Updated 02/01/2012
Introductory Sailing Class. The Red Cross is no longer involved with the public sailing class we present each May. On the weekend of May 12-13 we will present the class on one weekend at the club. We want to involve more of our members and will have a picnic late Saturday afternoon with students together with members. Afterwards, students will get their on-the-water experience sailing on members boats. In addition we want to get more on-water training Sunday morning. This intermingling of students and members is more likely to promote interest in our club and our class boats. There will be more details to come. 1/31
The lake. Latest report (1/25/12) found the lake level all the way up. There has been so much rainfall it hasn't gone down. Earlier the lake had flooded, displacing several docks. 1/25
2012 Calendar. The tentative season schedule has been published. There will likely be a few more events added. 1/20
Locks changed - again. Every so often we change the combinations to the club padlocks for security reasons. Unfortunately the first changed combination was inadvertently released to a public list. The password to the members only section has also been changed. Members can learn the new combination from their fleet captain or any club officer. Email addresses of club officers and fleet captains are listed on the Contacts page. 11/27
Valve being repaired. During the off-season and after the water level reaches winter pool, workers will refurbish the faulty valve working inside the valve vault. That is the concrete structure sticking out of the water near the spillway. We were told the water level will not be taken lower than normal for winter. Because of unusually rainy weather the level remains higher than expected. 11/25
New club officers installed. November 1, 2011 was the date the 2012 officers are officially in office. Some of the officers and committee heads are actively pursuing various projects during the off-season. 11/25
Club closed for the season. Several crews worked diligently to prepare our club facilities for winter. The mooring balls were removed, the vessels were removed, cleaned, the gear placed in storage and parked under cover. The kitchen was cleaned and organized for the winter. The picnic tables were stacked and finally the water systems in the clubhouse and shelter house were drained and winterized. Anyone visiting the club off-season should remember the water is off and the restrooms are inoperable. 11/5
Our commodore honored by US Sailing. Read about Dave being presented the 2011 Nathanael G. Herreshoff trophy. Not only that but he is ending his year as commodore by winning the 2011 CLSA Thistle fleet championship! 10/31
Scores posted. Both the Fall Series scores and the season championship scores have been tabulated and posted. The link to the season results is at the bottom of each fleet score page. 10/30
2011 Women's Championship. Saturday weather was a beautiful mid-summerlike day. It probably hit 80º. The wind was really marginal for racing, but rescheduling was impossible. The RC set up one-lap triangular races and had to do major adjusting between races. Three races were sailed in the boat of their choice and scored by Portsmouth handicap. There were seven competitors. Congratulations to our new women's champion Carolyn Price sailing her MC Scow. see details and scoring. 10/8
New pump enclosure. From time to time we have trouble getting the pump on the Pink Lady to run and it was always the same problem - water in the engine. In the past we have tried several covers, but they usually disappeared. Pete Japikse fabricated a permanent enclosure, which is bolted down. Access panels are opened when running the pump. The discharge has also been routed down through the deck. 9/12
Sanctity of the starting line. While preparing to start, racers should be able to expect boats from other fleets will not interfere with their maneuvering in the starting area. This includes boats that have already started and rounded their first mark as well as boats maneuvering while waiting for their starting sequence to begin. Many believe it is just common courtesy to keep clear. In fact, this situation is covered in the CLSA Sailing Instructions:
11.6 After a starting sequence has begun, boats shall remain at least 20 yards from the starting line until their warning signal is made. Boats which have started and rounded the first mark shall keep clear of the starting area until all fleets have started.
