Wednesday 9/21/2011
Light SW breeze. Current was flooding. C course was from H to 22 to H, A&B added K after 22. Sky was overcast.
This last race was almost a repeat of the week before, except the current was opposite. There was a light SW breeze, but we had a little more punch this week at the start. After starting, the wind faded a bit, but it was enough for us to go around 22 and be able to go with the current back to the finish.
During the prestart, we tried to setup near the starboard (boat) end. With the flood pulling boats away from the line, we thought there may be a nice opening to get off to a good start. Coming at the fleet on port with 90 seconds to go, I realized I was going to have trouble finding a good spot. I had to tack a little late and was in a bad position to make the boat. We were 10-15 seconds late to the start and were in the bad air of Telepathy. They won the start.
After the gun, we stayed pinched and were able to slowly clear our air and begin rolling. Soon A-Train, Zoom and Jazz were racing to the left. A-Train and Jazz had to tack back right since Zoom pulled ahead and got on our air. This turned out to be a good move and we held a nice lead over Zoom at the next crossing. We then stayed on starboard tack for a long time to take advantage of less current and what seemed to be more wind.
We were heading 20 degrees high of the mark when we tacked onto port, but over the ground, we were barely high of it. We ended up missing the layline by a few boat-lengths after ducking for a starboard tack boat. We led around 22, but in short order A-Train made up close to two minutes and we exchanged places before getting enough of an advantage at the finish to correct over them. A four boat-length lead translated into 75 seconds due to the lack of breeze.
With the wind dying, we headed in to the marina right away. It was a nice end to the season. For two weeks in a row, the Race Marshalls did a great job to get a race in.
With the season over, I would like to thank John Nonenmacher, John Edwards and John Beck for their hard work putting this whole series together. Many boats and their crew also deserve praise for doing their turn as Race Marshall. It was a great season and I look forward to next year.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Summer Race #9
Wednesday 9/14/2011
Light SW breeze. Current was ebbing fast. Course was from H to 22 to H. Sky was overcast.
We left the marina around 17:15. It was an early start and we were very early to the line. We sailed to the start and took some upwind numbers. Unfortunately, the wind died completely before a race could get off.
Drifting against the ebb, there was little hope for racing, but the Race Marshall stayed on station, fulfilling their obligation to try and get a race in. Around 18:20, the wind once again filled in and the RM jumped into quick action and got the races started. This was an excellent performance form the RM and their patience is much appreciated.
While watching the first start, we noticed a pile of boats at the port end of the line. There were some yells, but no protests. Bully sailing would once again prevail as apparent fouls were not protested. Sailing is a self-policing sport and can quickly descend into anarchy when boats do not police themselves and others. I hope I am wrong and no rules were broken, but by the sounds of the voices and course corrections of starboard boats, I believe some infractions may have occurred.
With the strong ebb threatening to push boats over the line early, I knew the line would get crowded for our start. I was also worried about another drop in velocity during the start sequence since it may affect our ability to stay on the pre start side. I lined up to be at the starboard end a little early even though the port end was favored. I figured the crowd would gather down there similar to what happened in the first start. These events came to pass. Blue Horizon snuck out of the port end in great shape and won the start. We did OK since we kept our air clean and were able to tack onto port shortly after the start.
The spotty wind on the upwind leg kept us alert for changes. We got as far west as we dared since the wind seemed light against the western shore. We then tried to stay in the velocity rather than play directional shifts. With the help of the current, we made it around 22 without much hassle.
From 22 we stayed high on starboard tack and reached towards the shallow water near Croton. I am not sure if this strategy paid off since the boats to the west seemed to make out just fine. The RM was properly lit with an anchor light at the finish and that is where we crossed the line.
With the breeze very light and a foul current we rolled in the jib and motored back.
There was an interesting ferry captain that hailed the fleet on 72. He must have been having a bad day since he laid into the fleet with expletives and a nonsensical rant about using government marks for racing. I know the frustration of having pleasure craft in the way of a commercial vessels, but the captain needs to know the rules. Unless constricted by draft to the channel or other restriction on movement, power gives way to sail. A 78-foot catamaran that can go over 30 knots, drawing just a few feet, is probably not very restricted.
I may write a separate blog about ferries and sailboats. That will be a place for us to gather information about the rules as they apply to our races.
Light SW breeze. Current was ebbing fast. Course was from H to 22 to H. Sky was overcast.
We left the marina around 17:15. It was an early start and we were very early to the line. We sailed to the start and took some upwind numbers. Unfortunately, the wind died completely before a race could get off.
Drifting against the ebb, there was little hope for racing, but the Race Marshall stayed on station, fulfilling their obligation to try and get a race in. Around 18:20, the wind once again filled in and the RM jumped into quick action and got the races started. This was an excellent performance form the RM and their patience is much appreciated.
While watching the first start, we noticed a pile of boats at the port end of the line. There were some yells, but no protests. Bully sailing would once again prevail as apparent fouls were not protested. Sailing is a self-policing sport and can quickly descend into anarchy when boats do not police themselves and others. I hope I am wrong and no rules were broken, but by the sounds of the voices and course corrections of starboard boats, I believe some infractions may have occurred.
With the strong ebb threatening to push boats over the line early, I knew the line would get crowded for our start. I was also worried about another drop in velocity during the start sequence since it may affect our ability to stay on the pre start side. I lined up to be at the starboard end a little early even though the port end was favored. I figured the crowd would gather down there similar to what happened in the first start. These events came to pass. Blue Horizon snuck out of the port end in great shape and won the start. We did OK since we kept our air clean and were able to tack onto port shortly after the start.
The spotty wind on the upwind leg kept us alert for changes. We got as far west as we dared since the wind seemed light against the western shore. We then tried to stay in the velocity rather than play directional shifts. With the help of the current, we made it around 22 without much hassle.
From 22 we stayed high on starboard tack and reached towards the shallow water near Croton. I am not sure if this strategy paid off since the boats to the west seemed to make out just fine. The RM was properly lit with an anchor light at the finish and that is where we crossed the line.
With the breeze very light and a foul current we rolled in the jib and motored back.
There was an interesting ferry captain that hailed the fleet on 72. He must have been having a bad day since he laid into the fleet with expletives and a nonsensical rant about using government marks for racing. I know the frustration of having pleasure craft in the way of a commercial vessels, but the captain needs to know the rules. Unless constricted by draft to the channel or other restriction on movement, power gives way to sail. A 78-foot catamaran that can go over 30 knots, drawing just a few feet, is probably not very restricted.
I may write a separate blog about ferries and sailboats. That will be a place for us to gather information about the rules as they apply to our races.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Summer Race #8
Wednesday 9/7/2011
Light NE breeze with 40 degree shifts. Current was flooding slowly. Course was from H to D to 24 to H. A & B sailed H to D to 26 to 24 to H. Sky was overcast and some light showers moved in.
It was the first early start Wednesday of the season. When we left the marina, we immediately hoisted sail and enjoyed a tight reach down to H. Near the start of the first sequence, we were out of position and had to motor back to a good place since the wind was getting lighter.
The line was heavily port-end favored, but boats could still cross the line on starboard. During the prestart, an anonymous radio clown gave the committee boat a bunch of shit about the starting line. I was put off by these comments. Bert and the crew from A-Train had volunteered to be the Race Marshall on this crappy night and I thought it inappropriate to give him shit because his line was not square. I have seen worse starting lines.
Particularly annoying about the radio harassment was that the clown remained anonymous. If you are going to call someone out, don’t be a coward and hide behind anonymity. Identify yourself. I’ll explain why this was extra important on this night later in the post.
Clown business aside, we had a good start by starting on port tack at the pin end. A Line Up and Jazz were the only two boats to stay up towards the pin in the light, shifty conditions. We got off the line well and Telepathy was the only boat that followed us out to the right. The left was favored and we were with the pack almost up to D. Then we got a nice shift at the mark that saved the leg and took off towards 24. We stretched considerably on this leg and sailed in to a nice finish.
We ended up finishing right at the committee boat. Bert asked me something about the start line and I responded that I liked the line. I really did since skewed lines give the best opportunity to grab a good lead right from the start. Bert then accused me of being the clown that had harassed him during the prestart. I denied the accusation, but Bert was not convinced. I was pissed about being falsely accused.
During the whole ugly radio affair, I talked to my three crew and defended the skewed line and praised Bert for stepping up on a cold, soggy night. Now I was being accused by the same person I defended of being the clown who harassed him. There was no convincing Bert and his crew that I was not the one, so now I felt like he not only thought I was the clown, but a coward as well. All this transpired because some coward had to be Mr. Critic on the radio anonymously.
Frank and I had a fantasy football draft to sign into at 22:00 this night, so we could not stick around and host the full moon race. We ended up sailing in and called it a night.
I hope the radio shenanigans will stop. Making anonymous radio hails that harass racers or the race committee is annoying and cowardly. In the end, people get angry and they may end up attributing the anonymous call to the wrong party. If you must criticize or give input, please identify yourself. It is proper radio procedure.
Light NE breeze with 40 degree shifts. Current was flooding slowly. Course was from H to D to 24 to H. A & B sailed H to D to 26 to 24 to H. Sky was overcast and some light showers moved in.
It was the first early start Wednesday of the season. When we left the marina, we immediately hoisted sail and enjoyed a tight reach down to H. Near the start of the first sequence, we were out of position and had to motor back to a good place since the wind was getting lighter.
The line was heavily port-end favored, but boats could still cross the line on starboard. During the prestart, an anonymous radio clown gave the committee boat a bunch of shit about the starting line. I was put off by these comments. Bert and the crew from A-Train had volunteered to be the Race Marshall on this crappy night and I thought it inappropriate to give him shit because his line was not square. I have seen worse starting lines.
Particularly annoying about the radio harassment was that the clown remained anonymous. If you are going to call someone out, don’t be a coward and hide behind anonymity. Identify yourself. I’ll explain why this was extra important on this night later in the post.
Clown business aside, we had a good start by starting on port tack at the pin end. A Line Up and Jazz were the only two boats to stay up towards the pin in the light, shifty conditions. We got off the line well and Telepathy was the only boat that followed us out to the right. The left was favored and we were with the pack almost up to D. Then we got a nice shift at the mark that saved the leg and took off towards 24. We stretched considerably on this leg and sailed in to a nice finish.
We ended up finishing right at the committee boat. Bert asked me something about the start line and I responded that I liked the line. I really did since skewed lines give the best opportunity to grab a good lead right from the start. Bert then accused me of being the clown that had harassed him during the prestart. I denied the accusation, but Bert was not convinced. I was pissed about being falsely accused.
During the whole ugly radio affair, I talked to my three crew and defended the skewed line and praised Bert for stepping up on a cold, soggy night. Now I was being accused by the same person I defended of being the clown who harassed him. There was no convincing Bert and his crew that I was not the one, so now I felt like he not only thought I was the clown, but a coward as well. All this transpired because some coward had to be Mr. Critic on the radio anonymously.
Frank and I had a fantasy football draft to sign into at 22:00 this night, so we could not stick around and host the full moon race. We ended up sailing in and called it a night.
I hope the radio shenanigans will stop. Making anonymous radio hails that harass racers or the race committee is annoying and cowardly. In the end, people get angry and they may end up attributing the anonymous call to the wrong party. If you must criticize or give input, please identify yourself. It is proper radio procedure.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Summer Race #7
Calm winds. The current had a strong ebb. Race Cancelled.
This evening's race was in jeopardy right from the start. There were debris fields on the river and the north side of Haverstraw marina had a big boat burn early in the morning. Despite those conditions, it was the lack of wind that did us in.
We arrived at the boat early to put everything back together that had been taken apart ahead of Irene. The boat had a decent covering of burnt fiberglass from the On Your Mark burning. The marina was without water, so it was tough to get everything clean. We did most of the work on the river since it was nicer out there.
We drifted around the starting mark for a while with the fleet, but nothing was to come of it. Here and there we got a slight breeze, but up until 20:30, we never found a consistent wind to sail in.
I heard the floating islands we passed by were some sort of runaway pumpkin field. Here are two pictures.
This evening's race was in jeopardy right from the start. There were debris fields on the river and the north side of Haverstraw marina had a big boat burn early in the morning. Despite those conditions, it was the lack of wind that did us in.
We arrived at the boat early to put everything back together that had been taken apart ahead of Irene. The boat had a decent covering of burnt fiberglass from the On Your Mark burning. The marina was without water, so it was tough to get everything clean. We did most of the work on the river since it was nicer out there.
We drifted around the starting mark for a while with the fleet, but nothing was to come of it. Here and there we got a slight breeze, but up until 20:30, we never found a consistent wind to sail in.
I heard the floating islands we passed by were some sort of runaway pumpkin field. Here are two pictures.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Irene on the Hudson
I put a video up here that shows a debris line on the Hudson by Haverstraw. I would expect some nasty currents tonight since we will be out in the max ebb and the flooding will contribute to the southbound current. With light winds, the current could be strong enough to prevent any northerly progress under sail alone. Hopefully a nice southerly will fill in and save the race.
In other news, one of the marina's biggest boats, On Your Mark, burned this morning. I am sure that will make the harbor a bit nasty with fuel and all. Hopefully the boats on the north end can get out. Click here to read more. The boat was listed for sale. You can read the comments on the article for the conspiracy theories. It appears no one was hurt.
Should be an interesting night all around.
Below photo courtesy of Tim Andrews.
