go green

a rather B1G game tonight – Go Green!

a beautiful day for football

this past weekend, I spent Saturday with my father in East Lansing watching the afternoon football game at Michigan State University.  for the 1st Saturday in November, the weather was remarkably pleasant – nice  and sunny, with just a bit of a nip to the fall breeze.  the game was a little closer than I would have liked, but the Spartans were triumphant, and a win is a win.  I didn’t snap any photos during the game, but I got this great shot of the Armed Forces soldiers displaying a giant American flag during the singing of the national anthem.

for the half-time show, the Spartan Marching Band played parts of songs from the musical Les Miserables, which is celebrating it’s 25th year in production, and will be in East Lansing at the Wharton Center in early April.  they closed out half-time with the song “One Day More”.

oh yeah, Michigan State won the game, and there was much rejoicing.

spartan friday night lights

I’ll be there tonight with my 2 older boys and a group of other family members and friends, as Michigan State kicks off the 2011 season with a Friday night home game against Youngstown State.

super sailing saturday

this Saturday, November 6th, ESPN Classic will showcase three sailing/racing documentaries.  I probably won’t get a chance to watch any of them, though – as I don’t have cable TV, and the 2nd two episodes will be broadcast during the Michigan State football game (also on cable, but at least I can listen to the game on the radio).  maybe I can convince my brother-in-law to DVR the sailing shows for me?

Stars & Stripes

11:00am Eastern

Thomson Reuters Presents:  Man Against Nature: Long Distance Racing

Gary Jobson presents an in-depth look at the challenges and rigors of racing sailboats in long distance competitions. Join the crews of several boats as they race to Bermuda, across the Atlantic Ocean, on the Great Lakes and even around the world. A special focus is on the roughest ocean races on record including the 1979 Fastnet Race and the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race.

12:00pm Eastern

Rolex Presents:  2009 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup

In 2009 the New York Yacht Club hosted the inaugural Invitational Cup. Nineteen amateur crews from 14 counties competed in a series of races in identically matched 42 foot yachts. The onboard footage of these teams in action shows amateur racing at its best.

1:00pm Eastern

Rolex Presents:   America’s Cup 12 Metre Era Retrospective

Last September, 350 sailors who competed for the America’s Cup in the 12 Metre Class between 1958 and 1987 gathered in Newport, Rhode Island. Throughout several days these champion yachtsmen remembered the greatest moments of the America’s Cup. This program features the most exciting moments of ten America’s Cup matches that took place during this era. There are interviews with winning skippers Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, Ted Hood and Bill Ficker along with many of the crews. Some newly discovered rare footage will be broadcast for the first time. This program is hosted by Gary Jobson.

HT: Sailing World

my son wants to be green

my 9-yr old told me the other day he wanted to be able to use the energy from the sun like plants, instead of having to eat food and drink water.  if he’s not reading a book, he has a tendency to talk constantly (didn’t learn that from me), so I only half-listened, and had passed it off as just mild interest in the lesson learned from that day’s science class.

but a few days later, he brought this note home in his homework folder.  apparently, he’s taking this thing pretty seriously, and now is putting some thought and planning into it.  I’m not sure his ingredients make the most sense, but he’s trying.

I’m hoping that he’s just laying the groundwork to one day be the Green Man at Michigan State games.

or, worst-case, maybe the Incredible Hulk?

Lake Lansing, Michigan

located a few miles east/northeast of Lansing, Michigan is a 485-acre lake named Lake Lansing (strangely enough!).  the lake is home to 2 sailing clubs and a collegiate sailing team:

Lansing Sailing Club (website here) – a couple quotes pulled from their “about” page:

The Lansing Sailing Club is the club for you – regardless if you are an old salt or have never sailed before. It’s the club for you if you own your own boat, are trying to decide what boat to buy or just want to go sailing….

If you don’t sail yet, we will teach you how. If you have kids, they can learn to sail in our Junior Sailing program offered every summer….

LSC’s current club boat fleet includes Sunfish, Lightnings and Lasers.

the Lansing Sailing Club will be hosting the “Lake Lansing Regatta” on June 19, 2010.  the race is open to Sunfish racing, but does not count as a qualifying race for the Sunfish Worlds.

Michigan State University Sailing Center (website here and also here) – the sailing center is part of the intramural sports program at Michigan State University, open to all students, and also open to the public.

The Sailing Center has taught more than 1,500 people how to sail to date through the “learn to sail” classes, about half of which have been MSU students…

The Sailing Center has a wide variety of sailboats, approximately thirty-five, ranging from family day-sailboats to high performance racing sailboats. Student staff learn to repair, refurbish and maintain the boats throughout the entire year. Many of the center’s sailboats were donated.

