Quannapowitt Yacht Club

QYC Laser sailors made a great showing at our May Madness Laser Regatta. New member Sara Helbling, placed second in a very competitive fleet of 20 sailors from all over New England – ME, VT, NH, RI, CT and MA. Your Commodore and Eric McCaffrey placed fifth and sixth respectively, and Members Bill Dobson and Scott Doran persevered through the rain and tricky wind shifts when more experienced sailors headed for the beach.

When you plan a regatta you haven’t the faintest idea what kind of weather you’ll have, so it was with a pretty profound degree of disappointment that the weather for our May Madness Laser regatta began to make its self known out of the long-term forecasts – rain and thunder with moderate to light winds.

Last Blast Laser Regatta

Series Standing - 8 races scored

Information is provisional and subject to modification
Regatta results saved: Saturday, October 10, 2009 3:56:14 PM EDT

( Entries=18) Laser | Laser Adult | Laser Grand Master | Laser Masters | Laser Youth

On a gray fall day with the breeze appearing only as patches of ripples that meandered down the lake scooting individual boats around like leaves on a parking lot, we race.

This is fall in New England; not too many more times to get the club’s fleets out and stay warm and dry, so we use what we have. I call over to John, on the race committee boat, that I’m glad I have my job (to keep my Laser moving) and not his (to divine the steadiest direction of the wind and consequently to set a fair course.) John dryly observes that, “You just do the best you can,” and John does.

The first race he starts the three fleets three minutes apart, but ends up with the first two fleets just a mixed clump of boats sitting on the starting line causing what wind there is to lift right up over the shapeless sails. The mess just barely sorts itself out in time for the Lasers to start with enough open water to get across the line.

From the beach area, the wind ripples on the lake gave the water a deep green/gray hue. The monotone surface suggested no puffs and no lulls, just a steady consistent 8 to 10 knot breeze that should place a premium on sail trim and boat handling in the upcoming club races. This eyeball assessment didn’t come close to forecasting the squirrelly shifting breeze that played games all across the race course a half hour later with gusts that flogged the Laser’s sail and lulls that had me crowded up against the centerboard.

Wet from a dump in the lake or wet from some rain, does it really make a difference? QYC Lasers have been out most Sundays and Wednesdays and it hasn’t been all that wet from above or below.

Yesterday nine Lasers rigged for sailing and seven of us went racing – a great show for the first Sunday race. The conditions were fine for those with experience, but challenging for those who either haven’t sailed a Laser ever or for years. What was impressive was the limited number of flips that occurred.

The Laser fleet is active and ready to help QYC members and prospective members see what Laser sailing is all about. Our yellow club Laser lost its mast step during the May Madness Laser Regatta, but we are just about done prepping our next best boat, the white Laser, for duty as an adult race boat, test sail boat and back up boat.

QYC's May Madness Laser regatta was held Saturday in variable winds and mostly sunny skies. 20 sailors from Mass, New Hampshire and Maine showed up for the season opener. The morning didn"t look very promising, but after a minor delay the winds became steady and never left us for the rest of the eight race series. As if choreographed for a bunch of sailors coming out of hibernation, the breeze let us get our boat-handling skills warmed up and our sailing instincts refocused and then it slowly built to keep our attention sharp.