May 24, 2009

NO COAST LASER REGATTA

by Pam
This weekend was the No Coast Regatta on Lake Grapevine. Three sailors from White Rock competed and one judged the event. The Grapevine Sailing Club stepped up to the challenge and put on a first class event. GSC’s main interest in hosting this event was for the benefit of the juniors and they have done an excellent job of ensuring the future of sailing through the encouragement and development of their junior program. If the juniors participating in this event are any measure, the future looks very bright indeed.

Approximately 30 attendees traveled from as far away as Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, San Francisco and neighboring Texas cities to compete in three different fleets (full rig, radial, 4.7) with the bulk of the juniors in the radial and 4.7 fleets. The race committee got off six races on Saturday and another three on Sunday in a variety of wind conditions.

During a break between races 8 and 9, Doug sailed by the committee boat and asked if anyone on board wanted to give the Laser a try and three hands went up. Turns out none had sailed a Laser before but always wanted to give it a try. They really enjoyed watching the racing and said they would welcome the opportunity to host another Laser event. One by one, we’re going to convert those keel boat sailors to the seat of the pants thrill of a dinghy.

May 03, 2009

LASER CIRCUIT 3

by Pam
Doug and I went to Fort Worth Boat Club for the third Laser circuit stop. Laser attendance has been down in the circuit this year so we didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be an excellent event.

Our PRO, Alex, was a junior from the Opti fleet and his Dad sailed in the event. There were other father/son teams out and some very good sailors that were sailing a Laser for the first time or for the first time in quite some time. Everyone was welcome and we were all challenged by the sailing. It was one of my favorite events this year and FWBC really gave us the VIP treatment. One young sailor, Colin, kept Doug on his toes the whole weekend and it was quite entertaining to watch Doug use every ounce of his experience to stay on top of this very talented sailor. And just like we find in the Butterfly fleet, experience usually wins.

The weekend was topped off when Doug and I jumped on a J/80, Yoko, to race in their regular Sunday races. We'll be going back.
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