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2006 Fireweed Regatta - July 29, 2006

Ahoy everyone. I wanted to send out some more information on this weekend's regatta. As a reminder, and winds willing, we will start the "Pirate Race" at 1200 sharp. Skippers meeting at 1130. Dinner is going to be one fantastic pot luck. Grill your own kabobs, wings catered by Steve & Sue, & even some wine for tasting. Bring your favorite dish to share.


Pirate Race

The first race is a scavenger race of sorts. Each Skipper will be provided a rare, and authentic (at least as authentic as pirates on Big Lake), pirate map identifying the location of 3 or 4 marks. The first one to get to all the marks, complete their map and make it back to the dock wins.

Each mark will contain a clue to help you complete your map. Once a boat fetches a mark (obtains the clue), it has to deploy and trail a visible buoy 50 ft behind their boat before proceeding to the next mark (this is where the 1-2 liter bottle painted a nice bright color comes in handy). This is also where the cunning and sculldugery comes into play. Your float is fair game for another boat to capture. Once captured you must provide the clue to the scurvy slime that wants to prosper from all your hard work! It also gives th slower more maneuverable boats a chance to out smart some of the slicker faster craft, aaarrrgg. Again, first one to complete their map and return (safely, cause thar by pirates in them waters...) to the dock wins.


Relay Race

The second race will be a relay race. Each team will have three boats (maybe more, or less, depending on the number of folks that make it). A course will be established and boats positioned at points across the lake. Each boat will run their leg and hand off a baton to the next boat before they can start their leg. The first team across the finish line wins. Just to keep things fair, I thought we would draw teams from a hat Saturday morning (no stacking the deck Chris, Tim & Tom).


Sharks and Minnows

The final race is like the famous pool game "sharks and minnows ". We will have a dual between the two previous race winners (I'm still mulling over the dual ideas, but it will be good!). The winner, or I perhaps the loser, will be the shark. All the other boats will be positioned on the same side of one of the two starting lines. When the gun goes off, the other boats (minnows) must reach the other starting line without getting hit by the shark, or one of its captives. By hit I am referring to water balloons, and yes you must hit the skipper, not just the boat. The winner is the last minnow to cross the line with out getting hit.

I could use some help picking up some biodegradable water balloons and filling them up Saturday before the race. If you have a spare pail you may want to bring it to hold your stash of water balloons.

Fingers crossed, we might have a nice sunny weekend to pull this off. Please don't hesitate to drop me a note with any questions. See yah Saturday!

Posted for Jay by Paul

Earlier Post:

The regatta will consist of three events(races). The scavenger hunt (aka the pirate race, arrrgg!), a relay race, and a sailing interpretation of "sharks and minnows".

For two of the races each boat will need a float (a brightly colored 1or 2 liter bottle) and 50 feet of light line (surveyors cord worked great). For the relay race we will need teams of 3 boats; one big boat and two smaller boats. We can form teams that morning, or start sending some email notes around. It is highly recommended that you bring some sort of squirt gun to defend yourself, things can get pretty wet on the race course! And, did I mention the pirate attire...(always fun but never required).

Charts (for the pirate race, arrrrrgg) and additional race information will be provided the morning of the race. Weather permitting I would like to kick off the first race at 1200. That means that all the scurvy swabs participating in the scavenger hunt race need to be available for the skippers eating at 1130 sharp, or be walking the plank!

We had a lot of fun with this race series last year and hope to have an even better time this year. I look forward to seeing everyone.

Anchorage Daily News - Firecracker Regatta Coverage

SAILING

Brudzinski, Gould win

Published in the Anchorage Daily News (this link may work): July 6, 2006 Last Modified: July 6, 2006 at 03:26 AM

Chugiak's Jay Brudzinski and Anchorage's Tim Gould claimed overall sailing titles over the holiday weekend at the Firecracker Regatta at Big Lake.

Brudzinski won the large boat division and Gould was first among small boats over a span of four races in three days.

Firecracker Regatta

Small Boat Category

1) Tim Gould, Anchorage, 4.25 points; 2) Dave Johnson, Anchorage, 12; 3) Paul Willing, Anchorage, 20.

Large Boat Category

1) Jay Brudzinski, Chugiak, .75 points; 2) Chris Remik, Palmer, 2; 3) Jeromy Reed, Anchorage, 3 points

Tim Gould Wins the 2006 Firecracker Regatta!

Once again Tim showed us how to get a Skipjack quickly around the race course, light wind, no wind, shifting winds; it doesn’t seem to matter. Way to go Tim!



Race notes from the score sheets:

Race 1
Very light winds at the starting line and on each leg. Fluky and shifting winds caused each leg to be a beat to windward. New member Bruce showed up and sailed his beautiful International 505. Tim wins by over 3 minutes.

