The forecast was grim: 0-3 from everywhere… Most of the boats had to be towed up to the course… It wasn’t looking good at all… Then all of a sudden a breeze came up and we sailed. The mostly Lightning RC (Thanks for joining us Wilda), headed up by Frank Gallagher, quickly set up a nice Olympic course for us and got 3 races in before calling it a day. The breeze slowly built to 5-10 knots and came generally out of the NW with some big left and right shifts through the afternoon. In fact one such shift occurred during the start sequence in the first race forcing the entire Lightning fleet to start on port tack. On the course you were in big trouble if you got caught on the wrong end of one of those shifts. In all 9 Lightnings, 4 Albacores, 4 Buccaneers, 2 Cats, and 1 lone Laser came out to play on what turned out to be a terrific day. Scores after the break:
Tag Archives: One Design Racing
Register now for the 2012 President’s/Leukemia Cup!
Online pre-registration for the 2012 President’s/Leukemia Cup is now up and running! You can pre-register your boat and, if you wish to raise funds to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, simply indicate this preference on the PRSA pre-registration form. The regatta will be held on September 8-9 this year. We’ve posted the link to the PRSA pre-registration form, a list of key dates, and all the rest of the relevant info to the President’s/Leukemia Cup page. You can also access this information by clicking the “President’s/Leukemia Cup” link above on the top navigation menu. If you have any questions, feel free to contact your PRSA Rep to the LLS, Aaron Boesenecker.
Spring Series #8 Results
It was a crazy day on the river last Sunday. Don’t like the wind direction? Just wait a minute, it will change. Don’t like the velocity? That too will change! Sheesh! Len Guenther and the Lasers did a nice job with what they had and got 4 races off for the 8 Lightnings, 4 Albacores, 3 Cats, and 2 Buccaneers that came out for the punishment I mean fun. Here are the scores:
Spring Series #7 Results
Another week and another wild and wacky day on the Potomac. The forecast this week was NE 5-10 and partly cloudy skies. Anyone who was down at the marina on Saturday would have been more likely to expect variable 0 – 3, which were the conditions that day. What did we get Sunday? ENE – NE – E 10-15 with gusts later in the day in the low 20’s. At least they got the partly cloudy right! In fact, on the way up to the race course, my crew and I noted that half the sky was absolutely clear, and the other half was totally cloudy. That makes partly cloudy I guess… Anyway, if you were out there on Sunday you were sure to have a good time. The RC made up in brains what they lacked in man power, which was a good thing since only three people showed up to run races. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?!? Jim Graham did a great job for us racers, setting up a WL course in the mouth of the Annacostia, and getting off four good races before sending everyone home. Eight Lightnings, two Albacores, and four Cats came out to play on this great day. Here are the scores:
Spring Series #5 and #6 Results
I have been away the last couple of weeks so I can’t comment on sailing conditions and such, but here are the scores you have been waiting for:
Spring Series #5:
Open Cats Spring Series #5 050612
Spring Series #6:
Buccaneer Spring Series #6 051312
Spring Series #4 Results
Well it was a nice day at least… Sunday came with sunny skies and a forecast of 5-10 from the Northwest. Sounds perfect doesn’t it? Would have been if the breeze (and I use that term loosely) had ever once come from the NW. Instead we got 0-4 from almost every other direction on the compass. The pain factor was very high. Eight Lightnings, five Cats, two Bucc’s, and a lone Albacore came out for the fun and games. The Race Committee, headed by Mike Heinsdorf did the best they could under the circumstances – hats off for a valiant effort – and got two races in before showing mercy to the drifting masses and sending them home. Here are the scores:
Spring Series #3 Scores
Well it may have looked miserable outside to most of us, but the sailing conditions were reputedly excellent… FOR A DUCK! 🙂 Winds were North 13-16 with some gusts. Clouds were grey, temps in the low 50’s and the rain was wet. While most of us were staying warm and dry yesterday, 5 Lightning nutjobs intrepid sailors were out on the course for some racing. The Race Committee, headed up by Eric Hakanson, braved the elements and got three races off before coming to their senses calling it a day. Here are the scores:
Spring Series #1 & #2 Scores
I was out of town for the first Spring Series day, so I am a little behind in posting these scores. This past weekend was great, and if you missed it, well you missed it. Temps were in the low 80’s and the winds were south 10-15. Conditions don’t get better than that on our river. The Race Committee for week 2 was ably headed up by Bob Astrove and a mostly Lightning crew of assistants. It was nice to see Bill Buck out there lending a hand as well. 6 Lightnings, 5 Albacores, 4 Hobies, and 4 Buccaneers came out to play and were all glad they did. Scores after the break:
Fall Series #8 Results
Wow, what a way to end the season. 8 Lightnings, 5 Albacores, and 2 Bucc’s came out to play on our last day of the Fall Series, and what a day it turned out to be. Winds were SW 14-21 with a few gusts over 30. Most of the afternoon the wind stayed up in the 20 range so it was exciting out there. We got 4 races in before crying uncle and the Race Committee, headed up by yours truly, was kept busy with multiple capsizes and a couple of broken boats. Pat McGee broke his rudder in the third race, and one of the Albacores (Can’t remember who) broke his Jib Halyard(?). We anchored the 2 of them while we got 1 more race in for the die hards. We then towed the wounded sailors back to the docks and put the boats away for the last time this season. Here are the scores:
And here are some pictures taken by James Vavricek while on RC at the windward mark:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111908965227869597659/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6GxIb3tN7migE#5674913539383060162
Fall Series #6 & #7 Results
I was out of reach last week, so I have scores for both weeks here. This past Sunday was a nice day for racing. Breeze from the NW when we got out there, but after a 40 minute lull a really nice southerly came up. Here are some comments from Yates, our PRO:
Fall Series No. 7 was a pleasant day on the water this late in the year with lots of sun and with moderate winds in the 5-8 range most of the day. For the first race, the wind was generally from the East but it died, so we shortened course. Then new wind came in from the southwest and during the day gradually moved to a more southerly direction. With the tide coming in all day, there was plenty of water for the later races.
At the Skippers’ Meeting, the consensus was to start all classes together which we did. So there was a long start line with Lightnings, Albacores and Bucaneers all jockeying for positions but being conservative, so the only over early boats all day were several in the final race, the fourth race.
Early on, we noted that the classes spread out a lot, so for the last two races, we favored somewhat shorter courses to help lessen the lag between the first finisher and the last finishers and therefore the wait time until the next race start, also mindful that we wanted to get everyone heading home a bit early because of the loss of an hour of daylight.
Here are the results:
Week #6 Results:
Week #7 Results: