RC Laser Warm Up Series Starts Today

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Bill Blevins

As you’ve probably noticed, it is a little bit damp outside this morning but the forecasts are all calling for the skies to brighten a bit (at least for the drizzle to stop) and for NW winds to blow about 10 mph with temperatures approaching 60 degrees when we get started with the first of four “Warm-up” races this Spring. It will be perfect weather considering we already burned our socks on Tuesday night.

We’ll be sailing at Holiday Harbor and starts will begin at 2 pm.

If you haven’t been to Holiday Harbor before, when you turn on West Lake Road to head toward the Canandaigua Yacht Club, as soon as you pass underneath the bridge, Holiday Harbor will be on the left. Turn in and make your first right, driving to the end of that street and you’ll see us out on the water. Park on the right hand side of the parking lot.

Today we’ll be randomly splitting the group in half for the first race and then score using an Odds / Evens format. The courses will be short, two-lap races and we’ll do a role call for every race with the next boats to be on the starting line. This format will make the starting line see huge because only half of the sailors will be racing at one time. When you are not racing, you can change sails and make tweaks to your boat.

These races today are for everyone to get back in the hang of sailing with only your fingertips and they don’t count for a series award. However, participation is awarded by using the results in the 2012 High Point Calculation which started last October with the Frostbite Series results. Bill Blevins is in first place overall but is followed closely by Jonathan Gorbold and Jay Niggli. Rounding out the top 10 in descending order are Jack Bennett, David Turnbull, Nelson Habecker, Bill Schmidt, Neil Atkins, Tracy Blevins and Dick Hallagan.

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2012 Burning of the Socks

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Tomorrow marks the 2012 Vernal Equinox. This means that sailors won’t be wearing their socks again until next winter so it is time to hold a party to burn the stinky ones.

The Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet is building the fire.

Click here to see the photos from last year’s Burning of the Socks event.

The official Burning of the Socks ceremony will begin at 7 pm in Holiday Harbor but as you might have guessed already, we’ll have racing marks set before 5 p.m. for those who want to do a little RC Laser sailing.

The fire pit is open to all sailors of big boats or small boats so spread the word!

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Registration Open for the 2012 RC Laser North Americans

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Online registration for the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship is up and running. Regatta participants will need to be members of the class where the annual fee is $10. Please sign up early so we get a good count of participants so we can make the best plans. Our goal is for everyone to have a great time and to have a full house!

NOTICE OF RACE
REGISTRATION
PLACES TO STAY
PLACES TO EAT
AREA ATTRACTIONS
DIRECTIONS
SPONSORS
DECKORATIONS CONTEST

As you browse through these sections and register your boat, please relay back any notes on edits or things that should be added where you think more information would be helpful for people visiting from out of town. Also, as you gain sponsorships or donations for the event, please email us at RCSailors@gmail.com so that we can add them to the “sponsors” page.

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EXTRA! The News From Mid-Winters in Marco Island, FL

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Neil and Maggie Atkins and Len Redon, all sailors from the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet are finished with the first day of racing in the RC Laser Mid-Winter Championship in Marco Island, FL. There are no race reports yet on the results from the day, but Maggie sent this photo of Neil wearing his Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet 14 t-shirt and holding a brochure promoting how wonderful Canandaigua will be in June enticing everyone to come up and visit us for the regatta and the Notice of Race for the 2012 North American Championship. Thanks for the marketing! Best of luck in the regatta!

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NOTICE OF RACE: RC Laser North American Championship

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Bill Blevins
CLICK HERE to download a color .pdf version of the Notice of Race

NOTICE OF RACE

RC Laser North American Championship Regatta
June 8–10, 2012 

Organizing Authority: Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet 14 and the Canandaigua Yacht Club

1.      Rules:

1.1     The RC Laser North American Championship will be governed by the rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012, as amended under Appendix E radio controlled boat racing rules.
1.2     RC Laser Class Association of North America rules will apply.

