FlashBlast - November 21, 2025
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Single advertisements are available for each Flash Blast. For more information or to reserve your spot please contact Laura in the Class Office or at 727-942-7969.
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What’s Up with Radio Controlled Sailing? Racing these “toy” boats has a lot to offer the racing community, not the least of which is a big boat-load of FUN!
Imagine standing on the dock right next to your arch-rival as they tack away into a header – what a trash-talk opportunity!
Beyond the fun, there are some real benefits to this form of racing: no towing, no calling around for crew, no capsizing, and almost no wasted set-up time.
Ever wanted to skipper a 12M? There are several model yacht classes that are scaled versions of the 12M, some of which have full keels and sail remarkably like the original. In fact, there are over 30 model yacht classes sanctioned by the American Model Yachting Association (AMTA).
Whether you are looking for one to build from scratch, or one that comes ready to race out of the box, or you want one to compete internationally, or want one that looks just like the Laser you loved to sail, there is something that fits your needs.
And if you want to tune up your strategies and tactics off-season, imagine running 10 races with starts, mark roundings, gates, finishes, shifts… all in one morning with the local club.
Many current and former Lightning sailors are racing model sailboats. Ched Proctor is an active model boat racer and says “It may seem stupid - but it’s so much fun!”
Let us get you connected to your local club, or help you start one at The AMYA. | LAST CALL FOR BIDS
2027 World and Master World Championships
AREA/REGION HOST: North America
Deadline for bids: December 1, 2025. Questions, Contact Josh Goldman, VP of Worlds.
Full Details: 2027 Worlds - Call for Bids | | 2025 South American Championship!
December 27-30, 2025
Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico
Algarrobo, Chile
ARG (1), BRA (1), COL (1), ECU (3), PER (1), USA (1) and of course host CHI will all be represented. Who else is in??
Note** Complete registration by Dec 1st to avoid $100 Late Fee! | | | President's Message - David Starck
U32 Initiative and New(er) Boat Supply
There is a distinct parallel between the U32 initiative, trying to attract the next generation of Lightning sailors (and owners), and the new/slightly used boat market. If you think about it, they go hand-and-hand. It’s the trickle-down effect. Allow me to explain.
The 2nd annual U32 Invitational regatta at Metedeconk River YC in October was a big success (see for yourself below). This reminded me how important building new boats will be for the class to grow and enjoy prosperity. Current owners with 5–15 year-old boats are ready to order new ones, and those boats become available not only to the U32 buyers, but also to current boat owners looking to upgrade. And there are many. Check out the current Boats For Sale
Then there are the markets outside North America in the Lightning Class footprint. South America and Europe continue to look for boats to replenish their aging boats and equipment. Although we were able to get several very good boats to FIN and GRE last spring and summer, the effort continues.
As the Class leadership sets its sights on 2038 (100th anniversary), we are working on important initiatives to raise funds to support a whole host of important projects, one of which is new plugs/ molds for our builder in North America. New tooling equipment will help speed up the building process which, in turn, will help get more boats into the marketplace and on the starting line.
More details on the 2030 FUEL THE FLASH fundraising effort are further down in this email. We will need everyone’s help to hit our goals!! Thank you.
|  | | 2nd Annual U32 Invitational
1. Will Murray, Heather Kerns, Lucas Goodin
2. Timmy Crann, Lauren Jones, Allie Jones
3. Jenna Probst, Elizabeth Starck, Paula Herman
| | | In 2024, it was a brand-new initiative. In 2025, it officially became a highly-anticipated tradition.
The second annual U32 Invitational Regatta was held at Metedeconk River Yacht Club on October 11-12 for 75 competitors. Sailors between the ages of 21-32 descended on the New Jersey Shore for a fall exhibition that proved to be fun on and off the water.
After Friday’s welcome night, racing commenced on Saturday, providing short-course sailing on the Metedeconk River that reminded many competitors of their days in college. A benefit of the Lightning is that sailors can enjoy that quick-hitting style of racing or mile-long courses in the ocean (see September's NAs in Wrightsville Beach) depending on location and regatta.
This regatta proved to be a great promotion for the Lightning Class’ Boat Grant Program, as 2025 recipient Will Murray and his team of Heather Kerns and Lucas Goodin dominated the field. Team Murray won three of four races en route to becoming the second-ever U32 champion. A Hobart-William Smith alumnus, Murray skippered his grant boat throughout the 2025 season, including a top-15 finish at the North Americans.
