American Lake Sailing Club

Frank’s Place

August’s Race day and fish fry turned out, as

expected, to be a great success. With lots of sun, and

my own sunburn, nice breezes and top notch food. A

nicer day on American Lake would have been hard to

find. Add to that the arrival of Troy and Chuck in

their Mutineer and Buccaneer respectively. Troy

haled from…across the lake from Silcox Island.

The long distance award goes to Chuck since he

travelled up I-5 from Vancouver, WA. Our usual

group of boats rounded out the fleet with Layne and

Scott leading (as usual) but Clifford not far behind

(improving his sailing but still sooo…unsociable).

Then there is me, now with a clean bottom (thanks to

Rod) and still managing to bring up the rear. Results

follow:

Newsletter of the American Lake Sailing Club Vol. 43 Issue 9 September 2012

Troy and his new

Mutineer

Chuck and his

Buccaneer Bucko

September 2012 Page 2

August Race Results

Race 1

Race 2

Race

Day

Totals

Skipper/Crew’s

Name

Boat’s

Name

HCP Corrected

Time/Position

Corrected

Time/Position

Total

Score

Over all

Position

Monthly

Score

Troy/Troy Mutt

#2181

96.1 58.10 / 4 47.55 / 5 9 4 70

Chuck Bucko 88.3 81:00 / 5 DNF / 6.5 11.5 6 50

Layne Firefly 96.0 35.03 / 1 22.40 / 1 2 1 100

James Go Far 96.0 DNF / 6.5 24.45 / 3 9.5 5 60

Scott/ Rod Wild

Juan

96.8 35.74 / 2 23.24 / 2 4 2 90

Frank Bye-

Gone

102 DNF / 6.5 DNF / 6.5 13.5 7 40

Clifford /

Dennis/Sandy

Teal 96.8 54.20 / 3 39.00 / 4 7 3 80

Looks like September races are close to the end of

the month and are slated for the 29th

. No picnic

planned but snacks usually abound.

Did I mention the excellent food from our last pot

luck of the summer? Double thanks to Scott for his

frying the fish and fries. Super tasty!! Thanks to

Rod for the good cole slaw, Carolyn for her

pea/cheese salad and broccoli slaw, me for the pasta

salad, and the club for three kinds of fish. We had

cod, basa, and cat fish fillets. Scott was especially

safety conscious with a fire extinguisher alongside

the propane deep fryer. Anyone notice how much

fun Scott’s daughter, Audry, was having the water?

She spent most of the day in the water with Rod

showing her how to use a mask and snorkel and

supervising her while she went down the slide.

Thanks to Carolyn for her excellent job at timing

everyone and more thanks to her and Gena for all the

after BBQ clean-up. No thanks to me for the fire I

built to burn some of the burnable trash as the fire

seemed to not want to go out. Rod finally dumped

three 5 gallon buckets of water on it as we departed.

All in all everyone did their fair share and then some

which shows enthusiasm of our club member.

Great!!!

Frank

September 2012 Page 3

Layne’s Racing Blow by Blow

Ever since I bought my first Mutineer almost ten

years ago, I’ve been looking for other Mutineer

skippers to sail with. You see there are not many

Mutts here in the Pacific NW. I’ve always thought it

would interesting to see how Firefly would do in a

one-design fleet of Mutineers. In other parts of the

country like Texas, Michigan, Florida, and Alabama

there are active fleets of Mutineers. There is the

annual Mutineer National Champion regatta that I

would love to attend but it is always on the east coast.

Too far away for my meager sailing budget. So over

the years I’ve been slowly trying to build a fleet of

Mutineer here in the Pacific NW. There are now

about 10-12 boats that I know of in the area. The

problem is getting them all out at the same to sail.

Finally, at our races in August, I was able to see some

of the fruits of my fleet building efforts. There were

three Mutineers along with a Buccaneer (the 18 foot

version of a Mutt) sailing at American Lake. It was

great seeing all those Mutts out racing with the rest of

the ALSC fleet.

It was one of the best sailing days we had all summer

with sunny skies and a breeze out the NW at

about 8 mph. A longer course was set up to Thorne

Castle and down to a leeward mark at the south end

of Silcox Island, then back up wind to cross the finish

line. In the first race Clifford and crew on Teal got

off to a great start sailing on a starboard tack towards

Silcox Island. The rest of the fleet also all started on

a starboard tack too and immediately after crossing

the starting line flipped over to a port tack heading

towards the middle of the channel.

On the way towards the windward mark Firefly was

able pull out to an early lead which was whittled

down by Scott on Wild Juan who had gained the lead

by the time we had reached the windward mark. On

the downwind leg, Firefly was able to regain the lead

over Wild Juan with both boats flying their

spinnakers. James on Go Far, who was in third place

at the windward mark, also got his spinnaker flying

for the first time in a race. He still has a few bugs to

work out on his launching system and needs a little

more practice setting, flying, and dousing the

spinnaker. The kite was looking good James! As I

was running downwind I looked back and notice that

the spinnaker on Teal was flying sideways…oops!

Troy and Chuck during race # 2

Start of the first race

September 2012 Page 4

Our newest sailors, Troy and Chuck, after being a

little off the pace at the start, but seemed to be

holding their own in the middle of the fleet. With a

little more practice at the starting line these two

sailors will be right up there with the race leaders. In

the end Firefly was able to hold on to the lead to take

first place. Scott on Wild Juan came in second.

James on Go Far was so engrossed in flying his

spinnaker that as he crossed the start/finish line on

the downwind leg and he was so thrilled with the

successful spinnaker takedown that he forgot about

the last part of the downwind leg and short upwind

leg of the course and never finished the race…oops!

