Kerr Lake Sailing Club Archive

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April 30, 2001:

The Kerr Lake Sailing Club held its second day of racing for the Spring series amid easing and variable wind. Mike Ferrell and "Mibote", Ron Williams and "Row Boat", John Swansey and his unnamed red S2 7.3 and Brant Sprunger in "Tacks Break" held two races that proved to be equal
parts tactical and technical.
The racing started out with an ample breeze out of the Southwest. The course started at the G Buoy, beat upwind to a mark just short of the southerly goal-post, reached across to the H Buoy, and ran downwind back to the G Buoy. The course of the race was to cover one triangle with a
windward-leeward finish. Mibote was the first boat to the windward mark, with Tacks Break and Row Boat in close pursuit. The fluctuation in the wind, and the disruption caused by the point of land by the goal post caused the fleet to spread out on the way to the reaching mark.
Each of the boats in the first two positions held at least a minute advantage over the next boat. The red S2 had a time staying in synch with the wind-shifts, and had already lost a lot of ground to the first three boats. Tacks Break was able to stay in contact with Mibote during
the downwind leg, and passed him coming out of the leeward turn by carrying the spinnaker deeper into the mark. This lead stretched to just short of minute at the windward mark, but Tacks Break managed to bump the mark in the turn, and the resulting 360 penalty turn just short of the finish line allowed Mibote to squeeze in with a 7 second
corrected time victory. Row Boat finished third, and the red S2 nailed down the fourth spot.
By the time the second race was started, the breeze had eased considerably and shifted East of the line that runs from the H Buoy to the G Buoy. A single upwind-downwind course was selected, and Tacks Break jumped to any early lead taking advantage of a port-tack start. The red S2 crossed the line second, and took advantage of wind shifts to hold that position about half-way into the leg. The breeze was spotty, and the best strategy was to watch the wind shifts, and don't sail into holes. Tacks Break held better than a four minute advantage over the number two boat Mibote at the turn, but a portion of that lead was lost on the down-wind leg. Nonetheless, Tacks Break finished with a better than three minute corrected advantage over Mibote, and Row Boat barely held off the red S2 for third.
I'd like to welcome John Swansey and his red S2 to the races. After having to wait for his crew to show up, and then having to undergo a spot check by the Kerr Lake Coast Guard on the way to the start, I'm sure he felt that his racing was getting off to a relatively in-auspicious start. I think the second race demonstrated what he could
do, and we all look forward to many more races together.
The third race date for the Spring series is this Sunday, May 6.
Captain's meeting is at 10:00 . . . see you there.

April, 17, 2001:

A little early summer stilled the air for this year's Goat's Island regatta. In a sharp contrast to last year's race (which never happened) where the wind was gusting 25 to 35 knots, the breeze on the 7th started out light out of the SSW. Ron Williams "Row Boat", John Swansey's Red S2 (sorry John, I didn't get the name), and Tacks Break started from the Goal Posts on a downwind start. In anticipation of light air, it was decided that the boats would turn at Buoy 9 (just beyond the power lines). Ron got a great jump on the others, and would have held his lead if not for the disadvantage of being first. Being first in this kind of race can mean several things, but most notably, you're the first one to fall into a hole that allows the rest of the fleet to catch up.

The two Capri's were both milking their spinnakers for whatever drive that could be found, the Red S2 (sailing without spinnaker) was making a valiant effort to keep up. Somewhere off of Henderson Point, Tacks Break pulled up even with Row Boat. At about the same time, what little breeze there was started dancing around the compass without necessarily consulting with the windex. There were several instances where the windex gamely displayed the apparent wind from behind, while the spinnaker was getting blown back into the mast.

