Upper Course Write-up By David Thompson

Saturday was a picture-perfect day on the water, with mostly sunny skies, a high temperature of 74 degrees and northerly breezes 9 - 13 MPH, lower that forecast,  with higher gusts -- shifty and puffy, making it interesting, but not overwhelming.  On the upper course PRO Nabeel Alsalam set a long windward-leeward course with the start line adjacent to the green channel mark south of the Anacostia River, in front of Boling AFB, below the leeward gate, and the windward mark near the airport, south of the entrance to Gravely Point.  Race 1 was a W-2 with the finish at the windward mark; races 2 and 3 were a W-1 with a finish at the leeward mark. We started the sequence for Race 4 at about 3 PM, but postponed it after it looked like the winds were about to die.  With only two Committee boats active (the 16 skiff was out with a bad carburetor gasket) there was not an easy way to move marks when the wind began clocking westwardly later in the afternoon.  Twelve Albacores, 9 Lightings, 5 Hobies, and 3 Interlakes sailed the upper course on Saturday.  Out of town skippers included Albacore skipper Joanna Beaver from Florida and interlake skippers Robert Herbig from Solomons, and Jeff Clark from Ohio. DISC Keelboats were also racing, with their windward mark way up  by the 14th street bridge, and they sailed through the PRSA racecourse on their way up, but were not much of a distraction. On Sunday the winds were forecasted to be at 7 MPH, starting from the Northeast and clocking around westwardly during the day to be at SSW by 5 PM.  Consequently Nabeel set the course in front of the power plant, so that we wouldn't need to get all the way up to Hains Point in a light breeze.  Unfortunately, while there were promising small zephyrs from time to time, there was never  enough wind to start a race, and at 12:30 PM Nabeel hoisted the N flag and we paddled towards home, eventually picking up a tow on the way in.   So, the Day 1 results became the final results.  We did have beautiful sunny skies with a high of 77 degrees, so it was nice to come in early and enjoy the leisurely post-race party.