In other news, one of the marina's biggest boats, On Your Mark, burned this morning. I am sure that will make the harbor a bit nasty with fuel and all. Hopefully the boats on the north end can get out. Click here to read more. The boat was listed for sale. You can read the comments on the article for the conspiracy theories. It appears no one was hurt.
Should be an interesting night all around.
Below photo courtesy of Tim Andrews.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Summer Race #6
Wednesday 8/24/2011
Healthy SSW flow in the 15-25 knot range. Current was flooding. Division C course was from H to K to G and back to H. A&B substituted C for G.
This Wednesday was the start of a few days off from work. The wife and I decided to take the kids sailing for the day. We arrived at the marina and the southerly was beginning to fill in. We sailed south against the wind, but with the current. Around Croton point, the real SSW breeze filled in with puffs up to 25 knots. We were still beating at this point and the natives were getting restless. Somewhere past Ossining, we turned around, rolled in the jib and flew downwind in the building breeze.
It was windy enough that instead of a regular gybe, we did chicken gybes downwind. A chicken gybe is when you are sailing downwind and decide to tack around to the other board rather than gybe around. With just the wife and kids aboard, chicken gybing was our best option.
We then sailed into the calm behind Croton point and anchored for a while. When it was time to go, I simply had to weigh anchor and we started moving at 2 knots bare poled. I unfurled a sliver of jib and we were doing in excess of 5 knots towards Haverstraw.
Docking was extremely difficult in these conditions. The wind was pushing us into the slip away from our pier into the boat next to us. The spring line I had rigged to stop the forward motion saved us from colliding with the dock forward and the boat next to us. Once safely docked, I prepped the boat for the race.
Two of us set out around 17:30 for the race. We hoisted the main to get out there and the wind was still in the 20-knot area. We only unfurled the jib right before the start. The start was uneventful and we sailed with the fleet up to K. Zoom got ahead of us and rounded the mark about 2 minutes in front.
As Zoom and Jazz got close G, we had closed some of the gap between us. Zoom was the first to get into the area of G and when they realized it was washed up on the eastern shore, they turned south and circled. About a minute later, we were in the same spot and decided to drop the sails and attempt to anchor before the next boat got to the area. With some good crew work, we had the sails down and anchor set in about 3 minutes. Our race was done for the evening as we decided to be G.
We announced to the C fleet that we were now the mark and everyone used us as the mark. Zoom kept racing and indicated on the radio that they thought they were far enough ahead to correct over Jazz. I doubted this claim, but did not respond. We were about a minute behind and they owed us 3.5 minutes for the course.
I would have preferred to keep racing, but I felt that there is an obligation and precedent to become the mark. This precedent has been set by Breakout and Surprise who have also become the mark when they were the first to arrive at its coordinates and found it missing.
After the last boat rounded us, I weighed anchor for the second time this day and hoisted full sail. We cruised in the heavy air on a nice broad reach before calling it an evening and sailing in. We also took the opportunity to switch places. This is always a helpful thing to do on the boat so everyone can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
Healthy SSW flow in the 15-25 knot range. Current was flooding. Division C course was from H to K to G and back to H. A&B substituted C for G.
This Wednesday was the start of a few days off from work. The wife and I decided to take the kids sailing for the day. We arrived at the marina and the southerly was beginning to fill in. We sailed south against the wind, but with the current. Around Croton point, the real SSW breeze filled in with puffs up to 25 knots. We were still beating at this point and the natives were getting restless. Somewhere past Ossining, we turned around, rolled in the jib and flew downwind in the building breeze.
It was windy enough that instead of a regular gybe, we did chicken gybes downwind. A chicken gybe is when you are sailing downwind and decide to tack around to the other board rather than gybe around. With just the wife and kids aboard, chicken gybing was our best option.
We then sailed into the calm behind Croton point and anchored for a while. When it was time to go, I simply had to weigh anchor and we started moving at 2 knots bare poled. I unfurled a sliver of jib and we were doing in excess of 5 knots towards Haverstraw.
Docking was extremely difficult in these conditions. The wind was pushing us into the slip away from our pier into the boat next to us. The spring line I had rigged to stop the forward motion saved us from colliding with the dock forward and the boat next to us. Once safely docked, I prepped the boat for the race.
Two of us set out around 17:30 for the race. We hoisted the main to get out there and the wind was still in the 20-knot area. We only unfurled the jib right before the start. The start was uneventful and we sailed with the fleet up to K. Zoom got ahead of us and rounded the mark about 2 minutes in front.
As Zoom and Jazz got close G, we had closed some of the gap between us. Zoom was the first to get into the area of G and when they realized it was washed up on the eastern shore, they turned south and circled. About a minute later, we were in the same spot and decided to drop the sails and attempt to anchor before the next boat got to the area. With some good crew work, we had the sails down and anchor set in about 3 minutes. Our race was done for the evening as we decided to be G.
We announced to the C fleet that we were now the mark and everyone used us as the mark. Zoom kept racing and indicated on the radio that they thought they were far enough ahead to correct over Jazz. I doubted this claim, but did not respond. We were about a minute behind and they owed us 3.5 minutes for the course.
I would have preferred to keep racing, but I felt that there is an obligation and precedent to become the mark. This precedent has been set by Breakout and Surprise who have also become the mark when they were the first to arrive at its coordinates and found it missing.
After the last boat rounded us, I weighed anchor for the second time this day and hoisted full sail. We cruised in the heavy air on a nice broad reach before calling it an evening and sailing in. We also took the opportunity to switch places. This is always a helpful thing to do on the boat so everyone can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Summer Race #5
Wednesday 8/17/2011
Light Westerly breeze. Course for A&B was H to F and back, twice around. C sailed to F to 24 and back to H. Current was ebbing hard.
The wind was pretty light this evening. Not much was forecast, but we had a decent west breeze to start. The current was ebbing through the race course. It was a big factor.
We started up by the boat end of the line. It was favored and we wanted to tack onto port right after the start. There seemed to be an incident further down the line, but no one protested. I heard some yelling and saw some course changes, but I do not know if a foul occurred. What I do know from the radio call is that a boat hit the starting mark. They were unsure what they had to do. Here are the rules.
31 TOUCHING A MARK
While racing, a boat shall not touch a starting mark before starting, a mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg of the course on which she is sailing, or a finishing mark after finishing.
44 PENALTIES AT THE TIME OF AN INCIDENT
44.1 Taking a Penalty
A boat may take a Two-Turns Penalty when she may have broken a rule of Part 2 while racing or a One-Turn Penalty when she may have broken rule 31. Sailing instructions may specify the use of the Scoring Penalty or some other penalty.
So when you hit a mark, you break rule 31. Rule 31 requires a one-turn penalty. You do not have to go back and round the mark. That happens when you are over early.
Upwind was interesting since you had to take a long port tack to get up the river against the current. The boats that did best seemed to go onto port, but then head west on starboard a bit before going back onto port. We took port for a little too long, but shorter than many other boats. One boat who went left early came back in pretty decent position.
Rounding F, we were just ahead of a boat. We did not allow them to pass to windward and they made no attempt to separate to leeward, so they just followed us to 24. We sailed high of 24 until it was time to round. We made a nice early turn 10 boat lengths to windward of the mark. The other boat continued on and made a big looping turn. The current was raging and they were swept pretty for south before heading up to make the finish. Here is a drawing of the way I saw it. Keep in ming the current was running right to left and the wind was from the top of the drawing. In sequence 7, the yellow boat is heading for H. Hopefully, you can see from the drawing that the blue boat got swept off to the left and lost quite a few boat-lengths on the rounding.
On the way in, we debated whether you can have your masthead light on with the steaming light when motoring at night. The answer is you can. I used this helpful link to get the answer. At night, you always need your running lights. You should only display the steaming light when underway and the masthead should be on at anchor or you can use it while steaming.
Please feel free to donate to this week's Leukemia Cup through my Beavis themed donation page. All donations are appreciated and you can write nasty comments on the donation page. My wife already has.
Light Westerly breeze. Course for A&B was H to F and back, twice around. C sailed to F to 24 and back to H. Current was ebbing hard.
The wind was pretty light this evening. Not much was forecast, but we had a decent west breeze to start. The current was ebbing through the race course. It was a big factor.
We started up by the boat end of the line. It was favored and we wanted to tack onto port right after the start. There seemed to be an incident further down the line, but no one protested. I heard some yelling and saw some course changes, but I do not know if a foul occurred. What I do know from the radio call is that a boat hit the starting mark. They were unsure what they had to do. Here are the rules.
31 TOUCHING A MARK
While racing, a boat shall not touch a starting mark before starting, a mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg of the course on which she is sailing, or a finishing mark after finishing.
44 PENALTIES AT THE TIME OF AN INCIDENT
44.1 Taking a Penalty
A boat may take a Two-Turns Penalty when she may have broken a rule of Part 2 while racing or a One-Turn Penalty when she may have broken rule 31. Sailing instructions may specify the use of the Scoring Penalty or some other penalty.
So when you hit a mark, you break rule 31. Rule 31 requires a one-turn penalty. You do not have to go back and round the mark. That happens when you are over early.
Upwind was interesting since you had to take a long port tack to get up the river against the current. The boats that did best seemed to go onto port, but then head west on starboard a bit before going back onto port. We took port for a little too long, but shorter than many other boats. One boat who went left early came back in pretty decent position.
Rounding F, we were just ahead of a boat. We did not allow them to pass to windward and they made no attempt to separate to leeward, so they just followed us to 24. We sailed high of 24 until it was time to round. We made a nice early turn 10 boat lengths to windward of the mark. The other boat continued on and made a big looping turn. The current was raging and they were swept pretty for south before heading up to make the finish. Here is a drawing of the way I saw it. Keep in ming the current was running right to left and the wind was from the top of the drawing. In sequence 7, the yellow boat is heading for H. Hopefully, you can see from the drawing that the blue boat got swept off to the left and lost quite a few boat-lengths on the rounding.
Since our course was shorter than the others, we finished before the A & B fleets. The wind was dying as A & B boats rounded H, but there was no signal to shorten course. It is interesting that no one hailed to shorten course. In Spring Race #5 this year, I wrote about how two boats prodded the RM to shorten course. Now the RM was in the same situation and no one hailed and the RM did not shorten. It goes to show that the concerns of the RM are different that those of the competitors. Similar to Spring Race #5, a handful of boats were scored as not finishing.
We sailed around for a while in the dying breeze before heading in for pizza night. We saw a NE breeze and then a decent southerly before heading in for pizza night.
Please feel free to donate to this week's Leukemia Cup through my Beavis themed donation page. All donations are appreciated and you can write nasty comments on the donation page. My wife already has.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Summer Race #4
Wednesday 8/10/2011
WNW breeze between 6 and 14 knots. Current was neutral at the start and the flood began right away. All divisions sailed from H to F to G to H. Skies were mostly clear and the moon made an appearance.
Tonight was our turn as Race Marshall. Three of us set out from the marina a little after 17:00. We motored East in the WNW breeze. The breeze was shifty, but we thought it would hold out for the evening. We motored around H and took a wind direction. It was 295-305, so we went with 300. Here are the instructions for setting the line.
DUTIES OF RACE MARSHALL:
1) Setting the starting line:
Direction: This line should be perpendicular (90 degrees) to the true wind If time permits, take a wind direction at Buoy 26 before proceeding to the starting area at “H”.
Length: At least as long as a yacht would travel in 2/3 of minute at the speed of 6 knots; longer is better than shorter. If you have any questions, ask the race committee prior to the start.
I used to eye out the starting line, but I decided to use the GPS to make the line square. First, I motored by H and took a fresh GPS coordinate. Making this the waypoint in the GPS gave us both range and magnetic bearing. To figure out the length, we had to make a rough calculation. 2/3 of a minute (40 seconds) at 6 knots (10.13 feet per second) is 405 feet. With the wind at 300 degrees, we knew we had to go to a spot where the bearing to H was about 210 and 500 feet away.
With a bit of wind and current, we went to a position about 500 feet away where the bearing was 200. We figured the boat would drag back about 45 feet from the anchor spot and that would leave an angle of 210. We ended up pretty close to the target numbers and the line seemed square. This ended up working out much better than just eyeing it out and will become part of our race committee procedures going forward.
We decided on course E-0 for all fleets. I would have liked to send C on a shorter course, but there were no good options compatible with E-0. Ideally, I would have sent C to K instead of G, but I did not want to make up a course and confuse the boats. I could have used a twice around option for A&B using just F, but once around for C would have been too short for such a nice evening. In the end, all boats finished within the time limit and I think the course worked out. Unfortunately, the Full Moon race would not start until after 20:30, but something had to give. I did not want to sacrifice the main race to shorten the wait for the one or two boats that would have stuck around for the Full Moon race.
As the start approached, it appeared to us that the wind went a little more west before the start and I figured the pin was favored. Regardless, the majority of the starters went for the boat end all the same. There were multiple barging incidents. Comet was the most hurt by the late bargers. They had a great starting position and another boat came in late hailing for room. This is against the rules. If you are unsure, please check my barging post.
After the boats were off the line, we had about an hour of downtime before the first finisher came in. We took the times of the finishing boats on two separate sheets. This is a new procedure for me and it is one of the many I learned by working with Tom DiLauro in the Hudson Cove regatta. It is very helpful to have two times in case one is illegible or just plain wrong. One sheet was scored based on the check-in order and the other was scored according to the order of finish. It may be overkill, but you do not get a second chance to take down times.
