A Last Minute Grill and Moonlight Sail

Susanna and Stephen Wagner are planning on grilling this evening (Friday, June 5) at the Club - then having a sail to enjoy an almost full moon. They will welcome the company of any members wanting to join them.

Damien Sheppard

Lots of Sunfish and Lasers

Eighteen Sunfish and Lasers got three races in Wednesday evening as the sailors enjoyed some mild breezes.

Mike Moody, George Siegle and Doug Carlson took home first place honors among the Laser sailors. John Fishbeck took two firsts and Neil Harrison the other bullet for our Sunfishers.

Damien Sheppard, a new member that joined to learn to sail, climbed into a Club Sunfish and joined in. Improving with each race, it is obvious he will soon be past the basics and learning some of the finer points. Damien got his Race Rules Quiz initiation at Spanoulas afterwards and was on the prevailing side.

This year, our Spagnoula's group is taking on our quizmaster to see if they can dethrone him. When we last kept records, quiz participants were correct only 48 percent of the time. A week ago, it appeared that the quizmaster was in control again as only five of the ten participants got the corrent answer. But this week, the participants were on target with ten of the fifteen getting correct answers. So, to date, it is Quiztakers 15 and Quizmaster 10 - a respectable 60% correct.

Standings and race results are posted on the website by our infamous "Scoring Guy". From the home page at www.lansingsailing.org, click on "Racing" - then click on the Laseer or Sunfish Fleet Icon.

Junior Sailing Camps Begin in a Week

June 15th is the start of Junior Camp season at the Lansing Sailing Club. Spots are still available so encourage your family, friends and neighbors to get signed up.

Our instructors, Susan Swift and Brandon Deshler, are checking out all the boats and making sure everything is ready. These camps are going to be terrific.

For more information and details on how to sign up, send an email to juniorsailing@lansingsailing.org or go to www.lansingsailing.org and click on "Junior Sailing" in the left hand navagation menu.

Tourists taking a sail

"Be a Tourist" Again A Success

Thanks to organizer Jonathan Ahlbrand and many volunteers, "Be a Tourist" was again a success at the Lansing Sailing Club. This annual Lansing area event provides people in the greater Lansing area with an opportunity to learn more about their own home town by being a tourist for the day. The Lansing Sasiling Club was glad to be one of many organizations that make this a fun day.

There was plenty of wind, and that had us a little nervous - delaying our getting tourists on the water. But, with two skippers on board and sailing under main alone, the situation became managable. About fifteen groups of tourists got a sail boat ride.

By mid-afternoon the wind was building and when gusts went above 30, we called it a day and let tourists sign up for a "make-up" day - to be determined soon.

It was a very colorful day at the Club with flags flying, tents and lots of activity. Click here to see pictures by Stephen Wager - now available on Flickr.

Some of the Sunfish sailors

Adult "Learn to Sail" Group Has a Sunfish Outing

Many members of the first adult "Learn to Sail" session for 2009 decided to get in Sunfish for this week's session. Being in a boat by yourself is the fastest way to learn. A light breeze enabled everyone to get a lot of practice in as they tacked, gybed, sailed upwind, steered reaching courses and put the boats through their paces.

Susanna Wagner took a bunch of pictures. Click here to check them out on our Flickr account.

Many thanks to Larry Koster, Terry Kleiman, Mike Moody, Susanna Wagner, Jonathan Ahlbrand and Jim Fletcher for giving so much time to helping out with instruction.

As this "Learn to Sail" group gains experience and confidence, the next group will be starting on June 18th. Contact Commodore Pat Dolan by email at commodore@lansingsailing.org or by phone at 517-214-6568 to inquire about participating.

A Leeward Mark "Mess"

"Wind Dancer" Crew Leads Lightnings - Mark Rules Come Into Play

The "Wind Dancer" crew of Pat Dolan, Gil Chesbro and Terry Kleiman was mostly on top of their game last Sunday as they found their way to a second and two first place finishes. Jonathan Ahlbrand, Tom Hutton and Gary Marx scored the other first and added two seconds in "Bananas".

