RC Laser Sail Numbers

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Do you need sail numbers for you new RC Laser? Here’s the “how-to” article for options on where to buy them, fonts and sizes, and how they need to be placed on the sails.

Each RC Laser is shipped with a piece of paper that lists the 4-digit hull number. The sail number for that boat hull would be the last two digits of the hull number. For instance, if you hull number is 3068 then your sail number would be 68.

Hull numbers for RC Lasers aren’t officially recorded anywhere so if you don’t know your hull number, or you don’t like the numbers on the piece of paper that shipped with your boat, then just pick two numbers you like for your sails.

If you are planning on racing your RC Laser regularly, you might want to look at the sail numbers of the current members and pick a number that isn’t in use or use the last 3 numbers of your hull number instead of the last two numbers. (We have 3 hulls with the last two digits of 72 already in the Canandaigua fleet so we have a #72, #172 and #272 already!)

There are several options to put numbers on your RC Laser sails. You can use a stencil and black markers to color in the numbers on your sails or you can order stickers from a graphics shop and peel and stick them on your sails. If you use markers, be careful near the edges because the black markers occasionally will bleed  beyond the stencil.

Download the document at the end of this article for the proper sizes and font for the sail numbers and also for the country designation.

Mobile Graphics in Victor, NY has the proper font and size for the numbers and country designations for the RC Laser sails on file. This company cuts out all of the numbers on one piece of backing – no crooked placement! Call them on the phone at 585-742-3370 and ask them to look up the order details on file for the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet. They can use that information to make your numbers to the correct class specifications. If you need proofs, they can email those to you and with your approval, you can pay over the phone and then they can mail the finished stickers to you after they are cut.

Here is the link to download the document showing the correct placement of the country designation and sail numbers for the RC Laser sails.

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Mother’s Day Racing And Other Updates

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Bill Blevins

The RC Laser Fleet 14 weather station is predicting that the storms will have passed on out of the area by 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon for the start of Week 3 of the Spring Series.

Spring series low point scores as well as the overall 2012 high point scores have been updated.

Please try to attend tomorrow because we want to give the race committee experience starting 15 boats at one time in case we get in that situation during the upcoming North American Championship Regatta.

If you have not yet registered for the North American Championship, please do so soon. Also, you should be seriously thinking about how you want to decorate your boat for that competition at the regatta.

Finally, here is the link to sign up for the Squaw Island Offshore Race that we will hold on May 26th. You can also register for that regatta before the race. Don’t forget to make plans for how you are going to get up the lake and around Squaw Island!

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Final Chance to Win a Transmitter Glove!

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Hey Canandaigua sailors!!! There are only a few hours left to sign up for the North American Championship and be in the running to win a transmitter glove after racing tomorrow!

Of course, you can still sign up for the regatta at a later date but you just can’t win the “Transmit” tomorrow. Here’s the link one more time if you want to enter to win. Remember, you don’t have to be there tomorrow to win.

Sign up here for the North Americans and sign up here to join Canandaigua Fleet #14

The 10 Canandaigua fleet members in the running for the drawing as of 7 pm on Saturday are: Tracy Blevins, Maggie Atkins, Bill Blevins, Gary Schmidt, Neil Atkins, Nelson Habecker, Jonathan Gorbold, Jack Bennett, Anne Lambert and Terry Schmidt.

We will be taking a headcount for the first race at 1:50 tomorrow because we are racing in 3 heats starting after a brief skipper’s meeting at 2 p.m. so please be at the pump-out dock in Kershaw Park behind Steamboat Landing a little early.

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Were Your Fingers Cold Last Week?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Bill Blevins

For those of you who raced last Sunday, you should appreciate that headline! If you didn’t have a transmitter glove (and multiple layers on) and a hat last week you really need to sign up for the North American championship so you can be better prepared!

After racing this Sunday, we’ll draw a name to win a transmitter glove from those current members in the Canandaigua fleet who have registered for the North Americans.

Click here to sign up!

We currently have 19 skippers registered. I’ve counted about 10 others who I expect to sail but I think just haven’t yet pushed the payment button. Visit the homepage and look at the right side of the page to check out the competition!