After the boats finished, we hoisted sail immediately and prepared for the Full Moon race. The breeze was still fresh and we raced Zoom around a 3-mile course. It was great sailing. Nice conditions and the moon was out the whole time. We moved swiftly around the course and finished in about half an hour.
Right after finishing, the wind died and we were forced to motor in. We were happy it held out for the night’s racing. Special thanks to the crew of Glory Days for hosting the Full Moon match race. With such low participation in the Full Moon race, it is probably time to move it to its own night or abandon altogether. I like the idea of getting some extra time in on a Wednesday night since I am already on the river, but it is pretty clear that my sentiment is not universally shared. It also did not help that many boats had young kids aboard for a Minisceongo youth event.
The golfers were not on the radio tonight. It appears the warning letter from the FCC may have made an impact. I hope it is the end of that annoyance.
WNW breeze between 6 and 14 knots. Current was neutral at the start and the flood began right away. All divisions sailed from H to F to G to H. Skies were mostly clear and the moon made an appearance.
Tonight was our turn as Race Marshall. Three of us set out from the marina a little after 17:00. We motored East in the WNW breeze. The breeze was shifty, but we thought it would hold out for the evening. We motored around H and took a wind direction. It was 295-305, so we went with 300. Here are the instructions for setting the line.
DUTIES OF RACE MARSHALL:
1) Setting the starting line:
Direction: This line should be perpendicular (90 degrees) to the true wind If time permits, take a wind direction at Buoy 26 before proceeding to the starting area at “H”.
Length: At least as long as a yacht would travel in 2/3 of minute at the speed of 6 knots; longer is better than shorter. If you have any questions, ask the race committee prior to the start.
I used to eye out the starting line, but I decided to use the GPS to make the line square. First, I motored by H and took a fresh GPS coordinate. Making this the waypoint in the GPS gave us both range and magnetic bearing. To figure out the length, we had to make a rough calculation. 2/3 of a minute (40 seconds) at 6 knots (10.13 feet per second) is 405 feet. With the wind at 300 degrees, we knew we had to go to a spot where the bearing to H was about 210 and 500 feet away.
With a bit of wind and current, we went to a position about 500 feet away where the bearing was 200. We figured the boat would drag back about 45 feet from the anchor spot and that would leave an angle of 210. We ended up pretty close to the target numbers and the line seemed square. This ended up working out much better than just eyeing it out and will become part of our race committee procedures going forward.
We decided on course E-0 for all fleets. I would have liked to send C on a shorter course, but there were no good options compatible with E-0. Ideally, I would have sent C to K instead of G, but I did not want to make up a course and confuse the boats. I could have used a twice around option for A&B using just F, but once around for C would have been too short for such a nice evening. In the end, all boats finished within the time limit and I think the course worked out. Unfortunately, the Full Moon race would not start until after 20:30, but something had to give. I did not want to sacrifice the main race to shorten the wait for the one or two boats that would have stuck around for the Full Moon race.
As the start approached, it appeared to us that the wind went a little more west before the start and I figured the pin was favored. Regardless, the majority of the starters went for the boat end all the same. There were multiple barging incidents. Comet was the most hurt by the late bargers. They had a great starting position and another boat came in late hailing for room. This is against the rules. If you are unsure, please check my barging post.
After the boats were off the line, we had about an hour of downtime before the first finisher came in. We took the times of the finishing boats on two separate sheets. This is a new procedure for me and it is one of the many I learned by working with Tom DiLauro in the Hudson Cove regatta. It is very helpful to have two times in case one is illegible or just plain wrong. One sheet was scored based on the check-in order and the other was scored according to the order of finish. It may be overkill, but you do not get a second chance to take down times.
After the boats finished, we hoisted sail immediately and prepared for the Full Moon race. The breeze was still fresh and we raced Zoom around a 3-mile course. It was great sailing. Nice conditions and the moon was out the whole time. We moved swiftly around the course and finished in about half an hour.
Right after finishing, the wind died and we were forced to motor in. We were happy it held out for the night’s racing. Special thanks to the crew of Glory Days for hosting the Full Moon match race. With such low participation in the Full Moon race, it is probably time to move it to its own night or abandon altogether. I like the idea of getting some extra time in on a Wednesday night since I am already on the river, but it is pretty clear that my sentiment is not universally shared. It also did not help that many boats had young kids aboard for a Minisceongo youth event.
The golfers were not on the radio tonight. It appears the warning letter from the FCC may have made an impact. I hope it is the end of that annoyance.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Marine Radio Complaint Update #3
I contacted Luis Roman at the FCC this morning and asked for an update on the golf dooshes. He emailed the following reply:
Following our investigation on the interference to marine channel 72 by local golf courses nearby the Haverstraw Bay in New York the NY Office has released yesterday Monday August 08, 2011 Warning Letters to the Hudson and Trump National Golf Clubs.
Please keep us informed of other Golf courses that may be using marine radios.
So it looks like the FCC has taken official action with the golf course. I know some of you have also sought to stop this activity through various channels, so this piece of info should help.
When looking into the golf course, I found that they have a license for a permitted radio frequency. They can use Motorola equipment and legally transmit on this frequency, yet they use marine radios.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp;JSESSIONID_APPSEARCH=MwvXTB2NjgTyLtPpK1nFsyNVbZHNBT8S7J0k1Zy1Tyq84hQRk5hk!1758290242!973295876?licKey=2636635
Following our investigation on the interference to marine channel 72 by local golf courses nearby the Haverstraw Bay in New York the NY Office has released yesterday Monday August 08, 2011 Warning Letters to the Hudson and Trump National Golf Clubs.
Please keep us informed of other Golf courses that may be using marine radios.
So it looks like the FCC has taken official action with the golf course. I know some of you have also sought to stop this activity through various channels, so this piece of info should help.
When looking into the golf course, I found that they have a license for a permitted radio frequency. They can use Motorola equipment and legally transmit on this frequency, yet they use marine radios.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp;JSESSIONID_APPSEARCH=MwvXTB2NjgTyLtPpK1nFsyNVbZHNBT8S7J0k1Zy1Tyq84hQRk5hk!1758290242!973295876?licKey=2636635
Summer Race #3
Wednesday 8/3/2011
SSW breeze that was up and down between 6 and 12 knots. Current was ebbing. Course was from H to 22 to G to H.
The evening began as usual with a quick look over the river from the Haverstraw marina parking lot. There was not much going on wind wise. The harbor boats were showing westerly and by the time we got out of the harbor, the wind was filling in from the SW.
With a strong ebb, SW direction, and decent wind speed, I was concerned that the boat end of the starting line would be crowded. We decided to setup on the layline to just make the boat end. As the start approached, my fears were unfounded as the fleet was not early to the start. In the below diagram, we are the blue boat and I show the two other boats close to the line at the starting moment. Not the best diagram, but I am trying to use this more.
We sailed on starboard for while after the start. Most boats in the fleet did the same. Zoom was the first to tack over to the right. They did not make a gain or loss on that side, so the racecourse seemed pretty even on both sides.
The leg from 22 to G was tough. We were sailing into a lighter breeze and we were by the lee. The boats behind us closed the distance gap between us, but the time remained about the same due to the overall slower speed of all boats.
Rounding G, we had a bit of luck. A nice puff came on just before the mark and allowed us to accelerate nicely out of the rounding. That quick rounding and a nice reaching leg would end up giving us a 4 minute advantage on the other boats. It is rare to make up that kind of time on a reach.
Getting the puff around G was key to the advantage. That part of the course was lighter than the rest and many other boats had a tough time rounding G and speeding away.
We finished the race and continued sailing in the light rain. The breeze was still holding nicely and I wanted to watch the action in the C2 fleet. We were treated to some aggressive passing maneuvers that A Line Up pulled off. I know for sure they passed one boat on that final leg and it may have been two.
Unfortunately, the wind was getting lighter and one boat was unable to get out of the lull near G to finish within the limit. We sailed on a bit more until sunset and headed in for the night.
The A fleet had a tight race as well. Four boats corrected to within 90 seconds of each other. The Race Marshall did another great job this evening. I like a nice long course and it was perfect for the conditions.
Click here for an update on the golfers using the marine radio.
SSW breeze that was up and down between 6 and 12 knots. Current was ebbing. Course was from H to 22 to G to H.
The evening began as usual with a quick look over the river from the Haverstraw marina parking lot. There was not much going on wind wise. The harbor boats were showing westerly and by the time we got out of the harbor, the wind was filling in from the SW.
With a strong ebb, SW direction, and decent wind speed, I was concerned that the boat end of the starting line would be crowded. We decided to setup on the layline to just make the boat end. As the start approached, my fears were unfounded as the fleet was not early to the start. In the below diagram, we are the blue boat and I show the two other boats close to the line at the starting moment. Not the best diagram, but I am trying to use this more.
We sailed on starboard for while after the start. Most boats in the fleet did the same. Zoom was the first to tack over to the right. They did not make a gain or loss on that side, so the racecourse seemed pretty even on both sides.
The leg from 22 to G was tough. We were sailing into a lighter breeze and we were by the lee. The boats behind us closed the distance gap between us, but the time remained about the same due to the overall slower speed of all boats.
Rounding G, we had a bit of luck. A nice puff came on just before the mark and allowed us to accelerate nicely out of the rounding. That quick rounding and a nice reaching leg would end up giving us a 4 minute advantage on the other boats. It is rare to make up that kind of time on a reach.
Getting the puff around G was key to the advantage. That part of the course was lighter than the rest and many other boats had a tough time rounding G and speeding away.
We finished the race and continued sailing in the light rain. The breeze was still holding nicely and I wanted to watch the action in the C2 fleet. We were treated to some aggressive passing maneuvers that A Line Up pulled off. I know for sure they passed one boat on that final leg and it may have been two.
Unfortunately, the wind was getting lighter and one boat was unable to get out of the lull near G to finish within the limit. We sailed on a bit more until sunset and headed in for the night.
The A fleet had a tight race as well. Four boats corrected to within 90 seconds of each other. The Race Marshall did another great job this evening. I like a nice long course and it was perfect for the conditions.
Click here for an update on the golfers using the marine radio.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Barging
Barging is the most common rule infraction in sailing. In this post, I will talk about what barging is, why it happens, and the rules involved. In the end, you should have a clear understanding of what barging is and be able to avoid the situation or get out of it should you be caught barging.
What is Barging?
At the start of a race, it is common for the racers to try and start at the starboard end of the start line. Usually this is where the committee boat is stationed and I will refer to this end of the line as the “boat end”. When the group of boats is heading towards the boat end, a racer to windward of the rest may demand room to start. That boat is said to be barging into the start. The boats to her leeward have right of way and are not required to give the windward boat room to clear the committee boat. When the windward boat pushes between the leeward boats and the committee boat she has committed a foul. This is barging.
The below video shows a simple barging situation.
Common Excuses for Barging
#1 I am entitled to room at the starting mark (Committee Boat).
The most common excuse for barging is the mistaken assumption that a windward boat is entitled to room at the starting mark (committee boat). A boat will claim that a starting mark is treated like any other mark of the course and therefore if the windward boat has an overlap, they feel they are entitled to room at the starting mark. This is not true. The following rules apply:
SECTION A
RIGHT OF WAY
A boat has right of way when another boat is required to keep clear of her. However, some rules in Sections B, C and D limit the actions of a right-of-way boat.
11 ON THE SAME TACK, OVERLAPPED
When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.
SECTION C
AT MARKS AND OBSTRUCTIONS
Section C rules do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its anchor line from the time boats are approaching them to start until they have passed them. When rule 20 applies, rules 18 and 19 do not.
18 MARK-ROOM
18.2 Giving Mark-Room
(a) When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the
inside boat mark-room, unless rule 18.2(b) applies.
There are many other rules that will come into play during a start, but we will start with these basic rules. When we look at the simple barging situation, we start with windward-leeward. This is rule 11. Rule 11 states that the windward boat needs to keep clear.
That said, the barging boat may say that Rule 11 is over ridden by rule 18. Specifically, Rule 18.2 would indicate that the leeward boat should give room. But to follow the rules, all rules must be obeyed, including the preambles to rules. These are as important as the specific rules themselves. Rule 18 is under Section C. The Section C preamble states that Section C rules do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water. This is the case in our starts, so Section C is turned off and as a result, Rule 18 does not apply at starting marks.
There is no room at starting marks.
#2 The Committee Boat is an obstruction and I need room for an obstruction.
If the barging boat tries to get creative and call the race committee boat an obstruction, we can look at the definition of a mark and see that a boat acting as a starting mark is not an obstruction, but a mark.
Mark An object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side, and a race committee boat surrounded by navigable water from which the starting or finishing line extends. An anchor line or an object attached temporarily or accidentally to a mark is not part of it.
By the definition of a mark, a committee boat at the starting line is without doubt a mark and cannot be considered an obstruction. This is also evident in the preamble to Section C where it mentions that the anchor line of the starting mark is not covered under Section C.
The committee boat and any other starting mark including their anchor lines are not considered obstructions.
#3 My proper course is to start, so let me in.
Now we will get into some of the more complicated barging situations. Sometimes, a leeward boat may not be able to reach the boat end close-hauled. The leeward boat may still want to start right at the boat end, so she may turn up close to head to wind to drift up to the boat end. The barging boat may then tell that boat that they cannot sail above close hauled since that is not the proper course. This excuse is most likely invalid.
There is no proper course before a start. Here is the definition:
Proper Course A course a boat would sail to finish as soon as possible in the absence of the other boats referred to in the rule using the term. A boat has no proper course before her starting signal.
