PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 8
Results

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Bobby Astrove was PRO, with RC provided by the Lightnings.  The AccuWeather forecast (always subject to change) called for mostly cloudy skies, a high of 58 degrees, and winds from the ENE at 8 - 9 MPH.  The river flow was  below normal for this time of year, at 2,000 CFS (gage height 2.8 ft) and the water temperature was a chilly 53 degrees.  High tide was at at 10:48 AM and low tide at 4:57 PM. We actually got better winds than forecast, and RC was able to get us 4 races  - one on a triangular course and three on a windward-leeward course - before it was time to come in.  A great way to end the 2008 Fall Sunday Series!

PRO Bobby Astrove
Mark Boat Driver  Joe Warren
Crash Boat Driver Will Phillippe
Helpers  Doug Kirby, Janet Cohen, John Hart, Michael Scott, Doug Dixon

ctual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    NE 14

• 11 AM    NNE 13

•  Noon     NE 13

• 1 PM      E 12

• 2 PM      ENE 8

• 3 PM      E 12

• 4 PM      E 9

• 5 PM      ENE 7

The high temperature was 57 degrees, at Noon.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 7
Results

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Earlier in the week the weather forecast called for a "Southeaster" -- a mass of warm, moist gulf air working it's way north and set to collide, over the east coast, with a Canadian cold air mass working its way south, bringing heavy rain -- up to 2 inches in a 6 hour period -- and high winds -- gusts up to 50 MPH on the coast.  The only question was,  "when would it arrive?"  It turned out that it arrived on Saturday, and by Sunday it was out of here, leaving behind sunny skies and southerly breezes averaging 13 MPH with somewhat higher gusts.    Low tide was at 12:30 PM, and the river flow was back to normal, after Saturday's 0.8" of rain, at 2,800 CFS (gage height 3.0 ft).  The water temperature was a cool 59 degrees.

PRO Steve Yelland
Mark Boat Driver  Keith Strasser
Crash Boat Driver John Taylor
Helpers  Hakan Topalhan, Ben Ackerman, Bob Etheridge, Yates Dowell

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    SSE 3

• 11 AM    S 7

•  Noon     SW 12

• 1 PM      S 16

• 2 PM      S 14

• 3 PM      S 13

• 4 PM      S 12

• 5 PM      S 12

The high temperature was 63 degrees, at 3 PM.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 6
Results

Sunday, October 19, 2008

We asked for wind -- and got it!  Sunday's AccuWeather forecast called for sunny skies, a high of 60 degrees, and northerly breezes at 15 - 17 MPH.  The river flow was below normal for this time of year, at 1,520 CFS (gage height 2.7 ft), and the water temperature was a seasonal 66 degrees. High tide was at 12:06 PM.  Actual winds gusted to 25 in the morning and it was chilly, which kept some skippers from going out.  But as the day wore on the air temperature came up and the breeze settled down, making for one of the best sailing days this fall.  PRO Jim Graham and the Albacore-provided RC got off 4 races before it was time to come in.  We welcomed Kate Smith-Morse, a new Lighting crew sailing with Russ Roberts.  Rick Welch suffered an unfortunate accident on the cranes when splashing his boat -- the rear bridle hook slipped out of its attachment point as the boat was being rotated; the stern hit the water; the mast struck the top of the crane, and broke at the partners.  A temporary repair was made later in the week allowing Rick and crew to compete in the remaining Fall Sunday Series races.

PRO Jim Graham
Mark Boat Driver  Erich Hesse
Crash Boat Driver Mike Heinsdorf
Helpers  Bill Swanson, Marie Bundy, Nathan Marsh, Tom Berlin

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    N 15

• 11 AM    NNE 12

•  Noon     N 15

• 1 PM      NNE 12

• 2 PM      N 12

• 3 PM      NE 7

• 4 PM      N 13

• 5 PM      N 12

The high temperature for the day was 59 degrees, at 4 PM.