Race 2
After the delicious potluck dinner a slight breeze appears on the lake. The collective decision among the racing skippers is to race! The breeze remained steady throughout the race. The fleet found the windward mark missing and used Barston Island instead. Bruce edges out a win with a 1.07 minute corrected time margin.

Race 3
The breeze seems to be holding. After convincing the race committee chairman we should race again very soon, we do. But by start time it's already diminished and continues to decrease during the race. The last two legs are drifters. Tim wins handily by over 6 minutes on corrected time.



Race 4
We waited all day for wind. Finally at about 8:00 pm there was enough to try a race. We changed start lines on the fly while on the water waiting to start. Tim finishes in first with just under 3 minutes of corrected time margin.

The big boats joined in for this one and made a good showing for the light wins. Jay led the way to the finish and captured the prize for big boats in this regatta.

Firecracker Results:

Tim Gould - First Place
Dave Johnson - Second Place
Paul Willing - Third Place

Big Boats
Jay Brudzinski – First Place
Chris Remick – Second Place
Jeromy Reed – Third Place

Detailed time results available here. Race action photos pending. The potluck dinner was simply incredible. There was record attendance at this one folks. Special thanks to all the great assistance from the race committee chairman Tim Gould and race officials Jody Willing, Hannah Gould, Tom Gould and Roberta Avila



Photo credits: Geoff W.

As The Windmill Turns...

6/30/06















Ah, a week at ASC – it just doesn’t get any better than this – with disc golf onsite, squirt gun battles, snorkeling for treasure in the harbor, King of the Launch Pod, 9 holes at Settlers Bay, sailing in some excellent winds on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and just plain kicking back. We're looking forward to celebrating the Fourth here and the Firecracker Regatta.


Nosing around the sailing club…
















We came across this amazing ASC poster from 1967 that someone dropped off at the club house. How cool is that? Where were you in 1967? Club Historians, what do we know about Chef Leo Gagne and this event? What kind of draft beer did they serve? The menu sounds delicious and the price is a bargain worthy of FoodNetwork.





































Yes, it’s another beautiful Big Lake sunset.

Newlyweds Sail Through 25 Years

06/29/06 - Published live onsite from beautiful downtown Big Lake.















Jay and Melissa toast twenty five years

Late breaking news flash – late Thursday this roving reporter team learned of Jay and Melissa’s 25th anniversary. Jody organized an impromptu lakeside surprise party. We all toasted with champagne and munched on chocolate cake and shared tales of meeting and marrying.



6/29/06

Loons Monitor Night Training at Big Lake















The Loon security team reported helicopter search and rescue training at 2110 on 6/29/06.

Getting the Clubsite ready for the 4th!

Kathy puts the finishing touches to the new Unitairian revival tent at the club.
Here is the new BBQ pit Tom requested.

The Launch Pod is on the water!! Bring out your swimsuits

Check out the Beautiful lawn on the shoreline

Lots of lawn in front of the clubhouse too. Thanks to TL and Teri for doing all the mowing and lawn work this weekend. Elayne and Cheryl have started the task of repainting the club house. They are looking for donations of purple paint for the trim. The club looks fantastic. We are ready for the 4th of July.

The theme for the potlucks will be All American food. We will have two potlucks one on Saturday and another on Sunday. Bring lots of goodies and be ready for some serious racing and eating.

300 Miles to Valdez

Valdez, Alaska

The Sheet’s roving reporter team reporting from Alaska’s Little Switzerland.

Valdez Harbormaster

The weather on the drive over was wet and rainy on Thursday, but gradually improved as we neared Valdez. And it’s been a little better each day, providing spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers.

Small boat harbor

We walked around the little town of 4,100, explored the local scene and checked out the Last Frontier Theatre Conference.

Shark Rodeo

The small boat harbor is filled mostly with fishing boats and power pleasure craft, but there are at least a dozen very nice sailboats, even a 50 ft luxury catamaran. Kayaking or sailing Prince William Sound from here would a great adventure.

New ASC rescue boat

Today it’s back to Anchorage and on to Big Lake!

Get Ready for the 4th of July

The flow is going now. We’re a blogging concern! You may find some familiar faces in the K32 Adventures blog.


Race Committee News:

Summer 2006 Racing Schedule

Ice Breaker Regatta - June 3rd and 4th
Firecracker Regatta - July 1st and 2nd
Governors Cup Regatta - September 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

We may also stage other races as interest allows. There is usually a fun race in August sometime. We'll work those dates and get them out.

Remember – As someone else said "Specialization is for insects"!

Alaska Sailing Club on TV

Brett Shepard advises that KTVA Channel 11 will again run the story they did last year about sailing at Big Lake.

It will be aired Wednesday, June 14th at 6 PM and again Thursday June 15th at 6 AM.

