Canandaigua Lake RC Laser Sailing

12 RC Lasers in Canandaigua, NY and Still Counting

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Bill Blevins

Bill Schmidt, RC Laser #88 (please, refrain from the Dale Jr. comments, no matter how fast or slow…), George Braddon, David Kelsey, RC Laser #652 and Dave Turnbull have each ordered and received their RC Laser sailboats since we stopped racing last year and I’m sure they, like the rest of us, are thinking about sailing as soon as the ice breaks. Someone from the Lake should email us a report!

I see lots of various sizes of sails being ordered now that everything is back in stock at the distributor. If you want the correct font and sized sail numbers, give Scott Rowland a call at (937) 862-7781 and ask for the RC Laser numbers and country letters, or more the more preferred method would be to place your order directly online at his site, Windjammin Sails. Scott carries Spektrum radios and the radio case as well if you are interested.

The North American RC Laser Class Association site has posted the instructions for putting numbers and country designation on your sails. Visit their site and click the link that says “Sail Number Specifications and Sources.” You do not have to buy stickers. Many of us used the proper size and font on a stencil and colored in the numbers with a black Sharpie marker.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged radios, sail numbers, sails, spektrum | Comments Off

RC Laser Mid-Winters in Marco Island, FL

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Bill Blevins

Jack Bennett, Tracy and Bill Blevins will be heading down to sunny Marco Island, FL for the 2011 RC Laser Mid-Winter Championship in early March.

We are flying out of Buffalo on Thursday and returning Monday. We have rooms booked at the Olde Marco Island Inn.

If you are thinking of joining us, let us know soon. We are planning on packing up our boats early and shipping them down ahead of time.

Here are links to the official race notification and registration:

I also noticed today that there is a mention of our fleet and a picture of us out in the snow racing on the homepage of the RC Laser North American Class Association site this month.

Posted in North American Class News, RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged FL, marco island, mid-winter, regatta | Comments Off

Season Ends Just In Time!

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Bill Blevins

Nelson emailed a photo of ice on the water in Holiday Harbor today. Our season ended last Sunday - just in time I'd say!

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged 2010, frostbite, ice | Comments Off

Jonathan Gorbold Wins The 2010 RC Laser Frostbite Series

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Bill Blevins

Jonathan Gorbold (right) and Gary Schmidt (center) pack up after racing seven races on Sunday afternoon that wrapped up the seven-week 2010 RC Laser Frostbite Series for Canandaigua Fleet 14. Jonathan won the low point competition, Bill Blevins (not pictured) placed second and Gary ended up in in third place. The "Results" tab has been updated on this site. All of the photos will be posted this week.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14, Results | Comments Off

Results Tight Going In To Final Week

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Bill Blevins

Seven RC Lasers should be on the starting line on December 5 for the final week of racing in the 2010 RC Laser Frostbite Series for Fleet 14 before we take a long break and wait out the ice that will surely form on Canandaigua Lake.

The results after six weeks are tight.

Jonathan Gorbold is firmly holding on to first place with Gary Schmidt and Bill Blevins currently vying for who will end up in second place for the series.

If we can get a half-dozen races in the books this weekend, almost anything could happen!

Racing begins this week promptly at 2 p.m. at Holiday Harbor on Canandaigua Lake. We’ll wrap up at 4 p.m..

After racing we’ll go inside for dinner and will calculate the scores for the series and announce the Low Points series winners and places for each sailor. The awards will be held until Sailor’s Night in Oct. 2011 at the Canandaigua Yacht Club.

About the dinner… Please contact Anne if you haven’t done so on details about the food and to see if you need to bring anything – and if so, what is needed. I wasn’t paying as much attention to that detail as I probably should have been in the past couple of weeks when it was discussed.

The calendar on this site has been updated to remove the tentative dates for an “Indoor” Series of sailing during January and February. The Winter Low Points Series of 7 weeks of racing picks up again in March.

See you on the water on Sunday!!

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged FBLP, fblp7 | Comments Off

Change Blows In From The South In Week 5

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Bill Blevins

Jonathan Gorbold (20 points) continued to hold first place honors in the 2010 RC Laser Frostbite Series on Canandaigua Lake as Bill Blevins (28 points) and Gary Schmidt (31 points) swapped places in the low point scoring after adding in the finish positions from the eight races held on Sunday.

Discussions among the skippers after the races revolved around the need for fresher batteries (or at least, stronger than the batteries the sailors had in their boats) as the winds were relatively steady above 12 miles per hour – with a few gusts to 17 mph – necessitating that boats sheet the main sail more quickly.

Kirk, our RC Soling sailor friend from Rochester, placed close to the top of the RC Laser fleet this week but his jib helped less than it did last week when we had lighter winds.

The sailors in our fleet are quickly becoming very competitive with close starts, mark roundings and finishes. We are seeing that some skippers are reading the racing rules very carefully, trying to figure out what edge they can get on the competition.

The results don’t actually reflect how close the races have become!