After the lead boats crossed the finish line the wind

died down a lot making it slow going for the rest of

the fleet. Clifford and crew on Teal ended up

crossing the line next taking third place. Frank on

Bye Gone was struggling in the light winds near the

windward mark finally threw in the towel and

motored back taking the DNF score.

In the second race, with the breeze dying, our usual

short triangle course was set. As the one-minute

horn, the wind died even more and I was scared that I

wouldn’t it make to the starting line in time. Luckily

for me the rest of the fleet was experiencing similar

problems…and everyone was about thirty seconds

late to the line. James on Go Far got over the line

first and got the early lead.

Wild Juan and Firefly crossed the line at about the

same time; however, I managed to sneak in between

the pin mark just windward of Scott leaving Wild

Juan in bad air. Teal who was on a port tack at the

start had to dodge a couple of starboard tack boats

slowing them down. James, after his good start, was

the first boat to round the windward mark with

Firefly following closely behind. For some reason, I

always seem to have trouble going around that mark

at the north end of Silcox. I don’t know if there is

some sort of strange current, strange wind shift, or

what but I’m always slow and struggle at that mark.

While I was playing around at the mark James pulled

ahead while Scott caught up. After going around the

mark, I set the spinnaker on Firefly and chased down

Go Far. By the time we reached the second mark I

had made up most of the distance and Go Far had just

a slight lead as we went around the mark. After

James on Go Far flying his spinnaker for the

first time in a race.

What is wrong with this picture?

Wild Juan and Firefly nearing the finish line in

race #1

Shortly after the start of second race

September 2012 Page 5

going around the mark both Go Far and Firefly jibed

their spinnakers and headed towards the third mark

but the wind was blowing from far enough behind to

make the spinnakers effective. So both James and I,

sailing side by side, scrambled to get the kites down.

I got my spinnaker on Firefly down first and was able

to pull ahead of Go Far. Mean while Scott on Wild

Juan, who didn’t fly his kite, after rounding the

second mark was flying toward the third and

threatening to take the lead. It was a close race to the

third mark between Wild Juan and Firefly with Scott

just edging me out. After going around the mark,

Scott tacked back toward the channel. I headed

toward the island and got a nice little patch of wind

which enabled Firefly to pull ahead. Firefly

managed to hang on to the lead to take first place.

Wild Juan came in second. James on Go Far took

third place. Just like in the first race after the lead

boats crossed the finish line the wind died making it

difficult for the rest of the fleet.

After finishing the second race, we all took break

from sailing and enjoyed some fish that Scott cooked

up. Let me tell you the fish was great!!! Along with

all the salads and other food that everyone brought.

What a way to go out with a bang on our last BBQ of

the summer. I was hoping that we could have gotten

another race in after eating but there just wasn’t

enough wind. So we kept busy swimming and

chatting amongst ourselves. It was finally time to

head for home and the wind had totally died off.

Chuck, who has a motor on his Buccaneer, was kind

enough to tow Firefly back to the Fish and Game

launch. Thanks Chuck...it would have taken hours

for us to sail back in light to none-existent breeze!

Again we had another successful sailing activity.

One thing that I’ve noticed about our races lately is

that we had a hard time getting the races started on

time. Our races are suppose to start at 11:00 A.M.

but often people are running late…chatting at the

dock…slow in getting their boats rigged and we

don’t actually start a race until after noon. At last

month’s race the breeze was blowing hard earlier in

the morning and died of as the day want on. If we

had all been ready at 11:00 A.M. we might have been

able to get another race in before the wind died off.

I’m guilty of this too. I know that I’ve been lacks

about getting to the races on time. Also, it sure does

make it easier to get the races started if all the

skippers come over to the Capt’n Cook dock for the

skipper’s meeting. It’s during that meeting the

course is announced and any questions about the

course can be answered. It sure is a lot easier to

explain the course and answer any questions at the

dock than shouting between boats out on the water.

Anyhow, enough with my rant, let’s try to be on time

at our next races, ready to and go and try to start out

as close to 11:00 A.M. as possible. Our next races

are on September 29th

. See you then.

Layne

Go Far and Firefly during close racing at the

second mark in the second race.

Rod enjoying the spread

Bucko and Teal during second race

September 2012 Page 6

Duck Dodge

During the summer month on most Tuesday’s on

Lake Union in Seattle they hold their Duck Dodge

races. At the end of August Gena and I met our

daughter, Breanna, up at Gas Works Park to watch

the Duck Dodge. It was a very enjoyable evening,

eating a picnic dinner and watching sailing. There

were tons of boats out there on Lake Union. I would

guess that were at least 50 boats of all lengths and

types on the line. The whole lake seemed full of

sailboats and I bet the starting line was just crazy.

During the second leg of the race the boats passed

right in front of Gas Works Park giving us a good

view of the boats. It was cool to see the big log jam

of boats trying to get around the marks. I think it

would be fun to take Firefly out one week but it is

hard to launch on Lake Union. If you want a fun

evening you should check out the Duck Dodge.

AAuugguusstt RRaaccee PPhhoottooss

September 2012 Page 7

NNeexxtt RRaaccee SSeepptt.. 2299tthh,, 22001122 @@ 1111::0000 AAMM AALLSSCC IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn

Commodore Dave Burnett (253) 926-5366

Treasure Frank Abrams (253) 843-1882

Newsletter Editor Layne Snodgrass (253) 639-7706 lgsnodgrass@msn.com

Any articles, pictures, or ideas of any sailing activities you are involved in that you would

like to contribute to the newsletter are welcome.

Website http://www.sailnut.com/american-lake-sailing-club