So anyone that uses a proper course argument before the starting signal is full of shit. Proper course does not exist at this point.
In the next video, two boats are approaching the boat end with good timing. The start does not happen until sequence #5. Notice that the blue boat can take the green one up past close-hauled since there is no proper course before the start. If green did not head up, she would be fouling blue. Green’s only option is to bail by spinning around in a circle to start late.
After the starting signal, proper course comes into play. This is where things get a little complicated, but as we’ll see, proper course rarely comes into play. Why? Because Rule 17 is the rule that deals with proper course and it is very specific as to when it applies.
17 ON THE SAME TACK; PROPER COURSE
If a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same tack, she shall not sail above her proper course while they remain on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless in doing so she promptly sails astern of the other boat. This rule does not apply if the overlap begins while the windward boat is required by rule 13 to keep clear.
Rule 17 matters before the start. Seems odd, since there is no proper course before the start, but once the starting signal sounds, rule 17 decides whether or not a boat can go above proper course. The overlap specified in rule 17 may have begun before the starting signal. So even though there is no proper course before the start, it is important to know how the overlap began. If the leeward boat established the overlap from clear astern then rule 17 will apply, even if the overlap existed before the starting signal.
This is an important point, so I will explain further. Some boats think rule 17 “turns on” at the starting signal. They would go on to say that since rule 17 was not in effect before the start that it does not matter how the overlap was established, but that is wrong. Even though proper course does not exist before the starting signal, rule 17 still applies to the boats. There is just no proper course, so before the start, the leeward boat can go up to head to wind without penalty. Since rule 17 applies, the leeward boat will be subject to proper course once the starting signal sounds. So even though rule 17 is in effect throughout the pre start, proper course does not turn on until the start.
Basically, keep track of how any overlap begins before the start since you may be bound to your proper course immediately after the starting signal. On a typical windward start, your proper course is close-hauled.
Unless the overlap began as a rule 17 overlap, you can still sail as high as you want to block out the windward boat from the boat end. Without rule 17, there is no proper course obligation after the start.
Rule 17 Overlap
So let’s look at the somewhat rare (in our fleet anyway) situation where rule 17 is in effect. The leeward boat would have had to sail behind the windward boat, established an overlap, and be behind the start line before the start signal. If at the start signal, the two boats are still sailing towards the boat end, the leeward boat is not so sail above her proper course (close-hauled).
The proper course for both boats is to start. According to Rule 17, the windward boat’s proper course is irrelevant. Rule 17 only says that the leeward boat shall not sail above her proper course. It does not say the windward boat is entitled to sail her proper course. Therefore, if the leeward boat is able to steer at the boat end while not going above close-hauled, then she does not have to alter course and allow the windward boat to get in.
Really, the only situation where the leeward boat has to let the windward boat in is if the leeward boat established the overlap from behind in accordance with Rule 17 and if after the starting signal, the leeward boat cannot sail to the boat end without going above close-hauled. In this situation, the leeward boat shall not go above close-hauled and the windward boat may be able to get between the leeward boat and the boat end. That is it.
In the next video, both boats are late to the start. The start occurs in sequence #3. Notice that the green boat establishes a rule 17 overlap to leeward. Therefore, at the start, she must sail down to close-hauled from her higher course. This will allow blue to get in and start at the boat end. In this example, blue is not barging.
In all situations except for the last one, a boat that forces her way between a leeward boat and the starting mark is barging and breaking the rules. This happens too often in too many places. The only way to stop it is to protest the barging boats. When protesting this type of situation you will need to make observations of what happens. Keep an eye out for the following:
How was the overlap established? If it was not a rule 17 overlap, stop here, you win the protest, provided you did not do a crazy turn that the windward boat could not avoid. That is for another post.
Where were the boats at the starting signal? Since we are now under rule 17, it is important to note if you were able to get to the starting mark without going above close hauled. It does not matter if you stuck it up into the wind before the start, as long as you came down to proper course after.
Did you have to sail below proper course (close-hauled)? If you had to bear off to let the windward boat in, the windward boat most likely barged.
In conclusion, the leeward boat at the boat end of the line does not have to let anyone in before the start. After the start, if the boats are still on the prestart side of the line, you only have to let boats in if your proper course does not take you up to the starting mark.
This next video shows how barging can ruin a nice start. In this video, the red boat has positioned herself to lay the boat end. The blue and green boats barge into the start and the red boat has to head down to let them in. Of the three, the red boat gets the worst start. Red is down the line and a little later than he would have been. Both green and blue should be protested. Green may say that blue was in the way, but blue has no excuse.
The last video shows what should happen in the same situation. Notice green and blue have to spin out of the way. Light blue fairs better in this as well since they were not barging. This is how it should be.
What is Barging?
At the start of a race, it is common for the racers to try and start at the starboard end of the start line. Usually this is where the committee boat is stationed and I will refer to this end of the line as the “boat end”. When the group of boats is heading towards the boat end, a racer to windward of the rest may demand room to start. That boat is said to be barging into the start. The boats to her leeward have right of way and are not required to give the windward boat room to clear the committee boat. When the windward boat pushes between the leeward boats and the committee boat she has committed a foul. This is barging.
The below video shows a simple barging situation.
Common Excuses for Barging
#1 I am entitled to room at the starting mark (Committee Boat).
The most common excuse for barging is the mistaken assumption that a windward boat is entitled to room at the starting mark (committee boat). A boat will claim that a starting mark is treated like any other mark of the course and therefore if the windward boat has an overlap, they feel they are entitled to room at the starting mark. This is not true. The following rules apply:
SECTION A
RIGHT OF WAY
A boat has right of way when another boat is required to keep clear of her. However, some rules in Sections B, C and D limit the actions of a right-of-way boat.
11 ON THE SAME TACK, OVERLAPPED
When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.
SECTION C
AT MARKS AND OBSTRUCTIONS
Section C rules do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its anchor line from the time boats are approaching them to start until they have passed them. When rule 20 applies, rules 18 and 19 do not.
18 MARK-ROOM
18.2 Giving Mark-Room
(a) When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the
inside boat mark-room, unless rule 18.2(b) applies.
There are many other rules that will come into play during a start, but we will start with these basic rules. When we look at the simple barging situation, we start with windward-leeward. This is rule 11. Rule 11 states that the windward boat needs to keep clear.
That said, the barging boat may say that Rule 11 is over ridden by rule 18. Specifically, Rule 18.2 would indicate that the leeward boat should give room. But to follow the rules, all rules must be obeyed, including the preambles to rules. These are as important as the specific rules themselves. Rule 18 is under Section C. The Section C preamble states that Section C rules do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water. This is the case in our starts, so Section C is turned off and as a result, Rule 18 does not apply at starting marks.
There is no room at starting marks.
#2 The Committee Boat is an obstruction and I need room for an obstruction.
If the barging boat tries to get creative and call the race committee boat an obstruction, we can look at the definition of a mark and see that a boat acting as a starting mark is not an obstruction, but a mark.
Mark An object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side, and a race committee boat surrounded by navigable water from which the starting or finishing line extends. An anchor line or an object attached temporarily or accidentally to a mark is not part of it.
By the definition of a mark, a committee boat at the starting line is without doubt a mark and cannot be considered an obstruction. This is also evident in the preamble to Section C where it mentions that the anchor line of the starting mark is not covered under Section C.
The committee boat and any other starting mark including their anchor lines are not considered obstructions.
#3 My proper course is to start, so let me in.
Now we will get into some of the more complicated barging situations. Sometimes, a leeward boat may not be able to reach the boat end close-hauled. The leeward boat may still want to start right at the boat end, so she may turn up close to head to wind to drift up to the boat end. The barging boat may then tell that boat that they cannot sail above close hauled since that is not the proper course. This excuse is most likely invalid.
There is no proper course before a start. Here is the definition:
Proper Course A course a boat would sail to finish as soon as possible in the absence of the other boats referred to in the rule using the term. A boat has no proper course before her starting signal.
So anyone that uses a proper course argument before the starting signal is full of shit. Proper course does not exist at this point.
In the next video, two boats are approaching the boat end with good timing. The start does not happen until sequence #5. Notice that the blue boat can take the green one up past close-hauled since there is no proper course before the start. If green did not head up, she would be fouling blue. Green’s only option is to bail by spinning around in a circle to start late.
After the starting signal, proper course comes into play. This is where things get a little complicated, but as we’ll see, proper course rarely comes into play. Why? Because Rule 17 is the rule that deals with proper course and it is very specific as to when it applies.
17 ON THE SAME TACK; PROPER COURSE
If a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same tack, she shall not sail above her proper course while they remain on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless in doing so she promptly sails astern of the other boat. This rule does not apply if the overlap begins while the windward boat is required by rule 13 to keep clear.
Rule 17 matters before the start. Seems odd, since there is no proper course before the start, but once the starting signal sounds, rule 17 decides whether or not a boat can go above proper course. The overlap specified in rule 17 may have begun before the starting signal. So even though there is no proper course before the start, it is important to know how the overlap began. If the leeward boat established the overlap from clear astern then rule 17 will apply, even if the overlap existed before the starting signal.
This is an important point, so I will explain further. Some boats think rule 17 “turns on” at the starting signal. They would go on to say that since rule 17 was not in effect before the start that it does not matter how the overlap was established, but that is wrong. Even though proper course does not exist before the starting signal, rule 17 still applies to the boats. There is just no proper course, so before the start, the leeward boat can go up to head to wind without penalty. Since rule 17 applies, the leeward boat will be subject to proper course once the starting signal sounds. So even though rule 17 is in effect throughout the pre start, proper course does not turn on until the start.
Basically, keep track of how any overlap begins before the start since you may be bound to your proper course immediately after the starting signal. On a typical windward start, your proper course is close-hauled.
Unless the overlap began as a rule 17 overlap, you can still sail as high as you want to block out the windward boat from the boat end. Without rule 17, there is no proper course obligation after the start.
Rule 17 Overlap
So let’s look at the somewhat rare (in our fleet anyway) situation where rule 17 is in effect. The leeward boat would have had to sail behind the windward boat, established an overlap, and be behind the start line before the start signal. If at the start signal, the two boats are still sailing towards the boat end, the leeward boat is not so sail above her proper course (close-hauled).
The proper course for both boats is to start. According to Rule 17, the windward boat’s proper course is irrelevant. Rule 17 only says that the leeward boat shall not sail above her proper course. It does not say the windward boat is entitled to sail her proper course. Therefore, if the leeward boat is able to steer at the boat end while not going above close-hauled, then she does not have to alter course and allow the windward boat to get in.
Really, the only situation where the leeward boat has to let the windward boat in is if the leeward boat established the overlap from behind in accordance with Rule 17 and if after the starting signal, the leeward boat cannot sail to the boat end without going above close-hauled. In this situation, the leeward boat shall not go above close-hauled and the windward boat may be able to get between the leeward boat and the boat end. That is it.
In the next video, both boats are late to the start. The start occurs in sequence #3. Notice that the green boat establishes a rule 17 overlap to leeward. Therefore, at the start, she must sail down to close-hauled from her higher course. This will allow blue to get in and start at the boat end. In this example, blue is not barging.
In all situations except for the last one, a boat that forces her way between a leeward boat and the starting mark is barging and breaking the rules. This happens too often in too many places. The only way to stop it is to protest the barging boats. When protesting this type of situation you will need to make observations of what happens. Keep an eye out for the following:
How was the overlap established? If it was not a rule 17 overlap, stop here, you win the protest, provided you did not do a crazy turn that the windward boat could not avoid. That is for another post.
Where were the boats at the starting signal? Since we are now under rule 17, it is important to note if you were able to get to the starting mark without going above close hauled. It does not matter if you stuck it up into the wind before the start, as long as you came down to proper course after.
Did you have to sail below proper course (close-hauled)? If you had to bear off to let the windward boat in, the windward boat most likely barged.
In conclusion, the leeward boat at the boat end of the line does not have to let anyone in before the start. After the start, if the boats are still on the prestart side of the line, you only have to let boats in if your proper course does not take you up to the starting mark.
This next video shows how barging can ruin a nice start. In this video, the red boat has positioned herself to lay the boat end. The blue and green boats barge into the start and the red boat has to head down to let them in. Of the three, the red boat gets the worst start. Red is down the line and a little later than he would have been. Both green and blue should be protested. Green may say that blue was in the way, but blue has no excuse.
The last video shows what should happen in the same situation. Notice green and blue have to spin out of the way. Light blue fairs better in this as well since they were not barging. This is how it should be.
Click here to read a good illustrative post on barging. Please ignore the rules in that link as they are from a previous rules edition.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Summer Race #2
Wednesday 7/27/2011
Steady NNW wind at 6-10 knots. Current started flooding around 18:00. Course was from H to 26 to 24 to H. A & B sailed to K instead of 24.
It was a beautiful summer evening to be sailing. Just enough wind to keep boats moving. There were some nice clouds above to give the setting sun a palette to spread its glory. A sun dog appeared on this rainless evening. Sailboats were spread all across the river with full sails. The Clearwater herself was out for a jaunt and she looked like the mother hen with all her chicks playing about.
Every sense was entertained this evening. The scene was a treat for the eyes. The gentle lapping of water on the hull was sweet music. The life of the land was carried over the water to the nose. The gentle warm breeze on the skin made the scratchy winter gear a distant memory. Even the Schaeffer tasted better on this night.