“The U32 Regatta was a perfect example of what makes the Lightning class so special — intense, tactical racing mixed with an incredibly fun and welcoming atmosphere,” Murray said. “The program is such an important opportunity for younger sailors to get involved, build connections, and see what makes this fleet so special. Sailing the grant boat has given me the chance to experience this community firsthand, and it’s easy to see why so many people stay in the class for life.”
Full U32 Regatta Report
U32 Racing Photos - Thank You to Art Petrosemolo (@nauticalphotography) for capturing the excitement!
U32 Award Photos
Coming Soon - Watch for more information on our 2026 event announcement! | Support U32, Look Good Doing It!
When you purchase a U32 shirt or hat, $10 goes right back to support the program. Make an impact — buy yours today!
Your generosity helps the U32 movement thrive. You can give a one-time gift or set up recurring monthly or quarterly donations. Make your contribution through the U32 Fund —donate here! | | All Past Issues of Flashes are now Searchable!
We have 79 years of Flashes on this website, comprising 667 issues and over 9,300 articles! It is a veritable treasure-trove of history, articles, member information, etc. And now - all of it is Searchable! Wanna go back and find an old article on a friend of yours? Or maybe the write-up on one of your escapades? Or who was that District Champion from 1998? Now you can!
Searches may be made by key word searching through article titles, a brief summary of each article, key words, key names, locations and fleets, and boat numbers.
This indexing project was executed by a group of Lightning Class Volunteers: Bob Shapiro, Raeyane Farrell, and Bob Astrove as a project of our "Lightning LOYALS" group.
| | | Go to the Lightning Class website: www.lightningclass.org
- Select "The Class" on the top menu bar,
- Select "History Index" on the pull down menu.
- Select "eFlashes" on the landing page.
- Select the push button labeled "Searchable Flashes Index"
You can also jump directly to it via this link: (Maybe bookmark it?)
https://www.lightningclass.org/handlers/celinks.ashx?id=113472
The files may be searched by using CTRL-F or the search feature of your browser found on its menus. When using the Chrome or Edge browser, the index file links will attempt to take the user to the correct page of a Flashes issue via a Search. On cell phones or other browsers, the link will only open the correct issue of Flashes and users will need to scroll to the designated page.
For those interested in how we did this with 3 volunteers in under 4 months - we went high tech. We used Artificial Intelligence to process each of the 667 issues of Lightning Flashes through a query using ChatGPT. AI doesn't do a perfect job, and we encourage you to tell us about errors and omissions. At the same time, we think all will be quite impressed with how good a job it did. We can and will re-do pieces as issues are identified.
Enjoy. This was created so Lightning Sailors everywhere could have fun exploring the history of the Class. | | 8 Bells... Richard N. Hayes
It is with sadness we share the passing of Richard a longtime Lightning sailor from Fleet 6. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hayes / Lutian Family.
His formative years were shaped by the water. He grew up sailing out of the Housatonic Boat Club on Long Island Sound, where he was a devoted member for over 80 years. He competitively raced one-design Lightnings throughout the Northeast, his four children rotating through crew positions learning firsthand what he valued most: teamwork, perseverance, and joy in the journey.
| | | | Fuel The Flash 2030 - every spark counts
Please help support the Lightning Class Donate Now
The Peter & Audrey Denton Family Foundation issued a $25,000 Matching Challenge for 2025. To earn the money, we needed 325 unique donors – more than triple the number from previous years - as well as increasing individual donations over their prior year’s amount. We’re excited to announce that we have Met the Match! | | | Nadine Cunningham was the 325th donor, putting us over the top with her contribution to the U32 fund. Thank you to Nadine and to the 324 (and still counting) others who donated. Every single donation counts!
Fuel The Flash 2030 Progress: You have donated over $113,000 to Fuel The Flash 2030. Including pledges, we have secured $363,000 of our $800,000 goal. You are AMAZING! Check out the Donor Hall of Fame - it’s not too late to add your name to the list.
How Can You Give to the Lightning Class? The end of the calendar year is traditionally a time of giving. The Lightning Class is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and your donations may be tax deductible. To ensure that donations made with tax benefits in mind are credited in 2025, please be certain they are received at the Class office by no later than December 19. Remember that brokerages and the mail can be slow at the end of the year. How can you give?
| | Member Spotlight:
Ian & Lindy Edwards - the newest Lightning Life Members
...associated with the Lightning Class for more than twenty years. Throughout that period, their activities have been motivated by a single driving question….”What can we do to grow and support the fleet?” Fortunately for the Class, those efforts have been a resounding success.
