Sunfish Fleet Led by Fishbeck-Harrison-Vietti

Fishbeck keeping the telltales flying

Neil Harrison got a well earned win

Dave Vietti on his way to a 2-3-3-3 night

The Sunfish Fleet had a nice turnout of ten boats for Wednesday's racing. Neil Harrison took the first race honors with Dave Vietti close behind and John Fishbeck third.

In race two, Fishbeck too charge with Harrison second and Vietti third. Race three found Fishbeck again in front at the end. Jonathan Ahlbrand climbed into second place and Dave Vietti claimed another third.

The last race of the evening saw a repeat of the Fishbeck-Harrison-Vietti trio finishing 1-2-3.

Jonathan Ahlbrand was on the water racing for the first time this year in a Sunfish. His 5-4-2-4 night showed he hasn't lost his edge.

Michael Salomon Jost also had a solid night with a 4-6-10-5. The 10 resulted from the need to do some repair work on the rig.

Julie Pierce had a fifth place finish to show for her efforts while Paul Davis also sailed well to end of up a fifth and two sixths.

Dennis Dudley started with a ninth, but improved with each race - getting a seventh and a sixth before turning toward shore. John Quensen continues to improve, sporting a couple of 7ths, while Alanna Harvey didn't find as much comfort in the heavy air, but was a consistent 8-8-8 after missing the first race.

Results and season standings can be found on the LSC website at www.lansingsailing.org. Click on "Racing", then on the Sunfish logo.

Don't Forget Crew Race Night Next Thursday

Next Thursday, July 19th, is the annual "Crew Takes the Helm" race night at LSC. Lightning skippers: be sure your boat is being sailed. Give your crew a shot at the helm.

This year's event will also see members of the LSC adult "Learn to Sail" program involved to get a sense of what racing is about.

LSC Board to Meet Next Monday

The Lansing Sailing Club Board of Directors will be meeting next Monday, July 16th, at Dolan's home. The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. Any Club member is welcome to attend.

The two major items on the agenda are Dock Section Replacement and the Clubhouse Project.

Siegle Sizzles

George Siegle sailing to four wins

Scott Watkins has his new boat going well

Where is my rig?

George Siegle loves windy days and the results showed it Wednesday. George racked up four straight wins, catching most of the shifts, hiking hard and just plain sailing fast.

Taking full advantage of his height to leverage the boat flat, Scott Watkins showed he is ready to sail at the top of the fleet. Scott scored two thirds and two seconds in an excellent performance.

Olav Messerschmidt won unanimous acclaim for best crash of the year so far when his mast had a mind of its own and hit the Committee Boat as Olav sailed downwind in the last race of the day. The results was a DNF, the need to pull the rig out of the water and back onto the deck and a hearty cheer from opponents who sailed past him. He showed his stuff earlier in the day however, getting two seconds and narrowly missing third in Race 3.

In his new Laser, Pat Dolan kept checking inside of his hull to be assured no too much water was coming in. The boat goes back in for some integrity checks over the weekend. What's a little water in the boat though, when you can still find your way to a couple of third place finishes. Pat went 4-4-3-3 for the day.

Bob Miller covered the back of the fleet in the first race, but then stepped it up a notch and kept improving. His final fifth place finish capped some good sailing.

Susanna Tellschow debated whether to use the radial rig or go with the full one. She believed the forecast for a moderation of winds as the evening went on and went with the full size sail. Her downwind speed was outstanding, but upwind it was a struggle to keep the boat flat - even with everything depowered.

Wayne Loescher and Aaron Picot worked hard to keep their boats moving, but the control lines weren't responding like they should and it wasn't possible to depower the sail sufficiently. Between them, they capsized seven times on a night where the Race Committee counted a total of sixteen times sailors were in the water. That's ok though, we'll have plenty of nights remaining where we will wish there was a way to have captured some of Wednesday's breeze for later use.

Results and season standings can be found on the LSC website at www.lansingsailing.org. Click on "Racing", then on the Laser logo.

LeFevre Sails Tawas Lightning Regatta

By John LeFevre. The Tawas regatta was held on July 7-8 at the Tawas Bay Yacht Club. Seventeen boats were at the line for nearly perfect sailing conditions: 10-12 knot winds, sunny skies, and relatively flat waters. The competition level was very high with Tom Klaban from PYC ultimately winning and familiar Sunfish sailor Dan Norton finishing second and Jim Allen from PYC was third. District champion John McRee from BCYC was 7th to give you an idea of the competition level. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm line moved in to the region at about the time the boats were ready to launch on Sunday morning and the race committee decided to not send the boats out. After such a great day of racing on Saturday, it was a bit disappointing to not sail on Sunday for all involved.

Sail Fevre had crew Gus Dey from BCYC on board along with Leif Alton. We sailed well considering the high level of competition and finished 13th. Our best race was race three with an 11th and then we were caught over early in race 4 and worked our way back from a big deficit to beat 2 boats. Albeit short, it was a great regatta and a venue I would encourage anyone to travel to.