It was a sailor’s evening. I have been interested in the new trawlers that are on the market. I thought to myself that it would make a great boat to do the Great Loop in. I had pictured myself in the future cruising the rivers and canals that cross America. I realized sailing on this special evening that I would not want the diesel beast to be my only means of propulsion. While the tugs look nice and serene in pictures, they are still powered by diesel. I cannot fully free myself from the preoccupations of the modern world while under power from such a damaging substance. I get few chances to connect with nature and it is impossible to do so when carcinogens are spewing from the stern.
This is not my normal thinking on the matters. I am in the middle of Moby Dick. Melville points out the conflict in the churches in his day. They speak of benevolence, yet they light their nights with the oil from dead whales. He said that in every gallon of oil burned there was a drop of fisherman’s blood. As he writes about the horrors of whaling on both the whalers and the whales, it is ironic that the places of worship lit the night with the very same substance that caused so much pain.
So, I may never make the leap from sail to motor, though I will still reserve that right and avoid any proclamations to the contrary. On this evening, I was in the perfect place on the perfect vehicle. It was another great moment on the water. It is too rare that I get the chance to have careless thoughts floating through my head while I carelessly float on the water.
There was also a race. The race committee had good course selection. Both fleets finished around the same time which is always appreciated on Pizza night. The Race Marshall was setup on the port side of the line. I prefer they setup on the starboard side. Click here to read why. Surprise became mark K since it was missing.
Steady NNW wind at 6-10 knots. Current started flooding around 18:00. Course was from H to 26 to 24 to H. A & B sailed to K instead of 24.
It was a beautiful summer evening to be sailing. Just enough wind to keep boats moving. There were some nice clouds above to give the setting sun a palette to spread its glory. A sun dog appeared on this rainless evening. Sailboats were spread all across the river with full sails. The Clearwater herself was out for a jaunt and she looked like the mother hen with all her chicks playing about.
Every sense was entertained this evening. The scene was a treat for the eyes. The gentle lapping of water on the hull was sweet music. The life of the land was carried over the water to the nose. The gentle warm breeze on the skin made the scratchy winter gear a distant memory. Even the Schaeffer tasted better on this night.
It was a sailor’s evening. I have been interested in the new trawlers that are on the market. I thought to myself that it would make a great boat to do the Great Loop in. I had pictured myself in the future cruising the rivers and canals that cross America. I realized sailing on this special evening that I would not want the diesel beast to be my only means of propulsion. While the tugs look nice and serene in pictures, they are still powered by diesel. I cannot fully free myself from the preoccupations of the modern world while under power from such a damaging substance. I get few chances to connect with nature and it is impossible to do so when carcinogens are spewing from the stern.
This is not my normal thinking on the matters. I am in the middle of Moby Dick. Melville points out the conflict in the churches in his day. They speak of benevolence, yet they light their nights with the oil from dead whales. He said that in every gallon of oil burned there was a drop of fisherman’s blood. As he writes about the horrors of whaling on both the whalers and the whales, it is ironic that the places of worship lit the night with the very same substance that caused so much pain.
So, I may never make the leap from sail to motor, though I will still reserve that right and avoid any proclamations to the contrary. On this evening, I was in the perfect place on the perfect vehicle. It was another great moment on the water. It is too rare that I get the chance to have careless thoughts floating through my head while I carelessly float on the water.
There was also a race. The race committee had good course selection. Both fleets finished around the same time which is always appreciated on Pizza night. The Race Marshall was setup on the port side of the line. I prefer they setup on the starboard side. Click here to read why. Surprise became mark K since it was missing.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Summer Race #1
Wednesday 7/20/2011
Healthy SE breeze between 10 and 15 knots. A&B sailed to K twice around and C went from H to K to G to H. Current was ebbing all race.
We left the marina and immediately hoisted the sails. With the wind from the SE, we had a nice tight reach out to the starting area. Gusto was on station early and we passed by them on our way to get some upwind readings.
Sailing upwind, we did a tack or two before we caught the old jib on the mast. The ring that holds the whisper pole to the mast had caught on an existing tear in the jib and gave us a new window on the back of the jib. After 4 years and over 2,000 tacks my favorite sail ever was toast. I had ordered a new one a few weeks ago, so it was finally time to make the change. We were able to make the change with about 10 minutes to go to our start.
With new jib flying nicely, I focused on the start. We passed by the RM with about 2 minutes to go on port. We were sailing into the entire fleet while they were on starboard. Having been at the RM with 2 minutes to go, I had a good idea of when to tack to make the RM on time. When you sail in on starboard for a few minutes, it is much tougher to know if you are early or late. We passed the four early boats and then tacked in front of the late boats.
My spot was not ideal since a leeward boat could have taken me up, but there were none to contend with. At the start, we won the boat and led the fleet out to the left. I wanted to protect the left side from the Bugaboo move. In case you did not read this in the past, the Bugaboo move is an unexplained advantage boats get going left in the SE breeze. Even the stronger ebb to the right does not overcome this affect. We did see some of the reason for the affect as we came in from the port side and got lifted as we sailed into the mark on port. It is still a mystery to me.
The competition followed us in the same direction. I am not sure why no one tried the right side. We were ready to cover anyone that headed right and this could have allowed other boats to gain, but since everyone followed us, it was simply a drag race around the course. When you start ahead, a drag race is perfect.
The reaches were fun, but uneventful. We finished the race and noticed Jesse was taking some video while up in the rigging. I remember doing that in 1989 at the end of a Block Island race when we were hopelessly behind. It makes for some cool video.
We continued sailing after the race. We sailed on a beat up to Croton point before turning downwind and doing some nice long broad reaches back and forth across the river. When night fell, we headed into our slip and called it a night.
The RM was excellent once again. The Race Marshalls have run some great races the last couple of weeks. I hope this continues.
Healthy SE breeze between 10 and 15 knots. A&B sailed to K twice around and C went from H to K to G to H. Current was ebbing all race.
We left the marina and immediately hoisted the sails. With the wind from the SE, we had a nice tight reach out to the starting area. Gusto was on station early and we passed by them on our way to get some upwind readings.
Sailing upwind, we did a tack or two before we caught the old jib on the mast. The ring that holds the whisper pole to the mast had caught on an existing tear in the jib and gave us a new window on the back of the jib. After 4 years and over 2,000 tacks my favorite sail ever was toast. I had ordered a new one a few weeks ago, so it was finally time to make the change. We were able to make the change with about 10 minutes to go to our start.
With new jib flying nicely, I focused on the start. We passed by the RM with about 2 minutes to go on port. We were sailing into the entire fleet while they were on starboard. Having been at the RM with 2 minutes to go, I had a good idea of when to tack to make the RM on time. When you sail in on starboard for a few minutes, it is much tougher to know if you are early or late. We passed the four early boats and then tacked in front of the late boats.
My spot was not ideal since a leeward boat could have taken me up, but there were none to contend with. At the start, we won the boat and led the fleet out to the left. I wanted to protect the left side from the Bugaboo move. In case you did not read this in the past, the Bugaboo move is an unexplained advantage boats get going left in the SE breeze. Even the stronger ebb to the right does not overcome this affect. We did see some of the reason for the affect as we came in from the port side and got lifted as we sailed into the mark on port. It is still a mystery to me.
The competition followed us in the same direction. I am not sure why no one tried the right side. We were ready to cover anyone that headed right and this could have allowed other boats to gain, but since everyone followed us, it was simply a drag race around the course. When you start ahead, a drag race is perfect.
The reaches were fun, but uneventful. We finished the race and noticed Jesse was taking some video while up in the rigging. I remember doing that in 1989 at the end of a Block Island race when we were hopelessly behind. It makes for some cool video.
We continued sailing after the race. We sailed on a beat up to Croton point before turning downwind and doing some nice long broad reaches back and forth across the river. When night fell, we headed into our slip and called it a night.
The RM was excellent once again. The Race Marshalls have run some great races the last couple of weeks. I hope this continues.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Spring Race #10
Wednesday 7/13/2011
Good breeze starting at 10-15 from the WNW building to 15-20 with puffs up to 25 knots. The current was flooding. Course was from H to 26 to K to H. Full Moon course was from H to 26 to 24 to H.
I arrived at the marina early this week to fix a winch. When I arrived, the bottom was nice and clean. This was the first time I paid to have the bottom cleaned and it was well worth it. The temperature was a nice 80 degrees and the light breeze in the harbor made working on the boat pleasant.
Two of the paw springs on my primary winch had lost their spoke. This caused the paws to not stick out and catch anymore. Luckily I had replacement springs on hand and was able to fix the issue quickly. I took the time to clean and grease the primaries hoping to avoid any future issues. Everything went smooth this time, but be careful with those little springs. About three years ago, I lost a spring overboard and had to fashion a new spring since the old ones are no longer available. Draping a towel over the lifelines will help keep those little springs from liberating themselves to the sea.
We then headed out to the race area. We immediately set the main in the lee by the harbor. We lost a hat and were unable to recover it before it sank. The breeze was fresh and took us to the Race Marshal quickly. When we got there, the line was skewed, but the RM corrected this before the start.
We had a nice start to the race and were able to keep the lead up to the first mark. We saw a port-starboard incident, but were too far away to know what happened. If anyone else saw that, please add a comment.
Rounding 26 was easy since the current helped push us north. Once we turned downwind, we winged the jib and sailed straight for K. The wind got lighter before building to close to 20 knots for the final upwind leg. The last leg was a nice ride to the finish. We were near Hard A Tack who seemed to be having another great race. I am always pulling for them since they are a boat that is constantly out there sailing to get more experience. Their effort is paying off well.
After the race, we sailed around and had a sandwich before the full moon race began. The moon rose around 20:00 and the full moon race began. The wind was still up in the 15-20 knot range and it was a tough slog to 26. The flooding current working against the breeze was building up some nice square waves.
We finished the race and headed straight in. We were all a bit tired from the fresh breeze. It was a great night of racing. We don’t get too many heavy air nights this time of year.
Both race committees did a great job. Matty Mozar of A Line Up volunteered to do the full moon race on short notice and pulled it off without a hitch.
I believe the radio interference we are getting is coming from the Hudson National Golf Club. I spoke to the FCC again Thursday morning and they indicated that they would monitor the area again the week of August 1st. So it looks like we will have a few more weeks of interference. Please try anything you can to get through to these people that they should not be using a marine radio.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Marine Radio Complaint Update #2
Communication on my part was lacking last week. I sent the email to a Louis Roman in the FCC instead of Luis Roman. Of course the email was not forwarded nor replied to, but that is to be expected from a government agency. Being in a customer service oriented business, I have an overly high expectation of how organizations should work.
Back to the facts, Luis checked out a few courses on the Rockland side of the river and found no violations. I was able to talk to him today and let him know what course to focus on. They should be going out there this afternoon. Hopefully they will catch the doosh bags in the act and nail them.
I do plan on talking with the dooshes tonight by name. The end may be near.
Back to the facts, Luis checked out a few courses on the Rockland side of the river and found no violations. I was able to talk to him today and let him know what course to focus on. They should be going out there this afternoon. Hopefully they will catch the doosh bags in the act and nail them.
I do plan on talking with the dooshes tonight by name. The end may be near.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Spring Race #9
Wednesday 7/6/2011
Nice start to the race with 10-15 knots from the WSW. That went down to almost nothing before a westerly vein came and went to carry everyone home. Current was ebbing all night. Course was from H to 22 to D to H.
I missed the previous week since I was on vacation at Long Beach Island. This week was my first time on the boat in 2 weeks and it was nice to be back on the river. Frank and I were the crew tonight and we motored out of the slip shortly after 17:30. We were greeted by a healthy WSW breeze which made for a great reach over to H.
Once at H we went upwind a bit and found more pressure up the course with a righty. This made us want to go to the right side of the course after the start. The line was committee boat favored. With the nice breeze I knew there would be some traffic around the boat at the start. We did our typical start for these conditions:
As far as the golf course doosh bags, since I heard enough of their first names and searched the local courses on the web, I now know the golf course they are from and have reported that back to the FCC. That should help them end this issue quickly (FCC translation = months). Next week I will hail them by full name. If the FCC cannot end it, I will publish their personal information and anyone will be able to discuss marine radio etiquette with them any time of the day.
I plan to add a special post on barging. This is common and I think there is a good opportunity to make starts more orderly if everyone knows what barging is.
Here is a video of our post race sail.
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Nice start to the race with 10-15 knots from the WSW. That went down to almost nothing before a westerly vein came and went to carry everyone home. Current was ebbing all night. Course was from H to 22 to D to H.
I missed the previous week since I was on vacation at Long Beach Island. This week was my first time on the boat in 2 weeks and it was nice to be back on the river. Frank and I were the crew tonight and we motored out of the slip shortly after 17:30. We were greeted by a healthy WSW breeze which made for a great reach over to H.
Once at H we went upwind a bit and found more pressure up the course with a righty. This made us want to go to the right side of the course after the start. The line was committee boat favored. With the nice breeze I knew there would be some traffic around the boat at the start. We did our typical start for these conditions:
- Run the line from the RM on starboard from 3:30 to go.
- With 2:30 to go, we tacked about and headed back towards the RM.
- At 1:30 to go, we were downwind of the RM and moving towards the fleet that was approaching on starboard. (We were on port)
- With 50 seconds, we tacked onto starboard and began our approach.
- We were slightly early, so I headed up to slow down and keep our position.
- With about 15 seconds to go, we were two or three boat-lengths down from the RM, but we were building speed towards the line.
