Tag Archives: Sailing

PRSA Spring Regatta May 27-28

Updated 29 May: we had a great weekend of racing, with all classes getting 9 or 10 races in a shifty and variable easterly.  Results are posted here: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/26050#_newsroom

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Register now for the PRSA Spring Regatta (May 27-28) and enjoy two days of racing on the Potomac River with the monuments and Capitol as a backdrop.  Head to the Regatta Network site – https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/26050 – to register and to view the NOR.  Additional regatta information will be posted on the Regatta Network site.

Friday Night Concert/Jazz Sail

The Friday Night Capitol Riverfront Concert Series is kicking off on June 10th, this Friday! It’s a free concert on Friday nights at The Yards Park; which is on the Anacostia near Nationals Stadium. The concerts start at 7:00 pm and the first band playing is La Uncia who play Irish Latin Rock. There are more details about the bands and concert if you follow the link below.

The Yards Park is about a 45 minute sail from WSM, give or take the wind levels. The plan would be to leave the docks around 6:15pm to give time to sail over and listen to the first half of the concert.  On June 10th the sun sets at 8:32 pm and nautical twilight until 9:44 pm. Leaving after the first half should give enough time to sail back to the marina with plenty of light.

Boats under 7 meters (23 feet) are required to “keep ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern (flashlight) that shows a white light”. So skippers should keep this in mind and bring a flashlight just in case getting back takes longer than planned. It’s also suggested to bring an anchor, as there may be other boaters and being able to stop and listen is helpful.

https://www.capitolriverfront.org/do/friday-night-concert-series-1

PRSA Spring Series Racing Underway!

Our PRSA Spring Series starts on Sunday, April 11!  Please make sure you’ve read through the following information and completed the necessary steps so that you are ready to get out on the water as our PRSA Spring Series starts.

  • Sign the 2021 PRSA COVID-19 Acknowledgement of Risk & Waiverhttps://forms.gle/xKAAkXm7gh7xZanB6.  Although things are looking better, we are still in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic and some areas (including some places in our own area) are seeing upticks in cases and community spread.  All participance’s — competitors and RC members — are required to sign this waiver in order to participate in PRSA Activities.  You must sign the new 2021 waiver (the prior waiver for fall 2020 and 2020-2021 frostbite racing is no longer applicable).
  • Take note of a new federal requirement: effective April 1 a new federal law passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (which included a U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization) requires a vessel operator to use either a helm or outboard lanyard or wireless engine cutoff switches (ECOS) when operating power boats under 26 feet in length.  Please make sure to clip the cutoff lanyard to your life jacket when operating our skiffs.

As always, please feel free to reach out to your PRSA Executive Committee if you have any questions.

The Buccaneer Fleet at Potomac River Sailing Association (PRSA) will host the annual Easter Buccy Regatta on Saturday, April 3rd at Washington Sailing Marina, Alexandria, VA. This popular event, which features a variety of races and an on-the-water Easter egg hunt, is fun for sailors of all ages and experience levels. See attached 2021 Easter Buccy Regatta Sailing Instructions for more details.   Please note the following as well:
  • Race Committee volunteers are needed.  Go to the Race Committee page to sign up.
  • There is no entry fee, but you must send an email to Jeff Neurauter (jmnsailor@yahoo.com) by March 26 if you want to participate.  Let’s get this sailing season STARTED!!!

PRSA AGM & Awards Banquet

Our PRSA Annual General Meeting and Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, November 16, at the Evening Star Cafe’s No. 9 Lounge (2000 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria VA, 22301).  In addition to the regular business of the AGM (including officer reports, awards, and election of officers) we will also consider an amendment to the PRSA Bylaws (see language below).  Additional AGM details will be posted soon.

 

Proposed Amendment to PRSA Bylaws to Article III. Section 3. Part B.3.

The current language reads:
3.A late payment fee of $25 will be assessed for returning members paying dues on or after January 15.
The proposed language is (changes in bold italics):
3.A late payment fee of $25 will be assessed for returning active members paying dues on or after January 15.
Please note that active membership is specifically defined in Article III. Section 1. Part A.

Goofy Conditions, Good Competition for PRSA Fall Series #7

The conditions were a bit all of the place on Sunday, with an easterly breeze that swung as far south as due south and as far north as due north, with times in between when it would shut off altogether.  Depending upon the shifts, you could enter a mark rounding first and come out last (or vice-versa), or pick up (or lose) the whole fleet on one shift.  Nonetheless, PRO Farley Will and his RC crew did a good job getting us four races in some sunny conditions before we all headed back to shore to enjoy beverages and a BBQ.  It could have been far worse for a late fall afternoon of racing!  Scores are posted below, and you can see some great photos from Lindsay Bach here.