The awards are here. The huge scoresheets have been printed. We have our regatta banner. Registration packs are being put together now along with name badges, lunch tickets. Friday night’s happy hour has been arranged. The regatta permit arrived and the city council approved the venue. We rented a huge tent to hold all of our “stuff” while we race. Last night at the club I believe I even heard the dinner menu being discussed! Everything is coming together so come on and lets get registered!

Click here to sign up!

Sunday’s races on April 29, are the first of the 6-week Spring Series but they are the last that will begin at 2 p.m. until after Sailor’s Night in the fall. We will again be racing from the dock behind Steamboat Landing and the plans are to continue racing there until after the North Americans. Start times will be moved to 4:30 p.m. until we get back to CYC in mid-June.

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Bill Schmidt Wins 2012 Warm-Up Series

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Bill Schmidt won the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet’s 2012 Warm-Up Series with all first and second place scores contributing to his 15 net points after 11 races with one throw-out.

Bill Blevins finished in second place and in third place, and one point back was Gary Schmidt. In fourth and fifth places were Nelson Habecker and Jay Niggli respectively.

To mix things up for the warm-up series, the first 5 races were scored using even and odd scoring. The next two races were The Walk-About Races in Holiday Harbor where low point scoring was used. The final 4 races were sailed with two heats each and were scored using the HMS 2007 (Promotion/Relegation) format.

The upcoming Spring Series will be scored using HMS 2007 and will be sailed in a 3-heat per race format to give the Race Committee plenty of practice before their duty at the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship in June.

The Spring Series begins next Sunday, April 29 at 2 p.m. All races in the series will be sailed at the city pier in Kershaw Park behind Steamboat Landing. After racing, we’ll draw a name from the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet members who have registered for the North American Championship to win a transmitter glove. (Several people wished they had them today!) Here’s the form to register for the regatta and to pay online.

The May Downbuoy  (CYC newsletter) will have an article about the Squaw Island Race on May 26. Ask anyone who sailed last year and you’ll hear that this is one of the most fun regattas we held last year. Make your plans now and don’t miss out! If you are participating, start planning for who will be chauffeuring you around the course now. If you run into people with power boats and they are willing to be drivers, please let us know so we can get them information and assign them to sailors.

Finally, a bit of housekeeping for the members of the Canandaigua Yacht Club. The CYC 2012 Member Handbook is being put together this week. This year the directory will include the RC Laser fleet members. Here is the current membership list and the form to fill out to join the fleet. We have already submitted the list of members for publication so we can’t guarantee at this point that you will be listed in the directory even if you pay, but we’ll still submit your information right away and try to get your name in before publication.

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North American Championship Registration Drawing

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Fourteen sailors from the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet have not yet registered for the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship that we are hosting, so here is an incentive!

On Sunday, April 29 after the first races in our Spring Series, we will draw a name from the Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet members who have registered and that person will win a Transmitter Glove. Register by the end of the day on Saturday, April 28 so we can print out the names and get them cut up and put in a hat!

You don’t need to be present to win. Here is the registration link.

This regatta is a huge opportunity to sail in a large event and to get a lot of time on the water sailing your RC Laser over the course of three days, but doing so by racing against skippers with similar abilities and skill levels.

The format being used allows anyone to have the opportunity to win by working their way up the ladder as they win races. It also allows skippers of similar ability to sail together where everyone feels the competition but not the pressure often felt by novice skippers on the starting line or rounding marks with more experienced RC Laser sailors.

It would be great to have 100% participation from our local fleet but we know that is not really possible. We just want to encourage everyone to try if they are able to sail. If you have more questions, just let us know. If you won’t be sailing, please let us know if you are able to volunteer during the event.

On a totally different topic… If you are planning on ordering any sailing supplies from SailRC.com in the coming days or weeks could you let Bill Blevins know? He placed an order (for Tracy) and forgot two important items. He will split the shipping costs with you.

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Warm-Up Series Finals, Sunday At Steamboat Landing

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Bill Blevins

After seven races in the 2012 Warm-Up Series, Bill and Gary Schmidt are leading the fleet in the competition for the Jack Daniel’s special edition tin (and the whisky inside the tin) that has been donated by East Avenue Liquor.

Races in the fourth and final week of the series will be held on Sunday, 22 April, 2012 on the docks behind Steamboat Landing and the races will begin at 2 p.m.

The list of skippers above also represents the current membership in Canandaigua RC Laser Fleet #14 so if your name isn’t on the list and you want to compete for awards, visit the online sign-up page and you can pay your dues with Paypal or a credit card.

