Good News Everyone!
It’s finally forecasted to be warmer! Tuesday is week 3 of our spring series. The forecast is calling for mid 70s but SUNNY with winds around 9 mph gusting 15….The feels like temp (windchill) is predicted to be around 73 degrees. The water more than likely will feel warmer but a wetsuit may still be a good idea this early in the season.
First start sequence begins at 6:30 PM
Dave Dunlap is RC this week so thanks in advance for the effort Dave!
Fair Winds-
The 2021 ALCA Fleet officers met via Zoom to begin our planning for the upcoming sailing season. Stay tuned to this website and our Facebook posts to see what’s coming for the year.
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.
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!
Dear Mother Nature: please make the rain stop and give us good sailing weather!
That’s what we all need to be hoping for Tuesday, as we plan to sail week 8 in the summer series. the forecast does predict that the rain will stop, and we’ll have sunny skies by race time, with temps in the mid 70s, with winds out of the west around 10 mph. Race committee boat is Win Larsen’s pontoon, with Dave Dunlap as race chair.
This week’s help planned help topic as Rules at Marks, please see your email. Also, if there are any questions about the two prior topics, please come to Brewster’s with your questions.
Wow, Week 6 is happening! – can’t believe the summer is just zipping along! Andy Lenczycki is our RC for a night of partly cloudy skies, 78 degrees and NNW winds of around 9 mph.
This week, we are starting an informal education series, in which there will be an attachment included with each weekly e-mail, followed up by discussion after sailing at Brewster’s. This will take place even if we’re cancelled, so all you new sailors, take note, read the material, and hopefully you’ll be able to participate on Tuesdays. It’s also a great review for all of us seasoned folks as we head to the Hobie World’s in Captiva this November. This week’s topic is “Signals and Marks” and “Definitions & Right of Way Rules“. This is a progressive series – so this first topic is important to know in order to fully understand the next two topics. Thanks to Jerry Mohney for starting this up and to Julie for providing the material.
Also, a reminder that the next one day regatta for Hobie Fleet 126 is coming up this next Saturday, August 17th at Washington Beach in Michigan City, IN. Weather looks pleasant, so there’s fun just waiting to be had! Hope to see you there!
Another save the date – for all of us Hobie World Competitors (gotta love the sound of that!): Tuesday September 17th – the first Tuesday we don’t sail- Lori Mohney is gathering us together at their place for a discussion of important things we’ll need to know to compete in the event. Please create room in your schedules to attend!
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.
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.
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!
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.