Alum Creek, Columbus OH this weekend

If you are the type of sailor that likes 70 to 75 degrees, sunny and winds in the 5 to 10 range you should come to Alum Creek this weekend. Our OCRA and CRAM season opening regatta will take place on the beautiful brown sand beach near the dam (you can't have it all, you know).

See http://sailocra.com for NOR and Instructions.

Google maps has a new feature just for race committees... I have gone ahead and set the marks for the weekend. Winds from the west-northwest. There is an offset mark to get the F17's away from eating the Mystere and Hobies coming from the start.

Looks a little shallow down at the bottom of the course. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

ps - great venue - I've raced there before.

John you caught me... The Hobie 16 and Mystere 4.3 group has offered to pay double the entry fee for me to move that leeward mark over the shallows. Competing bribes are quite welcome.

This is the final notice... tell your boss you have a family emergency in Columbus. You have to leave work now. Get to Alum Creek to be with your sailing family.

Weather forecast has changed... more wind, less sun. Still the best thing going this weekend. Lots of starts, easy place to launch and sail, no traffic or crowds.

LEAVE WORK NOW!

If you weren’t at Alum Creek last weekend, you missed it. This was an ACSA, OCRA, CRAM sponsored event. We had a good turnout of eight Nacra F17s, six Mystere 4.3s, and seven Hobies 16, 17 and 18s. Results can be found at http://www.sailocra.com/ The Michigan sailors walked away with the F17 trophies while central Ohio held on to the Mystere class. Mark Batchelor, Jamie Diamond and Bill/Max Molleran won their respective fleets. The farthest traveler was Tom Leach from Syracuse NY on a Nacra F17.

The weather turned against the forecast on Saturday as a storm front snuck down from the north and sat on our race course. The rains started early in the day and didn’t let up. Just 10 miles to our south it was reported to be dry and partly cloudy. Winds were on the lighter side at 6 to 7 mph the entire day. The sailors were all in good spirits even while they ate their provided lunch in a downpour. Total rain was well over an inch for the day. We got in two longer races before lunch and a course change due to a 90 degree wind shift. We fired off five more races after lunch. All courses were windward-leeward with an offset mark on A.

Sunday weather was closer to forecast with east winds most of the day. Frost warnings were only one county away so the 9 AM started on the chilly side. Winds quickly picked up and topped 13 mph before the first race. Four sailors decided to wash their sails before the first start so they would look good in pictures. Gusts approached 20 throughout the day. Almost every sailor swam at least once during the day. Several retired. We set the committee boat leeward of the course so we could better watch the drama of the spinnaker boats rounding the leeward pin in high winds. That was a good choice and the racers put on quite a show. We had some luck with the wind direction so boats that flipped at the pin would drift into the sandy beach where the retired sailors would jump in and help if needed. Five races were run using US Sailing course 1 and 2.

Trophies were provided three deep in each class: Nacra, Mystere and Hobie; or Low Portsmouth, Medium, High; or any other label that fits your preference. After 12 races in a little under 8 hours on the water, all of the sailors were tired but are now Alum Creek Certified “Warmed up for the season”. We had the racers off the water by 11:30 in the morning on Sunday. Trophies were presented at 12:30. All racers were on the road before 1:30.

Thank you to all of the racers who traveled to this event! We hope to see you back again next year.