2.      Eligibility and Entry:

2.1     The regatta is open to members of the RC Laser Class Association.
2.2    Eligible boats may register in advance by completing the official entry form and paying the appropriate entry fee. The entry form with online payment is available at RCSailors.com on or before March 5.
2.3    After June 1, 2012, entries will not be accepted unless accompanied by a $30.00 late fee.
2.4    No entries will be accepted after 12 noon, June 8, 2012.

3.      Fees:

3.1    The entry fee for this regatta is $120.
3.2   Fees, if any, for Social Events and/or guests are outlined on the registration form.

4.      Schedule:

June 8
1200 – 1300 Registration
1300 – 1330 Competitor’s Meeting at Steamboat Landing
1400 Warning Signal for first seeding race
June 9
0800 – 0830 Registration
0830 Skipper’s Meeting at Steamboat Landing
0900 Warning signal for first race
June 10
0900 Warning signal for first race
1230 No warning signal after this time

5.      Measurement:

Boats may be randomly measured during the event.

6.      Sailing Instructions:

Sailing Instructions will be available at registration and on the RCSailors.com website after June 1, 2012.

7.      Venue:

7.1    The regatta will be held at Kershaw Park and sailed from the docks behind Steamboat Landing at 205 Lakeshore Drive, Canandaigua, New York, 14424.

8.      The Courses:

The courses to be sailed will be selected from those defined in the sailing instructions.

9.      Racing Format:

Equal Opportunity Racing system will be used. The results of the Friday races will determine the initial start fleet for each competitor for the Championship regatta. Those competitors not sailing in the seeding races will initially be placed in the fleet seeded lowest for the first race on Saturday.

10.  Prizes:

Awards will be given to the top three finishers in the Championship, the mid-fleet finisher and awards for the highest placing female competitors.

12.  Social

June 8
1800 Welcome & Happy Hour at CYC
June 9
0730 Coffee and donuts at Steamboat Landing
1200 Lunch at Steamboat Landing
1830 Championship Dinner at CYC with awards for best “Deckorated” boat
June 10
0730 Coffee and Donuts at Steamboat Landing
1230 Lunch and award ceremony at Steamboat Landing

Other information regarding social events, Friday night dining options, housing, directions, borrowed boats, etc. will be available on the Fleet 14 website on or before March 5.

13.  Contact information:

Websites: RCSailors.com & SailCYC.com
Regatta Chairman: Bill Blevins, RCSailors@gmail.com

14.  Map:

CLICK HERE to download a color .pdf version of the Notice of Race

##

Regatta information

NOTICE OF RACE

REGISTRATION

PLACES TO STAY

PLACES TO EAT

AREA ATTRACTIONS

DIRECTIONS

SPONSORS

DECORATIONS CONTEST

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North American Championship Planning Still On Track

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Nelson Habecker, Anne Lambert and Tracy and Bill Blevins went to the City of Canandaigua’s Environmental Committee meeting Tuesday night to answer questions about the upcoming RC Laser North American Championship Regatta on Tuesday night.

Bill and Nelson briefly presented an overview of the special event application that we filed for permissions necessary to hold the event in Kershaw Park on June 8-10. There were several good questions from the members and overall, the atmosphere was positive. The committee members seemed very interested in the event and a couple of them have seen us racing on the lake and at Holiday Harbor.

Bill will complete the one followup item where we were asked to communicate our plans with another group that will be holding a 5K race on June 9 and where the runners will pass by the park Saturday morning.

The environmental committee voted to approve our request to hold the event at the new docks in front of Steamboat Landing and this allows the permit to move forward for a full council vote at their March 1 meeting. Nelson and Bill will be at that meeting.

In other news, Maggie and Neil Atkins and Len Redon are gearing up for the 9th Annual  RC Laser Mid-Winter Championship Regatta in Marco Island, FL on March 2-4.

Coming out of our first meeting with the City of Canandaigua where we introduced our first big regatta, it is interesting to note that the City of Marco Island has been a longstanding co-sponsor of the Marco Island race. We hope to build that same relationship here for future regattas on Canandaigua Lake.

Best of luck to Maggie, Neil and Len!

Bill will be posting results on the RC Laser North American Class website during the regatta so go log on and check for Canandaigua sailors at the top of the results!

