March 2, 2003

After being forced off the water for two Sundays by snowstorms and very high winds, it was nice to get back out.  The winds built over the day and then died back a bit.  I’d estimated it was getting near 20 knots at the peak.  This turned the middle races into survival races and capsizes were common.

Mike is getting better and better.  Frank managed to edge him out in race 3 when Mike reached downwind while Frank headed straight for the mark.  Then Mike over stood the finish line as the strong current with the help of the wind was dragging the RC boat.

Is spring finally here?

February 10, 2003

The winds were from the southwest but moved further west and got lighter over the day which made it a challenge for the race committee.  The boat end was usually heavily favored and sometimes we made it 80 percent of the way to the windward mark without tacking.  As we approached that mark, which was tucked in near shore, the breeze became shifty and light and it was (for me) to get around it efficiently.

Pl	Sail #	Skipper	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	Avg.
1	100697	Mike Carlson	1	2	1	3	2			1.8
2	888	Paul Maher	2	1	4	5			1	2.6
3	118691	Frank Gallagher		3	3	2	1	2	6	2.833
4	131298	David Dalbec		4	2	1	5	4	3	3.167
5	88	Bob Wilbur		5	6	4	6	1	2	4
6	YELLAND	Steve Yelland		6			4	3	8	5.25
7	140533	Nabeel Alsalam		8	7	7	3	5	4	5.667
8	166087	Gibson Smith	4	7	5	8	7	6	5	6
9	KLEY	Bill Kleysteuber			8	6	9	7	7	7.4
10	64	David Tabor	3		9		10	9		7.75
11	154377	Hayden Smith	5	9	10	9	8	8		8.167

February 3, 2003

Pl	Sail #	Skipper	Avg	69	70	71	72	73	74
1	152912	Thacher Tiffany	1.6	1	1	2	3	1
2	11462	Drew Hudson	3.2		2	1	8	4	1
3	100697	Mike Carlson	3.3	4	4	6	1	3	2
4	162362	Mike Callahan	4			4	2	7	3
5	118691	Frank Gallagher	6.4		9	7	6	2	8
6	888	Paul Maher	6.7	3	13	5	5	10	4
7	140533	Nabeel Alsalam	7.2	6	5	8	7	12	5
8	117628	David Teale	8.2	10	11	10	4	8	6
9	168421	Jim Graham	8.2	5	8	12	12	5	7
10	881	Chris Bolton	8.2	7	7	11	10	6
11	166087	Gibson Smith	9.3	8	10	9	11	9	9
12	KLEY	Bill Kleysteuber	11.5		12	14	9	11
13	138813	Keith Barron	13.3		14	16\DNF		13	10
14	BISHOP	Geoff Bishop	2.7#	2	3	3
15	131298	David Dalbec	9.3#	9	6	13
16	148395	Larry Hannah	13#	11	15

January 26, 2003

January 19, 2003

It was very cold again.  In fact, the cove was mostly frozen over.  To get the committee boat out, we had to move forward very slowly while one of us broke the ice ahead with a pole.  

The wind was west to northwest, so I set up the windward mark as far into the cove as possible and the leeward mark south of the docks as close to the mudflats as possible.  The first race was handicapped by the fact that a large ice sheet broke loose and the tide brought it down to the windward mark and prevented the racers from rounding it.  So they improvised and rounded the nearby day mark instead.  After a couple of races the tide swept the race course clean of most ice.

I set up an extremely long start-finish long line between the RC boat and the docks.  This made for some very interesting tactical decisions (and mistakes) at both the start and finish.  When the wind swung left, the pin end was favored and it paid to start on port down there.  Usually the boat end was the upwind end, but it was so far right that a left shift would kill the sailors who started there.  Plus, the shore was bending the wind, so that it also paid to finish at the pin end.  Strange.

Frank was often ahead during most of the race only to be frustrated by Mike at the finish.  Paul lent me his boat for the last two races and I used what I had learned from watching the racers to do a horizon job on them.  :-)

Afterwards we went into the restaurant and had some free munchies with our beer.  Thanks to Alex at the Potowmack Landing.

January 12, 2003

January 3, 2003

December 15, 2002