Monday Night Racing League Report – by Jamo Jones  -
Week 11 (September 4th)

Last night was the 11th and final Monday night race of the season. We started earlier than normal so we could finish up the racing and have our final post race party done before it got too late. Sorry teachers...summer's over.

We were able to get off three races last night, and the winds were on a steady increase with each race. Winds were SSE at about 10, and increased to 15 or so by the final. Perfect way to end the season.

Rose Jones and Sandy Gallagher soloed the committee boat and did a fantastic job. Bob Reynolds helped set the course, and the all girl team had to retrieve it on their own. Thank you... Our other regular committee members (Eric & Carol Ringdahl) took the night off to spend time with daughter Laura as she returned to DC after a couple weeks home. Thanks to you guys as well for the great season.

Jon Williams continues to praise our progress as we better our abilities. He likes the fact that we are sailing closer together and hitting the marks in a cluster. We had a few bumps last night but no major bruises. The back of the Gallagher boat did some damage to my bow when they got in my way rounding the leeward mark. Yeah, turns out I was wrong. The McKinney boat tried to move the starting line with the first race when they hooked the anchor lead as they past the line buoy. They dragged it with them for half the first leg. Nice...wish we had a picture of that. We don't.

Jon Williams has agreed to donate more of his time this fall and again next spring to talk about tactics & rules. Scott Rabe has offered up the former Lake Delta School for us to use. This is not a Lightning only event as the rules (and most tactics) apply to all racing sailboats. We will put out an email for all when we schedule.

With our current 12 Lightnings registered with the International Lightning Class Association, we are now one of the biggest fleets in the northeast. ILCA Secretary Laura Jeffers has emailed with with contacts for us to host a"Lightning Lab" next summer. It would involve top Lightning sailors from other Clubs to come here for a weekend for training us in rules and tactics. Whiteboard and hands on lessons, in our boats or theirs. Hope we can pull it off...and it's free, but we do have to provide them with accommodations & food. Usually they bunk at members' homes. We have room to stack a few.

The results:

Race # 1
Lightning:
1st Jamo Jones, Scott Rabe
2nd Joel Gallagher, Cindy Reynolds, Dave Benfey
3rd Barry McKinney, Kathy McKinney, Bob Reynolds
4th Rusty Martin, Fred Martin
Sunfish:
1st Jon Willams
DNS Scott Cook
DNS Katelyn Cook

Race # 2
Lightning:
1st Jones
2nd Gallagher
3rd Martin
4th McKinney
Sunfish:
1st J. Willams
2nd S. Cook
3rd K. Cook

Race # 3
Lightning:
1st McKinney
2nd Jones
3rd Gallagher
4th Martin
Sunfish:
1st J. Willams
2nd S.Cook
DNS K. Cook