PRSA Fall Series 2004

 Race Results

Cumulative Standings

Week-by-week:

November 7, 2004

Scorekeeper: Russell Roberts

Eleven Lightnings came out for the last race of the season on a delightful Fall day.  We had sunny skies, a high temperature of 68 degrees and directionally very steady winds from the south at 7 - 13 MPH.   As Bobby exclaimed,  "How could we have such a nice day in November!  On our boat we were in bare feet, and soaking up the sunshine.  What a great way to end the season!"  It doesn't get any better than this!  The river flow was back up, due to recent rains upstream, at 8,000 CFS (gage height 3.7 ft.) causing at least two boats to snag the windward mark on their way around.  There were plenty of good stories to share at the picnic afterward, including three boats experiencing spinnaker halyard mishaps.   

October 31, 2004

This turned out to be a beautiful sunny October day with an unbelievable high temperature of 79 degrees and big WSW winds  at 18 - 20 MPH, with higher gusts. The forecast had called for gusts as high as 35 MPH, which was enough to bring some boats back to the marina early.  As it was, there were a couple of capsizes and some near misses, but the Lightnings all remained upright.  

Since it was Halloween, some skippers costumed out accordingly.  Jeff's previously unclaimed trophy of the mystical Heineken 12-pack (see More News for the continuing saga)  was destined for the best-costumed crew, but in the end the judges agreed that it should be shared.  Look for pictures soon.

Some of our skippers were at the Borderline Regatta at Kerr Lake NC, but the rest of us came down to the marina for another interesting Fall day on the water.  We had mostly cloudy skies, off-and-on rain showers, a temperature of 48 degrees, low tide, and no wind -- it doesn't get any better than this -- for ducks!  For sailors, though, it posed a dilemma. Should we tow everybody out to the race course,  sit in the rain waiting for a breeze to come up, and eventually get towed back?  At 10:15 PRO Ben Ackerman said he'd postpone a decision for half an hour, and at 10:45 he asked for a show of hands -- who wanted to race?  Those who still wanted to go out  were in a distinct minority, and the rest were non-committal, so he put us out of our misery by advising us to all come back next Sunday.  Race over!.

Actual wind readings at National Airport from 11 AM to 4 PM were {E 5; NE 3; S 3; SSW 6; SSW 5; ESE 7} and 0 again from then until midnight.  

R.C.Chair: Series#/Date/ChampRaces: S1/4-4/0; S2/4-18/#1-4; S3/4-2/#5-8; S4/5-1&2(Potomac Cup)/#9-13; S5/5-9/#14-16; S6/5-16/#17-20; S7/5-23/#21-23; SR/5-29&30 (Spring Regatta) 24-29; S8/6-6/#30-32; PC/9-11&12/#33-38 (Presidents Cup); F1/9-19/#39-42; F2/9-26/#43-45; F3/10-3/#46; F4/10-10/#47-50, F5/10-17/#51-53
Jury Chair: Infractions: TO - 20%; RDG- Avg; DNS - Finishers +1; DNC - Present +2; SSC(Short Crew) +1; Byes SSA No Gas 5-15&16, SMSA Small Boat Inv 9-25&26, SSA Frigit Digit 10-16&17, *-Not qualified <50%
Scorekeeper: Russell Roberts
22 Oct, '04, 07:26

St. Pete Scorer

Series#/Date/ChampRaces: S1/4-4/0; S2/4-18/#1-4; S3/4-2/#5-8; S4/5-1&2(Potomac Cup)/#9-13; S5/5-9/#14-16; S6/5-16/#17-20; S7/5-23/#21-23; SR/5-29&30 (Spring Regatta) 24-29; S8/6-6/#30-32; PC/9-11&12/#33-38 (Presidents Cup); F1/9-19/#39-42; F2/9-26/#43-45; F3/10-3/#46; F4/10-10/#47-50
Infractions: TO - 20%; RDG- Avg; DNS - Finishers +1; DNC - Present +2; SSC(Short Crew) +1; Byes SSA No Gas 5-15&16, SMSA Small Boat Inv 9-25&26, SSA Frigit Digit 10-16&17, *-Not qualified <50%
Scorekeeper: Russell Roberts

 RC: David Thompson, Cathy Bleaky, Bob Astrove.

