Hurlbutt and Ahlbrand Get First Wins in 2007

Jonathan Ahlbrand sails to his first 2007 win	"Wind Dancer" crew does compass work before the Race
Merrick Hurlbutt shows perfrect timing at start	Alanna Harvey sails to second place finish

Merrick Hurlbutt and Jonathan Ahlbrand picked up their first wins in Lightning Fleet racing for 2007. Merrick won Race 2 while Jonathan won Race 3. Hurlbutt ended up with the best day of sailing, finishing 3-1-2 to post the best overall record for the three races.

Pat Dolan's "Wind Dancer" team took the first race handily after they shot away from the fleet in the final stages of the first leg. Sailing in winds the Race Committee described as a "battle of the coves", the crews worked hard to stay in phase. The wind came first from the cove on the Southeast side of the lake - then from the South cove. However, toward the end of the first leg, the wind went left - benefiting the Wind Dancer team as they worked the left side. "Wind Dancer" crew members Bob Miller and Gil Chesbro made the right calls to put the boat in good position to take advantage of the shift.

In Race 2, an unpredictable wind died with the boats a third of the way up leg one. When it came back, it came from the right where the "Bo Jangles" crew of Merrick Hurlbutt, Scott Watkins and Adrianne Tuttle were on hand to take advantage. They were quickly propelled into a half leg lead that they held to the end.

Alanna Harvey, who had come to the Club expecting to serve on Race Committee, drove "Unidenfitied Flying Pigasus". UFP skipper Blaine Severin had hoped to sail, but found himself under doctors orders not to - so he asked Alanna to take his place on the boat while he did her RC duty. With crew Julie Pierce and Aaron Picot, she put her boat in position on the right side when the right-shift filled in. They followed "Bo Jangles" into the finish to record a second.

In Race 3, all the boats were very close at the first mark, even though two went up the right side and two the left side. This closeness continued until the end of the second leg at which point Jonathan Ahlbrand took charge by executing an excellent mark rounding. With crew Bob Bell and John Kolstoe, Jonathan followed this effort with a play to the right while other boats pushed left where the numbers looked initially better. However, the wind went even further right and Jonathan took a solid lead his team kept extending.

Detailed Results and season standings can be found on the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org. Click on "Racing" in the left hand navagation column - then on the Lightning logo.

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