PRSA Frostbite Day 5: December 18

It was a beautiful day on the Potomac River with the wind from the northwest 7-15, which was more than the forecast that I saw. The sun was behind the clouds making it feel like a frostbite race but the wind was enough to keep you working. It was another great turnout with 24 boats making it on the last sailing day in 2011. Will Summers and Istvan Pely set up a windward leeward out in the river. The current was coming in/slack at the beginning of the day and was going out pretty aggressively by the last race keeping the fleet off the line.

Getting a good start was essential and the mark roundings were crowded which put an emphasis on making the right decision in a short amount of time. The firsts were well spread out in six races with five different people winning a race (Erich, Frank,Len, Robert and Alex in a Radial really impressive). The wind was very shifty which caused many lead changes.

I have been excited by all the new faces this year and the turnouts thus far. I hope that we can keep it up in 2012.

The next Sunday is the Hangover Regatta January 1. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year and hope to see you on the water on the 1st.

PRSA
Frostbite 2011-2012
12/18/2011
Series #5
Series Summary

Pl	Sail #	Skipper	23	24	25	26	27	28	Avg
1	644	Erich Hesse	1	2	(3)	3	1	3	2
2	098	Steve Yelland	6	4	6	4	(12)	2	4.4
3	776	Ian Connors	2	11	4	(15)	2	4	4.6
4	881A	Alex Jacob	10	3	7	1	4	(21DNF)	5
5	0708	Len Guenther	3	7	2	2	(14)	12	5.2
6	533	David Teale	5	6	1	10	5	(11)	5.4
7	049	Robert Bennett	12	(14)	10	6	3	1	6.4
8	719	Nabeel Alsalam	7	5	8	9	7	(19)	7.2
9	ERICP	Eric Petersen	16	10	(20)	5	8	5	8.8
10	647	Scott Snyder	9	(15)	5	14	10	8	9.2
11	053	Jim Greenley	(23DNS)	9	11	12	11	7	10
12	817X	Frank Gallagher	19	1	(22)	7	19	10	11.2
13	171	Kevin Cowley	8	17	(19)	8	6	18	11.4
14	057	Farley Will	4	16	9	(21)	21	14	12.8
15	503	Nich Allen	11	12	15	13	13	(17)	12.8
16	829	Jim Klein	14	13	(18)	16	18	6	13.4
17	837	Adam Dolezal	15	8	14	(22)	16	16	13.8
18	555	Dan Miller	17	(18)	16	11	17	15	15.2
19	831	Dario Soto	(23DNS)	21DNF	13	19	15	9	15.4
20	421	Jim Graham	13	19	12	20	(22)	13	15.4
21	628	Keith Barron	18	20RDG	(21)	18	9	20	17
22	585	Bob Wilbur	(23DNS)	21DNF	17	17	20	21DNF	19.2
23	990	Jeff Ward	21	21DNF	(23)	23	23	21DNF	21.8
24	892	Jacob Donkersloot	20	21DNF	(25DNS)	25DNS	25DNS	22DNS	22.6

PRSA Frostbite Day 4: December 11

Fifteen sailors showed up to sail yesterday with ten of those venturing out in a very light northeasterly. Jim Klein and Tom Kanatous provided the RC and ran four races in light winds in the cove. The most exciting part of the day (I think) was the two new boat owners on the water. Bill Kruse who has been sailing with us on the Gtown boats the past couple of weeks bought a boat and Eric Petersen who helped out on RC last weekend bought a boat from NJ on Saturday. So that’s two more boats on the water.

See the full results here.

We sail for the last time in 2011 next Sunday so get that Christmas shopping done so you can have one last day of sailing for the year. We need a PRO for next Sunday as well.

Pl	Sail #	Skipper	19	20	21	22	Av
1	0708	Len Guenther	1	6	1	1	2.3
2	421	Jim Graham	4	2	4	3	3.3
3	ERICP	Eric Petersen	3	4	3	6	4
4	776	Ian Connors		7	2	5	4.7
5	647	Scott Snyder	5	3	9	2	4.8
6	628	Keith Barron	7	1	6	7	5.3
7	301	Mike Renda	8	5	5	4	5.5
8	925	Ridley Nelson	2	8	7	9	6.5
9	658	Istvan Pely	6	9	8	8	7.8
10	WILLK	William Kruse	9		10	10	9.7

PRSA Frostbite Day 2: November 27

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Did you ever wonder what a NWS forecast of 7-9 knots with gusts to 20 kts would look like? If you sailed this Sunday – now you know. There was plenty of opportunity to go for a swim, which of course several PRYSA sailors couldn’t resist. Wind recordings at the airport topped out at 21 kts gusts with sustained winds of 15 kts during the time period of 1 of our races. Thank you to Marc and Jacob for serving as RC.

Eighteen boats and 20 sailors were on the Potomac enjoying the mild temperatures. The Boltons and the Jacobs made it a family affair taking turns on their Lasers and helping on RC. The wide variations in the wind made for some very crowded mark roundings. As the day progressed I heard more conversations at or before the zone establishing the overlaps – this is of course a very good thing.

A couple of items come to mind as best practices from Sunday: When the air was light watching the wind lanes going down wind seemed more important than getting to the shore to avoid current. Steve seemed to do just fine keeping clear air on the channel side. We had a very unusual wind to sail in, so shifting gears when the wind came up and down and then back up again was a big deal. I also enjoyed watching Alex Jacobs tack and jibe his boat. I had age and skill envy watching him use the hull to carve his roundings. – Len Guenther

PRSA Frostbite Day 1: November 20

It did not seem like frostbiting with temps in the upper 60’s and a few people sailing in shorts. The wind was not as much as advertised but the turnout was. Twenty-six people came out to sail with as much as 23 boats on the course at one time. We had quite a few new faces on the course. Will Summers a former collegiate sailor finished the highest at of all the new comers with a 15th overall and a first place in the last race. Nick Allen in 18th is a new boat to the fleet as well as Brian Burke in 22nd. In 21st was Will Phillipe sailing the Gtown boat on and off. Bill Kruse PRSA’s new secretary in 23rd place and Rose Gentile a Lightning sailor in 26th place. So six new faces to be exact.

The racing was tight at the top with the top three boats within a point of each other. Farley Will who ended up winning the day also had his first two first place finishes in our fleet. The first race Farley did a horizon job. Only two tenths of appoint behind was Len Geunther and six tenths behind him was Steve Yelland. Our former fleet captain Jen Snyder had a great day with a fifth place finish off a few year hiatus. Thanks to Keith Barron and Dario de Soto for running two lap windward-leewards efficiently.

Find the full results here.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and we sail next Sunday November 27.