It was a great Laser sailing weekend. Light wind Saturday, but we got 5 races in and Rob was able to corner Ben. Sunday had great wind, just short of white caps and from the west with cop in our area of sailing. Then the wind came up some more with rain and then faded off and left the bumpy water to deal with.

Patrick Daniel was back with us. Cameron Smith joined in for the first time on Sunday. Luke Yates gave up his spot on the Laser to Cameron and loaded a 420 with Opti kids that came on the wrong time or place or something. It is hard to keep up with the Opti switches of day, time and place.

The weekend results:
Rob Krentel 1-1-2-3-1+2-2-1-1-3-2-1 = 20
Alejandro Illera 2-4-5-4-5+1-1-2-2-1-1-2= 30
Sam Chapin 6-5-3-1-3+3-3-3-3-2-3-4 = 39
Patrick Daniel 5-3-4-5-4+4-4-4-4-4-5-3 = 49
Marc Solal 7-9-6-6-6+5-5-5-5-5-4-5= 68
Ben Getchell 3-2-1-2-2+ nc (70) = 80
The Browns (San Juan) 4-6-9-7-7+nc(70)= 103
Cameron Smith 8-8-7-8-ns+ nc (70)= 110
Luke Yates (420) nf-7-8-9-ns+ nc (70)=112

The finishes are by corrected times and results in a little juggling - like the Browns jumped up to 4th in that first race Saturday.

Rob won Saturday by enough of a margin that Alejandro’s wins on Sunday didn’t jump him ahead as we head down the first series of fall races.

Alejandro, our light weight, won the windier day with the full rig. Aren’t you big guys ashamed of yourselves? Did you notice that he was not pointing up with the rest of us, but sailing fast to the next shift and increasing the separation. Was that some stuff from the Curt Taulbee clinic? If you don’t know about separation, ask at a North U Wednesday night session.

We had Ben held to one first place on Saturday and second overall, but then he missed the Sunday races and that drops him to 6th for the weekend.

Sam managed to win the 4th race on Saturday sailing the his old red boat. He was able to steal the pin end of the line on a left shift and crossed the fleet. It was nice to be out in front where you can tack on all the shifts. It helps to have Ben covering and holding back Alejandro so the run is not so hectic. Thanks Ben.

Patrick Daniel is back from the big boat sailing. He says he will be sailing with us most of the winter. He had a third on both Saturday and Sunday and will be able to challenge the top.

Marc Solal is picking off some people and has moved out of the "always last" position. We are giving him a lot of hugs and advice. So look out we will be looking for someone else to be last.

Well, Cameron Smith was the last, but that was just the first time sailing with us and he did a great job and with the full sail.

Carlton and Aggie Brown sailed the San Juan 21 with us and ended up sixth. Not bad for first time out and crazy wind on Saturday. They will continue to show up on Wednesday and during the week.

Luke Yates filled in as sailing instructor with the two or three crew members. They had come to sail Optis. Luke gave them a lot of Sailor Talk they would not have had in the little boats– so good work Luke.

Comments on the sailing conditions at on howtosailthelaser.bogspot.com.

It was a tough weekend for the other fleets. Maybe the no sailing last weekend put them off, but the MC only had 9 out on Saturday. We had 9 in our races (counting the 420 and the San Juan, not really fair) but then on Sunday they had 10 and we only had 5.

The Mcs had good racing both days. The Scots suffered a lot with only Ray Laguna sailing Saturday. Did you notice that was really Laser sailing with Ray at the helm and Glenda Libby the spinnaker girl. Then on Sunday George Golder and Chris Erichsen sailed both races and swapped first and second. Ray was off pistol shooting or something else.

Wayfarers suffered on both days with Jim L and Mike M sailing in the first race Saturday and then coming in during the second race due to the light wind. On Sunday they had three boats out, but when the rain and increased wind came in, Jim and Mike came in an left Mike Tighe out to sail both races by himself. Jim and Mike M both have had enough experience that when that little rain storm came in, they figure it was time to get in before things got worse. The experienced mind at work. Too bad, because it turned out to be a nice day.

Comments on Fleet Building take up several days last week on howtosailthelaser.blogspot.com

Next racing in two weeks. We are still doing Wednesday evenings, Pizza and North U. Will try to have marks out and practice race for those that want it . Sun is going down about ten minutes earlier every night as the days get shorter.