Tacks Break held approximately a one minute edge on Row Boat at the turn at Buoy 3, while the Red S2 kept chugging along, Once around the mark, the two Capri's took opposite tacks on a now Westerly to WNW breeze. After crossing tacks a couple of times, Ron found himself in a gargantuan hole just beyond Buoy 4 on the South side of the lake. Tacks Break found the same hole on the North side of the lake. But holes
sometimes get filled, and in this case Tacks Break was the lucky recipient of a newly energized WNW breeze that was not shared with the other two boats. The rest, they say is history. Row Boat and the Red S2 floated a while, tiring of watching Tacks Break slip out of sight on the wings of a private breeze. They eventually turned and floated back. Tacks Break got past Buoy 7 before running out of air, and at 3:30, decided to motor on back also.

I hope to see you there this Sunday, April 22, for the second race date of the Spring series. It should be nice and warm, so come out and take a few spins around the triangles. Captain's meeting is at 10:00.

  • March 27, 2001:

For those of you that couldn't make it for the first Spring race date on March 18, you missed some great sailing. The breeze started-out with some gusto out of the NNW, but eased somewhat as it flirted with some Northerly and NNE directions. The majority of the captains felt, at the time of the Captains' meeting, that trying to race triangles in the breeze present at the time could be hazardous, so a simple out and back course to Buoy 3 was selected.

Four boats, Ron William's Row Boat, Robin Gelbert's Big Bird, Max Henrie's Max'd Out, and my Tacks Break , set out from the goal-posts on the NNE course that would skirt the Burmuda Quadrangle SW of Henderson point, and slide past Beer-Can Island before heading into the main channel and Buoy 3. The occasional header forced a few tacks to get up the channel, but the up-wind charge was mainly a challenge to keep from getting rolled up too often. Row Boat quickly pulled up for a head-sail change, and struggled to make-up the time lost in the change. The other three boats ran pretty much even until Max'd Out ran afoul of the low water (Bermuda Quadrangle) guarding the entrance into the Henderson point area. Losing a lot of time back-tracking around the buoyed perimeter, he spent the balance of the afternoon keeping Row Boat behind him. As the two remaining leaders got in the wind shadow of Beer Can Island, Big Bird struggled to find a good breeze, and slowly lost ground to Tacks Break.

The downwind leg was every bit as exciting as the first, with the apparent wind at the beam or ahead, forcing the spinnaker-clad boats into a tightrope act of maintaining control in the gusts while sailing high enough to clear the obstacles. Max'd Out, a non-spinnaker Catalina 22, made a remarkable downwind run with a poled-out jib and main, finishing just short of Big Bird by 4 seconds before the correction.

Overall, it was an ideal sailing breeze, forcing constant attention, with a beautiful clear sky overhead. It was great having Big Bird back gracing the waters. It was also great to welcome Max Henries and his very competitive Catalina 22, Max'd Out. Max previously raced in Texas and Oklahoma, and brings a quick boat and a great deal of experience to Kerr Lake.


PLEASE NOTE
The next race is scheduled for Saturday, April 7. The Goats Island regatta is a race from the goal-posts to Buoy 13 and back. Wind allowing, you can be finished by nightfall. If it really looks like a floater, we will cut the distance back. There had been some discussion about changing the date of the race, but since I did not get one response to my inquiry, I'm left to wonder "Is anybody getting my EMAILs?" Wondering that, how could I change the date of the race. Anyway, pack up the dog, put some beverages in the cooler, and head on down to the lake for a great day of sailing.
If you are planning to come, or even if you are not, please EMAIL me with your plans.

Thanks, and good wind
  • February 22, 2001:

Sunday, February 25 marks the final race of the Winter season . . . I
can only hope that Winter is as soon a finality.

If you are suffering from (pick one):

1) Winter Blues
2) Winter Blahs
3) Cabin Fever
4) Spring Fever
5) Turf Toe, or
6) Information overload,

then you really could benefit from a day sailing on Kerr Lake. The fact
that there will be a few other sailors trying to get to certain
objectives before you only gives your sailing a little more purpose.

Captain's meeting is at 11:00am. See you there.
  • January 10,2001:

The Kerr Lake Sailing Club sailed into the next millennium with races held Sunday, January 7. The weather was as kind as we had seen for the last two months, with temperatures reaching (at times) into the low 50's. The wind was out of the South, a bit unreliable for the first race, but filling in nicely for the second. In spite of the balmy weather, the majority of the boats on the A-Dock were ice-bound, leaving Richard Auerweck's KIWI unavailable to race.