This was possibly the best Sunday of the year for sailboat racing, weatherwise, with mostly sunny skies and a high of 72 degrees, and winds out of the NNW at 13  - 16 MPH.  The river flow was down considerably from last week's  flow (7,900 CFS vs. 25,000 the previous Sunday; gage height 3.7 ft.), but still well above average. Eleven Lightnings and four Hobies came out for the 11:30 AM start on a long windward-leeward course.  One Hobie and one Lightning capsized, and several others had close calls, but we got of 4 races before calling it a day at 2:30 PM.
11 Oct, '04 , 10:29
St. Pete Scorer

A nice sunny day lacking only one thing -- wind.  We left the docks when the winds were out of the northwest at about 5 MPH, consistent with the forecast.  However, before we got to the race course, they died.  RC did a nice job of picking us up and towing us to the starting line,  where we anchored and waited for the wind to build.  Finally it filled in and RC set a short windward-leeward course across the river and we got in one race before the winds died again.  Congratulations to the skippers who remembered to bring cold beer aboard -- it helped!  The river flow was up, due to the rain dumped upstream by the remnants of hurricane Jeanne.  On Thursday the peak flow was an astounding 130,000 CFS (average is around 3,000), 30,000 CFS higher than it was on September 19.  It had eased down to 25,000 CFS (gage height 5.2 ft) by race time, but still the current was a factor to contend with all day.

That one race had the craziest finish we have ever seen.  Joe Warren talked to Red Fehrle after the race and learned that nothing interesting happened to the boats up front.  The excitement was with the last three boats.   Jim Greenwell, Joe Warren, and David Thompson were all on starboard tack trying to finish in that order.  It appeared we would finish in simple fashion.  As Joe  approached the committee boat Jim tacked over to port to finish, but the wind died and he drifted away from the line.  Joe  was about 5 boat lengths behind and it looked like he was sure to finish ahead of him.  As Joe tacked over to port he saw that David  had some wind and was coming on fast.  Joe prayed that he could cross just in time,  thinking that he had nailed the finish.  Then, Joe hit the wind hole just as Jim did and started drifting away.  David was sailing fast and it looked as if he was going sneak in and finish ahead of both Jim and Joe.  After tacking over to port he hit the hole, lost steerage,  and was pulled by the current right into Joe's boat.  Both were unable to control the boats. but, since Joe was leeward he had the rights. They just pushed David off (who then went back and did his 720, which was the correct thing to do).  Meanwhile Jim had found some wind and finished one boat length ahead of both Joe and David..

Jim also made another interesting and successful move before the leeward mark. He went very high to get to the shore.  He said later he saw some wind; Joe didn't. He was at least 10 boat lengths above Joe but  both arrived at the mark at the same time! 

September 26, 2004

Scorekeeper: Russ Roberts
SSC = Short Crew ; DSQ = Disqualified; DNS = Did not start; DNF = Did not finish 

Updated 10/04/04

It was a delightful sailing day, with a high overcast and temperatures in the high 70s, with northeast winds at around 8 MPH.  River flow was down substantially from last week's record 100,000 CFS, but was still above-average at 9,050 CFS (gage height 3.9 ft).  Paul Maher was our PRO, with a RC crew that included Bobby Astrove, Nick Tant, Rose Gentile, Susan Buckley, Ted Lutterman and a young man named Dale.  Lightning 15228 liked the clear air on the right side of the course but did not discover, until the end of the day, that the current was strongest there, and that the current  had a big impact on the outcome.

September 19, 2004

Scorekeeper: Russ Roberts
DNS = Did not start; DNF = Did not finish 

Updated 10/04/04

PRO Lloyd Leonard called  the Skippers Meeting  to order at noon, and announced that winds were forecasted at 15 - 25, the current was ripping (flow at Little Falls was a record 100,000 CFS by then) and that RC had only two boats at its disposal -- so rescues of capsized boats were not going to be possible.  Unfortunately, it turned out that rescues were required.  Here is a story.  Frank, Rick, Pat, and Laurie braved the elements; the rest of us stayed ashore