Two weeks of racing remain in the 2010 Frostbite Series and both weeks will be at the Holiday Harbor location. Stay tunes for results from the next two Sunday afternoons. The final week in the series is on December 5.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Comments Off

Wind Shifts, Current and Weeds Shake Up RC Results

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Bill Blevins

Do you think we could we could find any better weather for the RC Laser Frostbite Series than what we saw yesterday? Wow! Mid-November temperatures were in the low 60’s and we only felt a few sprinkles of rain during racing on Sunday.

Week 4 results are in the books (and posted on this site) and so now there are only three more weeks to go in the series and before we break for the Holidays.

Yesterday, six RC Laser sailors got off five two-lap windward leeward races in what turned out to be very light winds in Holiday Harbor although out on the lake we could see a stiff breeze blowing.

As it turns out, south-southwest winds are fairly well shielded by townhouses and trees and winds from the Southerly direction seem to create a fairly strong fluctuating current in the channels at Holiday Harbor. This current carried in a lot of floating weeds that tangled everyone’s keel or rudder at one point during the day.

Nelson Habecker sailed to three guns yesterday for the RC Lasers with Gary Schmidt taking the remaining two first places.

A seventh model remote control boat was on the starting line with the RC Lasers yesterday. Kirk, a fellow RC sailor from the Rochester Area Model Yachting Association saw the mention of our fleet frostbiting in Don Finkel’s RCR Yachts Racer’s News on November 3, 2010 and he came and participated in our races with his Soling One Meter remote control model boat. The jib sail on his Soiling proved to be a benefit over the uni rigged RC Lasers using only their “B” rigs in the light, shifty winds and fairly noticeable current in the channel. The Soling One Meter was right up at the front of the pack in four out of five of the races yesterday.

The RC season has ended in Rochester so there are several other Soling sailors who may visit next week. If so, we’ll give them their own start.

In other news, there is no word yet on the status of the “A” rigs and sails that are on backorder. The RC Laser National Class Mid-Atlantic fleet captain says that the sails were ordered and shipment was expected back in March of 2010. There are many fleet members across the country waiting on the sails, not just the new members in our fleet. We’ll post an update here as soon as there is any word or a more recent status report.

RC Laser racing on Sunday, Nov. 21 and on Dec. 5 will be held at Holiday Harbor. We’ll discuss the venue for November 28th next week and post on the site.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14, Results | Tagged holiday harbor, Soling One Meter | Comments Off

New Race Venue for Frostbite Series

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Bill Blevins

The first RC Laser race on Sunday, Nov. 7 will start at 2 p.m. at Holiday Harbor on Canandaigua Lake instead of the docks at the Canandaigua Yacht Club.

To find the group, enter Holiday Harbor off of West Lake Road, turn right at the first road and follow that to the end where you will see the vehicles, sailboats and sailors. Park on the right.

Holiday Harbor has multiple benefits that include good options for setting courses in all wind conditions, docks along the waterfront and possibly best of all when it gets really cold… inside shelter with heat at Nelson’s house!

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged holiday harbor | Comments Off

Frostbite Week 2 Results Updated and A New Venue Announced

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Bill Blevins

On Sunday, Oct. 31, the fleet of seven RC Lasers sailed four “twice around” windward-leeward races in winds that were about 10 knots and, you guessed it… full of the normal Canandaigua shifts and puffs that came blowing out of the Northwest. Each race lasted about 15 minutes.

Gary Schmidt and Jonathan Gorbold traded firsts and seconds. Gary has pulled ahead to lead the Frostbite Low Point Series after the Week 2 results were calculated. George Walter has moved up and into third place behind Jonathan.

Frank Sacco and Larry Keefe helmed boats 54 and 254, respectively, for Nelson Habecker and Bill Blevins who could not attend on Sunday.

Emailed reports that came in from the skippers who were there said was that it “was cold today – no spectators watched,” so, in an effort to drive not only racing participation, but also to keep the crew members’ participation levels up, racing will move up Canandaigua Lake to Holiday Harbor for FBLP3 on November 7 where there will be the opportunity to step inside and warm up if the conditions are bad.

A trial run of the Holiday Harbor venue is going to be held at 4:30 on Thursday, Nov. 4th for racers (and their spectators) who can make it. Burgers and sausages will be on the grill at Anne and Nelson’s townhouse on the canal. Email Nelson or Anne for directions and further details if necessary.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged cookout, FBLP, holiday harbor | Comments Off

Frostbite Series Starts the New RC Sailing Year

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Bill Blevins

2010 Frostbite Series sailors from Canandaigua RC Fleet 14, from left to right, Jonathan Gorbold, Bill Blevins, Gary Schmidt, Nelson Habecker, George Walter, Neil Atkins and Jack Bennett.

The seven-week Frostbite Series got underway in very light air on Sunday with all seven sailors from Fleet 14 at the helm of RC Lasers out on the starting line. Two races were completed and in each, there was wind at the start and almost no wind at the finish. A three-way tie for first place can be seen in the series low point scoring results (FBLP1) that have been posted.

Since the radio controlled fleet extends the sailing season, the 2010 Frostbite Series races are the first races to count for the 2011 overall high point “batting average” awards that will be handed out a Sailor’s Night at the Canandaigua Yacht Club next October.

Posted in RC Laser Fleet 14 | Tagged bill, fblp1, frostbite, gary, george, group, jack, jonathan, neil, nelson | Comments Off