To implement this, a starter needs to protest the offending boat and after a hearing to determine the facts, the offending boat will be disqualified. No going back, no 720 turns. Do not expect the RC to police this. While most of us will agree to punish interfering boats already racing, it is quite commonplace for waiting boats to sail through the starting area. It can be said they need to be very cautious and watch out for the starters - or else. 9/3
Election of officers. At the Labor Day party we elected club officers for the 2012 season. The following members were chosen:
Pete Japikse - Commodore
Jamey Carey - Vice Commodore
Tim Gilliland - Treasurer
Carey Nelson - Secretary
Boyd Barnwell - Governor expiring after 2014
David Hutten - Governor expiring after 2014 9/3
New pictures in gallery. Steve Tsuchiya, who can always be counted on to produce great photographs has submitted two groups of photos taken on August 7 and August 21. Gallery 8/29
Use of CLSA listserv. Our listserv is the official communication of the club officers to the members. All messages are moderated. It is not intended for for sale announcements or requests to swap RC dates. The most effective method to swap RC dates is to email those assigned to dates you can serve. Listserv messages are for the general interest of the membership. 8/24
New ceiling fans on porch. The board of governors unanimously and quickly approved the installation of 6 fans on the club house porch. They have already been installed. 8/7
CLSA vessel report. As of now, whenever members are using club vessels, they must only use the red plastic fuel tanks and when refueling use only regular gasoline. The new motors don't require oil in the fuel, the committee boat has a 4-stroke motor and now the Pink Lady has been modified so as to not require oil in the fuel. Only the 8 HP motor on the small jon boat the juniors use will need oil-gas mixture and that is kept in metal tanks. 7/8
2011 Youth Sailing Program. Youth coach and program coordinator Pete Japikse has pulled off a record youth camp this year. I don't think we have ever had 22 Prams sailing before! You must read the incredible account on our Youth Page as well as the great slide show in our Gallery.. 7/8
New engines in service. New 25 HP engines have been installed on our 16 ft. jon boats. Nether engine requires that oil be mixed with the fuel. Oil is put in a separate reservoir and the engine manages its lubrication automatically. Currently the only motors we have that need oil to be mixed in the fuel is the 50 HP motor on the Pink Lady and the 8 HP motor on the little jon boat the junior program uses. We are developing a simple plan for the different fuel mix for the different motors. Currently, when we refill tanks, only plain gasoline will be placed in the plastic tanks. The metal tanks will have oil added at 1 pint for 6 gallons of fuel. The Pink Lady only uses metal tanks. After a week or so all motors will take no oil in the fuel tank. new motors. 6/24
Pictures for the website. From time to time people give/send me pictures for the website. Sometimes a few are candidates for the home page background. I get complaints that picture doesn't get changed often enough and I agree, but only few in my collection are suitable. To be a candidate, not only should it meet an artistic level, but it should be sharp and fill the screen. To fill the screen and remain sharp I resize them down to 1280 by 1024 pixels, so candidates should have that or higher resolution. Pictures for the gallery are less stringent, but although I usually don't publish them full page, I can't re-size up without losing clarity. Submitting as a link to Picasa or PhotoShow is little work for me and is less burdensome on our host server when there are a lot of pictures in a group. It also may allow the viewer to view them as a slideshow. Brief videos may be a nice addition. 6/17
CLSA Member Survey. Recently the board of governors commissioned a survey to measure the members opinions as to what is right and not so right with our club and how they feel it can be improved. Mike Brock again took on this task. This link provides an analysis of the survey results. 2011 Survey 6/15
Member communication. Since we no longer publish our mailed newsletter, the Jibsheet, important announcements are made using our Google Groups email listserv. It is important all members are subscribed. Some business email systems filter out this kind of messaging and home addresses may be necessary. If you have not been receiving the occasional listserv messages this past season, contact the webmaster to get subscribed or you may subscribe yourself by sending an email to cowan-lake-sailing-association@googlegroups.com.. 5/31
Club Championship. On Memorial Day Monday the Champion of Champions Regatta was sailed. It pits the 2010 fleet champions against each other sailing their and each others boats, This year, only champions from the Thistle, Highlander, Snipe and Flying Scot fleets were available to compete. It is Portsmouth handicap scored and sailed rotating boats until skippers have sailed each boat round-robin style. Since there were but four boats, we sailed 2 round-robins totaling 8 races. Breeze was South to Southwest 5 - 15 mph. After having erroneously reporting Rob Tikoft the winner, an error in scoring was discovered and Jay Carey of the Snipe repeats his win of last year. Congratulations to our new Champion of Champions Jay! Details. 5/30
