Sailors Get Boats In Position for an Event

A Fun Evening of Olympic Sailing Games

Tuesday evening, August 4, proved to be a lot of fun for everyone as adults joined with junior sailors to bring an end to the formal part of the Junior Sailing Program for 2009.

Instructors Susan Swift and Brandon Deshler planned a series of events and handed out prizes at the end to everyone who participated.

The first event was rigging boats - with the person rigging the boat blindfolded and everyone else on the team giving instructions. After launching and getting boats in position, teams were asked to designate two sailors for a type of relay. The first person was to sail around a mark, return to the launch area where the second person was to sail to the mark, do five circles and return.

A Rope Tying Relay was the final event with each person on the team assigned a different knot to tie and the first team to complete tying all the knots was the event winner.

Most everyone participated - even if they lacked sailing skills, they learned to tie a simple knot for the final event. A good time was had by all and everyone went home with a prize.

Tied in Knots

Getting Ready to Take Off

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Don't Forget Tomorrow's Moonlight Sail

A Moonlight Sail is set for tomorrow (Friday, August 7). As usual for this event, bring a dessert to share at 8 as well as your favorite beverage.

The sailing side of things will start about 9 with an almost full moon scheduled to rise at 9:26.

Severin Leads from Start

Severin Sunday

Blaine Severin, with Julie Pierce and John Kelstoe crewing, put two wins on the Board Sunday to lead all the Lightning Skippers. Pat Dolan, Christa Betts and Bob Miller sailed "Wind Dancer" to a pair of second place finishes before puttinga first place on the board at the end of the day.

Severin and crew had "Flying Pigasus" going very fast upwind and played the left side of the course to perfection as they led the fleet from the start in both the first races.

All five boats finished in the money at one point or another during the day. Larry Koster and crew Sue McIntosh and Gary Marx went 3-4-5. Jonathan Ahlbrand had Tom Hutton and new member Jonathan DeLauter aboard for a 4-3-3 day.

After posting a couple of fifth place finishes, Merrick Hurlbutt wound up the day with a hard earned second. Sailing with Adrianne and Scott Watkins, Merrick took full advantage of a pile-up at the leeward mark in the final race, passing both Ahlbrand and Severin to register their duece.

Results are posted. From the home page at www.lansingsailing.org, click on "Racing" - then click on the fleet Icon.

Sunfish Start

Picot and Kleihege Have Personal Bests
Jacobs Has First Racing Experience

Another beautiful Wednesday Race Day on the water brought out something special in a couple of sailors. Brad Kleihege, sailing in the fleet of fourteen Lasers, had a third, two fourths and a seventh to score his personal best score for an evening of racing. Brad has had a third and a fourth before, but in smaller fleets. Wednesday's consistent sailing at the top of the fleet shows how much Brad has developed in his sailing skill.

Another personal best was put in by Aaron Picot, who notched a fourth place finish - narrowly missing a third. He had previously sailed to a fifth place finishes a year ago and a sixth has been his highest this year. However, Aaron sailed very well Wednesday and his high finish was the reward.

For the Sunfish Fleet, some of the new sailors continue to develop - and Wednesday saw another new face. Brian Jacobs Jr, on his way back to Notre Dame this week for another year of college, has been learning to sail in the last several weeks and came out to gain his first racing experience. As with all new racers, he paid his dues at the back of the fleet. However, he also exhibited a quick learning curve and his sailing improved with each race.

The other new sailors are also quickly building their skills. Where two weeks ago they were getting "flying finishes", they are all finishing races now and showing streaks of solid sailing. It won't be long before they latch on to the consistency needed to push the leaders. Christa Betts was 5-7-7-5, Damien Sheppard 8-8 and John Shiflett 6-5-8 in Wednesday's nine boat fleet.

With nine Sunfish, competition was tight and top spots were spread around. John Fishbeck had the most consistent night at the top of the fleet with a 1-2-3-1 result. Dave Vietti put a 2-4-1 on the board before bowing out. Jim Fletcher sailed two races and posted a first and a second. Alanna Harvey got on the water and worked her way to a second place finish in the final race of the night. Dennis Dudley added a third and two fourths to his total.

Neil Harrison got credit for the "gutsiest move of the night that didn't pan out". Coming in to the windward mark on port in the first race, Neil tacked neatly just to leeward of Fishbeck within the three length zone - but then wasn't able to avoid barely touching the mark. The situation prompted a third party protest and an interesting discussion afterward at Spags - but a DSQ was the final result, pitching a third. Neil also posted a sixth, fourth and a third on the evening.

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 fleet Icon.

Harrison and Fishbeck

Jacobs First Time Racing

Kleihege Best Day

Picot Personal Best

New Canoe/Kayak Rack

Life Jackets on Hangers

More Changes at the Club - Be Sure to Check Lost and Found

There are a couple of more changes at the Club this week.

• The "Lost and Found" locker (top shelf), in the Women's Changing Room is filling up. Please claim your items.
• Life jackets are now hanging in the shed where boat keys and gas are kept.
• A new Canoe/Kayak Rack in in place. Spots are assigned - so be sure to talk to the Commodore before taking advantage of the new rack.
• The lift for "Oh m" is now fixed and the Club Lightning will be taking her rightful place on the lift - located next to the North Dock. A "U" shaped boat well put in place last summer makes gaining access to "Oh m" while on the lift much easier.

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.

Club Boat Organization - With the new racks in place, Club Boats need to be reorganized, including putting clear markings on the boats and rack location.

Jobs Underway

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

Jobs Done Recently - Thank You

Life Preserver Storage - build storage bars and obtain hangers to store Lansing Sailing Club pfds in the keys/gas shed. See Commodore for details.

Repair Lift - the cable on our lift for "Oh m" needs to be replaced with a longer cable and restrung on the drum.

Install Lift - once the cable on our lift for "Oh m" is replaced, the lift needs to be put in place in the well of the North Dock.

Picnic Tables Painted - Put a coat of paint on the six picnic tables at the Club. - Thanks Larry Koster

Oversee Electical Box Overhaul - Breakers were tripping and we needed 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. - Thanks Chuck Amboy

Sunfish Racks Built - Storage for twelve Sunfish has been created in new racks. In the lower portion, dollys can easily be used to get the boats to and from the launch area. Boats stored on the upper part of the rack must be lifted, and requires two people to get the boat on and off the rack. - Thanks Jim Fletcher and Pat Dolan

Club Boat Sail/Blade Storage - LSC has several new (to us) Club Boats. Additional storage for blades and sails has been created in the Laser/Sunfish Sail Shed. - Thanks Jim Fletcher and Pat Dolan

Fix Water Leak -Thanks Chuck Amboy.