- We started with little room to spare. We had enough speed to tack over to port and cross the guys that were slow coming out of the fight for the boat end. (I heard some of those boats had barged in)
So off to the right we went. When we tacked back to starboard up the course, A Train could cross. Zoom banged the left corner and at the mark had a comfortable lead. I can never figure out why the left side pays off in this situation. I call it the Bugaboo move as Bugaboo always kicked our ass when they stayed left. The current and direction seemed to favor the right side, but the proof is in the results. The left side was favored and I cannot explain why. A comment on this would be most welcome.
Downwind, we had a few B boats around and we worked with them down the rhumb line. Zoom went to the East side and had a tough time there. Seems like they went back to the well and I once again have no idea why it did not work for them. The only thing I can think of is that the breeze did not seem to get far enough east. Half way down the leg, Frank saw some dust coming off the land to the northwest, so we headed west for a few minutes to catch the new breeze and got to D quickly.
Once at D, we headed up and sailed to the finish. The breeze was nice, so we sailed around until 21:00 before heading in.
The Race Marshall did a tremendous job this night. The course was long and challenging, yet everyone finished in time. The line was fair and the announcements were clear and on time.
As far as the golf course doosh bags, since I heard enough of their first names and searched the local courses on the web, I now know the golf course they are from and have reported that back to the FCC. That should help them end this issue quickly (FCC translation = months). Next week I will hail them by full name. If the FCC cannot end it, I will publish their personal information and anyone will be able to discuss marine radio etiquette with them any time of the day.
I plan to add a special post on barging. This is common and I think there is a good opportunity to make starts more orderly if everyone knows what barging is.
Here is a video of our post race sail.
Here is a picture:
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Marine Radio Complaint Update
Last year some doosh bags from a local golf course decided to use marine radios for their communications. This got in our way on the Haverstraw Bay because they chose channel 72 to use. This is our channel for all racing communication on the river.
Since I write the blog, I decided to contact some people last year. I called and emailed the FCC and while I got in contact with Laura Smith, it took until the end of the summer until we finally spoke. She said she would refer the issue to the field, but that did not happen. Here is a blog about that.
I had better luck with the Rockland County Sheriff. Adam Feuer, the Chief of Communication, and I were in contact, but it was late in the season and the dooshes were not active the night he monitored 72. I emailed him again this year, but did not hear back.
At some point Kevin from Minisceongo YC successfully got in touch with the FCC and had their field office ready to respond. Unfortunately, the contact information on his complaint left the FCC with no way to get back in touch with him. The FCC claims they called his contact number and emailed the complaint address with no response.
A few weeks ago, I was pissed off and took some additional action. Since I know the FCC emails are in the format firstname.lastname@fcc.gov, I emailed about half a dozen senior FCC officials by getting their names from the FCC site. That brought about a quick response (two weeks).
Last week, while away, I got a call from Dan Noel. He is the FCC director of field operations in the NY metro area. I called him back upon my return to work yesterday (7/5/2011), but did not reach him.
Finally, this morning I got a call from Louis Roman. He works for Dan Noel and was looking to get details on the doosh transmissions. He explained that he received the complaint from Minisceongo, but could not get in touch with Kevin based on the contact information left. We discussed the situation for about 10 minutes and he said he would have an agent look into this early next week.
I am going to be in touch with Louis from here on out. I will give him updates whenever I hear the dooshes on the radio. Since I moved to a new house recently, I have not been out on the weekends much. If anyone has any additional information on when the doosh bags transmit, please leave a comment and let me know the details and I can forward those on to the FCC.
After 15 months, I finally seem to have gained some traction and I would appreciate any help in giving the FCC additional information about the doosh transmissions.
Since I write the blog, I decided to contact some people last year. I called and emailed the FCC and while I got in contact with Laura Smith, it took until the end of the summer until we finally spoke. She said she would refer the issue to the field, but that did not happen. Here is a blog about that.
I had better luck with the Rockland County Sheriff. Adam Feuer, the Chief of Communication, and I were in contact, but it was late in the season and the dooshes were not active the night he monitored 72. I emailed him again this year, but did not hear back.
At some point Kevin from Minisceongo YC successfully got in touch with the FCC and had their field office ready to respond. Unfortunately, the contact information on his complaint left the FCC with no way to get back in touch with him. The FCC claims they called his contact number and emailed the complaint address with no response.
A few weeks ago, I was pissed off and took some additional action. Since I know the FCC emails are in the format firstname.lastname@fcc.gov, I emailed about half a dozen senior FCC officials by getting their names from the FCC site. That brought about a quick response (two weeks).
Last week, while away, I got a call from Dan Noel. He is the FCC director of field operations in the NY metro area. I called him back upon my return to work yesterday (7/5/2011), but did not reach him.
Finally, this morning I got a call from Louis Roman. He works for Dan Noel and was looking to get details on the doosh transmissions. He explained that he received the complaint from Minisceongo, but could not get in touch with Kevin based on the contact information left. We discussed the situation for about 10 minutes and he said he would have an agent look into this early next week.
I am going to be in touch with Louis from here on out. I will give him updates whenever I hear the dooshes on the radio. Since I moved to a new house recently, I have not been out on the weekends much. If anyone has any additional information on when the doosh bags transmit, please leave a comment and let me know the details and I can forward those on to the FCC.
After 15 months, I finally seem to have gained some traction and I would appreciate any help in giving the FCC additional information about the doosh transmissions.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Spring Race #7
Wednesday 6/22/2011
The winds were light from the SE between 4 and 8 knots. Winds went variable in the downpours. Current was flooding early and then ebbing late. The course was from H to K to G to H.
The forecast for this race was rainy with a chance of thunderstorms. The RM left the dock early and headed out to the course. The radar indicated a heavy band approaching the race area. Further south in central Jersey, a well-developed cell was wreaking some havoc. We kept an eye on the warnings and the radar and we never were under any thunderstorm warnings.
The RM had a line set before 18:00 and announced the course repeatedly. We were happy that the race would go on as the weather was not posing any real threat. Things can change rapidly, but it was nice to be able to give the race a chance rather than cancel yet another decent race evening. We seem to get some threat of foul weather two or three Wednesdays each season and only occasionally does the shit hit the fan.
The line was skewed to make the port end considerably favored. Starting on port was the only option for us. Many boats setup near the RM or the middle of the line, but we went straight for the pin end. We started about 3-5 seconds late, but we had speed and we were at the pin.
Being ahead and higher than the fleet gave us a nice advantage on the leg. The wind was more consistent on the left side and we stretched out on most boats after the start. We even caught a few B boats on the first leg. Coming into K, we tacked around and stayed high since the wind seemed to get lighter towards G. By staying high, we would later have some room to come down as the wind died down.
Coming into G, we were between two B boats. I was hell bent on making sure we could jibe around the mark and get back to the middle of the river. This was a fatal mistake. I maneuvered the boat to get to the left and promptly killed our momentum. We were now in a hole and had little steerage. The two B boats we rounded with stayed up to the eastern shore and kept their breeze and momentum. The correct move was to stay on the east side and we just blew it.
After a couple of minutes without much progress, A Train and Zoom rounded G and stayed to the east. This was a great move by them. They continued in the breeze while we were still in the hole. Eventually, the skies opened and some rain fell. This bit of rain did not bring wind with it. It was frustrating since we were now watching boats we had put well behind us sail by. When the rain eased, the wind backed from the SE again and carried us to the finish. A Train and Zoom had a great leg and finished ahead of us. Merlin also made a good charge and finished very close behind.
It was interesting at the finish. A Train, Zoom, Genesis, and Jazz were all finishing around the same time. The pin was favored and we were the last of the four boats. No one seemed to be going towards the pin very aggressively, so we cut in without room. It was risky since we could have been forced to spin around if someone decided to take the pin close, but everyone ended up sailing down the line a little. We probably picked up 10 or 15 seconds by finishing right at the pin. The boats that reached up the line lost some time by not turning down sooner.
The only rule worth mentioning here is that once a boat finishes she needs to stay clear of boats racing. As we were finishing, a boat that had finished headed up to sail back south. I asked them to hold their course since we had not finished yet and they should not interfere. I bring this up since until they finished, they had room at the pin and we needed to stay clear. Once they finished AND cleared the line, they have to stay clear of the racing boats. This does not mean they had to “get out of the way”. It means they cannot change their course and interfere with anyone still racing. Sometimes in light air finishes, I have the engine ready to go in case we need to clear out quickly. There was no issue this night, but I figure the rule is worth mentioning.
23 INTERFERING WITH ANOTHER BOAT
23.1 If reasonably possible, a boat not racing shall not interfere with a boat that is racing.
Finish A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark, either for the first time or after taking a penalty under rule 44.2 or, after correcting an error made at the finishing line, under rule 28.1.
Racing A boat is racing from her preparatory signal until she finishes and clears the finishing line and marks or retires, or until the race committee signals a general recall, postponement or abandonment.
When we put rule 23.1 together with the definition of the finish and racing, we can see that as long as we gave the boat room to clear the line, their racing will end and they will need to stay clear. That is not to say the boat that finished needs to change course immediately and get out of the way. Rather it is to say that the boat that finished and cleared the line should not interfere with the boats racing. Again, this was not an issue on this night, but it is worth mentioning.
Another point that we should look at is that a boat must clear the line on their own before they can start their engine. I never realized that until I looked into this situation. I always thought that once you got your horn you were done, but looking at the above definition of racing we see that you are still racing until you clear the line and marks. That does not mean you have to completely cross the line, but you do need to clear it before you can put your engine in gear.
PART 4
OTHER REQUIREMENTS WHEN
RACING
Part 4 rules apply only to boats racing.
42 PROPULSION
42.1 Basic Rule
Except when permitted in rule 42.3 or 45, a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of sails and hull, and perform other acts of seamanship, but shall not otherwise move their bodies to propel the boat.
After finishing, we sailed around for another hour. The rain came and went and with it some good winds. After all the rain cleared out, the wind died and we headed in. All in all, a good race and a good night of sailing. The RM did a great job getting a race in. I appreciate their commitment to their duty.
The winds were light from the SE between 4 and 8 knots. Winds went variable in the downpours. Current was flooding early and then ebbing late. The course was from H to K to G to H.
The forecast for this race was rainy with a chance of thunderstorms. The RM left the dock early and headed out to the course. The radar indicated a heavy band approaching the race area. Further south in central Jersey, a well-developed cell was wreaking some havoc. We kept an eye on the warnings and the radar and we never were under any thunderstorm warnings.
The RM had a line set before 18:00 and announced the course repeatedly. We were happy that the race would go on as the weather was not posing any real threat. Things can change rapidly, but it was nice to be able to give the race a chance rather than cancel yet another decent race evening. We seem to get some threat of foul weather two or three Wednesdays each season and only occasionally does the shit hit the fan.
The line was skewed to make the port end considerably favored. Starting on port was the only option for us. Many boats setup near the RM or the middle of the line, but we went straight for the pin end. We started about 3-5 seconds late, but we had speed and we were at the pin.
Being ahead and higher than the fleet gave us a nice advantage on the leg. The wind was more consistent on the left side and we stretched out on most boats after the start. We even caught a few B boats on the first leg. Coming into K, we tacked around and stayed high since the wind seemed to get lighter towards G. By staying high, we would later have some room to come down as the wind died down.
Coming into G, we were between two B boats. I was hell bent on making sure we could jibe around the mark and get back to the middle of the river. This was a fatal mistake. I maneuvered the boat to get to the left and promptly killed our momentum. We were now in a hole and had little steerage. The two B boats we rounded with stayed up to the eastern shore and kept their breeze and momentum. The correct move was to stay on the east side and we just blew it.
After a couple of minutes without much progress, A Train and Zoom rounded G and stayed to the east. This was a great move by them. They continued in the breeze while we were still in the hole. Eventually, the skies opened and some rain fell. This bit of rain did not bring wind with it. It was frustrating since we were now watching boats we had put well behind us sail by. When the rain eased, the wind backed from the SE again and carried us to the finish. A Train and Zoom had a great leg and finished ahead of us. Merlin also made a good charge and finished very close behind.
It was interesting at the finish. A Train, Zoom, Genesis, and Jazz were all finishing around the same time. The pin was favored and we were the last of the four boats. No one seemed to be going towards the pin very aggressively, so we cut in without room. It was risky since we could have been forced to spin around if someone decided to take the pin close, but everyone ended up sailing down the line a little. We probably picked up 10 or 15 seconds by finishing right at the pin. The boats that reached up the line lost some time by not turning down sooner.
The only rule worth mentioning here is that once a boat finishes she needs to stay clear of boats racing. As we were finishing, a boat that had finished headed up to sail back south. I asked them to hold their course since we had not finished yet and they should not interfere. I bring this up since until they finished, they had room at the pin and we needed to stay clear. Once they finished AND cleared the line, they have to stay clear of the racing boats. This does not mean they had to “get out of the way”. It means they cannot change their course and interfere with anyone still racing. Sometimes in light air finishes, I have the engine ready to go in case we need to clear out quickly. There was no issue this night, but I figure the rule is worth mentioning.
23 INTERFERING WITH ANOTHER BOAT
23.1 If reasonably possible, a boat not racing shall not interfere with a boat that is racing.
Finish A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark, either for the first time or after taking a penalty under rule 44.2 or, after correcting an error made at the finishing line, under rule 28.1.
Racing A boat is racing from her preparatory signal until she finishes and clears the finishing line and marks or retires, or until the race committee signals a general recall, postponement or abandonment.
