Thursday, August 31, 2006

2006 Governor's Cup is Here!

Yes folks, it's time to compete again for the storied Governors Cup!
This regatta is our season-capping event and the club's longest running race. If I only had possession of the cup I could tell you for sure the year of the first race (perhaps Paul can share that with us) [Why yes, I can. Follow this link to a Governor’s Cup history. PDW]

I believe the ASC Governors Cup Regatta is the longest running annual competition in Alaska. Heck, I hear Ben Robar was only 18 years old when he first won it, so that gives you an idea of how long this race has been around. Anyway, that is my story and I'm sticking to it. For those of you that haven't seen it, the Governors Cup is really quite a cool trophy. They don't make them like this one any more! I hope you can make it out to the lake and join in the fun. I'm quite pleased with the participation we have had in the racing this year and I hope we can just keep building it up. There are a few kids out there that I think are ready to grab hold of the helm and join in too.

OK - some details. We will shoot for starting the first race promptly at 1:00 pm on Saturday September 2nd. Please make sure that you have your boat ready to go in time to join the first race. If you simply can't make it, please still come on out and join in the races later in the day. As with our other regattas this series will consist of approximately 3 to 7 races depending on wind conditions. At a minimum we will stage races on Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of September.
Racers earn points for each race, so it pays off to race them all. As last year's champion (Paul Willing) can tell you, the more races you win the better. The way the scoring works you get to throw out your worst race, so you can still be competitive even if you miss a race.

Lastly, we will have trophies for the big boat and the small boat classes so we are ready for all comers.

As I'm sure you have seen there via email there will be a fish fry happening on Saturday. I think the Events Committee has a theme for a Sunday potluck as well (stay tuned for more information). We will also have live music on Saturday night. The Commodore splurged and arranged to have the Junior James Band come out to entertain us starting around 6:30 or 7:00.

I hope your plans include joining us this holiday weekend. It's guaranteed to be almost more fun than should be allowed. See you there.

Posted by Paul for VC Tim G.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

2006 Governor's Cup Regatta

Labor Day Weekend is just days away. It's time once again for our annual Governor's Cup Regatta. Details and cup history are available at this link.

2005 Race season results, including Governor's Cup, posted on our web site.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Big Lake Weather Link Now Available

What's the weather like at Big Lake right now? Is it raining? Is there any wind? What about tommorow's weather? The answer to these and other weather questions is now a mouse click away, both here in the Links area and on our web site's new Weather page.

Upcoming Alaska Sailing Club Events

Advanced Sailing Class

WHERE: 1st Floor at the Snow Goose Restaurant

WHEN: Thursday, August 31st, start to mingle at 6:30 PM, start talking at 7:00 PM and will end at 9:00 PM (unless we want to stay later)

WORLD CLASS INSTRUCTORS: Tim Gould teaching tactics, Dave Johnson and others teaching sail adjustments.

With the Governor's Cup fast approaching, it's a good time to have an advanced sailing class covering all the sail adjustments available on a boat, such as the main and jib sheets, the downhaul and outhaul, the traveler and the boom vang. Also, we will talk about tell tail movement and what it really indicates. Finally, some basic sail racing tactics will be revealed, such as where on the starting one should be, understanding the Big Lake wind, some right of way rules and how to cover the competition.

This is the first time for such a gathering and hopefully it will be a success. The Snow Goose said they would be happy to have us, and if this works out we can do it again some time during the winter.

Dinner and drinks can be purchased by hungry and thirsty sailors.

We hope to see bunches of sailors and racers there, it would be lonely if Tim and I were the only ones who showed up, but as long as there is food and drink, we will survive.


Governor's Cup Regatta
Labor Day Weekend
Details to follow.


Fall Work Party
Sept 9th or 16th. Date to be determined.


Alaska Sailing Club Annual Meeting
Snow Goose Restaurant and Pub
Saturday, Sept 23rd, starting at 5 PM.

Posted by Paul for Commodore Dave

Thursday, August 17, 2006

2006 Fireweed Regatta Race Results

July 29, 2006

Pirate Race

First Place: Paul and Taylor Willing - Hobie 16
Second Place: Paul Button and Corinne Smith - Skipjack
Third Place: Tom Gould, Roberta Avila and Jody Willing - RL 24

Relay Race

First Place: Team Midnight Sun Team - Geoff Wright, Jay Brudzinski and Jeromy Reed
Second Place: Team Moat Monster - Paul Willing, TL Stambro and Vince Browne
Third Place: Team RL - Bruce LaLonde, Tim Gould, Tom Gould, Roberta Avila and Jody Willing
Fourth Place: Team Remick with Chris Remick, Corinne Smith

Note – these race results are fairly accurate, but apparently we had some problems reading the race results from the Pirate Race (seems they got wet and the ink ran). Troy was second into the harbor in the Laser but failed to produce the clue or the map, just a mass of wet paper.

We know many of the boats had additional crew (it's the only way that many water balloons could have been launched...). Post comments to notate any corrections. Also, only waterproof cameras were safe on this Saturday, so if you have any photos post them as well.

Arrrg fellow Pirates! It was a great day of racing. We had 11 boats in the Pirate Race and 12 in the Relay Race. Our first crack at a Relay Race turned out to be a blast. Both races really tested our sailing skills and our ability to duck in the nick of time to try and stay dry!

It was a cutthroat day on the high seas of Big Lake. There's a certain appeal to being able to slow down other boats using a barrage of water balloons, illegal racing maneuvers, etc. I'm estimating about 400 water balloons were launched on Saturday and several dozen gallons of water discharged from various squirt gun devices, hoses with pumps (that crafty TL), and yes even buckets. There was even one report of a crewmember knocked overboard from a blast of water. Coming within firing range of a big boat proved to be hazardous for many a pirate crew.

The Willing family had a great time too, though Taylor and I couldn’t believe my loving wife pulled our buoy out of the water and then even stole it. The 720 certainly slowed us down. Apparently, all is fair in pirate races and alliances are very flexible!

The post race / pillage feast was incredible, as usual. Special thanks to the Steve and Sue team for the wings and fries - The Food Wagon rocks! Pirate Chefs Jay and Chris cooked up some tasty custom kabobs. An assortment of fine wine was available for tasting as well.

Special thanks to our evening’s musicians and everyone who worked to bring off another exceptional event. That's why it’s a great sailing club.

The races were fantastic! Congratulations to everyone!!!! We definitely should have more of these kinds of events.

Thanks to Jay, Cheryl and Jody for their contributions to this posting.