A Catamaran Perspective

By Chris Bolton
October 20, 2008

I talked Colette into going out for training on the 16; I went up to WSM and got the boat set up; she went to church, came home and changed, and came back up.  It was COLD and BLOWING; steady 15-20 with higher gusts, and nice 2-3’ waves out in the river.  She was pretty nervous about going out; I thought it wasn’t a big deal.  We got out in the middle of the channel, not very far up, and flipped over.  The boat went over on the back corner, and immediately turtled.  Could not get it up.  I knew the mast had been leaking, but was hoping my exterior caulking had sealed it; pretty clear early on that the mast got full quickly.  A big boat came by and called the Harbor Police; they came out pretty quickly, but it was only one guy on board.  I was sure he was going to call the towing company, but he offered to pull up the mast.  We took the main halyard lose, I climbed on his boat, and pulled up the mast with the halyard as he backed away upwind.  I  jumped back on the 16, and up she came on the back corner, and back down she went.  Now the halyard was somewhere 20 feet down :-(  I pulled the jib sheet lose; tied that to one of the trap halyards, then we tried again.  This time it came up level, and stayed up.  Very good boat handling on part of the Harbor Police guy.  We sailed back in at that point; didn’t want to flip again, and with gusts over 20, that looked like a good possibility.

 Lessons learned:

 Check the mast for leaks BEFORE you go out on a windy cold day, ESPECIALLY if you know it was leaking.  

Make sure everything is ready before you go out.  May not have made much difference, but our righting line was hung up on the trap bungies and tramp bag straps; it would not deploy as it was supposed to.  Colette also had her shoes come off as soon as she went swimming; they weren’t tied up tight.  Made it pretty slippery walking around on the booties, and if they had ripped, she would have gotten cold quick.

 A longer towline, stored where I could get to it, would have been nice.

 Learn how to sail a 16 in big air again :-)  Part of the problem was we were too heavy; with both of us in the back, the corner just went under.  Not sure how we originally flipped, but I do remember that corner just sinking.  That thing sure ain’t a 20 

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 5
Results

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Not Another Light Air Day! We can't take it any more! Steve Kistler was PRO, with RC provided by the Hamptons. The AccuWeather forecast (always subject to change) looked good -- sunny skies with a high of 76 degrees, with afternoon southeasterly winds at 7 - 8 MPH.  What we got, however, were northerly winds 3 -5 MPH in the morning, followed by four straight hours of flat calm.  The river flow was below normal for this time of year, at 1,850 CFS (gage height 2.8 ft) and the water temperature was a seasonal 67 degrees. Low  tide was at 1:17 PM.

RC set up a windward-leeward course and managed to get off one (shortened) race, then bobbed around for a while, set up for another race in what they hoped was new wind, bobbed around for a while longer, then towed everybody home.

PRO Steve Kistler
Mark Boat Driver  Latane Montague
Crash Boat Driver Tom Ballantine
Helpers  Peter Howson, Don Kistler, Bob Montague, Laura Crabb

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    NNE 3

• 11 AM    N 5

•  Noon     Calm

• 1 PM      Calm

• 2 PM      Calm

• 3 PM      Calm

• 4 PM      S 3

• 5 PM      S 5

The high temperature for the day was 78 degrees, at 3 PM.

Albacore Perspective

By Bill Buck, "The NUDGE"
October 13, 2008

Once again racers and the RC were frustrated by those light and variable breezes that have been so prevalent this fall.  However PRO Steve Kistler and his team did manage to get one race off when a light "teaser breeze" materialized out of the NW. The three Cats, and ten or so Lightnings got off the line followed by three Buccs and three Albacores (Mike, Mark Goldberg and THE NUDGE) starting together on a two lap WL race. The breeze started doing its variable bit mid way to the first W mark, but after a fashion all rounded it with Mike leading the Albs. The RC wisely put up the S flag at the L mark, but just about that time a beautiful breeze filled out of the SE as forecasted.  Alas it collapsed just about the time the last boat finished. Mike (beating out the leading Bucc) finished first followed by THE NUDGE and Mark.

