Catamaran racing in the area

This past weekend, Dave and I drove down to see Day 2 of the Michigan Catamaran Championship (Hobie Fleet 126 and CRAM) in Michigan City .  It was a fantastic venue, with a PRO, Becky Ashburn flown in from San Diego.  We boarded the spectator boat. grabbed drinks from the bar and watched the sailing.  Shout out to our fellow Austin Lake peeps. Dave and Gail Stiemsma, Wally Elsner, Gina Noble, and Arch Mercer who were part of this event.  Congratulations to Dave and Gail, 3rd place in the Hobie 16 fleet (out of a 3 way tiebreaker for 1st), and Wally Elsner, who came in 1st in the Hobie 16 Open fleet.  Next year, this regatta will happen on the same weekend, so you can start planning now!  Also, there are several one day regattas on the Michigan City beach, the first one being July 20th.  I will pass on more information as I get it.  

Spring Series week #8 – June 25, 2019

Looks like we will have wind Tuesday, with sunny skies and temps in the 70s.  So it’ll be a great day to get out and sail with winds WSW at 10-15 – ish.  Win Larsen has graciously offered his pontoon as our committee boat and volunteered to be Race Chair, with John Koryto helping and learning from Win and the rest of the experienced crew of Keith Mortlock and Dixie Stiemsma.    We have a boat signed up for the first two Tuesdays in the Summer Series, July 9th and July 16th, but after that, nada.  So please consider signing up – racing will be cancelled any weeks we don’t have a boat and Race Chair.

spring series Week #7 – June 18, 2019

Someone must have really ticked off the wind gods this series, as we are looking at some version of calm vs light and variable for tomorrow evening race time.  I know, we’re not there yet, and living in Michigan, things can change.    Win Larsen has graciously offered to bring his pontoon out for our race committee, and Race Chair for the evening is Steve Weatherford, with Dave Stiemsma on-board as assisting.  Any news of cancellations will be posted on our Facebook site, and if any folks aren’t regularly on Facebook, please let me know – I will get the information to you via phone call or e-mail (let me know which).  We will stop by the landing to spread the word as well.   We will gather at Brewsters regardless of whether we race or not Tuesday.   It’s time to start talking about the summer float party, which we are hoping to schedule for Sunday Aug 4th.  

Spring Series Week #6 – June 11, 2019

It’s week 6 and a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 70s.  Not exactly summer yet, but we’ll take it!  Winds are predicted to be 5-10 mph to light and variable later on, so we’ll see how mother nature is going to treat us!  Pontoon boat and Race Chairman is Jerry Mohney for tonight, with Wally on the boat helping out.    PRO Julie is out of town  this Tuesday.  

Julie sent out sailing guidelines late last week.  Please remember to review and get back to her with any questions and/or your thoughts.  Also, please check out the RC sign up sheet.  For years, we have been very fortunate to have ALCA racing on Tuesday nights, and our sailors have gone on to bigger events and represented us well.  Let’s continue to make ALCA a continued success by working together to make these nights happen, increasing our sailboat racing knowledge and at the same time supporting each other and having fun! 

Spring Series Week #5 – June 4, 2019

Tuesday looks promising as far as wind goes, with wind predictions ranging from 10 – 20 mph to 10 – 15 mph and temperatures in the mid 70s, with a slight chance of rain in the late afternoon.  Race Chair for the evening is Jerry Mohney and we meet as Brewster’s afterwards.  Our Principal Race Officer, Julie has sent over a link for sign-up (Pontoon boats and race Chairs needed!) as a Google Docs file.   Any questions, please reach out to Julie or Dan about working with this file.  Otherwise, there will be a hard copy of the sign up sheet available at Brewsters after racing.