Ian grew up in Australia where he learned to sail with his father on a variety of small boats. He trained as an engineer and ultimately went to work for Exxon/Mobil which led to a number of overseas assignments.
In the early 2000’s, he was assigned to a project in Lagos, Nigeria. While there, he discovered a somewhat unique “Lightning” fleet...
| | | | Vakaros RaceSense Technology
A Post Race Debrief of the NAs was held Nov 3. This debrief outlined the additional functions of using data collected post racing/sailing. The debrief was run by Doug Wake from Vakaros and included John Newell (current North American Champion Skipper), Ryan Davidson (VP of Boat Grant, 2025 NAs crew and uses this technology in VX One and M15 Classes) and Bill Cabrall (Past Chief Measurer, current Assistant Measurer and interestingly was not present at either test event). | | |
A Town Hall Meeting was held November 17. That recording will be posted to the website soon. The written questions addressed during this meeting and post meeting questions/comments are posted.
This topic will go to committee to further evaluate options.
| The LOYALS are sponsoring a challenge:
G.O.T. Flashes (Get Out There).
You earn recognition for the number of days you sail a Lightning. NOT just skippers or racing – crewing, daysailing, practicing – basically any day you get out there and sail a Lightning counts.
Click on GOT-Flashes Challenge Log to access an easy-to-use log. The LOYALS will track and automatically send recognition stickers when you hit 10 days, 25 days and 50 days. Use it as a fleet builder, and to engage your fellow sailors to GET OUT THERE! Challenge your fleet members, or other fleets, to join you/beat you on the Leader Board, published weekly.
The program is very simple - full details can be found here. GOT Flashes Program Details We hope you join in the fun!
G.O.T. Flashes Challenge! Blog Weekly updates, fun facts and Leaderboard. This week we have 2 new awards. Claire DeVoogd has reached the 25 Sail level, and Erika Carne has made it to 10 sails this year. Congratulations to both of you!
I am pleased to report that John Ring has an initial version of a G.O.T-Flashes App up and running, and the Lightning LOYALS community is currently testing it with a view to have it online by the end of the year. We can already tell it will be a vast improvement over our existing input mechanism and will greatly enhance the G.O.T.-Flashes Challenge user experience. Keep an eye out on the Class website for its appearance soon!
In the meantime, it hasn't snowed yet, so Get Out There!
Bill Cabrall
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Please be sure to submit your results with CREW NAMES to the Class Office via EMAIL office@lightningclass.org . If you have a short summary and a few photos even better!
If your regatta isn't listed - be sure to add the event to the ILCA Event Calendar and send in results after the regatta! | Upcoming Regattas:
Click on the event for more info or
If you need help listing your events please contact Laura in the Class Office. | Upcoming Events
Due to the J24 National's Lightnings are taking a year off. See you back at the 2026 King's Day Regatta!
3 Days of Racing in St Pete - leave your boat in the area and you will be ready for the St Pete Winter Champs in March!
Includes a Master's Winter Championship and first Part of the Southern Circuit.
Final stop of the 2026 Southern Circuit!
Save the Date! Don't miss this FUN in Annapolis!
All are welcome to Columbia Sailing Club on Lake Murray!
Save the Date! NEW LIGHTNING Start!!
Come and experience Midsummer Nights in Finland!
Lake Carlyle Welcomes All!
Youth Worlds rotate to Finland!
Racing in Marblehead! NOTE Corrected Date from initial posting.
Come and explore Milwaukee and race on beautiful Lake Michigan!
SAVE THE DATE! Get ready for some great racing in Sheboygan, WI! You'll have your fill of cheese, beer, brats, and FUN!
Come sail on Bow Lake in Strafford, NH where the sounds of the loons were recorded for the movie On Golden Pond. Great food, great racing, great fun and tons of social time, including the famous Bow Lake Taco Bar!
| | Major Championship Regattas |
Includes a Master's Winter Championship and first Part of the Southern Circuit.
Final stop of the 2026 Southern Circuit!
Come and experience Midsummer Nights in Finland!
Youth Worlds rotate to Finland!
Come and explore Milwaukee and race on beautiful Lake Michigan!
SAVE THE DATE! Get ready for some great racing in Sheboygan, WI! You'll have your fill of cheese, beer, brats, and FUN!
| International Lightning Class Association
Laura Jeffers, Executive Secretary
(727) 942-7969 | |