RC waited about an hour or it seemed that long before tossing in the towel and calling it a day. The Hamptons who had RC always seem to have an impressive Committee Boat, this time being a 100 HP outboard powered 25 plus foot cruiser -- like the boats they sail very pleasing to the eyes.  All those who requested tows received them ending the racing day around 1430 hrs.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 4
Results

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Eric Johnson was PRO, with an ace RC crew provided by the Lightnings. The AccuWeather forecast  called for partly sunny skies with winds from the west at 5 - 7 MPH, but we got much better than that -- northwesterly winds at 9 - 10 MPH, except for a lull during the second race. With beautiful clear skies and bright sunshine and a high of 75 degrees we thoroughly enjoyed racing -- and got in four races before it was time to come in.  We welcomed Charlie Helfinstine, sailing with son Alex, making his first appearance on the PRSA course this fall, and sailing to a respectable 8th place finish.  Robert Bennett sailed Laurie's Lightning with crew Lindsay and Wendy, and Red brought an all-Fehrle crew.  5 Albacores and 4 Buccs joined the eleven Lightings for a great fall day on the water.

PRO Eric Johnson
Mark Boat Driver  Laurie Duncan
Crash Boat Driver Doug Kirby
Helpers  Bill Swanson; Shelly Kirby; Will Phillippe; Suzan Humphrey

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    NNW 7

• 11 AM    NNW 9

•  Noon     N 3

• 1 PM      NNW 8

• 2 PM      NNW 10

• 3 PM      NNW 9

• 4 PM      NNW 9

• 5 PM      NNW 10

The high temperature for the day was 75 degrees, at 3 PM

Winner’s Perspective

By Russ Roberts
October 6, 2008

It was a perfect fall day to be racing and I want to thank Lisbet and Alan for a flawless performance.  The day proved to be challenging with the light-shifty winds as usual on the river but the northwesterly meant the airport shoreline had to be protected so that was our strategy. The left side proved not to be as forgiving at the start as it was from the leeward mark.  We found ourselves fighting for the left side only to watch the fleet sail past us near the windward mark - a sight I'm sure pleased many.  This is a familiar position for me to have a great start only to find myself fighting back to the top, so patience -- and persistence -- was key.  On the first race the wind was light but we were able to work back to the middle on the last downwind leg to catch up to the lead group.  The wind was in a left phase as we rounded the leeward mark when Nabeel tacked to starboard in front of us for clear air.  I decided to hold underneath and predictably the other three boats ahead tacked to cover Nabeel, clearing a lifted lane for us to cruise to a first place finish.

The second race went well from the start and the left side came in for us as we chased Rick around the course and sailed for the greatest pressure. Sailing the angles in light wind and heading straight for the mark in puffs kept Windchaser moving fast.  The wind was coming in from the right side now so we changed our strategy to not rely on the left side of the course and to tack in the shifts when the wind was strong - staying on the same tack when the wind went light. Rick was sailing his best so he was hard to catch but we managed to hold on for a 2nd place.

In the third race I opted for a mid line start but got buried by Rob Bennett and made the mistake of jibing around behind him.  We found ourselves in bad air so we bailed and decided to give the left side another try since the wind had come in hard from the left.  This proved to be correct and we were able to sail past five boats and back to the middle of the fleet.  We managed to work our way back despite the wind dieing in the last downwind leg so that we couldn't fly the chute. We saw Nabeel making headway on the right side so we went for that, knowing the left could come back any minute.  Sure enough I saw it start to build on the left and decided to jibe back to keep the fleet from sailing over us.  We raised the chute and managed to get moving again fighting back for a respectable finish.

In the last race Nabeel and Rick and I played the entire race like a card game trying to read which card would be played next.   We managed to work our way past Rick on the second upwind leg as he sailed into a hole while we were covering Nabeel on the left.  I knew Nabeel could be faster than us downwind so we kept him close while Rick was close on his stern.  We raced down the airport side in nice puffs but I knew Nabeel would be jibing to get inside so I jibed with him to keep him close. We rounded the final leeward mark with Nabeel close on our stern and Rick on his. The wind was in a left phase so Nabeel tacked away to clear his air and Rick stayed on starboard.  I had to decide who to cover since I knew that the port tack, in a left phase to the finish had paid off for us before, but we just couldn't let Nabeel sail away, so we tacked to cover and had Alan keep an eye on Rick.  Sure enough Rick was gaining ground and we were about to tack and shift our cover to him when he tacked to port – great!  We were now covering two boats with equal distance but only one could be the real threat so I decided to hold with Nabeel a little longer since Rick was on our same tack.  It looked like the boat end was favored so we hit the layline on a steady wind and tacked for the finish with both Rick and Nabeel safely behind us, giving us another first.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 3
Results

Sunday, September 29, 2008

Many Albacores and Lightnings really wanted to sail, and RC was ready to set up a course, but there was no wind.  While the AccuWeather forecast called for northwesterly winds 6 - 8 MPH, we actually had winds 0 - 2 MPH from multiple directions at several readings between 9:30 AM and noon.  At 11:30 the remaining assembled skippers and crew voted to abandon racing for the day.  While a southerly did come up after 1 PM, it was not steady, and it never exceeded 6 MPH, and it was accompanied by a warm rain, heavy at times.  Next week it will be better.