Both Races started at the "G" Buoy (yes, the same one that was missing just three months ago) beating South to the "H" Buoy, starboard rounding to a mark NE of the South goal-post, and finishing downwind at the starting line. The wind for the first race was light, leaving a few holes for the unwary to sail into. TACKS BREAK, ROW BOAT, and MIBOTE were pretty much even for the first 2/3rds of the leg, with TACKS BREAK easing out to a lead at the windward mark, followed by ROW BOAT and MIBOTE. After a reaching spinnaker run to the reaching mark, all three boats made great jibes at the mark and made the long, downwind run to the finish. ROW BOAT made up a lot of ground by sailing a little higher, but could not overcome TACKS BREAK.

For the second race, the sun got blanketed by a thick layer of winter clouds as the wind picked up, reminding the racers that it was, after all , January, and it was supposed to be cold. MIBOTE and TACKSBREAK crossed the starting line together, running in a dead heat toward the east shore. ROW BOAT tacked to port at the start and spent the bulk of the windward leg in the western half of the lake. At the windward mark, TACKSBREAK held a considerable advantage over MIBOTE, which in turn held a smaller advantage over ROW BOAT. TACKSBREAK watched her lead all but vanish by the reaching mark, as she declined to fly her chute on the reach. By the time she rounded the mark and got her spinnaker pulling, MIBOTE had a 2/3 overlap on the leeward side. Mike Ferrell then slid his boat back over to the windward side, trying to block the air to TACKS BREAK. Meanwhile, ROW BOAT had eased up to the windward of MIBOTE, creating a post-card image procession of three boats with spinnakers gliding downwind, each within two boat-lengths of the other. Forced into a higher angle to either fend-off or attack, all three boats would have to jibe back to reach the finish. It was just a question of who would break formation first to run for the finish. Since all the boats were on starboard tack, jibing would force them to give way, and the overlaps would have required some great boatwork to avoid fouling one of the other boats. Finally, ROW BOAT jibed for the mark, and TACKS BREAK covered. MIBOTE had some trouble with the Jibe, and ended up third place in what each captain considered one of the most exciting finishes they had been a part of in some time.

For those who couldn't make it, the conditions were wonderful. The wind was good, it wasn't all that cold, and best of all, the motorboats were parked. We'll see you all February 25.

Good Wind.
  • Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001:

The KLSC January race will be held SUNDAY, January 7. Captain's meeting will be at 11:00. It looks like the weather this weekend will be the warmest we have seen in several weeks, so dig out your shorts and Coppertone and come sail with a purpose. See you there . . .
  • Sunday, December 10, 2000:

The second race day of the winter series (12/2/00) was cold and generally awful, so there was no racing. The temp was in the low to mid 30's, overcast, and a drizzle started at about noon.

The 2001 schedule is being created now by Brant. Please let him know your thoughts about racing on Saturdays, Sundays, both, or alternating.
  • Saturday, September 16, 2000
    For a day that had been forecast to be "breezy" all week, it ended up, well, puffy. It was a beautiful day, and it didn't take much of an excuse to get out and enjoy it on the water. The day started out cool and breezy, and finished warm with an inconsistent breeze.

Because of the conditions at the start (wind just short of white-capping), Saturday's competitors decided to take advantage of the breeze and race an out-and-back contest from the "H" Buoy, around Beer Can Island, up to Buoy "5", and back. The northerly breeze held for about the whole first leg, becoming fluky to non-existent as the combatants moved NE of Beer Can Island. Some competitors only had to contend with short lulls, others sailed into black holes that took an eternity to extricate themselves from.

The next two legs were becoming more challenging as the race wore on, with the wind coming and going, and sweeping through a range of directions that approached 270 degrees.

The final leg should have been downwind, and was for the most part when the wind was present. One noteworthy hole deposited the fleet in the middle of Carolina Sailing club's race off of Henderson point. After a couple jibes of the spinnaker to keep up with the wind direction, it was unceremoniously doused and replaced by a jib for a close hauled finish.

