All posts by Andrew Lenczycki

News

Summer Series Week #7 – August 18, 2020

WOW, only four weeks left!!
The forecast for Tuesday looks awesome…Sunny, 75 degrees and a NNW wind at 10.  Don’t forget your wind jackets and booties, it might get cold.
Rumor has it that this week’s Race Chair – Steve Chapman, to mix things up, may run an upwind finish course.  For those newer skippers, if you see the start/finish line ABOVE the gates or inside the course, remember this:

After completing the first leg of the course, a boat shall not cross the starting line. A boat shall not cross the finishing line until she is completing the last leg of the course and finishes. If you sail through a start-finish line by mistake (you are not starting or finishing), you can back out the way you came and go around either end of the starting line to correct your error, it is referred to as unwinding in the rule book.  My point simply was to not be complacent in your sailing but be aware of different types of race courses, start/finish line locations and conditions.  

We plan to start the Zoom Results at 9:30 so if you do not already have the Zoom app, be sure to down load it and join our results meeting tonight – here is the link if you did not already receive the invite:
Julie Lenczycki is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: ALCA Zoom Result’s Meeting

Time: Aug 18, 2020 09:30 PM America/Detroit

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2714083610?pwd=M3pHWHFnc2cvdXo1UklpS3RPRkhGdz09 Meeting ID: 271 408 3610

All fleet members were emailed the login (above) along with the password to enter the meeting.

News, Series Racing

Summer series Week #6 – August 11, 2020

Welcome to Week #6 ALCA Sailors! Got too busy watching the sky last night…wasn’t it incredible!!!
Our forecast for Tuesday looks really nice…Sunny, 81 degrees and 5-10 NW winds with only a 50% humidity index

The sun sets by 8:48 pm so if you do not already have the Zoom app, be sure to down load it and join our results meeting tonight – The link was emailed to all current members:

Julie Lenczycki is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting, to announce tonight’s racing results, and to allow for a short discussion regarding racing, rules, tactics for the night.

Topic: ALCA Tuesday Results Zoom
Time: Aug 11, 2020 09:15 PM America/Detroit

While Michigan’s numbers are relatively low, we remind all racers to follow the social distancing and safe sailing guidelines, and remind everyone to sail safe.

I think that wraps up the messages for this week.  Be sure to wear your life jackets and enjoy racing!!

News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #5 – August 4, 2020

Greetings ALCA Sailors! WOW…20 boats last week!!  We are at the half way point and you better get your heavy weight crews for Tuesday night because the forecast looks….WINDY!!

Our across the street neighbor and neighborhood Little Free Library Tramontane now has a weather station and you can see it on sailflow –  https://www.sailflow.com/spot/518196

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While Michigan’s numbers are realatively low, we remind all racers to follow the social distancing and safe sailing guidelines, and remind everyone to sail safe.

The Officers met late last week to develop some Race Chair Guidelines for duties while on the Committee Boat, please review the two emailed documents and provide any feedback. 

We are set for the next two weeks with the Lenczycki pontoon as Committee Boat, but will need boats/race chairs for our last four weeks.  If you can supply your pontoon and serve as race chair for a two week commitment, please let me know by next Sunday, August 9.

We are looking to see if there is an interest in doing a Zoom meeting the night of sailing to hear results and see everyone’s smiling faces or talk about the races that night.   It would most likely start at 9:15 pm and run for an hour or less.  Let me know if there is an interest and I will set it up for next week.
I think that wraps up the messages for this week.  Be sure to dress warm and wear your life jackets! Enjoy the wind!!

And don’t forget your DRAIN PLUGS!

News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #4 – July 28, 2020

Good evening ALCA Sailors!!
What a night last week was…the wind died just as the horn blew for the first race…sad face!  Thanks to everyone who paid their memberships, everyone is all set for being scored!

It is a turn off the air and open up the windows kind of evening…and Tuesday looks to be a nice evening for racing, somebody was good and got their wish with this forecast:
        Sunny skies with temps around 83, West winds at 10-12 mph.

Please be sure to sail past and alert the Committee Boat with your sail number, skipper and crew so we do not have any hiccups with scoring.  We have a few new members that may not know this and a friendly reminder to those of us in the silver fleet as well.
In the event that we do not sail, be sure to stay tuned to our Facebook or website and email for racing details around 5-5:30.

Since we are not gathering after sailing and to see the results of racing – be sure to check out the updated ALCA website, Andy tries to have that updated by the next day – http://www.austinlakecatamaran.com/?page_id=150

News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #3 – July 21, 2020

Forecast for Tuesday night at 6:00 pm -Mostly cloudy with temps at 81 feeling like 83; SSE winds at 4 mph. If anyone has connections with the wind gods…bring it on!  With this type of forecast, be sure to stay tuned to our Facebook or website and email for racing details around 5-5:30.

