Sailing Oct 1st ?

Good wind (though a little cold) tomorrow. Anyone up for sailing?

 

I plan to show between 1&2pm

 

Pat

 

 

 

Fall Sailing Saturdays

The final Monday night sailing is this coming Monday, August 29th. The following week is Labor Day, and the weekend after that is the PYC Whitecap regatta (for Lightning’s).

A number of us sail into late fall (roughly Thanksgiving). If people are interested we could sail on Saturdays? Nothing at all formal, just enough organization that if people are interested we can agree on a time.

Current thoughts are 11 am Saturdays for those who are interested.

25 Aug (Thursday)

If anyone is thinking about it, I’m planning on sailing tonight, getting to PYC about 4:30.

Aug 15

Looks like good weather for sailing, especially if you can show up a little early.

See you tonight

August 8

Not much wind tonight, but there’s good wind predicted for tomorrow, if we can avoid the rain. I’m planning to go tomorrow.

August 9th:

Beat the heat! Go Sailing!

If we can avoid the thunderstorms, should be a great night to be on the water. See you tonight. (We’ll verify the weather before leaving shore.)

July 17

As warm as it is, it’s a great day to be on the lake, and if we can avoid the storms, there should be enough wind to move around. (Hopefully, we may get some Jr. Sailors today as well)

See you tonight

June 27

 

Good wind tonight, should be a great evening of sailing (if we can avoid the storms). Hopefully will get some of the Jr. Sailors to come out with us, in which case I expect we’ll have traditional starts (rather than rabbits).

Had a great weekend sailing Lightnings in Bay City at the MI Districts. Saturday’s winds were blowing 15-20 mph, and the waves were 2-3 ft. It’s the cleanest our boat as ever been, as we were constantly taking waves over the deck. (My foul weather gear was continually put to the test.) The legs were set at close to a mile, and running downwind we surfed from mark to mark. I didn’t think to time it, but those legs could not have taken more than 3-4 minutes. Mike Welch will post the results, but it sounded like PYC members Mark Allen and Jim Allen took 1st and 2nd.

See you tonight.

June 13 Sailing

This may be the best sailing of the season, on one of the longest days of the year. There’s no better time to come out! Come August we’ll be begging for these days.

See you tomorrow!

June 6 Sailing

Memorial Day is behind us, Labor Day is in front, which means we are now into summer! (never mind the solstice stuff on the June 21st)

It looks like we’ll have some reasonable wind: 9-10 MPH’s. Hope we’ll see you there!

Memorial Day Sailing?

Are people interested in sailing Memorial Day? (I'm not sure if I'm available, but I want to pose the question.)

Highs of 88, with wind speeds around 11 mph.

Post a reply to this if you’re interested.

Monday Racing: 23-May

Hi All,

Here’ what Intellicast is currently saying for Monday night weather:

Details for Monday, May 23
Scattered thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 50s.

If we avoid the storms, it should be great sailing. See you there!

Sailing–16-May-2011

Hi All

Well, this afternoon’s weather calls for cold, but windy. (Believe it or not, they can even calculate a wind chill ).

Let’s try sailing tonight if people are interested, once again starting at 6:30 if we get a turnout. I think the DCD kids will be out.

Pat

Monday Night Racing Starts Tonight!

At 2:45pm, this is the forecast I’m seeing on Intellicast. Should be a great first night of sailing!

Pat

Let's start sailing!

The dock is in, and the Country Day sailing team has been our on the lake for a few weeks now (they all have dry suits), so I guess there's no reason that us old folks can't go, too. Let's make the first race Monday May 9th at 6:30 pm. (The sun sets at 8:43, so we'll try to be off the water by 8:30.)

I talked to a couple of small boat racers at dock-in yesterday about the format of racing. I see this as an informal way to practice racing, without too much concern for results other than "did I do better or worse than I usually do against <fill-in-nemesis-name-here>" In my case, sailing a Laser, that nemesis is Gavin Awerbuch.

Try to read up on Rabbit Starts. There's a couple of posts here on the blog.

Any wagers involving beer at a bar after the race is strictly up to the wager-ees.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 9th

PYC Small Boats on Facebook

In addition to this blog, PYC Small Boats has a Facebook page which we'll use for posting more immediate information than can be found on this blog.

Something I'll do is post to facebook when I'm planning race on a given evening, Monday nights, or any other time. Glenn Gardner is doing this as well. Also, whenever your at the club please use the facebook group to post wind/sailing conditions. It will help people decide whether they should make that long drive on a questionable Monday evening, or even spark some ad-hoc racing on other days when a few people decide to show up

Racing Start Video

Here's a neat link on small boat racing starts. Rabbit Starts show up at about 7:20.

Small Boat Racing:Starts

Rabbit Starts

On nights when we don't get many boats, I think it's good to use rabbit starts, rather than asking someone to sit in the RC boat.

One boat is designated to serve as the "Rabbit". All other boats stay downwind of the "Rabbit" prior to the start. The "Rabbit" rounds a designated "Starting Mark" (possibly the leeward mark) at or just before the starting signal and starts sailing close-hauled on a port tack.

The starting line is defined on one end by the mark and on the other end by the aft-most point on the "Rabbit". All other boats cross this starting line and once across, have started.

Once all the other boats have started, but no later than 1 minute after the starting signal, the "Rabbit" is free to tack to starboard if the skipper so chooses.

Boats that find themselves to windward and unable to cross behind the "Rabbit" as well as boats that did not start before the "Rabbit" tacks to starboard, will be considered "OCS" (on the course side of the starting line at start) and must round the pin end of the starting line (keeping the mark to port) in order to be counted as a starter. During this maneuver, the OCS vessel must keep clear of all boats who have properly started.

Elapsed time starts counting at the starting signal.