OK, this week for your viewing pleasure we share this technique for tying the ubiquitous bowline one handed. Is it spring yet?
Tag Archives: Sailboat racing
2010 PRSA Hangover Regatta Friday Jan 1st
Join us on the first day of 2010 for PRSA’s Annual Hangover Regatta. There’s no better way to nurse a hangover, or recover from yet another challenging year, than by celebrating with the PRSA Laser fleet and racing with us on the Potomac River. Skippers meeting will be at 12:00, first races at 12:45. NOR, pre-registration and directions are located here:
Hangover Regatta Information and Pre-Registration
There is no registration fee. There is a $3 launching fee if your boat is not stored at Washington Sailing Marina. If you are planning on sailing, please use the online registration form to pre-register. This is always a fun event and we are expecting a great turn out. See you on the water.
Video From The Dark Side Part 2
BMW/Oracles Trimaran:
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2008 – Storm Bay south of Tasmania
This is some cool footage of the Sydney to Hobart. Check out the big rollers.
Laser Frostbite #3 Report 12/06/09
Frostbiting it was, frozen toes and all!
By Jacob Donkersloot
The day turned out great, notwithstanding yesterday’s snow. Fortunately, there was little left of the white stuff at the Marina, and the sun did its very best to balance the high-thirties temperature.
The winds were light (5-8 mph) from the NW, perfect for a long (by frostbiting standards) W/L course in the cove. Not surprisingly, the winds oscillated a bit and the RC (Len + Barbara Guenther and Jacob Donkersloot) reset the windward mark a bit further away from the shore after the first race.
Six races were completed; all were twice around with an upwind finish (five legs total) and lasted about twenty minutes. As many as sixteen boats competed. It was good to see several winners; Sam Dobbs and David Teale (good to see you back!) placed first twice. Keith Barron and Mike Renda also won a race. David Teale won the day by a slight margin.
Keith Barron won the day for the handicap scores with a first and a third. Nice job
Scores to be posted soon.
Laser Sailing 15-30knts
Video of the week. Hot laser action. Billed as 15-30kts, looks like a good breeze, but 30? Check it out. The sound track rocks. Enjoy:
Winners Write Up Day #2, 11/29
Tim Zimmermann won the day, below is his write up.
It was a perfect day for Laser racing on the Potomac: not frosty at all (temps in the 60s) and a light sailable breeze from the SSE at 4-6, shifting to SW and increasing a bit.
The first course was set up in the channel. There were plenty of boats racing and a shortish line, so getting a good start (not usually my strong point) was key. The line seemed to be slightly pin-favored and in the first race I set up a few BLs short of the line with about a minute to go because I expected boats to be up on the line fighting for a place in the front row. The tide was coming in, and held boats off the line, so it was easy to hang loose until 10 seconds, before accelerating for the gun. And perhaps because of the current many boats were off the line as the clock counted down, so there was room to put the bow down. I got a good start, and legged out toward the left looking for a header to hitch back to the middle on. The breeze looked okay on the left, and better in the middle. It also looked okay on the right, but up against the shore line it might be unreliable. Boats started to flip over behind me onto port to go back to the middle and I hung on for just a bit longer, lucked into a header and tacked back toward the middle. That was just enough to get a little cushion on the fleet and I was free to sail the shifts up to the windward mark and held that lead twice around, finishing downwind. It was a reminder of how easy tactics and sailing the shifts can be when you are not worrying about clear lanes.
Sometimes things just go your way, and the second race was almost the same as the first. I got another good start and sailed left with Robert Bennett on my windward hip. With the tide very low, I gave him a heads up that I would call for room to tack as the water got thin, and he courteously tacked away. I sailed a few more boat lengths, and tacked into a nice little lift (I wish I could say I planned it that way, but…). So again I had just enough lead to play the shifts and the fleet up to the windward mark, and established a nice cushion that held up twice around.
30kt Sailing In The North Sea – WOW!
Check out this video of the week from Youtube. The yacht “Formidable 3” sailing downwind in 30 kts and big waves. Very cool. Enjoy:
Frostbite Day #1, Nov 22nd
Wow, we had a spectacular first frostbite day with excellent turnout!! Twenty six people participated with twenty one boats! It was a sunny day and the winds were fairly steady at 10mph all day coming out of the north east and temps were in the mid 50F’s. We set up an Olympic course in the cove that was approximately 1 mile long and proceeded to have seven races. Erich won the day and Kevin Cowley won the inaugural handicap scoring. Click here for the scores. We had a good group of new faces and a couple faces we haven’t seen in awhile. Don’t miss the fun, come on out and sail with us this Sunday and burn off some of that thanksgiving turkey! See you on the water…
RCYC Open 2009 Charlie Course
Video of the week. This is the annual RCYC Open regatta held off of Toronto Island in Lake Ontario, Mostly Lasers and Albacores. Enjoy.