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Sunday Sailing, Regatta Planning, Cornbread & Chili

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Bill Blevins

We’d like to invite you to participate in a planning meeting for the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship Regatta next Sunday, February 12 at 4 pm in Canandaigua.

The meeting will take about an hour of your time and we’ll run through the various committee reports so that Nelson Habecker and Bill Blevins can be up to speed before they go answer questions from the Canandaigua City Council’s Environmental Committee the following Tuesday night.

The meeting will be at Neil and Maggie Atkins’ home in Canandaigua.

RSVP to RCSailors@gmail.com so we have a head count as Maggie has graciously offered to put a pot of chili on the stove and some cornbread in the oven for the group to eat after the meeting.

If you have never been to their house and need directions, just let us know in your RSVP and we’ll send you the address and a link to their house in Google Maps.

On the off chance that February’s weather in western NY is bad on Sunday, we won’t try to plan any sailing at 2 pm. However, if we are having normal weather, as we’ve had so far this Winter, let’s plan on dropping marks and sailing RC Lasers from the pump-out dock at the north end of the lake. We will have plenty of time to sail and then drive down the east shore for the meeting.

If sailing conditions are looking poor on Sunday morning for a 2 pm start (basically, if there is no ice on the lake or lightning from the skies), we’ll post a note here about canceling the racing. The meeting will still start at 4 pm.

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2012 North American Championship Planning Meeting Update

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Bill Blevins

By now you are hopefully aware that our fleet will be hosting the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship in Canandaigua on June 8-10.

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of February 12. We don’t yet have a location or specific time but go ahead and pencil in the date on your calendar.

With this post, we just wanted to update everyone on the first planning meeting held on January 8 and to explain who has already volunteered to work in the various groups. If you didn’t attend, you can begin to think about where you’d like to help and let the others in the group know your preference.

About 15 members from the fleet met at for brunch at Bill & Tracy Blevins house. The food and the company was great. After everyone seemed to be perfectly stuffed, we gathered in the den and discussed our planning progress, an overview of the events during the race weekend and then got down into details that will need to be handled over the next couple of months.

The work to be done was divided into six sections and fleet members volunteered to help in each of the groups. The sections and volunteers are as follows in this list with the committee chairs underlined:

  • Venue – Nelson Habecker, Anne Lambert
  • Marketing & Registration – Mary Schmidt
  • Racing – Jonathan Gorbold, Bill Schmidt, Sue Bennett, Anna Gorbold
  • Food – Terry Schmidt, Neil Atkins, Gary Schmidt
  • Sponsorship & Awards – Anne Lambert
  • Treasury – Maggie Atkins, Terry Schmidt, Nelson Habecker

A Google Document was shared with each committee and we are trying to use that to aggregate everyone’s notes for tracking purposes this year but also for future regattas. If you would like that URL, email us at rcsailors@gmail.com and we’ll reply back with that link. If you’d like to associate your name with one of the working groups, just let us know that too and I’ll add your name to the group or you could just go into the Google Doc if you have the URL and add your own name.

The latest update of that document is pasted below:

