Racing Starts at 6 PM for the Remaining Wednesday Races

Eight Lightning Crews Enjoy Plenty of Wind - Wind Dancer Wins Three

Lightning Start in Sunday's Racing Photo by Elias Strangas

Plenty of wind was the order of the day again this Sunday, but all the crews kept their boats upright despite several big gusts that threatened knockdowns. Eight Lightnings were on the water to participate and depowering was the watchword.

Larry Koster and Jim Fletcher fight to keep their boats upright even with mainsails completely luffing Photo by Elias Strangas

The "Wind Dancer" crew of Chris Miller in the front, Bob Miller in the middle and Pat Dolan at the helm ran the table - winning all three races. "It was fun to have wind." Said Dolan. "At one windward mark, the chute popped and we were immediately on a plane while the crew got the jib down and did our other initial downwind tasks. When we came off the plane we gybed and another gust got us going again for most of the rest of the leg."

Mike Moody, who dominated last weeks racing with Debra Hart aboard, had another good day - finishing second twice and third once. Doug Carlson and Doug Crawford sailed with Mike Sunday. This was young Doug Crawford's second day of Lightning racing - and he is quickly becoming familiar with the front end position.

After struggling a bit in the first race, "Unidentified Flying Pigasus" moved out quickly in the second race and led through two legs. Choosing not to fly their spinnaker on the downwind however, gave "Wind Dancer" an opportunity to do some catching up. Then, on the second upwind, split tacks gave the "UFP" opponents just enough leverage to pass with a wind shift. The "UFP" crew of Blaine Severin, Julie Pierce and Tom Deits went on to finish second - and then sailed to a third place finish in the final race of the day.

Blaine Severin crosses in front of Merrick Hurlbutt Photo by Elias Strangas

"UFP" provided a little excitement after the first race when their spinnaker didn't want to come down and began flying like a flag from the mast - sorry, no pictures to remember it by.

Larry Koster and Tom Rasmussen captured the other third place finish. They sailed "Shibumi" well and almost overtook "Moody's Booty" on the final downwind in the first race until the "Booty" crew got their spinnaker working.

Complete results and current standings can be found by clicking on the Lightning emblem on the racing page of the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org. Click Here for a picture story of today's action.

Junior Sailors Have Final Race Outing Tuesday

Two LSC Junior Sailors first sail earlier this year

After this coming Tuesday evening's Junior racing, a marshmallow roast and awards will bring an official end to this year's Junior Sailing Program.

Juniors begin getting their boats ready a little before 6:00 pm and start racing at 6:30. The Marshmallow roast and awards ceremony will begin at 8:00. All Junior Sailors are welcome at the Marshmallow roast and awards ceremony - even if they aren't racing.

At one point or another, sixteen young sailors from age 10 to age 17 participated in the 2005 program. Anna Hamilton, Chris Miller, Michelle LeFevre, Cody Eggenberger and Doug Crawford have also become involved as crew in Lightning racing - all getting high marks from the skippers they sailed with.

Weeds Get Harvested

Sailors watch weed harvester at work between LSC docks

With weeds like most of us haven't seen before it was a welcome sight to see the weed harvesters at work on Lake Lansing this last week. Our lake water is rich in mineral and organic nutrients that promotes weeds and algae. The shallowness of our lake adds to this problem - which will always be with us.

This year has been an unusal year in many respects - putting weed control efforts behind the eight ball. It has been a hot summer fostering lots of algae growth. The harvesting company originally contracted with went out of business.

Over the past few years, with the leadership of current Lake Lansing Property Owners Association President Don Kaufman and others, careful attention has been given to monitoring lake levels and lake health - and to put plans in place to control geese and weeds.

Lake Lansing is totally dependent on rainfall within a small watershed for water. There are no natural springs or rivers feeding this lake. In addition to treating weeds with herbicide and harvesting them, it is important to reduce the potential for problems. The smallness of our watershed gives us an advantage in this regard because the number of property owners who need to cooperate is relatively small.

Efforts are underway to get property owners to avoid using fertilizer with phosphate - with mixed success because the more popular fertilizer manufacturers (Scotts, Vigaro, etc) don't package what is needed and don't have "weed and feed" programs to suggest that avoid use of phosphorus. In addition, none of the big chains like Home Depot or Meijers yet carry what is needed. What is put on Green Road ends up in the lake. If fertilizer is used on lawns in The Trails, or anywhere in the watershed, it ends up in Lake Lansing and can add to the weed problem.

Management of water runoff and drains into the lake is also important. Some work on this has already been done. In addition several surveys of drains that enter into the lake have been completed and demonstration projects are being considered.

All of us need to help keep our lake environment healthy. Facing the issues and solving the lake management problems requires cooperation by many people and governmental units. We'll be publishing more in upcoming e-Sheets about what each of us can do. In addition, anyone wanting to help through participation in activities of the Lake Lansing Property Owners Association, the Special Assessment District (for the Lake), Meridian Township, Ingham County Drain and Park Commissions, and others - please contact the Commodore. There is a lot to do.

• Sep 4 (Sun): Jim Fletcher, Ron Marshall
• Sep 11 (Sun): Chris Strugar-Fritsch, Paul Davis

• The complete Calendar of Events is on the LSC Web Site. Click on "Calendar"
• Tuesdays: Junior Racing/Sailing and Lightning Practice Day.
• Wednesdays: Lasers and Sunfish Race
• Sundays: Lightnings Race

• Swedish Match Tour. Professional Match Racing at venues throughout the world.
• America's Cup Racing. Acts 6 and 7 will be held in Sweden beginning in late August.