The Sailing Center offers “learn to sail” classes for adults and youth, the center also offers a variety of affordable memberships that include use of the center’s sailboats.

Michigan State University Sailing Team (website here) – a couple quotes pulled from their “about” page:

The MSU Sailing Club is a group of students engaged in both recreational and competitive sailing. We compete in the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association (MCSA) which is a district within the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). Each weekend the sailing club competes against other universities in regattas held throughout the midwest and occasionally regattas on the east coast and the southern United States. Membership to the team is open to all Michigan State students with an interest in Sailing.

Don’t know how to sail? No problem, we can teach you! Many of our members have coached junior sailing, so we can provide excellent instruction in learning to sail as well as racing techniques and rules.

the Lansing Sailing Club has put together a custom map using Google Maps, and I have to say it is fantastic!  graphically display showing shallow areas of the lake, the location of the public boat ramp (6271 East Lake Drive, Haslett, MI) and prevailing wind information are all very valuable to someone who is new to the lake.

View Larger Map

the Michigan DNR map can be found here (.pdf file).  it is pretty old (as usual), but will give you a general idea of the water depths you’ll encounter while sailing there.  I haven’t tried sailing on Lake Lansing yet, but it’s rapidly climbing up the list of lakes I’d like to check out this summer.

sailing log: 2009-09-03

my 4th sail of this year was on the Friday before Labor Day, and I had the day off from work, my wife was working from home, and I had already dropped the kids off at daycare.  I decided I’d quickly trailer the Sunfish back up to Kent Lake at Kensington Metropark (where I had such a blast the last time I was there!).

when I arrived, the American flag at the beach was just barely and randomly flapping… not a very encouraging sign!  nevertheless, since I had already paid the park entrance fees and was there at the boat launch, I decided I’d put the Sunfish in the water and see if I could have any luck sailing it in (very) light winds.

my hopes of a decent day of sailing started to rise when I noticed a couple guys from the American Sailing Institute (the sailing school there) were getting an Interlake sailboat ready to sail.  since I was alone, I launched the ‘Fish off my trailer, and dropped off the rest of my supplies on the grass nearby while I parked the truck and trailer.  as I got back down to the launch and started to get the ‘Fish ready to sail, I struck up a conversation with a gentlemen (Louie) preparing to go fishing with his father (Lou).  He told me about being a member of the sailing club at Michigan State University (Go Green!) when he was a student there, and how much he had enjoyed small boat sailing, and wanted to get his family more interested in it.

after I got the sail up and all my rigging set, I said goodbye to Lou and Louie, and started drifting away.  that was about the fastest I ever got going, though!  the wind, when it did decide to flutter a little here and there, was from the northeast, so I initially attempt to tack into the wind.  as there wasn’t really any constant wind, though, I was having little success.  so, instead, I made an about face, turned the boat with the wind, and just let out the mainsheet to open the sail all the way.  I still didn’t get very far.  I was slowly drifting with little tiny gusts here and there teasing me into thinking the wind just might pick up.

I eventually took off my life jacket, and dropped it down into the cockpit to use as a seat cushion – I then sat down in the cockpit, resting my feet up on the deck near the daggerboard, and resting my back against the back of the cockpit.  initially, I used a bungee cord to keep the tiller set straight, so I would sail a straight course whenever the wind decided to show up.  after a while of drifting like that, I unhooked the bungee, and just held the tiller extension over my shoulder – it worked well enough, and gave me a little more control over where I was drifting.  after maybe 20 or 30 minutes of lazily drifting “with the wind”, I turned her around and decided I’d tack back into the wind towards the dock and boat launch.  when I first turned around, it actually seemed like I got a small bit of wind, because I started slowly sailing a steady course.  it was fairly short-lived, though, and the breeze that was there died off again.  after drifting along for a while, I finally gave up, and grabbed my telescoping paddle, and paddled the rest of the way back in.

I originally thought I might just put on some more suncreen (I hadn’t expected to be sitting so calmly in the direct sun!) and try to sail her some more in the northern part of the lake, but I noticed the Interlake from ASI was also paddling in at the same time, so I just got my truck and trailer, and loaded the Sunfish up to go home.

it was a beautiful calm day – probably a great day to be kayaking or canoeing on the lake, but a dreadful day to try sailing.  what a big difference from the last time I was at this lake, with the multiple tips, heavy wind and even stronger gusts.  maybe I’ll have better luck next time.