Fourth of July Holiday Weekend ahead!

                            
Last updated:
07/03/2009

                                

Welcome to the website of Fleet 50 of the  International Lightning Class Association (ILCA).  We are affiliated with the Potomac River Sailing Association (PRSA) and we race and cruise our one-design Lightning sailboats on the Potomac River out of the Washington Sailing Marina just south of Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC.  

What is Fleet 50?

   

 

Membership

By-laws

Classified Ads

Calendar

Results

Photo Gallery

Fleet Contacts

Report Archives

Potomac Cup

Weather and Tides

Useful Links

Trophies & History

Dixie District

Racing Rules

2007 Women's/
Junior's/
Master's

2009 Fall Season Starts September 12!  What's up for 2009?  Stay tuned! Here is the 2009  calendar.  Want to sail with us?  Find out how.  Skippers - want to stay in touch with potential new crew?  In addition to checking the Regular Crew List, take a look at the candidates on the Crew Candidates List. 

Summer Regattas 2009!  The SSA Summer Series # 1 was Saturday, June 20, sailing from the SSA clubhouse in Eastport.  This was the first of a 3-day series -- the other two being July 11 and Aug 1.  Skippers' meeting at 9:30 AM; first gun at 11.  Here are the SIs.  Here are results from # 1.  The entry fee is nominal -- $15/day.  Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 finishers - skippers and crew.  For more information, contact Jon Guth at SSA.  Also coming up are the Central Atlantic Championships, July 10 - 12 at the Ocean City Yacht Club, Sailing in Great Egg Harbor Bay directly off Kennedy Park in Somers Point, NJ; the Atlantic Coast Championships at Toms River, NJ, July 25/26; the North American Championships at Sodus Bay, NY on August 4 - 14; the Duck Challenge at Havre de Grace on August 22/23; our own Presidents/Leukemia Cup on September 12/13; and the SMSA Small Boat Invitational on September 19 - 20.  Also in July is the Woody Lighting Get-together on Lake Onondaga in Syracuse, July 25/26.  Make plans now!

July 4th  Holiday weekend coming up - this weekend!  The official holiday is Friday, July 3, but most July 4 activities will be on Saturday.  Traditionally the Park Service restricts activities at the marina on July 4.  Here is more information.  Expect to see much river traffic on all 3 days.

Today's AccuWeather forecast calls for partly sunny skies, a high of 81 degrees, and winds from the NW at 10 MPH, building to 16 by late afternoon.  Low tide will be at 12:59 PM and high tide at 6:34 PM.  The river flow is normal for this time of year, at 4,900 CFS (gage height 3.3 ft), and the water temperature is 80 degrees. Sounds good!

North Sails 30% discount offer deadline is July 25!  Here are details.

Sign up for 2009 PRSA Race Committee Assignments Now!  The PRSA On-line sign-up sheet for the 2009 fall series is now available.  Please pick your dates and sign up now!.   Drivers and Helpers are needed for President's Cup and for all Fall Series races.  All PRSA members are expected to  work two RC days in 2009.

Time to renew our memberships in ILCA; PRSA; and Fleet 50!  ILCA membership is on a calendar year basis and you can join or renew on-line.    To renew your Fleet 50 and PRSA memberships, go to the Membership page.  To see if you have renewed, visit the Skipper roster or the Associate roster.

Join BoatUS for only $12.50!  As a member of Fleet 50 you can join at a discounted rate. See  https://www.boatus-insurance.com/newMember/joinN.asp?st  and be sure to list " #GA81366S " as the Boat US cooperating group # for fleet 50 to get your discount.

LightningFleet50 Email List Website.  (If you are a member of the group and have a Yahoo ID, you can read recent and old emails from the website.)  

To join the email list simply send a blank email to LightningFleet50-subscribe@yahoogroups.com  To learn more about our fleet contact any of the Fleet's officers.  See Fleet Contact button on the left.

 

  Wednesday Night Sailing July 1. There is very little to report since not one crew came down—Joe kept busy with doing some odd jobs on his boat. There was no rain until about 7:30 when a steady drizzle began.  Winds were about 3-4 mph until about 7:15 when it picked up to about 5-8.  It was a good night for instruction but not sailing.  Frank Gallagher went out with Maryann and Nabeel.  Bob Astrove and Red Fehrle were there putting together a Laser. We'll try again next Wednesday.

Sailing Videos posted!  Ace cinemaphotographer (and Lightning skipper) Jeff Storck has produced two videos of PRSA boats in action!  One is  from the 2009 Capital City Laser Regatta; the other is a combination of views from Sunday Series races from September 21, 2008 and April 5, 2009.  Go here to view.  Jeff recommends full-screen view and cranking the audio up.  These are 50 MB files that will take a while to load.