Albacore Fall 7

Buccaneer Fall 7

I-20 Fall 7

Lightning Fall 7

Multihull Fall 7

 

2017-2018 Laser Frostbite Series #4 – 12/10/17

Thanks for John Van Voorhis  and Cliff Bartlett for doing the RC today and working diligently to square the line and give us a nice mix of Olympic and WL courses and they even used the flags!!  🙂  Also a big thanks to John for offering to help me launch and retrieve the 19’ boat when I had RC last week.

I hope no one reading this is hoping for a lot of technical insight as to shifts, persistent or otherwise, I’m pretty sure I would not know one from the other.  Overall my mantra is to slog it out as best I can, keep the boat flat and hike as much as my body will allow me, and of course try not to make any mistakes or cut things too close.

This is the best I know:

Starts:

First, I benefited greatly from having ½ the fleet coming late to the start of race 1. That gave me a big boost in the day’s score. Being on time paid off for me.

When the start line is square (as it was in most races today), I find I sometimes do better coming in on port and searching for a hole about 15-30 seconds from the start. You have to be really quick though with your tack, because there is little time and space between the starboard tackers. So it’s a little risky.  In one case, however, it really paid off because I was able to stay on port by threading the needle as they say, and in that particular race ( I forget which one) a port tack was favored.  In that last few seconds before the start you really do need to head down off the wind and power up, and accelerate so that you are up at full speed when the gun goes off. That seems to be the only way to have a good race. So if you are going to concentrate and be on your game, these first 10 or 20 seconds after the gun goes off are the most critical.

Upwind:

I had my cunningham very tight, outhaul about 2” off the boom at mid point, and the vang ¾ on. The tight cunningham helped me when the puffs came so as to not be overpowered. I pretty much tried not to sail out to the lay lines too much as a shift in wind could easily gain you several boats if you tack quick enough on the header. As it was very quirky and puffy, I did my best to ‘ease-hike-trim’ whenever I could, and a few times I could really feel it working, and I was gaining on other boats.  As for when I would tack, that pretty much was determined by my looking at the luff of my sail, and when it started to collapse in (ie a header), I would throw in a tack.

Reach:

On the reaches, I would pull my board up ½ and ease the cunningham off all the way and then adjust the vang to as to get the best sail shape I could get. My cunningham does not seem to come off unless I go to the mast and pull on the slack of the line, so I found myself doing that a lot today.

Downwind:

Cunningham all the way off, board up 1/2 , outhaul about 2” off the boom at mid point, and the vang adjusted until I saw a good sail shape, which oddly, meant putting on quite a bit of vang.  I was worried about death rolling in the puffs, and managed to stay flat by looking back all the time for the darkness in the water, and then when it hit, I would use aggressive mainsheet trimming to dampen out the oscillations. But when the wind comes from the west like that, it can cause a lot of deathrolling.  So on days when it’s windier, if I feel I might deathroll, I quickly sail off on a reach and pop up on a plane and do the best I can that way. Better to be up on a plane, sail a little longer, and then gybe when you feel in control (or even chicken-tack if it’s really windy). Nothing is slower than going for an unwanted swim.

One final thought, it pays to look up at your sail shape as often as you can. I am doing this now more than I used to in the past ( I think Len mentioned that once or twice to me). So in going downwind, again for some reason it seemed like I had to put on vang for a nice shape, and I know most people ease their vangs going downwind, so I don’t quite know what caused that. Maybe it’s the new sail that has not yet broken in.

Best,

Jim Klein

2017_2018 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series #4

Race Committee Training Opportunity

West River Sailing Club in Galesville, MD, is hosting a 2-day Race Management Seminar on Feb. 17-18, 2018.  This class is for people who want to learn more about how to run sailboat races. No prerequisites are required other than a basic understanding of sail boat racing and some previous race management experience.  Follow this link for information and registration details (scroll down the page to the date of Feb. 17-18): 

http://www.ussailing.org/race-officials/find-a-seminar/race-officer-seminar-calendar/

Attendees must be members of US Sailing. The course fee is $80 which covers the class, materials, continental breakfast & coffee, plus lunch.  The two day class will begin each day at 0830 and run through 1630. There is an on-line quiz after the course if attendees are interested in becoming certified. 

This is a great opportunity, especially according to this endorsement from Nabeel: “I endorse this class.  Bill Kleysteuber and I travelled up to Newport, RI about a decade ago to take the class.   We learned a lot.  It is primarily based on the RRS but not completely.  You get a nice certificate at the end and become certified as a club race officer.”

May 8: Local Knowledge Seminar w/ Barney Harris

Barney Harris will conduct a Local Knowledge Seminar on May 8, 7:00-9:00 pm in the Charleston Room at Indigo Landing Restaurant (WSM).  Come and learn the ins and outs of sailing on the Potomac from one of the masters!  This event is free, and you should feel free to invite others to attend this event.
Please note that since this seminar is held in the Indigo Landing Restaurant, you may not bring any outside alcoholic beverages into the Charleston Room, but you can purchase beverages at the bar and bring those into the seminar.

Falls Series #4 10/10/2010 Results

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:

Continue reading Falls Series #4 10/10/2010 Results