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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Labor Day Festivities Begin at Noon |
Lansing Sailing Club members and guests will begin their labor day festivities at the club at noon on September 1st with a picnic. Bring a dish to pass. LSC provides hotdogs, brats, soft drinks, paper and plastic. An on-the-water activity follows the picnic lunch, weather permitting. This sailing event is always a surprise and aims to be a fun event that everyone can participate in. |
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Wind Dancer Takes Two of Three |
Continuing their hot streak, the "Wind Dancer" team won two of three races in Sunday Lightning racing on Lake Lansing and scored a second in the other race. Pat Dolan was skipper with Gil Chesbro in the middle and Gary Marks in front for this series of races. Getting off to great starts in races one and three, "Wind Dancer" was first to the windward mark and never relinquished their lead - covering carefully. Outstanding crew work has been the hallmark of their string of successes, with careful strategy development, good tactical decisions, solid sail trim and smooth boat handling shared by the entire team. Mike Moody, Anna Hamilton and Ken Knight sailed "Moody's Booty" to a first place finish in the middle race and added a second and third for a solid performance on the day. Merrick Hurlbutt continued to sail well, teaming with son Jon and Scott Watkins to an exciting second place finish in the last race - just crossing and tacking on top of "Booty" at the very end to defend their position. Larry Koster sailed "Shibumi" with Tom Rasmussen and Bob Brook to third place finishes in two races before calling it a day. New sailor Shelly Kindig and veteran Bob Miller answered skipper John LeFevre's call and made a solid showing. For getting in a sailboat for the first time last Tuesday, Shelly showed how fast she is learning. Well done. On Kleiman's "boat with many names", Lisa Winters took the tiller in race two and Lori Katz drove race three. This was their first time driving in a Lightning fleet race, and they performed at a very high level. name, "Fabulous Sets" was presumably coined after observing their spinnaker sets - although there are suspicions of a double meaning. Earlier in the day, Mike Moody had taped his suggestion for a boat name on Kleiman's boat. Remember Mike, what goes around, comes around. Looking back on the day's results, it is clear that Tuesday evening practices are having a positive impact. There are many new crew members this year and all are now contributing at a high level, including work at the driving spot. This is raising the competitive bar significantly. Results and standings are available from the Race Results page of the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org. |
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Committee Boat Motor Headed For Doctor |
| The Lansing Sailing Club Committee Boat motor, halfway through racing yesterday, decided it didn't want to start. Despite the urgings and attention of several sailors and RC personnel, it could not be made to work. Alas, it is off to the boat motor doctor. Unfortunately, the motor seems to be less and less reliable. Fortunately, LSC's club boats team has been spending time this year looking at possible replacement options. |
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Sailors Test 2004 Olympic Sailing Venue |
| It looks like the sailing venue for next summer's Olympic Games will offer some exciting sailing. Olympic hopefuls are currently testing the Olympic Sailing Centre at Agios Kosmas as they participate in the Athens Pre-Olympic Regatta. Ben Ainslie, of the Finn class, says "The works at the venue have progressed a great deal and the venue itself is very impressive. It fully conforms to the standards of the 2004 Olympic Games. It's just perfect, I could say!". With less than a year to go before opening ceremonies, we will look forward to a lot more about 2004 Olympic sailing in the days ahead. Check out the sailing venue at www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=781&la=2. You can also surf this site for a lot more information about the 2004 Olympic games. |
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Kitty Hawk Laser Trailer For Sale |
| Check out a Kitty Hawk Laser Trailer for sale by Kerry Nielan on the Lansing Sailing Club web site at www.lansingsailing.org. Click on the "Classifieds" button. You'll also find some other items for sale there including Lasers with reduced prices. |
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Lake Lansing Herbicide Treatments |
Don Kaufman, President of the Lake Lansing Property Owners Association, recently emailed us with sad news. The herbicide application contractor for Lake Lansing, Gary Bower, passed away unexpectedly on Aug 1. Condolences are extended to his family. Don indicates a new contractor will be sought. Monitoring of Lake Lansing for weeds, bacteria, water level, etc continues. About $60,000 will be spent this year on aquatic plant treatment. Funds for this and other lake quality activities come from taxes paid by property owners on and near the lake, and from funds paid by the township and county because the public enjoys use of the lake through the park system. There is a recognition that weeds are beginning to form again and this is being monitored. Lack of rain and evaporation forces have lake levels quite low, but we continue to find good race courses and there continues to be a lot of sailing activity on the lake. |
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Pontiac Yacht Club Member Explains Why Lightning Sailing Can Be Hard |
Larry Koster calls our attention to information by a Pontiac Yacht Club member, Salo Korn, on why we sometimes have difficulty getting our Lightnings to go fast. Korn says "Many of you who are more like me rather than Jim Allen or Sean Fidler, probably wonder why it is so difficult to get the maximum speed out of your boat. Well, I have a mathematical explanation. "By my count", Korn continues,," there are 20 adjustments that can be made on the typical Lightning that affect boat speed, pointing or both. These include upper shroud tension, lower shroud tension, mast pre-bend, mast rake, jib wire, jib cloth, jib sheet, jib car, main sheet, out-haul, Cunningham, Vang, traveler, traveler height, back stay, centerboard, crew position, crew weight, boat heel, angle of the boat with respect to the wind. "Now, even though there is infinite adjustment on all these variables, for simplicity, let’s assume there are only three positions for each. Position one is the perfect position. Position two is the position in one direction that has a detrimental affect boat speed. Position three is the position in the opposite direction that has a detrimental affect boat speed. In other words, three positions, one is good. So, how many different combinations can you achieve with twenty variables and three settings for each variable. The answer is to multiply each of the variable’s three settings by each other, or 3*3*3*3 etc twenty times; or 3 to the 20th. Using my trusty TI-36X calculator, this turns out to be 3,486,784,401. That’s right! You have one chance in almost 3.5 billion to get it right. "And just when you do, the wind speed changes by 5 mph. " |
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Bohl's On The Move Again |
Doug, Cori, Bailey and Noah Bohl , Lansing Sailing Club members while Doug finished his degree work at MSU, moved to Annapolis last year where Doug has a position at the Naval Academy. Now Doug writes to tell us they will be on the move again. "Well we have certainly had one exciting year so far in Maryland," Doug says. "That excitement continues and will continue probably until the holidays. Why you may ask. Well we are moving, not a long way but we are moving non the less. There was some (ok a lot) of uncertainty about my continued funding at the Naval Academy so I looked in some options and found something that works out well for the whole family. I have accepted a position with the Navy as a research scientist at one of its labs (NSWC Indian Head). Its not an academic position (like I figured I would end up in) but it is a good position and will allow me to move back into academics down the road. So we are moving to southern Maryland (Waldorf to be exact). We are in the process of buying a house." Doug also sends us this link to some pictures and commentary on the house they are buying: http://web.ew.usna.edu/~bohl/waldorf_house.html. |
Copyright
© 2003 by the Lansing Sailing Club, 6039 East Lake Drive, PO Box
51, Haslett, Michigan 48840. |