At the end, after all of the holes had been sailed into and out of, and the impromptu sail changes had been completed, the first and second place boats were less than a minute apart at the finish.

It was a beautiful day to sail . . . you should have been there. For those who are keeping score, Ron Williams' "Row Boat" finished second, and Brant Sprunger's "Tacks Break" finished next to last place.

DO NOT FORGET!!!!
The annual Blue Nose regatta is set for the 30th of September. This is a great race for anyone who doesn't really care for the close racing found around the buoys, and uses the race for a great excuse to see a large part of the lake. We'll start somewhere around the goal-posts or the "H" Buoy, go to Buoy "14" (wind permitting) and return. Even with a good wind, this will take up until 6:00 p.m. If it begins to develop that the wind will not be adequate for this distance, we will pick a less ambitious course.

See you there. Good wind!
  • Let's see. . . July 29, light (if not nonexistent) and unreliable winds, warm temperatures, and humidity. Yes indeed, it sounds like the start of the Fall racing series (Motto: pack a swimsuit, its gonna be a slow ride). After taking 7 weeks off, three boats returned to start the Fall series in a race that provided all of the usual July action.

Mike Ferrell's San Juan 24 "Mibote", Ron Williams Capri 22 "Row Boat", and Brant Sprunger's Capri 22 "Tacks Break" started from a line drawn just beyond the goal posts on a windward leg toward the government "G" buoy. Mibote and Row Boat chose the left side of the course, sniffing out a sustained puff off of Hibernia Point. Tacks Break worked the middle of the course, trying to find a puff to keep even. After all the headers and lifts had been sorted out, Tacks Break had at least a two minute advantage at the windward mark.

Turning at the mark, the next leg was more of a beam reach than a run, with occasional shifts to close reach. The two Capri's struggled to keep their spinakers full of air, Mibote (flying solo) did the best he could with main and jib. Tacks Break extended its lead at the next mark, and was halfway to the finish by the time Row Boat made the turn. Mibote was half a leg behind, with little hope of finding a puff to recover.

Tacks Break had been dealing with a header as it approached the line, and found itself about a 100 yards off the mark, needing a tack to finish. Well, there was only enough momentum to tack, the boat was headed to the line, but there wasn't anything to drive it home. Meanwhile, Row Boat was riding a lift right to the line, crossing with a 4 minute advantage over Tacks Break. Mibote finished just under 19 minutes later.

After a couple of dips in the lake, it was decided that there was slim hope of a sustained breeze, and that we might as well call it a day.

