Lansing Sailing Club e-Sheet for April 26, 2012
Lansing Sailing Club launches new Website
Our website has been upgraded. Unless you already have an account on the site, you will soon get an e-mail with a password to enter the site. It has been updated with improved graphics and includes a members only section and many other features to allow multi-author entries which will help keep the content more current – Look for the e-mail soon. Over the next year we will begin taking advantage of some new capabilities. For example, we hope to add a newsletter module soon so that future editions of the e-Sheet will be sent to each of you individually (instead of putting all the email addresses in a bcc box). This site also will have different plug-in features for each of the various fleets and activity groups at the Lansing Sailing Club so all of our information can be shared and archived at one location. Bear with us while we improve the site add needed modules. Special thanks for Pat Dolan in getting this set-up for the club.
Adult Learn to Sail
Each Tuesday and Thursday we continue to get a good turnout from the adult learn to sail students. As summer winds down we start to lose our daylight time in the evening. We will continue sessions until Thursday September 15 which is quickly approaching. There are a few good weeks of sailing after that time to sail on your own if you have obtained level one certification so make it a point to get to the remaining sessions and take advantage of your associate membership before the sailing season disappears.
Labor Day is upon us
The traditional holiday picnic which is our last of the 2011 season will be on Labor Day – Monday September 5. Gather around noon, the grills will be lit and lunch will be served around 1 PM or so. The club will provide the meat for grilling – please bring a dish to pass.
LSC sailors compete in M17 Nationals
The Melges 17 class had its national championship at White Lake August 26-28th. The conditions for racing could not be much better and we had 36 boats from 5 states participate. Day one had 3 races on Lake Michigan with the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline as a back-drop. Most M17 sailors had not had their boats on the big lake so it made for a great experience dealing with moderate wave chop not to mention tacking through the outlet channel with fishing boats.
Day 2 brought medium winds in the morning and 2 races were sailed with light-medium winds from the northeast on White Lake. After a lunch break conditions quickly changed. The winds rotated northwest and came in at 15-18 with gusts at 20. This made for some very exciting racing as we all experienced our boats going as fast as they have ever gone – especially with the asymmetrical spinnakers flying. Sean Fidler clocked a 18.25 on his velocitek during one downwind gust.
Day 3 brought light-medium winds for the final 2 of nine regatta races and we were on shore for lunch and prizes on a third beautiful sunny day by 2 PM. The winner of the national championship was Vincent Porter from Wisconsin followed by Mike Dow from Traverse City, Deb Gluek from Wisconsin in 3rd and Sean Fidler in fourth. Mike Moody and Brad Kleihege had their best finish of 36 boats in race 5 at 16th. John LeFevre sailing with 14 year-old local sailor Keaton Smith had their best finish in 20th in the 9th race. The competition was very tough and getting a middle of the pack finish was no easy task for the LSC sailors.
This was one of the best organized and most fun regattas we have ever been to. The local hospitality was great and all left with the memory of the best 3-days of sailing you could hope for. The M17 fleet will conclude its season with a regatta at the Indianapolis Yacht Club on October 7-9.
Jonathan Ahlbrand attended the 3-day event as the regatta photographer. Each time we had a shore break, all competitors watched on the jumbo projector screen the still photos and video from the day’s racing which was great. The highlights from the Saturday big winds included several spectacular capsize events as well as crowded mark-rounding’s and starts that were very entertaining to watch on the big screen. There will be a link shortly on the LSC website of the highlights.