More of the Sailing Class

Almost ready to hit the high seas

The class goes out for the first sail as a group on Big Lake

If you concentrate hard enough all things become clear?

True happiness is learning to sail together!

Geoff "The Rock" shows us how basketball was played in his hometown
Another happy sailor

Dave supervises the rigging of the Lido

Birgett and Sharon try to keep a straight face while trying to explain to me how a pulley works!

Sailing Class and Open House

The Alaska Sailing Club 2006 sailing class.

Open House and Sailing Class

The Sheet
Big Lake, Alaska

Open House

Our annual Open House is this Saturday, June 10 from 1-4 pm. Stop by and learn about sailing on Big Lake!


Sailing Class

Our annual sailing class is this Saturday and Sunday. The class is full, but you can always sign up for next year's session. Club members come on out and lend a hand.

Elayne Hunter Wins the 2006 Icebreaker Regatta

The Sheet
Big Lake, Alaska

The Ice Breaker Regatta was a wet and wild ride! I've never seen such tremendous winds and beautiful weather linked up like they were for this years' Ice Breaker.

The results:

Small Boats
1st - Elayne Hunter
2nd - Dave Johnson
3rd - Paul Willing

Big Boats
1st - TL Stanbro
2nd - Ben & Birgitt Robar
3rd - Chris Remick

Congratulations to the winners and all the participants.

I wasn't able to see all the action on Saturday, but there was some very tight groupings on the results - competitive racing. I was able to get out and race on Sunday - what a blast! The winds were cooking at about 20kts which made for a very fast ride, major heeling, and water in the cockpit.

And, yes, there were a couple boats that tipped, and a few folks that went swimming. And I'm here to tell you that the water has some warming up to do! Luckily I had some good crew and we got the boat underway without further incident. We even made a respectable finish!

Please plan to make the next races series, the Firecracker Regatta, on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of July.

PS - if you are looking for a boat to buy, I might have a line on a couple nice ones that would add wonderfully to our fleet.











Special thanks to Race Committee officials Jody Willing and Tom Gould for their excellent job onshore.


Posted by Paul Willing on behalf of
Timothy Gould - Vice Commodore, Race Committee Chairman

Race details available at The Alaska Sailing Club web site - 2006 Issues of The Sheet

Memorial Day Weekend

The Sheet
Big Lake, Alaska

Memorial Day Weekend

May 26th
This holiday marks the traditional start of summer for many Alaskans. There was the usual holiday frenzy around Anchorage as people hurried about on errands preparing for their own long weekend.

But a sailor’s thoughts turn to water, sun, wind and friends and there’s no better place than the Alaska Sailing Club for all of these things. The green leaves are out and a high pressure area parked over south central Alaska promised sunny skies and warm temperatures. During the drive out from Anchorage, the afternoon of 5/26/06, we noted 82°F in the Big Lake area.

For us, the late afternoon was dedicated to “setting camp” duties to prepare for the summer. Members trickled in and we began to form plans to complete the site setup. The main task was launching and securing the remaining six docks still on shore after spring work party maintenance and floatation barrel fitting. But, the previous loss of the float for the dock mooring at the east end of “B” dock was a major roadblock. We’d have to find the mooring or set a new one.

We located the old “finder cable” that linked back to the shore from the mooring, but it was corroded in half only a few feet from shore. After some effort trying to find the free end of the cable, Harbormaster Chris took command and donned two (yes two) wetsuits and his high tech scuba goggles in preparation for the quest. Clear water and the right lighting conditions helped the search but Chris’s dogged efforts were the key. Finally – success. Chris had spotted the mooring and submerged float, but how would he get it out of 16 feet of ice cold water? Two wet suits help when the water is that cold, but it’s still flippin’ cold! Options were discussed and a small folding grapnel anchor became the tool of choice.

The shore crew triangulated the position while Tom and TL took TL’s boat out to try and snag it. After multiple tries with the anchor they had it. The crowd went wild! Pulling the mooring chain up made Tom and TL wish they had brought work gloves, different clothes and a bucket to put the chain in. The clothes may never be the same and TL’s boat was slimed with rotten lake bottom gunk. Another float was attached and we were set for launching docks on Saturday.

May 26th
Early Saturday morning had a light haze that soon burned off to reveal more blue skies and a blazing sun. It was going to be a hot one! The first two docks went in easily since they were positioned closest to the hoist pick spot. The others required a 10 to 30 foot carry. We count warm bodies – seven won’t do. We’ve never actually weighed a dock section, but 700 – 1,000 lbs is a good estimate.

We waited for others to awaken and arrive. With a dozen members the remaining dock sections are easily launched and secured into position.

By early afternoon the bulk of the work was done and a nice breeze that started in the morning has gradually filled in across the entire lake. Boats were quickly rigged and launched to take advantage of it. I too hurried to complete all those first sail of the season chores needed to launch and rig the trusty Hobie. But it seemed to be one thing after another going wrong (twisted halyard, fouled roller furling, etc.).

