Lightning's Get 2009 Season Started

Although the Race Committee struggled to keep warm, the 50 degree temps Sunday made it very comfortable to be an actice crew member as the Lightning fleet inaugerated the 2009 season. "Moody's Booty" won the first race of the year. Susanna Wagner and Robert Mosier crewed for Mike Moody as they took advantage of a miscue by lead boats and jumped into a lead at the end of leg two that they held to the end. Moody scored third place finishes in the other two races.

"Wind Dancer" won the other two races with John Kolstoe, Blaine Severin and Pat Dolan on board. "The crew did an excellent job of calling shifts", said skipper Dolan, "as well as smooth spin work and roll tacks that gave the boat a little extra". Dolan's boat was second in the first race.

Jonathan Ahlbrand showed that he is going to be a force at the top of the fleet this year with some good speed and boat handling. Crewed by Ahlbrand, Tom Hutton and Paul Chaffee, "Bananas" put a third and two second place finishes on the board.

Brad Kleihege, a Haslett HS Senior being mentored by Jim Fletcher, drove "Splash" in his first race effort and had some very good moments. "Splash" was right behind the leader in race one when they had to return to the dock so their third crew could disembark for another commitment. Sailing shorthanded, Brad and Jim had fourth place finishes in the last two races.

Detailed results and standings will be posted soon and links for each fleet found on the "Racing" page of the LSC website.

"Fire-hose" Sailing

Volvo Ocean Racers Headed for Boston

The Volvo Ocean Racing fleet has worked its way through the doldrums on it's 4900 mile leg from Rio to Boston. Puma, the USA team led by Ken Reed, is in second place overall and currently in second place on this leg. The fleet is expected to arrive in Boston in about a week. There will be an "In-Port" race at 1 pm on May 9th. On May 16th, the fleet leaves Boston on Leg 7 for Galway.

The race features very fast boats and a hair raising ride. Here is a crew member's description of a sail change made recently on board "Delta Lloyd": Six guys on the grinders and the new sail makes it to the top in no time. The drop is the risky bit, but fortunately we have a ‘chicken line' up along the luff of the genoa to grind her down quickly. She fires down, and with five guys we fish the back of the sail out of the water and jam it in the bag. A good five minutes wrestling later and the sail is safe on the stack at the back of the boat again. Good, everything safe and secure. Time to unleash the beast. The acceleration is enormous and within moments we are more submarine than sailing vessel. Man, are these boats powerful! With tons of water washing through the cockpit, the other guys are desperately trying to secure the sheets and halyards. Through spray drops on the ski-goggles I have a blurry view of the instruments on the mast. The boat is leaping from wave to wave and big three meter high fountains of spray are crashing over the bow and submerging the mast and instruments completely.

Read more and follow the race at www.volvooceanrace.org.