• Wind Dancer Leads Sunday Racers
• Laser-Sunfish Clinic a Big Success
• Lightning Crew Race this Thursday
• LSC Wednesday Sailors in Channel 10 Shot
• Moving America's Cup Boats

• July 21. Monday. Discover Sailboat Racing. Class 3. 6:00 to 8:30 PM.
• July 22. Tuesday. Lightning Skipper and Crew Practice.
• July 23. Wednesday. Laser and Sunfish Racing. First of four races starts at 6:30 pm. Spagnoula's for pasta, liquid refreshment and "the Rules Quiz" after racing.
• July 24. Thursday. Crew Race Day - Crew Takes the Helm. 6:30 PM.
• July 27. Sunday. Lightning Racing - Race Day 14. 12:30 Skip Mtg. 1:00 First of Three Races.
• July 29. Tuesday. Lightning Skipper and Crew Practice. Anyone interested in crewing is invited to participate.
• July 30. Wednesday. Laser and Sunfish Racing. First of four races starts at 6:30 pm. Spagnoula's for pasta, liquid refreshment and "the Rules Quiz" after racing.
• July 31. Thursday. Lightning Racing - Race Day 15. 6:30 First of Three Races. No Skip Mtg, Check in with RC on Water.

• July 27 (Sun): Blaine Severin and Merrick Hurlbutt
• July 31 (Thu): Paul Marttila and Volunteer Needed

• No coverage is scheduled in the immediate future. Sign up to receive notices of future telecasts by Gary Jobson (ESPN) at www.jobsonsailing.com

Wind Dancer Leads Sunday Racers

Pat Dolan, Gil Chesbro and Stacy Kotecki were aboard "Wind Dancer", winning two of the three races and finishing second in the other race to lead Sundays Lightning sailors. In all, seven boats participated. Mike Moody, sailing "Moody's Booty" with Lori Katz and Pete Kuhn, had two second place finishes and a first for the day. In their first place finish, they held off a hard charging "Wind Dancer" with a very smooth gybe set at the last mark before the finish.

Don Baron sat in the drivers seat of "Unidentified Flying Pigs" today while Blaine Severin and David Baron crewed. They claimed a third place finish in the last race. They were also in contention for third in race one - but were edged out by about a foot at the end by Larry Koster and Tom Rasmussen in "Shibumi".

"Bananas", sailed by Jim, Maribeth and Eddie Fletcher, claimed third place in race two. Every week we can see immense progress by the Fletchers after getting back into Lightning sailing - and Eddie sailed his first race this year from the driver position. John LeFevre, with Leif Alton and Dan Sutkovs on board, came close to beating last year's fleet champion in race one - then came on strong in race three to finish fourth. George Siegle had Jim Warner on "Fins" and sailed very well in spots - particularly considering Jim hasn't been doing much sailing recently. Their results included a sixth, fourth and a fifth.

Find complete results and standings through the Race Results page of the Club web site at www.lansingsailing.org.

Laser-Sunfish Clinic a Big Success

Seventeen sailors turned out Saturday for the Laser-Sunfish Clinic. Vice Commodore Mike Moody led the day long series of activities - all designed to improve boat handling and other sailing skills.The group worked very hard through more than 25 starts and more than 35 competitive mark roundings on their way to becoming smoother and faster in their boats.

It was a huge success. "This was an excellent idea," reported Maribeth Fletcher. "The Lansing Sailing Club has needed this for a long time." Ken Knight wrote this note to Mike: "Great job on everything today- the organization & scope were great. It was certainly more contiguous tiller time "with a purpose" than I have ever had. Hopefully I can make it pay on Wed nights. I know that Olav was gone in the second part of the day, but I was at least within sight of Doug most of the time! Thanks for taking the time to teach!"

"I learned more in the first 30 minutes of just talking about the basics than I have ever picked up on my own," said Sandy Bryson. "And that was before we went out on the water for the drills." Gil Chesbro learned a method to guage which end of the finish line is favored and said "Thanks for putting on the clinic. Learning about the inside laylines at the finish was new information for me and besides it just makes sense to finish that way."

Video taken on the water during the morning was reviewed during lunch - so sailors got to more easily see things they can do to make improvements. This, along with other starting line techniques the group practiced, showed as the day went on too. Where boats were late for the starting line early in the day - they were at the line and moving fast by the end of the day.

Lightning Crew Race this Thursday

This Thursday is LSC's annual "Crew Race" - where crew members take the helm and skippers try to figure out how to get across the boat in that narrow slot at the front of the boat while roll tacking the boat and trimming the sail at the same time. Three races are planned, the first starting at 6:30 PM. Skippers: get your crews scheduled.

LSC Wednesday Sailors in Channel 10 Shot

LSC member Julie Pierce reports that during its weather segment at 11 last Wednesday evening, Channel 10 used footage of Lake Lansing to illustrate what a beautiful evening it had been - and there were a whole bunch of Sunfish sails in the shot! Lookin' good.

Moving America's Cup Boats

Ever wonder what it takes to move an America's Cup boat? The daily enewsletter Scuttlebutt's July 16 issue gives us some idea. Scuttlebutt reports that since the last Cup concluded in Aukland, the winning Swiss team Alingi's three boats have been stored in Cherbourg. Now, with a September San Francisco regatta to sail in, one of the boats is on its way to the racing venue. SUI 64 left the port of Manche at the beginning of July in order to make the journey to San Francisco to participate in the regattas that have been organized by Oracle BMW Racing from the 14th to the 20th of September.

But the boat will not go it alone. All of her equipment must follow, and this represents the modest volume of 160 square meters - that is, four 40 foot containers, some of which are cooled between 10 and 14 degrees centigrade. Is it chocolate? Cheese? No, none of these things! Refrigeration ensures that the right temperature level that was best adapted to preserve the glue that has been used on the sails since their inception is constantly maintained. This also ensures the longevity of the sails. Two large zodiacs will also take part in the voyage.

After about 30 days at sea, the boats and the materials will be welcomed on the west coast of the United States by the members of the Shore Team as well as the sailors - about a dozen people who, in just two weeks, will put the boat back in the water in configuration for racing. In effect, the hulls will travel nude.

Once everything arrives, the team members will have to install the deck fittings, step the mast, re-fit the rigging, and bolt on the keel. They will adjust the shrouds, lube the winches, check the sails and calibrate the electronics. And, as you can imagine, there is a plethora of small details to go over in order to ensure that the boat becomes, once again, the rocket it was on the Hauraki Gulf.

Subscribe free to Scuttlebutt by clicking the link on LSC's home page. For the full article on Alingi's activity, go to www.alinghi.com/en/news/index.php?dest=167.