We are going to be changing the calendar to reflect that we’ll be racing on Sunday afternoons at the city’s pump out dock behind Steamboat Landing docks the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship in June. This will help us figure out the logistics of getting boats in and out of the water quickly, the best ways to rescue a wayward boat and how much use those dock get on the weekends.

The 2012 Squaw Island Offshore Race is in the afternoon of Saturday, May 26.  Start making plans for who will be your on-the-water chauffeur or how you will follow your RC Laser up the lake and around Squaw Island and back. I think most sailors who competed last year will agree that this race was one of the most fun of all of our special races last year. Here is the link to sign up and pay your registration fee for the 2012 Squaw Island Offshore Race.

Finally, we are getting to the point where we are needing to estimate sailors competing in the 2012 RC Laser North American Championship. It would be nice to see full support from the Canandaigua Fleet. This is going to be a first-class regatta both on and off the water and we don’t have to travel for this one! Let’s start to spread the word and if you are sailing, please log on and sign up!

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Sailors Can Still Have Fun With No Wind

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Bill Blevins

Jonathan Gorbold and Bill Blevins decided after racing last Sunday when the air was perfectly calm that they were going to start bringing their Parkzone Night Vapors to fly after sailing on calm nights.

The bind-n-fly (BNF) version syncs to the Spektrum 2.4GHz radio transmitters that control the RC Laser. The box includes a battery charger and one rechargeable battery that allows for about 15 minutes of flying time. Additional batteries cost a couple of dollars each.

Here is a link to the plane on Amazon in case you are working on ideas for your next birthday present or want to buy one now and join in on the fun. Night Vapors are also available locally at the hobby shops in Webster and Irondequoit.

The Night Vapor is a really neat plane and makes a perfect beginner trainer because it flies very slow, is lots of fun  and it has lights so it can be flown in total darkness!

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Warm-up 3 of 4 Results: The Walkabout Series

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Bill Blevins

The weather cooperated this afternoon and brought very little precipitation but it also brought very little wind for The Walkabout Race around Holiday Harbor. The wind it did bring was very fluky and was initially from the South which blew in a lot of weeds from the lake.

We did manage to get both directions the race in and in both cases, most boats finished very close to each other despite the spread between the boats during the race.

The second race had Bill Schmidt and Bill Blevins finishing in a dead tie for first place with Gary Schmidt and Nelson Habecker crossing less than a boat-length behind them after racing for .85 miles!

The results have been added into the 2012 Overall High Point series scores.

Next Sunday will be the final week of the Warm-up Series and we will be racing at the pump-out dock behind Steamboat Landing starting at 2 p.m.

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2012 North Americans Deckorations Contest

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Bill Blevins

If your kid made a prom dress out of Duck Brand tape, she and her boyfriend would be all over the news the next day. If 45 sailors decorated their RC Lasers for the 2012 North American Championship with their tape one might think that the company would want to donate some tape and fifty bucks or so for an award and be the sponsor a contest for the best decorated boat, not to mention some great web PR and mentions, but no, they said they weren’t interested.

You know what? We are going to hold a decorations contest anyway and instead of calling it Duck-o-rations, we are just calling it “Deckorations“. (Did you get it, “Duck” and “Deck”? We’re not bitter.)

When you check in at the registration table for the 2012 RC Laser North Americans, we are going to take a photograph of every skipper posing with their boat. The photos will be printed out and be posted in the bar at the Canandaigua Yacht Club. The court of public opinion will decide who has best decorated their boat. We’ll come up with a reasonably fair way to award the winner and give out a great prize.

For the formality of the contest… here are the rules for decorating your boat as described in the International RC Laser Class Rules:

Hull & Deck Decoration – Self-adhesive letters, tape, or decals may be fitted to the deck and hull. Felt-tip markers may also be used for decoration. Hull decoration shall not be more that 3” from gunwale.

Pretty boring. Don’t you agree? We do too!

Now, let’s see how creative you can get with decorating your hull and sails and still have your boat be able to sail legally and be competitive!

Here are some ideas to get you started on your “Deckorations“!

Here is the link to the post with all of the information on the regatta and the registration information. Remember, lot of planning is going in to this championship to make it an awesome event, so please get signed up as soon as you can!

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