eNewsletter of the Lansing Sailing Club
| e-Sheet — July 10, 2006 | eNewsletter of the Lansing Sailing Club |
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Sunday Lightning Action Exciting |
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There was plenty of wind Sunday to more than satisfy the sailors. "I wish I had a camera in my hand on the last leg of the final race," said Race Committee member Doug Carlson. "All the boats were up on a plane and there was spray everywhere." "It was exciting at the end," said "Wind Dancer" skipper Pat Dolan. "We had lost our spin halyard up the mast, but creativity worked its will and we decided to use our jib halyard to fly the spinnaker. No sooner did we have the jib down and the kite flying, but a gust took us the length of the lake about as fast as we have ever gone in the boat. The adrenaline was still flowing a long time after racing." Larry Koster and crew won that final race in "Shibumi" in an unusal twist of fate. Neil Harrison, Alanna Harvey and John Quensen were a long way ahead of the fleet coming to the leeward mark the second time in a six leg race. However, as they turned the corner and headed upwind, they couldn't find the windward mark. The Mark had been moved and the Race Committee gave all the appropriate signals, but in the confusion, Koster and company claimed the lead and the win. Said Larry: "It was fun out there today. Great teamwork equals results." There was some disagreement about the conditions. Jim Fletcher noted that he had never seen anything like the wind shifts. Neil Harrision found the winds to be "very steady" and easy to sail. Neil led for much of the second race and three quarters of the third race.
Jim Fletcher, Stephen Wagner and Susanna Tellschow sailed "Splash" very well in the first race to finish second. However, disaster struck in the second race. With Susanna at the helm, the spinnaker accidently went in the water and the "Splash" crew found that very slow. Then, in the third race, somehow the spinnaker got tangled again after the first downwind and didn't want to fly. "Wind Dancer" won the first two races. In the first race, they came from last place for the win. After being found OCS, they had to go back and restart - but fouled "Splash" in the process. So, a penalty turn later and having cleared themselves to restart, the crew of Bob Miller, Gil Chesbro and Dolan set about gaining as much ground as possible. Turning the final windward mark, there were three boats in front, but all had done bear-away sets. "Wind Dancer" gybe set the spinnaker and sailed st raight to the finish, just barely getting to the line ahead of "Splash". In the second race, "Wind Dancer" hit the line at the boat end with great speed and led all the way. Blaine Severin was another who found it tough to sail this day. "Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong," said middle crew Tom Rasmussen. The "Un-identified Flying Pigasus" crew sad they lost their main sheet out of the cleat several times and twice the starboard spinnaker sheet went under the boat after a takedown. Julie Pierce, Rasmussen and Severin recovered from a bad first race however to finish with a three-four in the last two. Mike Moody had a new crew member on his boat. Jason Grimes sailed with Jamie Rasmussen and Mike. After the first race which seemed to be a learning period, "Moody's Booty" posted a second and a third. John LeFevre and Leif Alton also took a new crew member aboard "Sail Fevre". Sharon Curran predicted before the Skipper's Meeting that they would have a top three finish. And they did - claiming third in the first race. Results will be posted soon on the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org. Go to the Racing page and click your favorite fleet emblem. |
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e-Sheet is 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. Request a subscription, un-subscribe or send info for publication by emailing the Publisher at publisher@lansingsailing.org. Copyright © 2006 by the Lansing Sailing Club, 6039 East Lake Drive, PO Box 51, Haslett, Michigan 48840. |