PRO Red Fehrle
Mark Boat Driver David Thompson
Crash Boat Driver Tom Balantine
Helpers  Catherine Calvin, Michael Montie, Barb Thompson

9 Lightning skippers checked in: Alsalam; Astrove; Duncan; Kirby; Roberts; Storck; Warren; Welch; Wilbur.

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    SW 3

• 11 AM    Calm

•  Noon     Calm

• 1 PM      S  6

• 2 PM      SE 5 light rain

• 3 PM      S 5

• 4 PM      S 6

• 5 PM      N 9  heavy rain

The high temperature for the day was 75 degrees, at 1 PM.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 2
Results

Sunday, September 21, 2008

PRO Jeff Storck
Mark Boat Driver Bill Buck
Crash Boat Driver John Pemberton
Helpers  Marian Bruno; Henry Cheng; Cathy Bleakly; Shelly Kirby, William Swanson

A tough day to be on the water if you were interested in sailing fast -- as in racing -- with winds from the north; east; and south, varying between calm and 5 MPH, but the Lightning RC pulled it off and got in two races before giving up on the day.  The river flow was below normal for this time of year, at1,640 CFS (gage height 2.7 ft), and was a seasonal 75 degrees.  High tide was at 1:13 PM.

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    N 5

• 11 AM    ENE 6

•  Noon     Calm

• 1 PM      SE 5

• 2 PM      Calm

• 3 PM      E 3

• 4 PM      E 3

• 5 PM      SSE 3

The high temperature for the day was 80 degrees, at 5 PM.

PRSA 2008 Fall Series # 1
Results

Sunday, September 14, 2008

PRO David Thompson
Mark Boat Driver John Butler
Crash Boat Driver Jim Dillard
Helpers  Barb Thompson, Catherine Calvin, Charlie Helfinstine, Alex Helfinstine, Joe Kimak, Hayden Temin

The AccuWeather forecast called for a high of 95 degrees, partly sunny skies, hot and  humid, with winds from the SSW at 8 - 10 in the morning, building to 15 later in the afternoon..  The river flow was normal for this time of year, at 2,160 CFS (gage height 2.9 ft) and the water temperature was a comfortable 78 degrees.  Low tide was at 2:44 PM.

Eleven Lightings came out, sailing with 9 Albacores, 2 Buccs, and 3 Hobies.

What a delightful day for the first Sunday of our Fall 2008 PRSA Sunday series!  The breezes were actually from the South to SSE, allowing RC to set a nice long windward-leeward course right in the middle of the river, with the windward mark parallel to the end of the airport's Runway 32, and the Leeward mark about a mile north of that.  There was a slight postponement for the first race as RC picked up and moved the starting line farther to the west from it's original position adjacent to the navigable channel, and again after a subsequent general recall for the Lightnings, to make the line longer.

We saw outstanding work from our Race Committee, especially John Butler and Hayden Temin on the Mark Boat, and Jim Dillard and Joe Kimak on the 13 foot whaler we used as a Crash Boat, plus Charlie Helfinstine and his son Alex (spotters), and Barb Thompson (recorder) and Catherine Calvin (signaler extraordinaire).  We especially thank Charlie Helfinstine who paid up at the pump, producing a credit card to cover the unexpected large bill for a 40-gallon Bayliner fillup at James Creek at $4.09 a gallon (don't worry, Charlie, Yates will reimburse you right away!).

Actual winds at National Airport were:

• 10 AM    SSE 7

• 11 AM    S 9

•  Noon     S 13

• 1 PM      SSE 10

• 2 PM      S 10

• 3 PM      S 14

• 4 PM      SSW 18

• 5 PM      S 14

The high temperature for the day was 92 degrees, at 4 PM.