District 15 Renee Ruais Texas
There hasn’t been much formal activity in District 15 over the “winter”, but I know folks have taken advantage of some of the warm Texas winter days and done some Laser sailing, or they have traveled to other events. Especially that one guy in Austin who has a dry suit!
While our circuit races don’t start for another week or so, the Texas Junior circuit has a head start. The AYC Junior Road Runner regatta was held the first weekend in March and since they have dropped the sunfish as an alternative, the 4.7 fleet is coming on strong. While there were also Optis and a number of FJ’s and 420s, it was really great to see 100 boats all being sailed by juniors!
Our District 15 Circuit schedule is set, with just one date later in the year yet to be set in stone, so here are the events to look forward to:
Easter Laser Regatta – March 22/23 (Austin) Spring Break Regatta – April 19/20 (Seabrook) Spring Dinghyfest – May 17/18 (Dallas - RCYC) AYC Centerboard – June 7/8 (Austin) Summer Solstice – June 21/22 (Seabrook) CSC Laser Regatta – Sept (TBD) (Dallas - CSC) Wurstfest Regatta – Nov 1/2 (Lake Canyon)
I look forward to a great year for the circuit, continuing on last years growth in Radial and overall participation!
District 18 John Shockey
The District 18 is still battling the winter furies, but YES, Laser sailing is still on for the spring! The 24th annual Indy Spring is one of the favorites in the district, a few years back there was a gorgeous weekend that churned out 64 Lasers on Geist reservoir! (That’s more than this past years Midwinter’s East) Eagle Creek host’s the Weekend Warrior, that should make up a “proud” number of warriors sharpening their skills in a inland lake classic. Moving on to Cowan Lake Laser regatta May 17th and 18th which I’ll be going to for a tune up for the following weekend, the D18 Grand Prix and Championship moving back to my home waters, Vermilion, Ohio. Vermilion Boat Club along with myself will be putting on a great event that will potentially bring out a great crowd. This one is right in middle of the District, so let’s see how many we can get out there for hopefully a great event on Lake Erie, which has the potential to bring in some great Laser conditions! More regattas to come throughout this year, and pictures and more to come in the future. For now, its spring break here at Old Dominion, so I have a plane to catch back to Ohio. Cheers.
District 20 Dave Abbott / Mark Johnson Delafield, WI
District 20 had a tough winter – lots of cold and
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snow. The snow screwed up the ice for much of the winter for those of who also iceboat. Rick Strilky, Roman Plutenko, Paul Wurtzebach and others headed south for training and regattas. It’s hard to believe that bunch could get any faster but that’s how they got that way – lots of lasering!
March 16 was supposed to be the start of frostbiting at Belmont. For the 2nd time in my memory, it was postponed for at least a week due to ice in the harbor.
Roman Plutenko won the Adrian Irving trophy again due to his strong performance in the Talbot last fall. Nakita would have won it but was back sat that regatta out. Roman has won the trophy for the first 3 years in its existence! This year’s qualifier’s will be the Vlad, Super Sail, and the Talbot. There may be a 4th qualifier as well, so stay tuned!
Our regatta season opens on Nagawicka, my home lake with The Ice Breaker on April 19-20. The V15’s have been up for this the last couple of times and have brought robust partying along with them. Camping is next to the club so finding bed or boat is never hard!
Other spring/summer events: May 3-4 Vlad Kobal Memorial CYC – Belmont May 25 Sailing School Fundraiser Milwaukee YC July 12-13 SuperSail Winnetka YC
In Chicago there will be big course racing on Wednesday nights and short course out of Montrose on Thursday nights. Milwaukee has had great growth in their Tuesday night program with racers coming from both MYC and South Shore YC. Pewaukee Lake has Wednesday nights going all summer as do other clubs. Give me a holler if your looking for folks to race with.
Mark Johnson has joined forces with me as CoSecretary for District 20. Mark is working hard on a Web Page, Web Calendar, and all sorts of good things to keep us plugged in and growing. Be there or be square!
District 21 Mike Elson Minneapolis, MN
The snow came right after the lakes froze over so there was not an ice boating season. But the snowkiting season started as soon as the ice was safe. We had several memorable sessions and fortunately Kurt Holtze did not have a camera for my first outing with my big kite. Three days of 40s and 50s has melted all of the snow on the lakes so the snowkiting season most likely is over, baring a late March snowstorm. Ice-out should be in early April and the first D21 event is the Heckl Invitational at White Bear Lake on May 3rd.. . Will Andy Heckl respond to the invitation?
Weekly Laser racing starts in April at Wayzata on Wednesdays. In June, Wayzata shifts to Tuesday evenings and Calhoun starts its’ Wednesday evening Laser racing. White Bear Lake also starts its’ Thursday evening series. Weekend Laser racing is back at Calhoun.
District 24 David Lapier NorCal
“The windiest series of the millennium!” — that is how Richmond Yacht Club’s 2008 Winter Series is recorded in the cultural history of District 24 . We usually have at least one drifter, which would be OK, except for the strong adverse current keeping us away from warm showers. This year’s Pacific storms coincided with the first Sunday of the month, so it made for good sailing days. With abundant winter rains, the ebbing tide from North out of the Sacramento River transforms San Francisco Bay into a wide river when sailing slightly to the North of Richmond Yacht Cub. It was stormy enough in December that only one race was held. The International 14’s and 29’s could not stay upright. In February, The PRO seemed to think that Lasers were as fast as Etchells, with the races appropriately long. March was sunny. The front had just passed, and the fresh Northerly wind was oscillating, but there was also a big veer off the Contra Costa shore, with less tide on the right as well, it was a battle to go right. Mark Halman sailed consistently well on the last day to be the overall series champion. December Results: Steve Bourdow, Tracy Usher, Mehmet Sevinc, Claire Dennis, Ben Lezin, Walt Spevak, Mark Halman, David LaPier, Simon Bell, Ariel Poler. (18 boats).
January Results: Steve Bourdow, James Vernon, Mark Halman, Ryan Nelson, Mike Bishop, David LaPier, Roger Herbst, Sean Kelly, Claire Dennis (19 Boats). February Results: Tracy Usher, Steve Bourdow, David LaPier, Mike Bishop, Claire Dennis, Simon Bell, James Vernon, Mark Halman, Jean Bernard Duler, David Rasmussen (15 Boats),
March Results: Sean Kelly, Michael Kalin, Mark Halman, Mike Bishop, David LaPier, Nick Burke, Claire Dennis Mike Rutledge, Richard Leland, Steve Hendricks (30 Boats).
Everybody was psyched for the St Francis YC Spring Dinghy Regatta on the City Front March 8 & 9. On Saturday, the sea breeze filled, and then kept on building. There were some big puffs, even by San Francisco standards. Sunday was more moderate. Tactics on the run were especially interesting, with some people headed for shore for tide relief, while others went down the rumb line. The favored route seemed to change with every lap. On the last run of the regatta, everybody blasted off when large ship wake rolled through, launching us on a series of 4 foot waves. A shout-out goes to Richard Leland, who is new to Laser sailing this year, yet he completed all the races in the severe conditions. Full Rig Results: Sean Kelly, Mehmet Sevinc, Michael Kalin, Tracy Usher, Peter Phelan, Peter Vessella, David LaPier, Peter Jessberg, Nick Burke, Mike Bishop. (18 Boats). Radial Results: Ben Lezin, Nick Dugdale, Claire Dennis, Jean-Bernard Duler, Dominic Bove, Ariel
SPRING 2008