Tuesday is the second week of the Summer Series, Race Chair is Faith Akert, with Patrick Halpin and Peggy Wray’s pontoon boat as our committee boat. John Hansen is scheduled to help Dixie and Keith run the races. We are looking at winds coming from the South/Southwest at 7 mph, with a 55% chance of thunderstorms. BooHoo! One thing we learned last week, is pay more attention to what’s happening in real time on the lake at 5:30 – 6:00 pm than to only believe your weather APPS on your phone. We had 2 very nice races last week, all 5 or 6 of us who were out there. Also, the course might be somewhere that is not easily visible from your line of site when looking out onto the lake, so if you’re not sure we are sailing or not, ask Julie or me.
Catamaran racing in the area
This past weekend, Dave and I drove down to see Day 2 of the Michigan Catamaran Championship (Hobie Fleet 126 and CRAM) in Michigan City . It was a fantastic venue, with a PRO, Becky Ashburn flown in from San Diego. We boarded the spectator boat. grabbed drinks from the bar and watched the sailing. Shout out to our fellow Austin Lake peeps. Dave and Gail Stiemsma, Wally Elsner, Gina Noble, and Arch Mercer who were part of this event. Congratulations to Dave and Gail, 3rd place in the Hobie 16 fleet (out of a 3 way tiebreaker for 1st), and Wally Elsner, who came in 1st in the Hobie 16 Open fleet. Next year, this regatta will happen on the same weekend, so you can start planning now! Also, there are several one day regattas on the Michigan City beach, the first one being July 20th. I will pass on more information as I get it.
Spring Series week #8 – June 25, 2019
Looks like we will have wind Tuesday, with sunny skies and temps in the 70s. So it’ll be a great day to get out and sail with winds WSW at 10-15 – ish. Win Larsen has graciously offered his pontoon as our committee boat and volunteered to be Race Chair, with John Koryto helping and learning from Win and the rest of the experienced crew of Keith Mortlock and Dixie Stiemsma. We have a boat signed up for the first two Tuesdays in the Summer Series, July 9th and July 16th, but after that, nada. So please consider signing up – racing will be cancelled any weeks we don’t have a boat and Race Chair.
spring series Week #7 – June 18, 2019
Someone must have really ticked off the wind gods this series, as we are looking at some version of calm vs light and variable for tomorrow evening race time. I know, we’re not there yet, and living in Michigan, things can change. Win Larsen has graciously offered to bring his pontoon out for our race committee, and Race Chair for the evening is Steve Weatherford, with Dave Stiemsma on-board as assisting. Any news of cancellations will be posted on our Facebook site, and if any folks aren’t regularly on Facebook, please let me know – I will get the information to you via phone call or e-mail (let me know which). We will stop by the landing to spread the word as well. We will gather at Brewsters regardless of whether we race or not Tuesday. It’s time to start talking about the summer float party, which we are hoping to schedule for Sunday Aug 4th.
Spring Series Week #6 – June 11, 2019
It’s week 6 and a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 70s. Not exactly summer yet, but we’ll take it! Winds are predicted to be 5-10 mph to light and variable later on, so we’ll see how mother nature is going to treat us! Pontoon boat and Race Chairman is Jerry Mohney for tonight, with Wally on the boat helping out. PRO Julie is out of town this Tuesday.
Julie sent out sailing guidelines late last week. Please remember to review and get back to her with any questions and/or your thoughts. Also, please check out the RC sign up sheet. For years, we have been very fortunate to have ALCA racing on Tuesday nights, and our sailors have gone on to bigger events and represented us well. Let’s continue to make ALCA a continued success by working together to make these nights happen, increasing our sailboat racing knowledge and at the same time supporting each other and having fun!
Spring Series Week #5 – June 4, 2019
Tuesday looks promising as far as wind goes, with wind predictions ranging from 10 – 20 mph to 10 – 15 mph and temperatures in the mid 70s, with a slight chance of rain in the late afternoon. Race Chair for the evening is Jerry Mohney and we meet as Brewster’s afterwards. Our Principal Race Officer, Julie has sent over a link for sign-up (Pontoon boats and race Chairs needed!) as a Google Docs file. Any questions, please reach out to Julie or Dan about working with this file. Otherwise, there will be a hard copy of the sign up sheet available at Brewsters after racing.
Spring Series Week #4 – May 28, 2019
Here we are at week 4 for the 2019 Spring Series, and I have a great feeling that we will sail today! Winds are predicted to be 8 mph out of the west (SailFlow) at 6 pm, with partly cloudy skies, and temps in the low to mid 60s. Water isn’t too bad off the Austin L shore, but it’s still wetsuit weather in my book! Race Chair for the night is Andy Lenczycki, and the Committee boat is his and Julie’s, with Julie, Keith and Dixie helping to run the races. Remember, we meet at Brewster’s afterwards, and if you haven’t joined yet, tonight would be the time! If you’re not currently listed in the 2019 Series Results, you are not a current member. I will have forms so bring your checkbooks or cash.
Spring Series Week #3 – May 21, 2019
Are we sailing or not? Well, that is the question for May this seems! Temps are only going to be in the 50s, with ESE winds 10 – 15 mph. Wind chills a bit cooler of course, and the water is still quite cold. Race chair and committee boat for tonight is Julie Lenczycki, so stay tuned for any announcements. Hope everyone enjoyed the warm weekend (at least Saturday) and we’ve got nicer temps coming up for the holiday weekend, so we can all look forward to some time on the water in the coming days!
Hope to see many of your at Brewster’s (if not on the water)
Spring Series Week #2 – May 14, 2019
Mother Nature looks like she’s going to cooperate and give us a pleasant night for sailing tonight. Forecast is for mostly sunny skies and WNW winds around 8 mph. If the forecast is correct, we will be sailing. Remember to dress warm since the water is still really chilly! We meet at Brewster’s afterwards. Even if you’re not ready to sail yet, come by Brewster’s and say hello and catch up with everyone!
Spring Series Week 1 – May 7, 2019
Tonight is our first night of scheduled racing – first race start sequence is 6:30 pm. Rain is supposed to stop, and we’re looking at cloudy skies with temps in the low 50’s with ENE winds of 5-10 mph. Windchills will be possibly in the 40s and our latest water reading was 57 degrees at a dock.
Soooooo…..stay tuned to see if these forecasts are correct and a decision will be made after 5 pm as to whether we race or not. Sunshine might help – just sayin’. Remember to plan to wear your cold water gear – wetsuits and booties. Stay tuned to the ALCA Fleet 519 Facebook site or your e-mail Inbox for any news of cancellations.
Committee boat is the Dunlap/Rubino pontoon with Dave Dunlap race chair for the night, and myself as assistant, along with Keith and possibly Dixie. Our Principal Race Officer, Julie Lenczycki, will be watching the conditions carefully, and any questions should be directed to her as PRO. We meet at Brewster’s regardless if we race or not, and it’ll be a great opportunity to come out and join (if you haven’t already). Julie has race stickers for current fleet members if anyone needs one.
Additionally, as the weeks go on, I will be trimming the e-mail recipient list to current and 2018 members only; unless I hear from you that you would like to remain on our list, your name will be removed.