"Wind Dancer" got off to a rocky start, fouling "Moody's Booty" at the start of the first race and a penalty circle put her in last place. However, the crew quickly got in phase, sailed well and began catching boats. A solid downwind leg brought them to within reach of the leader and a good mark rounding put them in good position on the windward quarter of "Splash". However, Jonathan Ahlbrand and crew rode a lift into the lead and held on to the finish.

The racing featured a very interesting mark rounding. Four boats arrived at the leeward mark together. In the diagram, the four boats just entering the blue "zone" are one skipper's recollection of their positions. Note that all boats are on port gybe and all are overlapped. Each boat has to give "Mark Room" to the boat(s) inside her. The boat furthest to the left has a lot of speed and believes she can pass in front of all the other boats before they get to the mark. She does initially get in front of the other boats, breaking their overlap. However, bad air causes this boat to slow and collision courses immediately ensue. Following the path of each boat we see the next stage of action - four boats (near the mark). The boats at the end of each path show the relative positions as they left the mark. Although there was contact between boats, fortunately no one was injured and no boat was damaged.

Our rules gurus all agree that this is a pretty simple rules situation. The boat that started on the far left fouls the other three boats because she does not provide "mark-room" for them, causing contact. The fact that the overlap was broken does not change her obligation to give "mark-room". Once an overlap is established when the first boat enters the "zone", the right to "mark-room" continues until the mark is rounded - even if the overlap is broken while in the zone. Two of the other boats break rules too, for failing to give "mark-room" or causing contact - but are exonerated because they did not have the ability to provide "mark-room" or because they could not reasonably avoid contact.

There are some other lessons from this situation however. First of all is the need for more discussion between the skippers before they arrive at the "zone" - so each is aware of the positions and likely obligations for each boat. Also, the third boat from the left needs to be more responsive as she enters the zone to the need for the boat to her inside to have "mark-room". By setting a course too close to the mark, and then several boat lengths later changing course to give room makes it difficult for the other boats to judge how much "mark-room" they must provide.

As usual, standings and race results are posted on the website. From the home page at www.lansingsailing.org, click on "Racing" - then click on the Lightning Fleet Icon.

Above: Sitting in the sun was nice Right: Ron took over chef duties

CooL Memorial Day Still Attracts Members to LSC

Some cool weather didn't dissuade members from coming to the Club on Memorial Day to picnic. Thanks go out to Doug Carlson and Ron Marshall who took charge of organizing this year's event. Jim Fletcher was ready with an on-water activity too, but the group decided to hold off until warmer weather. It was nice sitting in the sun and more than 30 participated.

Pick a Job to Do

As all Lansing Sailing Club members know, the Club thrives because of the willingness of our members to take on jobs that need to be done. Here is a list of some tasks that need attention right now. To volunteer contact Rear Commodore Jim Fletcher (email: janef@tir.com, phone: 517-655-2174) or Commodore Pat Dolan (email: commodore@lansingsailing.org, phone: 517-214-6568). They will arrange for you to get complete details on what needs to be done.

Oversee Electical Box Overhaul - breakers are tripping and we need to determine what needs to be done to resolve this, obtain cost estimates and oversee getting the work done once Board of Directors approval is obtained for expenditures.

Cement Work Estimate - estimates are needed for launch ramp repair, seawall reconstruction and construction of a pad for the Racing Equipment Shed.

Life Preserver Storage - an improved storage system for Lansing Sailing Club pfds needs to be prepared.

Club Boat Sail/Blade Storage - LSC has several new (to us) Club Boats. Additional storage for blades and sails needs to be created in the Laser/Sunfish Sail Shed.

Jobs Done Recently - Thank You

Install Seagull/Geese Preventer - install preventers on the dock to keep seagulls and geese off. Thanks Larry Koster.