Tag Archives: Spring Series

Events, News, Series Racing

ALCA 2024 KICKOFF MEETING & PARTY

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Happy End of Winter Everyone!

As we say hello to spring this week, it’s also time to start thinking of getting back on the water!  Our spring kick-off meeting will be held Sunday March 24th at our place on Long Lake.  The fleet will provide  pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw; please bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert to share.  Water, soft drinks and coffee provided, BYO adult beverages.  

Where: Kathy Rubino and Dave Dunlap’s house on Long Lake

             5061 South Long Lake Drive, Portage

When:  March 24th Sunday 

             2:30 pm – arrive, social time

             3:00 pm – meeting starts

             4:00 – 4:30 pm – dinner

At the meeting, we will discuss and vote on the by-law changes; the updated by-laws were sent out 2 weeks ago to 2023 members.  These changes were necessary since no one has stepped up to be a PRO, and describes the operation of the fleet without a PRO as an officer.  The revised by-laws describe the best solution the officers were able to come up with. 

We will also vote on the usual: 

  • sailing format
  • fleets
  • racing schedule. 

It’s time to renew your membership – remember to bring your checkbooks or cash for joining!  See the membership form – I will have these available at the meeting.  

RSVPs appreciated –  Hope to see most of you!  

Kathy Rubino – ALCA Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #6 – June 27, 2023

Good morning all,

Tuesday marks the last night of our spring 2023 series! (seems like it just started right!?) 

Finally some much needed rain! Looks like it’ll steer clear of us for tomorrow night! Forecast looks to be Low 70s mostly sunny with wind NW 12-17 mph sounds like another awesome night out there to me! 

Be sure to get registered! Officers will have forms and they are attached to this email.

Jeff will be RC this week! Thanks in advance Jeff! 

PARTY TIME! 

After Sailing this week we have a bit of a change. It’s TACO TUESDAY at the Lenczycki’s! @9833 Woodlawn Dr.

The Fleet will provide turkey tacos and Lemonade. BYOB and bring a side dish or dessert to pass. 

Party will happen even if we cancel! 

Also last week you all remembered course 6… we had several people go through the gate incorrectly or cross through the start finish line when not starting or finishing. Please refer to the document ALCA Standard Sailing Instructions. 

See you there! 

—

Fair Winds

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #5 – June 20, 2023

Ahoy,

Happy Juneteenth everyone. Apologize in advance as I’m typing from phone, enjoying my holiday away from my computer. 

Hope I’m not jinxing anything but I’m excited for Tuesday… we’re looking at upper 80s mostly sunny and ESE winds sustained 10-13 mph gusting 17-19 mph so bring those trap harnesses and crew its going to be a fun night!!! ENSURE you have a righting line!

Make sure to register and pay dues. Forms in previous emails and I’ll have some with me at the landing. 

Race committee will be Jeff Dane thanks in advance Jeff!

Jacs (in portage) after as per usual.

Fair winds!

We’ll see ya at the start!

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #4 – June 13, 2023

Hello all, 

Woof been a rough start this year hopefully that means you’re all ready to start racing, right!? 

RIGHT!?

Anywho, last week’s situation was unprecedented and we decided to play it safe, after discussions with various entities whom are involved with weed treatment it sounds like they will try to avoid Tuedays and that we probably would’ve been okay to sail and not grown any extra appendages. Cameron and Olivia went out and had a blast and they seem to have survived. 

So putting all that concern behind us we are ready to give week 4 a shot. Weather looks to be in the mid to upper 60s with mostly cloudy with a small chance of showers. (we won’t melt). Wind looks to be out of the WNW pretty widespread for velocity with forecasts ranging from 4-24 mph depending where you look… so who knows, hopefully it lands somewhere in the middle. The Lake is warm but with the air being a tad cooler make sure you dress appropriately.

So here’s hoping for 8-14 mpg and sunny skys! 

We have Jeff Daane as Race Chair tomorrow, Thanks in advance Jeff.

Be sure to get your membership forms and payment turned in. I’ll have the forms at the landing.  

We’ll rendezvous at Jacs after sailing as usual. stay tuned for updates. 

—

Fair Winds

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #3 – June 6, 2023

UPDATE: As of 4;00 PM we are officially CANCELLED for racing tonight, due to the lake being treated today with various chemicals to help control the weed population. This is to comply with the requirements of the Michigan DNR that permitted this project. We will be meeting at Jac’s on S. Westnedge at 6:30 PM if anyone is interested. Hopefully we have better luck next week.

Ahoy hoy,

Tomorrow is week 3 of the Spring Series already! 

The weather looks to be partly cloudy with temps in the high 70s. The water is pleasant. I had to capsize last week to test it out for myself . The wind forecast looks decent this week, with forecasts showing sustained winds of 8 MPH with gusts of 12 MPH out of the NNE. 

Please be sure to fill out your membership form and bring either cash or check! Some of us officers will try to have some forms on hand as well. 

First race start sequence is at 6:30pm, please check in with Race Committee prior to the start of the first race.

Race Chair for this week is Commodore Kathy (maybe) Committee boat is Jeff Daane, Thanks in advance!

Stay tuned for potential cancellations. TBD what we’ll do or where we’ll meet if canceled. 

We plan to go to Jac’s at 7640 S. Westnedge after racing each week. 

—

Fair Winds

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #2 – May 30, 2023

Ahoy sailors,

Today is week 2 of our Spring Series. 

Please be sure to fill out your membership form (attached) and bring either cash or check! Some of us officers will try to have some forms on hand as well. 

