Although there was no wind when the sailors arrived at the marina, PRO Bob Astrove made the call to two boats up to the racecourse. It was a good decision, as a nice southerly filled in allowing the boats to get in three good races before sailing back to the marina and enjoying a nice BBQ under sunny skies. You can read the great writeup of the day’s action from Will Phillippe in the Lightning fleet on the Fleet 50 website.
Tag Archives: Lightning Class
2015 Spring Series #4
Sunday turned out to be another predictable day sailing on the Potomac. You were completely assured that whatever breeze you were currently sailing in would quickly increase or decrease in velocity, or completely change direction. Once again, our PRO and RC for the weekend (Dan, Barney, Lee, and Jim) deserve praise for focusing on running races in the dynamic wind conditions.
The 2nd Annual PRSA Rookie Regatta: Sunday, May 10
Back by popular demand, we will be holding the 2nd Annual PRSA Rookie Regatta this coming Sunday! This one-day regatta has two purposes:
- To encourage skippers and crews to bring new people on board, hopefully sparking an interest in racing and in sailing with PRSA; and
- To encourage PRSA crews to take a turn at the helm to learn about driving, build team rapport on their boats, and perhaps even spark an interest in becoming a full time owner and driver!
Continue reading The 2nd Annual PRSA Rookie Regatta: Sunday, May 10
2015 Spring Series #3
Well, Spring Series #3 was certainly far different than the previous week’s “puff and shift festival” (to quote Bobby Astrove). Instead of 15-25 from the east we were greeted with a light and variable wind and plenty of sunshine when we arrived at the marina. At first it looked like the forecast breeze (NE 8-10, shifting to N and then NW) would fill in as predicted. However, the breeze shut down completely as we tried to make it up to the race course, prompting PRO Nich Allen and skiff driver Stew Harris to organize tows up to the course.
2015 Spring Series #2
Today was an awesome day on the water and the weather gave us exactly the opposite from last weekend. The breeze was out of the east/south east and was blowing around 16 most of the day. As is typical of an east wind, the conditions were quite puffy and shifty. The race committee set us up a triangle course and was able to get 5 races off (3 T2s and 2 O2s). The conditions gave us some nice long reaching legs that were quite fast at times. We had 3 Albacores, 2 Buccaneers, and 6 Lightnings and decided at the skippers meeting to just have everyone start together which provided fun races and competitive starts.
2015 Spring Series 2 – Albacores
2015 Spring Series #1
The opening day of PRSA’s 2015 Spring Series arrived clear, blue and still: the river was glass smooth and only faint wisps of breeze out of the north were all that remained of the frontal winds from the day before. Race Committee PRO Jim Graham pulled everyone together for the skippers’ meeting at ten and announced a one hour delay, noting that we all had to be off the water for the PRSA BBQ scheduled to begin at 3PM. Four Lightnings were present– Frank Gallagher, Nabeel Alsalam, Bob Astrove, and Lindsay Bach– along with groups of three or four each of Albacores, Buccaneers and Interlake Scows. So everyone milled about for an hour or so when Jim came walking through the clusters of sailors blowing his whistle, announcing another one hour delay. About halfway through the second hour, Jim decided we should all splash and the RC would tow the boats up to the course. This took about about three quarters of an hour during which time the the scows dropped out. The wind was still mostly absent though the forecast was calling for the breeze to come up out of the South sometime around one o’clock. So the fleet drifted and bobbed for about another three-quarters of an hour in the luxurious sunshine until a faint southerly breeze of about 3 mph began to fill in, right on schedule, a little after 1:00 PM.
Get Ready for Spring Sailing!
We are just over a week away from the start of our Spring Sailing Season. Take a moment now to make sure you are ready for the season by doing the following:
- Pay your PRSA Dues.
- Make sure you are signed up for RC duty.
- Make sure you have our key dates on your calendar.
If you take care of these things now, you’re all set to enjoy the season. See you on the water soon!
2014 AGM Wrap-Up
It was great to see so many fleet members at the 2014 PRSA Annual General Meeting and Awards Banquet! A very special thanks to Lee for all of the work that she did in preparing our amazing feast, and to Dave for allowing us to use the Potomac Room at Marina Towers for the event.
The Executive Board report indicated that the state of the Association is good, with membership higher in all categories than in 2013. At the same time, we need to do more work in getting our members out on the water (sailing participation in the fall series was down a bit, in particular) and we need to start thinking about the powerboats and engines as we approach 10 years of usage on our skiffs and outboards. The PRSA Executive Board will consider these questions as part of their regular meetings in 2015 and report back to the Association at the 2015 AGM and Awards Banquet.
Please join me in congratulating the recipients of our PRSA Perpetual Awards as well as the volunteers who will serve on the PRSA Executive Board in 2015. I’ve listed these individuals below, and included links farther down to the AGM agenda and the summary of race highlights for each fleet in our major sailing events.
2015 PRSA Perpetual Award Winners
- Founder’s Trophy: Jeff Neurauter
- Fleet Captain’s Award: Michael Heinsdorf
- Yates Dowell III Award: Nabeel Alsalam
- Nabeel Alsalam Award: Lee Sayasithsena
2015 PRSA Executive Board
- Commodore: Aaron Boesenecker
- Vice Commodore: Nabeel Alsalam
- Rear Commodore: Farley Will
- Treasurer: Yates Dowell
- Secretary: Nich Allen
- Social Activities & Outreach (co-chair): Lee Sayasithsena
- Social Activities & Outreach (co-chair): Lisa-Marie Lane
- Member at Large: Stew Harris
Fall Series #8
Today provided some nice weather and we were able to get in a few races. 2 Albacores, 3 multihulls and 2 Lightnings showed up. The breeze began to build by 10:30 and stayed until about 12:30. The last race was cut short due to lack of wind. Many thanks go to Yates Dowell and his RC for stepping up and volunteering this week. Scores are below.
2014 Fall Series 8 – Albacores
2014 Fall Series 8 – Catamarans
2014 Fall Series 8 – Lightnings
Final Fall Series scores are below.
Fall Series #7
Yet again we were given another windy day. This time with cold temperatures. Two brave Albacores came down to the marina but the decision was made to attempt a practice day instead of running races. Also as it turns out, the water level of the river was too shallow to launch the crash boats from the ramp. After launching the 16 and 1 Albacore, the decision was shortly made to cancel the “practice” and call it a day.
The last series of the fall is next weekend. In order to sail, we need to have someone sign up for RC! Also there are several boats that need 1 more day to qualify for the fall. Check your Series scores and make the decision to come out next week.