidler sailing a race from 2008 @ Pontiac Yacht Club. The video picks up during the start sequence and continues as he sails the first windward leg. Like the Skip Dieball Vids, the camera is mounted to the tiller, so catches all the action from the back of the boat. I’m going to have to try this next season on my boat. Enjoy:
Laser Frostbite 01/10/2010 Video
Sorry for the delay in getting this video footage put together. I got kind of slammed this week. I managed to get starts on races 2-4, and the leeward roundings on races 1 – 4 before running out of tape, not to mention feeling a little like a popsicle. Caught two racers hitting the leeward mark, one of whom took his turn, the other did not. In defence of the racer who did not, it is also clear in the video that he had no idea he had hit the mark, so I guess he gets a pass on that one. We report, you decide! Enjoy:
**Don’t forget to hit the “Full Screen” button, second one from the lower right in the player. Its HD!
Tentative 2010 PRSA Calendar is available for Review!
A tentative 2010 PRSA racing calendar is available for your review. See http://www.potomacriversailing.org/results/2010/index.htm.
If you see needed changes, please send an email to Pat McGee (Pat@nrlc.org), Scott Snyder ( ssnyder@ghidra.com) , and David Thompson (Dthomp01@aol.com) and let them know what changes should be made.
Video of the week: Awesome Volvo Ocean Race Footage
Some of you may have seen this since its been up on Youtube for a while, but it’s pretty intense and worth seeing again. Green Dragon has a busted boom and is trying to fix it while sailing along at what looks like 15-20 kts (Thats boat speed), in some really trying conditions. Very cool. Enjoy.