Dock stickers. Although we haven't done for few years, we are supposed to fix stickers to both our boat and to our dock. They have matching numbers so an officer can tell the correct boat is at a dock. The sheet contains two stickers, one marked boat and the other dock. The dock sticker goes on the rectangular metal plate on our dock and the boat sticker on the dock side of the bow, or if the cover would hide it, the mast just above the cover. The stickers are available on the counter in the galley or in the cabinet near the phone. They are also to be used on our rack stored boats. 5/8
Mystery lift. There is a boat lift on shore now located near the storage building. This was removed from the water this spring from dock 56 which is now assigned to Ed Hatfield. Owner should advise harbormaster. 5/5
Aerial view of lake. A friend of Jim Blackburn provided some pictures taken from his gyrocopter. Pictures. 3/15
CLSA email addresses. We are using a new web hosting company. There should be little change in the way our website looks or works. A feature is our ability to easily create email accounts using yourname@clsa.us format. These would be set up to automatically forward incoming messages to whatever email address you specify. An advantage to using this address is not revealing your personal address. Any members interested send an email to webmaster@clsa.us providing desired username and forwarding address. 1/7
Racing - sailing a shortened course. As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, CLSA changed the shorten course part the Sailing Instructions to be governed by the RRS rather than the procedures we adopted some years ago. There has been some confusion in the case where the course is shortened to finish at the leeward mark when a leeward gate is used. In this case the finish line is between the two marks of the gate, not between the nearby mark and the RC boat. The RC boat anchors at a position where they can judge when finishing boats cross the finish line. They are not part of the line. Another method is for the RC to take one gate mark inside the boat with them - that way they are one end of the finishing line. They should not do this if the gate is still being rounded by boats not finishing. 4/26
Changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing. Most racers know that the Racing Rules of Sailing is reviewed and rewritten every four years, just after the summer Olympics year. Many do not realize that every year at the ISAF Annual Conference in November, small changes or tweaks are made, often to fix unintended consequences of a rule change. The principal change this time is to rule 18.2, Giving Mark-Room. It went in effect January 1, 2010. Read the text. 4/10
Racing rule changes.
Just when we think we understand the 2009-2012 Racing Rules of Sailing, they are
altered. This account, taken from eussailing.com, outlines the changes in
detail. This should make good winter reading for those who want to keep abreast.
Read changes
12/2 Club vessel use. As enacted last season, there are
restrictions for the use of the club power vessels. The reason for the
restrictions is our special horsepower exemption from the State of Ohio. Our
exempted vessels (those over 10 horsepower) may only be operated in scheduled
events. More information in our regulations
page. 4/5 One Design Class Council. The one council of US Sailing
that affects us most is the One Design Class Council. To be in the loop of what
is going on in one design, subscribe to the listserv. To subscribe, send an
email to
odcclist-subscribe@ussailing.org from the email address you wish to receive
list messages. 3/6 So you really want to understand the rules? If during the
winter you wish to sharpen up your understanding of the Racing Rules of
Sailing, consider browsing the official rule interpretations found in the
ISAF Casebook.
Link 1/9 Boater education requirement. Effective Jan 2000 a boater education
requirement was mandated for all persons born after Jan 1, 1982 to operate a
power boat over 10 HP. That means members under about 26 need to be certified to
operate most of our RC boats. More information as well as links to online
courses may be found here.
Many of our teens are already doing this and the off season is a good time.
12/1 Flags. Sailing instructions make reference to "signals
made ashore". In the past, this referred to certain signal flags flown from the
RC boat at the dock to provide information to sailors on shore before racing.
CLSA is acquiring a larger version of these flags so we may fly them from the
clubhouse flag pole. This would make the information available before the
sailors went down the hill - perhaps saving them the trip. Although mainly for
regattas, there is some application for club races. For how this will work,
see details 11/19
Dogs on club grounds.
For many years club rules and regulations have stated members dogs are not
welcome on club grounds, whether on leash or not. Please make other
arrangements for your pets when you come to the club. 6/2
CLSA burgees. We have acquired a number of small CLSA burgees. they are
12 x 18 and cost $20. See Judy Hearn.
All those signal flags! On the occasion of replacing our
signal flags with larger ones, we have taken the time to produce a primer for
our more casual racers. What does that mean?
Cowan Lake Sailing Association