If we do sail, please, please, please be sure to sail past and alert the Committee Boat with your sail number, skipper and crew so we do not have any hiccups with scoring.  We have a few new members that may not know this and a friendly reminder to those of us in the silver fleet as well.
I have updated and emailed the latest Fleet Directory and Sail # list as of tonight (7/20/20).  If you see your name in the CC portion of the message, it means that we have no record of your membership payment and you will not be scored.  If I have this wrong, please message me.
Best of luck for another nice evening of sailing!!

News, Results, Series Racing

Tuesday Night Racing Check-In Required

To make the already busy Committee Boat jobs (and personnel) a little less hectic, we are asking that EVERYONE sail by the committee boat PRIOR to the 1st race starting flag going up, and announce their boat sail number, the skipper name, and the crew name (if present on the boat). If for some reason you don’t make it out to the race course prior to the 1st race, then still do this process before the 2nd race flag goes up.

If you don’t meet the minimum weight for a Hobie 16 2 person boat (285 lbs), then you MUST notify the Committee Boat that although you have 2 (or 3) people on the boat you should be scored as a SOLO boat. If you don’t do this and are challenged by anyone, you will have all races disqualified (DSQ’d) for the night.

I realize last week was our first actual night of racing for 2020, but we didn’t have everyone’s membership forms pass thru all officers that need to have information from the forms, by the time racing started. Not having who was on what boat greatly slows down the results process, which I assume you would like to have the evening of the race, rather than the next day after a flurry of emails to gather missing information must be sent.

Also, if you have already been scored one week for the year (Summer) and are NOT a paid ALCA member, you will not be scored going forward. We had a few people last year that got scored as dues paying members, but never actually joined the fleet. Not going to happen this year.

News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #2 – July 14, 2020

Welcome to week #2 of the ALCA 2020 Sailing Season! The weather forecast for Tuesday looks nice at 6 pm – 82° feels like 82°  Sunny SSW 7 mph.

We saw many boats out practicing over the weekend, awesome winds and conditions!!

I emailed our Sailing Guidelines during COVID to all members I have an email for and membership forms are available on this site.
See you at the start 6:30 pm sharp for hopefully two races.  Be sure to follow our FB page and look for emails if we cannot sail.
Happy Sailing!

News, Results, Series Racing, Summer Series

Summer Series Week #1 Cancelled

Due to the low and spotty wind, racing for the 1st week of the ALCA Summer series was cancelled. The “results” are posted on the Series Results page of the website. Don’t see your name in the results? Please pay your 2020 membership dues to be scored. We’re hoping for a better wind/weather result for next week.

News, Series Racing

We’re finally back!

Happy 4th of July week!!
Thank you to everyone who responded to our email and accepted the recent By-Law revisions and that our sailing season for 2020 will begin on July 7th.  The start time will be 6:30 pm with hopefully two races.  We will have two fleets, Portsmouth A & Portsmouth B with one start per race.  Our wonderful Race Committee will determine the time between races based on conditions.

We cannot emphasis enough to practice safe social distancing/sailing, as outlined in the emailed ALCA Safe Sailing Practices document.  Our webmaster will be posting these to our ALCA website soon.
Please fill out and either mail in or drop off your racing membership to Faith prior to Tuesday so the Committee Boat and our Statistician know your sail numbers and who is crewing for you.  Faith said you can put forms in her mailbox at her house if you are out sailing and want to drive by.  Her address is: 9702 East Shore Drive Portage 49002.
The first two weeks of racing, look for the Mohney red tri-toon with Jerry being the Race chair and Keith & Dixie on the Committee Boat.  Jerry will contact members on the lake to determine the following weeks protocols.
Be safe, be proactive, wear a mask and sail smart!
Julie Lenczycki

ALCA Secretary

News

Summer Series Week #1 – July 7, 2020

Welcome sailors!
Hopefully, everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend, we saw several boats out practicing and making sure they found all of the boat parts!  I have emailed the updated 2020 ALCA Directory (as of tonight) and as you can see, we have some of the ALCA “Sailing Kids” who grew up in the fleet joining us this summer as skippers with their Mom’s as crew!!
The weather forecast for Tuesday looks HOT and sticky…at 6 pm – 91° feels like 94°  Sunny WNW 7 mph.

See you at the start 6:30 pm sharp for hopefully two races.  Be sure to follow our FB page and look for emails if we cannot sail.
Happy 1st night of Sailing!

Julie Lenczycki, ALCA Secretary