THE SAILING BEAT

This Monday, June 4 marked the seventh race of the Dahlgren Yacht Club (DYC) racing season. Monday's race was the PHRF Spring Low Point Series race #7. Conditions were beautiful and sunny at the start with a S-SE breeze at 7-9 knots. The 9 boats at the start were Radio Flyer, Blue Heaven, Melee, Night Moose, Frigate, Ol'Blue, Dionysus, Lively Lady, and Destiny. All boats jockeyed closely for starting position and the 1700 start went off without a hitch with Honey Do performing Race Committee duty. The downwind spinnaker start was exhilarating with several boats at hull speed in close proximity. Monday's racecourse was WD, a 4.36 nautical mile Windward - Leeward course. The race started with all boats on a downwind run heading towards the first mark, "32". Melee, Night Moose, Frigate, and Ol'Blue were at instances only feet apart and generally stayed close together halfway down the first leg. All boats gybed towards the pin and first around the mark was Blue Heaven , followed by Ol'Blue , Melee, Night Moose, and Frigate. The second leg in towards the finish was a beat to windward with all boats trying to play the channel current to their advantage. The dying conditions helped some while hurting others and first over the line was Radio Flyer, followed by Blue Heaven, Frigate, Ol'Blue , and Night Moose. Once handicap corrections were applied, the top finishing places were 1st Radio Flyer, 2nd Blue Heaven and 3rd Ol'Blue. After securing the boats and gear, skippers and crew hung around to reminisce and celebrate their victories and losses!

Monday, June 11 will be race #8 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 a Regatta this weekend 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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