First race start sequence is at 6:30pm, please check in with Race Committee prior to the start of the first race.

The weather looks to be partly cloudy with temps in the high 80s. I’m sure the water is pleasant with all the hot weather we’ve had. The wind forecast looks decent this week, with forecasts showing sustained winds of 7 MPH with gusts of 11 MPH out of the SSE. 

Race Chair for this week will be Commodore Kathy! Thanks In advance Kathy! 

Stay tuned for potential cancellations. TBD what we’ll do or where we’ll meet if canceled. 

We plan to go to Jac’s at 7640 S. Westnedge after racing each week. 

Fair Winds

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #1 – May 23, 2023

UPDATE: As of 5;30 PM we are officially CANCELLED for racing tonight, due to a significant lack of wind. We will be meeting at Jac’s on S. Westnedge at 6:30 PM if anyone is interested. Hopefully we have better luck next week.

Tuesday is our first day of racing for week 1 of our Spring Series. 

Please be sure to fill out your membership form (attached) and bring either cash or check! Some of us officers will try to have some forms on hand as well. 

First race start sequence is at 6:30pm, please check in with Race Committee prior to the start of the first race.

The weather looks to be nice and warm with temps in the lower 80s. I’m not sure about the water temp of Austin Lake, but I’m sure it’s nice with how warm it’s been. The wind forecast is a little less than exciting with forecasts showing sustained winds of 2 MPH with gusts of 3 MPH out of the SW/W. Hopefully that changes! 

Race Chair for this week will be Commodore Kathy! Thanks In advance Kathy! 

Stay tuned for potential cancellations. TBD what we’ll do or where we’ll meet if canceled. 

We plan to go to Jac’s at 7640 S. Westnedge after racing each week (link below). 

https://goo.gl/maps/Rcqt6NTP35vpn4Mo8

—

Fair Winds

Walter (Wall-E) Elsner

ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary

News, Series Racing

2023 ALCA Series Racing Schedule Set

The Austin Lake Catamaran Association 2023 series racing schedule was formalized at the Spring Kick-Off Meeting on April 29, 2023.

  • Spring Series will be for 6 weeks, starting on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 thru June 27, 2023.
  • Summer Series will be for 8 weeks, starting on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 thru August 29, 2023.
  • The Starting Sequence will commence at 6:30 PM each race night.
  • We will have a Portsmouth A and Portsmouth B fleet (as long as there are at least 2 boats in a fleet).
  • Check-in with the on the water Committee Boat before the 1st race begins each week so we can ascertain who and how many are on the boat.
  • We plan on going to Jac’s at 7640 S. Westnedge after racing each week for race results and eating/drinking.
  • Stayed tuned to your email and our Facebook page, ALCA FLEET #519, for updates on cancellations each week. 

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #7 – June 28, 2022

NOTE: This is the LAST week of the Spring Series. The Summer Series begins July 12, 2022.

Ahoy hoy, 
Well the final week of our spring season is upon us. Weather is looking good! Temps forecasted in around 80 F Winds predicted to be SW 6-9 MPH guesting 11 MPH 
Committee boat will be the Lenczycki Pontoon with Andy as Race chair. Thanks in advance! 

This week’s After Sailing results will be at Cattail’s, the Lenczycki Lake House – 9833 Woodlawn Drive. The fleet will provide the meat, taco shells, taco fixings and Mac & cheese.

9833 Woodlawn Dr.
9833 Woodlawn Dr.


Please bring either a salad or dessert to share and any adult beverage if you want more than water or lemonade.
Parking along Woodlawn or Bayside or you can leave your boat and walk from the landing, they are about 25 lots south and have left their red Christmas lights up on the garage and are just across the street from the Woodlawn SailFlow monitoring station.

—
Fair Winds
Walter (Wall-E) ElsnerALCA Fleet 519 Secretary CRAM H-16 Fleet Captain

News, Series Racing

Spring Series Week #6 – June 21, 2022

Ahoy Sailors, 
Week 6 already (next week is the last week of Spring series)! 
Another Tuesday in the mid 90s – STAY HYDRATED!  Winds predicted SW 10-14 gusting 24-26 MPH
Committee boat will be the Lenczycki Pontoon with Andy as Race chair. Thanks in advance!  He is planning on taking pictures of boats & crews from the committee boat with a nice 400mm lense, so be there.

ALSO, attached to the email that went out to all current fleet members, is the ALCA Standard Sailing Instructions. These are general rules we’ve been sailing to, but now are formally posting them. New exceptions are the race time limits and provision that sailors must start within 5 minutes of the race start. Also new is the time to have protest documentation submitted to PRO.

Also note last week’s first race had 5 DSQs (disqualified). We ran a course 6 both races which has an upwind finish. In these scenarios you are only allowed to cross the start/finish line when starting or finishing; the rest of the time the start/finish line is to be treated as an obstruction. The other issue was all (single) marks are to be rounded to PORT unless there is a gate, in which case you enter between the two marks and exit to the outside side of either gate mark… Please review the SSI and US Sailing Rules for further clarification. 
After sailing (or in the event of a cancellation) we will be meeting at Jac’s Cekola’s Portage  https://jacscekolaspizza.com/  I would encourage people with boats to park either in the back or to the north (by Habitat or Colonial Kitchen)7640 S Westnedge Ave, Portage, MI 49002 https://goo.gl/maps/Fe9YfKVtfKPeeiKJA
—
Fair Winds
Walter (Wall-E) Elsner ALCA Fleet 519 Secretary  CRAM H-16 Fleet Captain