When we put rule 23.1 together with the definition of the finish and racing, we can see that as long as we gave the boat room to clear the line, their racing will end and they will need to stay clear. That is not to say the boat that finished needs to change course immediately and get out of the way. Rather it is to say that the boat that finished and cleared the line should not interfere with the boats racing. Again, this was not an issue on this night, but it is worth mentioning.
Another point that we should look at is that a boat must clear the line on their own before they can start their engine. I never realized that until I looked into this situation. I always thought that once you got your horn you were done, but looking at the above definition of racing we see that you are still racing until you clear the line and marks. That does not mean you have to completely cross the line, but you do need to clear it before you can put your engine in gear.
PART 4
OTHER REQUIREMENTS WHEN
RACING
Part 4 rules apply only to boats racing.
42 PROPULSION
42.1 Basic Rule
Except when permitted in rule 42.3 or 45, a boat shall compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of sails and hull, and perform other acts of seamanship, but shall not otherwise move their bodies to propel the boat.
After finishing, we sailed around for another hour. The rain came and went and with it some good winds. After all the rain cleared out, the wind died and we headed in. All in all, a good race and a good night of sailing. The RM did a great job getting a race in. I appreciate their commitment to their duty.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Spring Race #6
Wednesday 6/15/2011
The winds were light from the NE between 0 and 2 knots. A healthy WNW breeze kicked in around 19:00. Current was ebbing until 20:00 then flooding. All divisions sailed from H to D to 26 to H. The Full Moon race sailed H to 26 to 24 to H.
This night was a tough one. It was light from the NE as we headed out. I was ready to swim again, but it appeared the Race Marshall was going to start us no matter the wind speed. As we prepared for the sequence, our plans included anchoring at the line. A few boats ended up doing this.
As the time approached for the C start, I was way out of position. I ended up starting over one minute late. I came into the boat end on a reach, but the wind was so light that we had trouble making one knot through the water. With foul current, this was barely any progress over the ground. We heard of two C boats that got pushed into the RM. Half the other C boats either anchored or started very late.
We debated the start on our boat. Frank believed that the start was the right thing to do and I thought the RM should wait until there was a steady 2-3 knot wind. The RM said they measured 3 knots on the water, but we did not see that ourselves. It is a tough call, so I will post a survey and let’s get some anonymous opinions.
There was one boat left to race against in C shortly after the start since so many were stuck on the line or worse. We ended up well behind that boat during the light and variable part of the first leg. Then we looked to the West and saw the breeze coming on. We maneuvered the boat as best we could to head north. This brought us to the left (west) of our competition and we got the breeze first. They had a comfortable lead when the air finally reached them, but they decided to squander that lead and head up to engage us.
I try to be Mr. Mellow on Wednesday nights, but sometimes I just can’t get away from boat to boat situations. This boat wasted a lot of distance to get close to us. They were still ahead, but only a boat-length to leeward. We both sailed high for a while, then I made a drastic turn to leeward and went below them. I just wanted to get to the mark quickly. After a costly delay, the other boat sailed from over two boat lengths to windward back down to us. Now they had lost more distance and we were overlapped to leeward. It was quite a bit of good fortune for us to have this boat engage us from a commanding position and then switch positions and put us in the leeward spot.
We were moving ahead of them at this point. They were still overlapped when they called for room. I was amazed by this since we were a long way from the mark. I responded to them that we would start our stopwatch and time how long it took us to get to the mark. (To make this clear, the boat seemed to call for room at this point and we said that it was too early.) They were about to lose their overlap and we had no intention of giving them room after that. By the time we got to the mark, doing 5 knots, 75 seconds had passed. Let’s pause and do some math together. Keep in mind we were ahead, so the 3 boat-length circle uses our 28 feet as the boat-length.
5 knots = 8.44 feet per second
75 seconds * 8.44 = 633 feet
633/28 = 22.6 boat-lengths
28*3 = 84 feet = 3 boat-lengths = 10 seconds from circle to mark at 5 knots
I could be terribly wrong with what the other boat was trying to communicate, but it appeared that the boat was asking for room over 22 boat-lengths away. Sound crazy? It should, but it is not. I have lost this protest before. You would be amazed how fast 22 boat-lengths can turn into 3, or even 2 in the old days. Having that previous experience has taught me to start a stopwatch when a boat makes a hail for room. When you can give the protest committee a hard time, with your speed, things will be clear in the hearing. In this case, it was purely academic.
Back to racing, in those 22 boat-lengths we sailed to the mark, we added to our lead and there was no room issue with that boat. We rounded ahead of them and then tacked three times quickly to get on their air. I normally would not do this, but they engaged us, so I thought it best to get well ahead and avoid any further issues. We were over a minute ahead at 26 and cruised on down to the finish.
After finishing, we heard a boat that wanted to take a penalty. They did a 360. A 360 is used when you hit a mark. If the rules allow, you need to take a Two-Turns penalty (720) when accepting a penalty. Our rules say that boats need to acknowledge their foul and take a percentage penalty of their finishing place.
PENALTY SYSTEM: For infringement of a rule of Part 2, penalties will be as set forth in rule 44. If a scoring Penalty of 20% is taken, a yellow flag need not be flown and the decision to accept such penalty need not be made while racing. But the decision must be made before the convening of a protest hearing.
Click Here for Rule 44
Rule 44 talks about the Two-Turns penalty and says that a penalty can be a scoring penalty if specified in the sailing instructions. Our instructions seem to indicate that the scoring penalty is the one we use, although it could be argued that the instructions allow for either penalty.
Full Moon Race
Once the boats had finished sailing, we set the anchor and got ready to run the full moon race. We decided not to pick up the flags since the wind was up and the RM was still anchored. We rolled into a start at 19:55. The breeze was still good, but was beginning to fade. We executed the sequence and the 6 boats racing had a nice start.
The race looked pretty good until the wind dropped out about half way through. Four of the six boats finished. It was a nice evening as Genesis approached the line in light air. Here is a video of them coming into the finish with the full moon behind them.
There was a tight finished between Gusto and Zoom with Zoom just barely edging out Gusto by a few seconds. We then fired up the diesel and headed in.
On the way in, we had a large motor boat coming up from the south. The boat was to our port and they were heading 20 degrees to the starboard of our course. This was a collision course. I was hoping the captain would make a slight turn to take our stern, but he was not yielding. I was not positive we had the right of way, nor did I want to press the issue. Since the other captain was not yielding, I threw in a 360 before it got close. There is no pride in navigating at night. I did not know the other captain’s abilities, so I decided to take the drastic turn and make clear my intention of motoring behind him. He passed without incident and we made it back to the harbor.
Turns out I was right of way, but I did not need to sink my boat to prove a point. In case you need a quick refresher, click here.
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The winds were light from the NE between 0 and 2 knots. A healthy WNW breeze kicked in around 19:00. Current was ebbing until 20:00 then flooding. All divisions sailed from H to D to 26 to H. The Full Moon race sailed H to 26 to 24 to H.
This night was a tough one. It was light from the NE as we headed out. I was ready to swim again, but it appeared the Race Marshall was going to start us no matter the wind speed. As we prepared for the sequence, our plans included anchoring at the line. A few boats ended up doing this.
As the time approached for the C start, I was way out of position. I ended up starting over one minute late. I came into the boat end on a reach, but the wind was so light that we had trouble making one knot through the water. With foul current, this was barely any progress over the ground. We heard of two C boats that got pushed into the RM. Half the other C boats either anchored or started very late.
We debated the start on our boat. Frank believed that the start was the right thing to do and I thought the RM should wait until there was a steady 2-3 knot wind. The RM said they measured 3 knots on the water, but we did not see that ourselves. It is a tough call, so I will post a survey and let’s get some anonymous opinions.
There was one boat left to race against in C shortly after the start since so many were stuck on the line or worse. We ended up well behind that boat during the light and variable part of the first leg. Then we looked to the West and saw the breeze coming on. We maneuvered the boat as best we could to head north. This brought us to the left (west) of our competition and we got the breeze first. They had a comfortable lead when the air finally reached them, but they decided to squander that lead and head up to engage us.
I try to be Mr. Mellow on Wednesday nights, but sometimes I just can’t get away from boat to boat situations. This boat wasted a lot of distance to get close to us. They were still ahead, but only a boat-length to leeward. We both sailed high for a while, then I made a drastic turn to leeward and went below them. I just wanted to get to the mark quickly. After a costly delay, the other boat sailed from over two boat lengths to windward back down to us. Now they had lost more distance and we were overlapped to leeward. It was quite a bit of good fortune for us to have this boat engage us from a commanding position and then switch positions and put us in the leeward spot.
We were moving ahead of them at this point. They were still overlapped when they called for room. I was amazed by this since we were a long way from the mark. I responded to them that we would start our stopwatch and time how long it took us to get to the mark. (To make this clear, the boat seemed to call for room at this point and we said that it was too early.) They were about to lose their overlap and we had no intention of giving them room after that. By the time we got to the mark, doing 5 knots, 75 seconds had passed. Let’s pause and do some math together. Keep in mind we were ahead, so the 3 boat-length circle uses our 28 feet as the boat-length.
5 knots = 8.44 feet per second
75 seconds * 8.44 = 633 feet
633/28 = 22.6 boat-lengths
28*3 = 84 feet = 3 boat-lengths = 10 seconds from circle to mark at 5 knots
I could be terribly wrong with what the other boat was trying to communicate, but it appeared that the boat was asking for room over 22 boat-lengths away. Sound crazy? It should, but it is not. I have lost this protest before. You would be amazed how fast 22 boat-lengths can turn into 3, or even 2 in the old days. Having that previous experience has taught me to start a stopwatch when a boat makes a hail for room. When you can give the protest committee a hard time, with your speed, things will be clear in the hearing. In this case, it was purely academic.
Back to racing, in those 22 boat-lengths we sailed to the mark, we added to our lead and there was no room issue with that boat. We rounded ahead of them and then tacked three times quickly to get on their air. I normally would not do this, but they engaged us, so I thought it best to get well ahead and avoid any further issues. We were over a minute ahead at 26 and cruised on down to the finish.
After finishing, we heard a boat that wanted to take a penalty. They did a 360. A 360 is used when you hit a mark. If the rules allow, you need to take a Two-Turns penalty (720) when accepting a penalty. Our rules say that boats need to acknowledge their foul and take a percentage penalty of their finishing place.
PENALTY SYSTEM: For infringement of a rule of Part 2, penalties will be as set forth in rule 44. If a scoring Penalty of 20% is taken, a yellow flag need not be flown and the decision to accept such penalty need not be made while racing. But the decision must be made before the convening of a protest hearing.
Click Here for Rule 44
Rule 44 talks about the Two-Turns penalty and says that a penalty can be a scoring penalty if specified in the sailing instructions. Our instructions seem to indicate that the scoring penalty is the one we use, although it could be argued that the instructions allow for either penalty.
Full Moon Race
Once the boats had finished sailing, we set the anchor and got ready to run the full moon race. We decided not to pick up the flags since the wind was up and the RM was still anchored. We rolled into a start at 19:55. The breeze was still good, but was beginning to fade. We executed the sequence and the 6 boats racing had a nice start.
The race looked pretty good until the wind dropped out about half way through. Four of the six boats finished. It was a nice evening as Genesis approached the line in light air. Here is a video of them coming into the finish with the full moon behind them.
There was a tight finished between Gusto and Zoom with Zoom just barely edging out Gusto by a few seconds. We then fired up the diesel and headed in.
On the way in, we had a large motor boat coming up from the south. The boat was to our port and they were heading 20 degrees to the starboard of our course. This was a collision course. I was hoping the captain would make a slight turn to take our stern, but he was not yielding. I was not positive we had the right of way, nor did I want to press the issue. Since the other captain was not yielding, I threw in a 360 before it got close. There is no pride in navigating at night. I did not know the other captain’s abilities, so I decided to take the drastic turn and make clear my intention of motoring behind him. He passed without incident and we made it back to the harbor.
Turns out I was right of way, but I did not need to sink my boat to prove a point. In case you need a quick refresher, click here.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Spring Race #5
Wednesday 6/8/2011
The winds were light from the West between 4 and 8 knots. Current was changing or something, not a big deal. We sailed from H to 24 to D to H. A & B went twice around.
It was a hot evening. We left the slip and went just to the south of H so I could have some room to swim while the boat was carried to the line. After taking a quick dip, the wind started to pipe up a bit, so we hoisted the sails and began to move.
The starting line was fair with the pin end favored. The RM originally called for two courses that would have us going around the first mark in opposite directions, but then changed to twice around for A&B and once for C. I was happy with this call since the original course would have had the non-spin boats doing windward leeward, while the spin boats were doing reach-reach to get downwind.
Watching the first start, I saw a B boat pull off a port tack start. The slowest boat at their start port-tacked the entire fleet. I heard some starboard hails, but I am not sure if anything was even close. I have done that start once or twice in the same breeze. The trouble is that the left usually pays and port tacking the fleet brings you right. I don’t know what happened after that.
Back in C, we had a nice conservative start. We were close to the pin, but about 10 seconds late. We worked our way to the left side of the course before tacking over to port. We made some distance on the other boats by the time we reached 24. On the downwind, everyone seemed to sail north of the rhumb line. We winged it and went straight towards D. This worked out and we even passed a few B boats on the leg.
Leading up to the rounding at D, we heard at least two boats hail the RM to shorten the A and B course to once around. The wind at D was terrible, but the wind up the course was still holding on. While I would agree with the hailing boats that a shorter course was an option, I do not agree with them hailing for it. It is hypocritical for me to say this as I am sure I have done it in the past. Hell, I would probably put a link to a past blog where I talk about regretting getting on the radio, but since it is my blog, I’ll let someone comment with the link.