  • 7/19/2000 - The first race of the next series is Saturday, July 29. Everyone has had plenty of time to do some recreational sailing, maybe even work on the boat. But now it is time for some of that hot, light-air racing that we have come to love (bring a swimsuit). Everyone has a clean slate, so everyone is starting off in first place. For the sake of your fellow competitors, it would be very helpful if you would indicate through EMAIL if you plan to be there, or if you don't. Barring some major catastrophe (sunken boat, brain transplant) I will be there.
  • 6/14/2000 - The Kerr Lake Sailing Club held its last race of the Spring series on 6/3/00 in nearly perfect sailing conditions. Some nitpickers might say it was a little warm, but with a relatively steady breeze starting out of the North and moving during the day to the NE, it was a great day for an out-and-back race. We started from the H buoy, went past Beer Can Island, headed east to buoy 4, and returned. We started out beating up to the turn, reached to the buoy, close hauled back to the turn, and did a run all the way back. Although there had been some talk of thunderstorms, they did not materialize until late afternoon when all combatants had already called it a day. Five boats competed Saturday, with the race consisting of three separate battles. Ed Saleem and his F-24 "Raptor" basically raced himself, having turned south before any of the other boats turned east. Richard Auerweck and his J-24 "Kiwi" dueled with Craig Ambler's Capri 25 (the boat formerly known as "No Name") up until the time they turned downwind. Craig opted not to fly the chute, and fell out of contention. The last duel was between Mike Ferrell in his San Juan 24 "Mibote" and Brant Sprunger's Capri 22 "Tacks Break". Mike held an advantage after the upwind leg, lost some ground on the East/West legs, and fell into a jibing duel on the downwing leg. He was able to hold Brant off for most of the leg until he decided to split jibes and sailed into a hole off the eastern shore. Brant finished a little over 3 minutes ahead. After the race, we gathered for the Spring finale, working out the race results, making up excuses, and sharing a wonderful, chilled watermelon (thanks again, Michael). I had hoped to present the Spring series trophy, but we'll have to take care of that at the next race. Congratulations to Ed Saleem and his jet-ski, er, F-24, totally dominating the fleet and scoring a very impressive victory Saturday. Congratulations to Eddy Walters and his son for taking the Spring series crown in convincing style. Eddy scored five first and two second place finishes over the course of the series, pretty much leaving the rest of the fleet to spar for second place. The next race is the first date in the Fall series, scheduled for Saturday, July 29. This leaves seven weeks between races to take care of things like: 1) vacations 2) repairs 3) capital improvements 4) practice 5) recruitment If I don't see y'all before then, I'll see you on the water July 29. Until then, good wind. Brant Sprunger
  • 5/17/2000 - - Saturday started warm and breezy, with all indications that it would become hot and breezy. Six boats set sail to trade tacks on a day in which the heat was constant, but the wind not. Because of the Southwesterly wind, the windward mark was again backed up against Hibernia point, providing only short up-wind and down-wind legs, and a lot of reaches inbetween. The first leg of the first race revealed what the day would hold, unpredictable wind-shifts as well as different wind directions for boats in different positions on the same leg. Throughout the day, several position changes occured with each up-wind leg due to the vagueries of the wind, and the distortions created by Hibernia point. The first race saw Eddy Walter's Pick-Pocket cruise to an easy win after an early duel with Craig Ambler's Capri 25 (the boat formerly known as No Name). The second race saw pretty much the same conditions, but the results were quite different. Pick-Pocket again stole the show, but four of the five other boats managed different finish positions. By the time the third race started, the wind had eased and moved more Southerly. There was no longer any true up-wind leg, just a couple of close hauls and a run on the third leg. As Pick Pocket and the Capri 25 were about to sail off into the distance, they sailed into a hole on the run, which became a stop, and then a crawl. This allowed the rest of the fleet to close and make a rather exciting turn at the start of the fourth leg. Pick Pocket was caught in a nasty header coming off Hibernia point, then appeared to be caught in a swarm of jet-skis. Boat-for-boat, the Capri 25 crossed the line first, but finished fourth after adjusting for PHRF. Tacks Break corrected out first. The standings after eight races show Eddy Walters comfortably in first, and Mike Ferrell firmly in second. The last race of the Spring series is set for June 3. This is an "out and back" race, which counts as two races, allowing for some position changes before the series is over. We are also scheduled to hold some form of after-race get together. This could take the form of beer-swilling and bragging, or cookie crunching and cajoling, or whatever. The phone-lines are open and operators are standing by (actually, don't call . . just do the EMAIL blast thing and let everyone know what you would like to do).
  • Six boats converged on the starting line on a beautiful, sunny March day with good wind.  Conditions were excellent, and I think that all combatants had a good time.  Actually, there is not much to write about: we held three races, the wind did not reverse itself, and no one had a collision.  Speaking for myself and from comments made by Mike Ferrell, sail handling can be HUGE when most of the boats are pretty fairly matched.

Looking at the results, it appears as we got more races under our belts, the tighter the competition became.  The last race saw a range of corrected times from 43:59 to 47:16, or a little over 3 minutes in a 45 minute race.  This is great!

Have you visited the KLSC web-site?  Richard Auerweck has done a tremendous job with this, and it looks great.  Check it out at http://www.kerrlake.com/klsc/index.html

Mark your calendars!!  Goats Island Regatta April 8.  Captain's meeting at 9:00.  All boats start at 10:00 from the goal posts.  Bring $10 for the winner's pot.

