A periodic newsletter of the Lansing Sailing Club. Copies of previous e-Sheets are in the archives section of our web site at www.lansingsailing.org.
Send info for publication to the Publisher by using the Contact Us page of the Lansing Sailing Club Web Site. |
| In this Issue | Coming Events |
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| Race Committee Reminder | |
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| Sailing on TV | |
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Moonlight Sail Coming Next Friday |
| The last moonlight sail of 2003 at the Lansing Sailing Club will be next Friday, August 15th. Members and guests are invited to come out and enjoy the evening. Bring a dessert to pass at 8 pm. We'll have both sail and pontoon boats available to ride in as the moon comes up. |
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Lasers and Sunfish Closing in on Season Finales |
| It is hard to believe that mid-August is almost upon us. For Sunfish sailors this means just four more evenings of Wednesday racing in 2003. Lasers go one week beyond that, but five more Wednesday race nights seems too few. Let's finish the season with a bang - come out and sail. |
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Foul Wind Does 360 |
Wednesday's wind on Lake Lansing proved to be interesting. At 6:00 when the Race Committee set an initial course, the wind was from the west. At 6:20, it had shifted to the North and increased in intensity. The course was reset. With a solid breeze blowing (one boat capsizing), and everyone optimistic, the rain rolled in. Undaunted, the first race sequence began. A clocking shift late in the sequence found racers congregating around the Committee Boat - and an aggressive Laser Fleet had 6 of the 8 boats over early. A General Recall was signaled and, with racers showing great patience, the course was reset with the windward mark now reflecting an easterly wind. where the initial leeward mark was, the first race was finally underway. Before the second race could begin, the wind began clocking again and more course changes were made until it stabalized coming from the South. Thankfully, the sailors were patient through all this and another race began. Then you can guess what happened. Another clocking shift resulted in a westerly wind in the middle of the race. The wind had done it's 360 turn. By the end of the second race, so much time had been spent moving marks that the sun was setting. It was time to drink - and the wind backed to the South. |
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MacKenzie Gets Top 3 Finish |
Doug Carlson logged two more first place finishes Wednesday - but after that there were some new faces. Dave MacKenzie showed that spending a lot of time on the water (he is sailing almost every day) is paying off. Dave had a third place finish in race two. Blaine Severin had two fourth place finishes to show some carryover from some solid sailing on Sunday. George Siegle had a second and third while Mike Moody picked up the other second. Results and standings are available from the Race Results page of the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org. |
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Marge Clark Checks in with Sunfish |
Among last Wednesday's Sunfish sailors was Marge Clark, making her debut on the racing. Gil Chesbro rolled to first place finishes in both races. Alanna Harvey and John Fishbeck scored seconds while Dave Vietti and Neil Harrison picked up thirds. Dennis Dudley sailed along side Marge, helping her to understand the race course, interpreting the starting sequence signals, suggesting strategy and offering encouragement. Marge later joined the group at Spags and sailors offered suggestions to her for what to tell Ed about why she was out so late. Thanks for joining in the fun Marge. You faced among the most difficult conditions (high winds, drifting conditions, rain, etc.) of the summer so far - and were still smiling at the end. Keep sailing. |
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Windsurfer Begins to Remember Collision |
Kimberly Birkenfeld had it all at 37 - an MBA from Harvard, a successful consulting business, the No. 1 ranking among women windsurfers on the U.S. Sailing Team. Then came a collision with a coach boat and Kimberly next recalls waking up 30 days later. This calls to mind a similar incident in June involving a chase boat and a German crew sailing a Tornado catamaran. Read Kimberly's side of the story, her call for improved safety guidelines and about her life since the incident in "The Log" (California's Boating Newspaper), at www.thelognewspaper.com/columnists/columnistsview.asp?c=69139. |
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Phychological Characteristics of Olympians |
The August issue of the Olympic Sailing Committee's monthly online magazine "Sailing Medallist"includes an interesting paper on "Psychological Characteristics of U.S. Olympic Champions" from the Coaching and Sport Sciences Division of USOC. Ten of the most successful Olympic athletes underwent in-depth interviews. The study found the champions exhibited a number of impressive psychological characteristics. Some of the more important attributes are:
Many of the Lansing Sailing Club members and friends have these attributes. So why aren't we going to Greece in 2004? Read more about this at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/SailingMedallist. |
Copyright
© 2003 by the Lansing Sailing Club, 6039 East Lake Drive, PO Box
51, Haslett, Michigan 48840. |