THE SAILING BEAT

This Monday, May 14 marked the fifth race of the Dahlgren Yacht Club (DYC) racing season. Monday's race was the PHRF Spring Low Point Series race #5. Conditions were beautiful and sunny at the start with a N-NW breeze at 8-10 knots. The 7 boats at the start were Melee, Night Moose, Blue Heaven, Dionysus, Destiny, Lively Lady, and Frigate. Other than an incorrect starting line, the 1657 start went off without a hitch with Ol'Blue performing Race Committee duty. Monday's racecourse was TBR, a 5.33 nautical mile Triangular course. The race started with all boats on a spinnaker run out towards the channel and the first mark, "29". The winds built as the fleet headed towards the mark and several boats nearly rounded up. Rounding the mark onto the second leg, the spinnaker gybe was a little challenging due to the building breeze. The run down to the second mark, "S" off Potomac Beach was a fast one with the wind speed increasing further. Rounding the second mark onto a windward beat required that the headsails to be raised and spinnakers doused. Most boats had small problems dousing their spinnakers. First to round the mark was Blue Heaven, followed by Frigate, Melee, and Night Moose. The beat to windward was challenging with the wind speed increasing considerably due to a passing front. Sustained winds in the high 20's with higher gusts were experienced in addition to some rain. Most boats were overpowered and just rode it out. Others reduced sail only to have the wind drop off requiring another sail change back to the original configuration. As the competitors jockeyed for better position with the shifting wind, tactics became more important. Several boats went farther out into the river while those that stayed closer in had minimal current and benefited further from the shifts getting lifted towards the finish. As the first boats approached the finish line in dying conditions, one would never have thought that a powerful squall had just passed through. First over the finish line was Blue Heaven, followed by Night Moose, Frigate, Melee, and Lively Lady. Once handicap corrections were applied, the top finishing places were 1st Blue Heaven, 2nd Night Moose and 3rd Frigate. After securing the boats and gear, pumping the bilges, and cleaning up the mayhem, skippers and crew hung around to reminisce and celebrate their victories and losses!

Monday, May 21 will be race #6 of the PHRF Spring Low Point Series. Skippers or crew wishing to participate in the PHRF Monday Night series, or the daysail / centerboard series should contact the DYC for details. In addition to the PHRF and Centerboard series, DYC will be running an Regatta during the Colonial Beach Festival on June 9 and is hosting other invitational events including a Daysail regatta on June 23, the St. Clements Island Pursuit race on September 15-16, and the "Under the Guns Regatta" on October 7. DYC is planning to run a novice sailing / racing series for those wanting to learn but not quite ready for prime time. Again, DYC is always looking for people willing to crew on several local and newly arrived boats so anyone interested in participating in any of these events should contact the race committee.

This coming year will continue to be exciting so bring your boat out to race or just show up and crew. See you out on the water! Jibe Ho.

Josh Colwell, DYC Race Governor, skippers Night Moose berthed at Dahlgren Marine Works and is an Image Scientist with Boeing-Autometric. He can be reached at jcolwell@autometric.com

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