Next race of the Spring series April 29.

  • 3/21/2000 - Spring is in the air, and young men's fancy turns to. . . . sail boat racing!!!  Yes indeed, the spring series is about to start, and the weather for Saturday looks wonderful!!  I, for one, am anxious to get out of the office and get outside, get into some tacking duels, and kick-up a little wake.  I hope to see ALL of you there.  Captain's meeting is 10:00.  First race is 11:00.  If the wind permits, we should try to get three races in.  Once the starting line is set, the starting sequence can start at any time.  Plan on the starting sequence for the 2nd and 3rd race to begin 10 minutes after the last boat has finished the previous race. Please keep in mind that the Goat's Island regatta is two weeks from this Saturday.  Tell all your friends.  Tell your enemies.  Tell anyone who has driftwood that they can lash a stick to with a sheet on it.  Use EMAIL to encourage others to join us.
  • 3/7/2000 - The Winter Series is over: It must be Kerr Lake when a downwind leg becomes an upwind leg, and in spite of the beautiful afternoon (considering it was February), every combatant had something to say about the flukey wind conditions. In the first of our season ending "out-and-back" races, four boats took to the water for a lengthy afternoon contest.  In his return to racing action, Ed Walters and Pickpocket walked away with first place honors, beating the second place boat by more than 25 minutes.  The next race, which begins the Spring series,  is scheduled for March 25.  The captain's meeting is 10:00. In light of the fact that the last race, the "out-and-back" affair, is one race . . . it tends to leave our series a little short.  With a series consisting of three, two race dates and one, one race date, we end up with a series of seven races.  After the throw-outs, that leaves five races that count.  I'm wondering if we should try to hold three races on the first three race dates, and one on the last, for a total of 10 races for the series.  I would suggest that once everyone is up there and racing, holding three races rather than two would not be problematic.  Well, the forum is open . . . Congratulations to Craig Ambler and the Boat Formerly Known as No Name for winning the winter series.  It goes to show you what a lot of dedication and a little rig tuning can do.
  • The year 2K schedule is ----> here <---- ! Items to note:
1) The single handed regatta has been dropped.  Does anyone remember the last time we actually ran that?  Also, it complicated scheduling with Spring 3-6.
2) The last race of each series, WINTER 7, 8;, SPRING 7, 8 etc. are intended to be "Out & Back" races.  That is, NOT racing around buoys. I envision the format would be one race (whose results will count as two) that is designed to last 4 to 5 hours.  We need to get some decent measurements of the lake to do some proper handicapping, but I think this can be a lot of fun.  I look forward to your input on how to structure this.
3) I have scheduled a "Summer Break".  There are 7 weeks off between Spring 7, 8 (June 3) and Fall 1, 2 (July 29).  I hope this is helpful.
4) I've elected to keep Saturday dates throughout the year.
5) The Blue Nose is scheduled for two days, allowing for spending Saturday night in Clarksville.  This doesn't require staying on the boat, but that can only add to the experience.
6) The "Series Finale" is a social event after the last race of a series.  What form this takes on is anybody's guess, but I will be happy to have a member organize the event.  Depending on the season and the weather, this could be hot cocoa and cookies, cold beer and nuts, hot dogs, etc.
  • Meeting: The annual[?] meeting was held at RJ Gators after the racing on 11/14/99. We mostly talked about the strong winds that knocked everyone down during the racing, but we managed to talk about future club plans too. Some topics were:
    • Schedule for next year - Brant will work on this
    • Racing format - we'll have one "out and back" race per series. Single day racing format will continue. Two days are usually too much for people to comit too every month
    • Membership growth - tough one, but we need more exposure for sure. Triangle Sailing Association members may be interested in our level of racing
    • This web page - will be moved to Kerrlake.com eventually
  • Winter Series Rules:
    • A ladder attached to the boat,
    • A throwable flotation device with line attached,
    • Blankets or sleeping bag on board,
    • Motor must stay attached to back of boat,
    • No whining about the cold.
    • (Also remember, the Captain's meeting is at 11:00 a.m.)