As Jody and I finally left the harbor around 4:00 pm, I thought sailing at Big Lake doesn’t get much better than this – sun, warmth and a nice 10 – 15 mph breeze from the northwest. As whitecaps began to form, we beat to weather to reach the north shore and then close reached all the way to the old Call of the Wild. Along the way there were some puffs with extreme extra pressure – never cleat that main sheet under these conditions. The wind continued to build during this time and by the time we reached the west end of the lake it was downright howling! I had to travel out the mainsail and ease the mainsheet a lot just to keep the boat upright and the leeward bow from submerging, all the while screaming along at top speed. It was a very wet and wild ride for sure.

Burying the leeward bow on a cat is BAD news – the boat can “trip” and flip over forward in a pitch pole movement. Due to the high rate of speed, this usually launches the skipper and crew forward some distance, after you’re strained through the standing rigging.

We tacked and headed back downwind on a broad reach. The boat reached top speed quickly as we began the downhill sled ride where cats really shine. It was exhilarating and truly incredible as we seemed to fly across the lake! We soon decided this was the fastest run ever for our boat. As we screamed past Bird Island we noted the wind had increased even more and both bows were riding very low on the puffs (dipping and bucking like a bull ride). I had eased the mainsail as far as possible and was now relying on only our ability to move about the boat to manage the gusts and waves. (Note – winds over 25 mph make most beach cats, like the Hobie 16, unmanageable without a reefed mainsail.) We gibed and headed back to the club. By running straight downwind we were able to slow the boat and catch our breath for what promised to be a hair-raising docking attempt.

After a few even stronger gusts, the wind direction swung to the northeast and I was able to stop and dock with a great deal of help from Elayne and Bob who rushed to our aid. Man, what a ride!

Waves in the harbor are now 2 feet high. Furl the jib, drop the main, more boat to dock protection. Waves quickly build to 3 ft. The Hobie is now hobby horsing 5 to 6 ft while parked at the dock. Time to pluck it out and set it on shore with the help of a Jeromy, Bob, Jay, TL and others I missed in the confusion and howling wind (thanks to all).

This picture doesn’t do the storm’s fury justice and it was taken after things had calmed down a bit. You can see the birch trees bowed and the yellow Skipjack’s bow in the air. During the worst of it you could not stand on the B dock while it bucked and twisted like a piece of rubber.



But wait, the fun is just beginning. Other boats need to be secured and the newly installed dock bolts begin to shear off, new barrel docks are being smashed against the shoreline rocks. Wow, this sailing club stuff is great fun! After more than an hour (who knows how long) of fighting mother-nature, club members are exhausted and we determine there is nothing more we can do to fight the effects of this storm. We watch as the waves batter the shore making the remaining boats fight their lines and the docks twist back and forth.

With the urgent items secured as best we could for the conditions, we did what all sailors do in desperate times – we prepared for the potluck and had a cocktail or two. Then there were shouts and people running for the shore… Andy was trying to moor his sloop with his family aboard, but had missed the mooring and was in danger of wrecking on the drill pipes and gabion baskets just east of the hoist. All hands pitched in and fended the boat off as we worked it toward the hoist. Suggestions were many: leave the harbor and ride out the storm in lee of an island, dock the boat in the large waves, make another mooring attempt, etc. After another failed mooring try, docking became the only option. We secured the boat and retreated to the clubhouse for good food and good company. Everyone was drained and glad to be inside.

Thus ended the most incredible first sailing day of the season this reporter can recall. What a day!

May 27th
Sunday was beautiful and much calmer weather wise. More club prep was accomplished with more decking boards installed, the garden planted and general cleanup from the storm’s mayhem. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured and no boats received significant damage.



May 28th
Monday, time for us to return home, rest up and go back to work. Next weekend, The Icebreaker Regatta race series!

Wake up the sun is shining!

Alaska Sailing Club ROCKS
But Flickr will change life (or least the way you deal with all those digital photos you've taken).
Go there.
Join.
Post photos.
Then you can use them here also. More on all this latter - Time to Sail!

Memorial Day Weekend is Coming!

Come one, come all. The sun is out and the ice is gone. ASC web site updated with long overdue 2004 Governor's Cup results. Check it out at http://www.aksailclub.com/sheet04.htm
Paul W.

Seward cruise

Hi All,
Here are some pics of the first cruise in the new boat. Awesome day in Seward 10 to 20 knot winds 3ft seas and great sun and fun!!

Great Job Cat Sailor!!

This looks awesome dude. Jay and I are heading down to Seward to test out the new boat. I will post pictures Thursday night.
Looking forward to some Cajun Cusine on Saturday too.

Alaska Sailing Club

Alaska Sailing Club