RC Laser North Americans
June 8-10, 2012
Canandaigua, NY

  1. Marketing & Registration – Chair: Mary Schmidt
    1. Help “Racing” with non-racing part of NOR
    2. Includes info on places to stay (CYC camping)
    3. Includes info on local food (ie: breakfast)
    4. Regatta banner for pier – Jack will buy this
    5. Web site
    6. Online registration & payments
    7. Solicit/collect photography from spectators & racers
    8. Updates to class website
    9. Press releases to local media
    10. Friday check-in
    11. Nelson has box of Wrist bands
    12. Hand out racer packets & pre-ordered shirts
  1. Venue – Chair: Nelson Habecker, Anne Lambert
    1. Preferred location is city Steamboat Landing pump-out dock
    2. Permit application in City’s hands, meeting in Feb.
    3. Backup locations
    4. Insurance?
    5. Regatta permit (with CYC)
    6. Bathrooms
    7. Parking, maps & directions
    8. Boat staging & setup (Steamboat Landing tent)
    9. Foul weather safety plan
    10. Racer / dock safety (life rings)
  1. Racing – Chair: Jonathan Gorbold, Bill Schmidt, Anna Gorbold (PRO), Sue Bennett (PRO), Keith Calkins (PRO)
    1. Racing format
      1. Odds/Evens
      2. Promotion/Relegation
    2. 1st through x places
    3. Large score sheets printed from Bill’s .pdf file
    4. Marks – Nelson ordered marks from Gander Mountain on 1/15
    5. Official Sailing Instructions & Notice of Race to be published as soon as the venue is finalized, hopefully before March 1.
    6. Solicit and manage Volunteers and volunteer work
    7. Mark/Rescue Boat
    8. Countdown starter with backup
    9. Pick-up sticks
    10. Clothespins (if promotion/relegation format used)
    11. PRO /Volunteer Uniforms / t-shirts
  1. Food & Entertainment – Chair: Terry Schmidt, Neil Atkins, Gary Schmidt
    1. Friday night, free drink at CYC with wristband (sponsor)
    2. Muffins, doughnuts, bagels / coffee on Sat & Sunday
    3. Steamboat Landing ($250 for tent) $12 lunches, Saturday, conditional on venue selection – Nelson & Bill having lunch meeting there on Wed. 1/25
    4. Gary possibly checking on Lunch box deal for one day with HESS (Friday or Sunday?)
    5. CYC dinner on Saturday night
    6. Possible entertainment at club Saturday night?
    7. Raffle – Mary Schmidt will help
    8. Belmont Weekend
  1. Sponsors & Awards – Chair: Anne Lambert
    1. Regatta Caps – Bill will work with Nick Mortgu
    2. Nick Mortgu for RC Laser logo if needed for trophies, other things
    3. Class will donate $250 for awards
    4. Drink sponsor Friday night (East Ave Liquor is working with distributors tentative hours 5pm -7pm)
    5. Perpetual award from John Emeleah
    6. Awards for race winners based on Racing format
      1. Ideas:
        1. Top Youth
        2. Top Woman
        3. Distance Traveled
        4. Most improved (since last North American’s)
        5. Deckorations – idea is to announce a contest, sent along with the NOR, so racers have time before they arrive at the event to add some legal colorful spice to their white hulls and sails and then to photograph everyone with their boat at check-in, showing off their decorated hulls and sails and on Friday night we’ll post all of the pictures in the club and have a “People’s Choice” award given on Saturday night from all votes received.
  1. Treasury – Chair: Maggie Atkins, Terry Schmidt, Nelson Habecker
    1. Budget – Maggie has the budget
    2. Collect online payments (PayPal), checking on setting up RC Fleet bank account
    3. Collect cash & checks
    4. Pay bills
    5. Reimbursements
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Special Event Application Filed For 2012 North Americans

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Bill Blevins

Since the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet was asked to host the next North American RC Laser Championship Regatta on June 8-10, 2012 we have been diligently seeking the perfect location to hold the event.

After a long search and much debate, we’ve decided to apply with the City of Canandaigua to use the end of the T-dock at Kershaw Park. We believe this will be a perfect venue for the sailors and also for spectators in the park to view the races.

We are sharing the letters of support and the formal application paperwork that we’ve submitted to the City so that you will also have the details. Then, when you run into one of the city’s decision makers at a holiday party, the grocery store, through your social activities or in your line of work you will be able to reinforce the request in a personal way.

As we understand it, there is at least one committee meeting where this application will be discussed in January and then it will come before the City Council for a vote in February.

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Marco Island, FL Mid-Winter Championship Update

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Bill Blevins

The Notice of Race and the Regatta Registration Form have both been posted for the 2012 and 9th Annual RC Laser Mid-Winter Championship Regatta in Marco Island, Florida, March 2-4.

Visit http://www.rclaser.us for more information and to download the form.

Bill Blevins is planning on driving to the event and he can take your boat down and bring it back for you so all you need to do is get a room and a flight.

There are many flights from ROC to RSW for around $425 round trip.

Make your plans now. This is a popular event. This trip will give you a great break from the snow here in early March! No excuses!

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