It is with sadness that we report the passing of Tahoe Laser sailor Tony Dahlman. We just saw Tony up in Tahoe City, where he was having a blast racing his Laser in very windy conditions. The Laser Masters on Monterey Bay would be his final regatta, as he suffered a massive stroke on Friday, August 14 - while racing - and died on Saturday the 15th.

During Lake Tahoe Race Week, hosted by Tahoe YC in the first week of August, Tony was tied for fourth place and was kind enough to let us attach a camera to his boat (see photo at top) on the final stormy day of racing (he held onto the fourth). Last spring, when the Tahoe Ski/Sail Regatta was coming up in April, Tony had ordered a drysuit for the sailing day, but it didn’t fit, and so he sailed in shorts, much to the admiration of everyone else. Last year’s Ski/Sail was the windiest ever, with lots of capsizing, and the  water temperatures of Lake Tahoe are not exactly mild in the spring.

Tony’s avid Laser sailing mostly took the form of Monday night racing with Tahoe YC’s spring and summer series. He got so into it that he wrote reported on the local races for the Sierra Sun newspaper.

Fellow Laser sailor Buff Wendt wrote a farewell piece for the Sun, in which he commented, “My trailer has the popular Master's bumper sticker on it: ‘Cheat the nursing home, die on your Laser.’

“Tony may be the first person to do that.”

We encourage you to read Buff’s ‘Remembering Tony’, and Tony’s race reports at www.sierrasun.com.

Tony was 61. Our condolences to his family and friends.