THE SAILING BEAT

This Monday, June 11 marked the eighth race of the Dahlgren Yacht Club (DYC) racing season. Monday's race, #8, was the final PHRF Spring Low Point Series race. Conditions were beautiful and sunny at the start with a S-SW breeze at 8-12 knots. The 10 boats at the start were Radio Flyer, Blue Heaven, Melee, Night Moose, Frigate, Ol'Blue, Dionysus, Honey Do, All Ridy Then, and Destiny. All boats jockeyed closely for starting position and the 1703 start went off with Lively Lady performing Race Committee duty. Monday's racecourse was WD, a 4.36 nautical mile Windward - Leeward course. The race started with all boats on a downwind spinnaker run heading towards the first mark, "32" with Melee leading the entire leg. All boats remained on the same tack to the first mark and first around was Melee, followed by Night Moose, Frigate Ol'Blue, Blue Heaven, and the rest of the fleet. The second leg in towards the finish was a beat to windward with all boats trying to play the current to their advantage. After crossing the main channel, most of the fleet tacked away down river while others continued on in towards shore. Those that tacked early seemed to benefit over those that remained on a long tack. The conditions back to the finish were interesting with several strong gusts. This race was very important and determined the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place B fleet finishing positions for the Spring Low Point Series. First over the finish line was Radio Flyer, followed by Melee, Blue Heaven, Night Moose, and Ol'Blue. Once handicap corrections were applied, the top finishing places were 1st Radio Flyer, 2nd Melee and 3rd Night Moose. The final Spring Series Low Point standings put Radio Flyer in 1st for A fleet and Ol'Blue 1st, Melee 2nd, and Night Moose 3rd for B fleet. This spring season provided several days of very strong winds and excellent sailing conditions. After securing the boats and gear, skippers and crew hung around to reminisce and celebrate their victories and losses and bring another fine spring series to a close!

Monday, June 18 will be race #9 of the season and the first race of the PHRF Summer 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 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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