Hornets invade WSM!  According to Red Fehrle, a bothersome large hornet population has settled in at the marina, especially in the laser racks. To combat them, you can borrow  insecticide from the marina office and use it to try to eradicate the insects around your slip. You can also contact the Park Service (Dottie Marshall --703 289 2500) to discuss further measures you'd like to see taken.  Barney Harris also reports excellent results with moth balls -- scatter them in and around your boat and kill the critters.  Last summer we had fleet members stung by hornets that made their nests in the trailer hitch couplers -- be careful  before lifting your trailer by the tongue.

Wednesday Night Sailing  June 24!  We had temperatures in the low 80s, with northerly winds 12 - 6 MPH.  Low tide was at 4:59 PM.  The river flow was slightly above average for this time of year, at 13,700 CFS (gage height 4.3 ft) and the water had warmed up to 79 degrees.  Frank was there, sailing with Barney Harris; Jeff and Pat sailed Jeff's boat.  Frank said, "It was a very nice sail ... we should have had 15 Lightnings out there .... !!!!"   Next Wednesday, July 1, Joe Warren plans to host a crew training session, weather permitting.

2009 Dixie District Championships at Solomons June 13 - 14.    Congratulations to Allan Terhune -- who, with Katie Terhune and Collin Kirby as crew --   took first place.  Five Fleet 50 boats participated -- Alsalam; Dillard; Gallagher; Roberts; and Thompson; Nabeel placed fifth.  Aaron Boesnecker sailed with Mark Boaz and Katie Zeglis; and Lisbet Kugler sailed with Joe Friebele, increasing the Fleet 50 participation even more.  Note Mark Boaz holds dual fleet 50 and fleet 329 membership, as does Todd Johnson who crewed for Steve Constants.  Results herePhotos here.

On Saturday we had light northeasterly winds on a warm and humid afternoon, and we struggled to complete two races before the winds died completely -- with three boats on the wrong side of the finish line when the time limit expired.  On Sunday the winds were stronger, still from the northeast, but up and down and shifty, and we got in three races before the last start deadline.  SMSA offered great hospitality -- they completely cleared their boat  storage area to make room for the 22 Lightnings, and they brought in other club members to help us launch and recover using their crane.  The Saturday happy hour and barbeque dinner were outstanding, and the world-famous Tiki Bar provided cover for after-dinner drinks after we closed the clubhouse for the evening.   PRO Keith Jacobs ran an excellent Race Committee and did well despite the difficult wind conditions. Our hats off to Regatta Chair Dave Meiser and organizing committee that included Jackie Meiser and Don Behrens for getting it all together.  The top 18 competitors all qualified for the North American Championships in August.

2009 Special Olympics sailing began Monday, June 8! Lightnings are needed.  Contact Frank Gallagher for more information.  Here is the schedule.

PRSA Spring Series # 8, Sunday June 7.  What a great way to end the  Spring Series!  Rick Welch was PRO.  The AccuWeather forecast (always subject to change) called for partly sunny skies, a high of 83 degrees, and  winds from the south at  6 - 9 MPH. We got better than that  --  a steady southerly averaging around 10 MPH, under sunny skies and with a high temperature of 79 degrees.  The river flow was way up --  four times normal for this time of year, at 40,000 CFS (gage height 6.2 ft) and the water was  cooler than last week, at 72 degrees.  With high tide at 8:27 AM and low tide at 3:49 PM we had an outgoing tide to combine with the high river flow to produce a strong downriver current.  Thirteen Lightnings came out, although several were short crew, and Russ sailed single-handed.  Russ got the "Sailor of the Day" award for being seen single-handing on a downwind run with spinnaker up, a cigarette in one hand and a beverage in the other, dodging the considerable debris in the river, including a large tree trunk, a section of a dock, and a railroad tie, and managing to finish in the middle of the fleet.  How do you do it, Russ?   Patrick McKnight and family did a day sail down past the Wilson Bridge, making 14 Lightnings on the water. PRO Rick Welch got off five races in quick succession on a long windward-leeward course before we were too exhausted to sail more. Here is a report by "The Nudge."  Here are photos, courtesy of Aaron Boesnecker.  Results here.

More 2009 News

2008 News

 

 

For more information contact: Russ Roberts our current fleet captain, at 703-593-4102 or Bob Wilbur, our current fleet secretary at 202-338-6235.

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