In the end, most boats that stayed out to race finished. A few withdrew. If you have no chance at finishing in the time limit, I can understand withdrawing. Otherwise, this is a 20:30 hard stop for racing. Surely, two hours on the water on a nice evening is not so uncomfortable that boats should be giving up and going home. I am psycho about sailing, so maybe I am way off base. We get about 20 hours of racing each year on Wednesday nights. Seems a little odd to give up when there is a chance at finishing.
Only two boats were OTL. The wind definitely died, but when we sailed in it seemed like someone would finish from B before the extended time limit of 20:50. Looking at the results, it does not appear that happened.
I would like to make special mention of a great performance on this night. Hard Attack sailed very well. They were out ahead early on the heels of the A boats and took line honors at the finish for B. It was great to watch them have such a good race. They were out with us in the stormy weather that cancelled race #2 and seeing them perform well made me think about how they flew their spinnaker on that nasty night. I hope their practice continues to pay off.
Summer Wind had a great race in C2. It was great to see two of the most dedicated racers getting good scores on this night.
The winds were light from the West between 4 and 8 knots. Current was changing or something, not a big deal. We sailed from H to 24 to D to H. A & B went twice around.
It was a hot evening. We left the slip and went just to the south of H so I could have some room to swim while the boat was carried to the line. After taking a quick dip, the wind started to pipe up a bit, so we hoisted the sails and began to move.
The starting line was fair with the pin end favored. The RM originally called for two courses that would have us going around the first mark in opposite directions, but then changed to twice around for A&B and once for C. I was happy with this call since the original course would have had the non-spin boats doing windward leeward, while the spin boats were doing reach-reach to get downwind.
Watching the first start, I saw a B boat pull off a port tack start. The slowest boat at their start port-tacked the entire fleet. I heard some starboard hails, but I am not sure if anything was even close. I have done that start once or twice in the same breeze. The trouble is that the left usually pays and port tacking the fleet brings you right. I don’t know what happened after that.
Back in C, we had a nice conservative start. We were close to the pin, but about 10 seconds late. We worked our way to the left side of the course before tacking over to port. We made some distance on the other boats by the time we reached 24. On the downwind, everyone seemed to sail north of the rhumb line. We winged it and went straight towards D. This worked out and we even passed a few B boats on the leg.
Leading up to the rounding at D, we heard at least two boats hail the RM to shorten the A and B course to once around. The wind at D was terrible, but the wind up the course was still holding on. While I would agree with the hailing boats that a shorter course was an option, I do not agree with them hailing for it. It is hypocritical for me to say this as I am sure I have done it in the past. Hell, I would probably put a link to a past blog where I talk about regretting getting on the radio, but since it is my blog, I’ll let someone comment with the link.
In the end, most boats that stayed out to race finished. A few withdrew. If you have no chance at finishing in the time limit, I can understand withdrawing. Otherwise, this is a 20:30 hard stop for racing. Surely, two hours on the water on a nice evening is not so uncomfortable that boats should be giving up and going home. I am psycho about sailing, so maybe I am way off base. We get about 20 hours of racing each year on Wednesday nights. Seems a little odd to give up when there is a chance at finishing.
Only two boats were OTL. The wind definitely died, but when we sailed in it seemed like someone would finish from B before the extended time limit of 20:50. Looking at the results, it does not appear that happened.
I would like to make special mention of a great performance on this night. Hard Attack sailed very well. They were out ahead early on the heels of the A boats and took line honors at the finish for B. It was great to watch them have such a good race. They were out with us in the stormy weather that cancelled race #2 and seeing them perform well made me think about how they flew their spinnaker on that nasty night. I hope their practice continues to pay off.
Summer Wind had a great race in C2. It was great to see two of the most dedicated racers getting good scores on this night.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Hudson Cove Regatta
Saturday-Sunday, 6/4/11-6/5/11
Saturday: The winds were light and variable until 13:30. At that point, a Northerly filled in and persistently moved left until it was NW by the end of racing. Courses were windward leeward.
Sunday: Started light, but by 10:30 a Southerly filled in. Course was from H to K to C to H.
I was assigned to Race Committee for the HCYC regatta. Tom DiLauro is in charge of the Race Committee and he assigned me to oversee the on water operations. It started with the skipper’s meeting where I issued instructions to monitor 72 for RC broadcasts and to ignore HRYRA instructions 4.3. Those instructions indicate a cap on how long we can wait to start a race and I was not interested in having my hands tied to the two hour limit. We need to change that for next year. There is no reason we should call off a Saturday race day after only two hours.
We next moved to the water with two boats. Moon Dog is the RC boat while George Samalot’s whaler is the mark boat. Once on the water, we dropped the hook near H and waited for a breeze. After being teased with a SW whisper for two hours, we finally got a northerly to fill in. As soon as we saw the breeze up north, the mark boat went up and dropped the windward mark. I was determined to get a race in no matter the circumstances, so we set up a two mile loop. While short for the 6-8 knots we were seeing, I did not want to take a chance at getting blanked for the day.
By the time we rolled into sequence, both the line and the course were skewed by about 30 degrees from the wind. Fearing the breeze would leave us, we sent the racers around for a quick first race. This worked out well as the last C boat did not finish until 14:30.
The racing instructions indicate a 30 minute delay from the time of the last finisher to the time of the next race. I conveniently interpreted this as 30 minutes from the last finisher until HER start. So with the last finisher in at 14:29, I decided we could begin the sequence at 14:45. This would start the C fleet at 15:00. We needed quick action since the RC boat had to be in by 16:30. We would have finished boats using the mark boat if the race dragged on, but that would not come to pass.
That course was also skewed as the wind went further left. It still left a decent upwind and downwind, but not the ideal setup that inflatable marks should allow. At the end of racing there were two protests. One was boat against boat and one was against the RC.
The protest against the RC was never heard. Looking back, I wish I would have communicated more on the radio before the starts. I wanted to send C once around instead of twice. The race instructions had no way to indicate the two different courses at once. The only way I thought I could do this was to change the course board at the warning signal which is also the start for B. Here is the rule:
27.1 No later than the warning signal, the race committee shall signal or otherwise designate the course to be sailed if the sailing instructions have not stated the course, and it may replace one course signal with another and signal that wearing personal flotation devices is required (display flag Y with one sound).
My compliance with rule 27.1 was followed by at least one pre-race announcement on VHF 72 and another post start clarification for a racing boat. The only rule I may have broken would be answering the boat that asked about the course after the start, but I think it is not assistance to clarify course confusion over the official race channel. If it is, fuck it. I’ll do that until they prohibit me from doing race committee.
In the end, three boats did not know it was one lap instead of two. I feel bad that this had to occur. Our sailing rules are sometimes reminiscent of the communication between 19th century boats, flags and signals. I think we can move into the 21st century and begin using things like the web or even twitter to get race course selection through. This is a constant problem I have experienced for over 30 years and it is time to eliminate it. It would have been nice if I could have sent a tweet (terminology courtesy of my wife). Then everyone would have the course. Maybe I’ll look into that for the next go around.
The important lesson is to check the course board after your warning signal. That is the only iron clad requirement in the rules. Everything else is non-binding.
The other protest was between two boats. I will not go into details about it. Arbitration was a failure by me. I think if I could have convinced the parties to give it a better chance, we could have arbitrated it, but I was too quick to allow them to proceed to the actual hearing. The trouble with the protest hearing is that you are right or DSQ. Nothing in between. In arbitration, you can impose alternate penalties.
The hearing went by the book. I don’t think we finished until 19:30. Luckily, I had spent a lot of time preparing for a protest. I even felt Saturday morning that I should have prepared more for on the water than protest, but I was relieved I had prepared once I knew there would be a hearing. The decision we reached was a difficult one and I wish it could have gone a different way. I am bound by the rules and evidence and that produced a result I was not happy about. A correct result by the rules, but a troubling one nonetheless.
Sunday was perfect. A light SSW breeze that built as the day went on. Captain Al of Moon Dog was nice enough to anchor twice as I was determined not to set another shitty line. This time the line was square, the course was perfect, and the race went off without a hitch. This is how I imagined Race Committee and it was nice to have an easy day after the shit storm on Saturday.
Personal Notes
I was amazed at the effort and concern all the race committee volunteers have for this regatta. I had the distinct honor of being in charge of the on the water activities for a group that were seasoned pros at this. Every operation of the committee boat was planned and executed with precision. Captain Al guided us to the right spot and did not complain as we ran around his boat all day. Jackie and her team of score keepers and flag hoisters were spot on to the second. Tom D. had everything in place to make the regatta a success. My normal crew, Eric, dutifully went around in the mark boat as I asked with every slight breeze on Saturday. All around, a perfect effort on their part.
All mistakes and errors Saturday were solely in my area. This is no pity party, I am confident I did a good job, but there is plenty of room for improvement. In Race Committee, there is no chance to make up for a mistake. If you screw something up, there is no going back, at least not without a high cost. Let’s look at some of the decisions I wish I could redo and see if I can improve for next year.
1. When the breeze finally seemed to be filling in, I rushed to get a race in. During that rush, I did not get a reading of the final wind, but had the mark boat set the first mark in the general direction of where the wind was filling in from. I think with an extra 10 minutes, I could have had a better course. As a result, the wind was further left than expected and the course was thus skewed. The starting line was skewed as well.
2. I do not regret the short course. Contrary to the anonymous caller asking for a longer course, I wanted two races and the best way to guarantee at least one was to set the first course shorter than I normally would. I stand by that decision and welcome comments to the contrary.
3. When I reset the marks for the second race, I did not direct the mark boat to go west far enough. This was a minor error as they were already getting close to the channel and we were running out of room anyway.
4. The larger error in the second race was the skewed line. I had the mark boat change the line by about 30 degrees, but should have moved it 20 or 30 more. Unfortunately, I had the mark boat go to the leeward mark instead of hanging around the pin. When I realized the line was off once again, I could not get them back in time to reset it. With a hard stop time for the day’s sailing, I decided to start with the skewed line rather than hoist the AP (postpone). The error was sending the mark boat away. They could have set the leeward mark after the start. I was hesitant to do that since it may confuse boats, but it was the right call and I did not make it.
5. The course confusion in C could use improvement. I need to think of ways to better communicate courses and changes to those courses. I will mention in next year’s skipper meeting to make sure everyone checks the course after their warning signal. You may see a course 15 minutes before your start, but it can change right up to the warning signal. This is where twitter or a web page could help.
I was happy to help the club and take over some of the tasks they did not like. I will think about the above points and many other possibilities that were considered during the weekend. Hopefully, we will have an even better regatta next year.
Saturday: The winds were light and variable until 13:30. At that point, a Northerly filled in and persistently moved left until it was NW by the end of racing. Courses were windward leeward.
Sunday: Started light, but by 10:30 a Southerly filled in. Course was from H to K to C to H.
I was assigned to Race Committee for the HCYC regatta. Tom DiLauro is in charge of the Race Committee and he assigned me to oversee the on water operations. It started with the skipper’s meeting where I issued instructions to monitor 72 for RC broadcasts and to ignore HRYRA instructions 4.3. Those instructions indicate a cap on how long we can wait to start a race and I was not interested in having my hands tied to the two hour limit. We need to change that for next year. There is no reason we should call off a Saturday race day after only two hours.
We next moved to the water with two boats. Moon Dog is the RC boat while George Samalot’s whaler is the mark boat. Once on the water, we dropped the hook near H and waited for a breeze. After being teased with a SW whisper for two hours, we finally got a northerly to fill in. As soon as we saw the breeze up north, the mark boat went up and dropped the windward mark. I was determined to get a race in no matter the circumstances, so we set up a two mile loop. While short for the 6-8 knots we were seeing, I did not want to take a chance at getting blanked for the day.
By the time we rolled into sequence, both the line and the course were skewed by about 30 degrees from the wind. Fearing the breeze would leave us, we sent the racers around for a quick first race. This worked out well as the last C boat did not finish until 14:30.
The racing instructions indicate a 30 minute delay from the time of the last finisher to the time of the next race. I conveniently interpreted this as 30 minutes from the last finisher until HER start. So with the last finisher in at 14:29, I decided we could begin the sequence at 14:45. This would start the C fleet at 15:00. We needed quick action since the RC boat had to be in by 16:30. We would have finished boats using the mark boat if the race dragged on, but that would not come to pass.
That course was also skewed as the wind went further left. It still left a decent upwind and downwind, but not the ideal setup that inflatable marks should allow. At the end of racing there were two protests. One was boat against boat and one was against the RC.
The protest against the RC was never heard. Looking back, I wish I would have communicated more on the radio before the starts. I wanted to send C once around instead of twice. The race instructions had no way to indicate the two different courses at once. The only way I thought I could do this was to change the course board at the warning signal which is also the start for B. Here is the rule:
27.1 No later than the warning signal, the race committee shall signal or otherwise designate the course to be sailed if the sailing instructions have not stated the course, and it may replace one course signal with another and signal that wearing personal flotation devices is required (display flag Y with one sound).
My compliance with rule 27.1 was followed by at least one pre-race announcement on VHF 72 and another post start clarification for a racing boat. The only rule I may have broken would be answering the boat that asked about the course after the start, but I think it is not assistance to clarify course confusion over the official race channel. If it is, fuck it. I’ll do that until they prohibit me from doing race committee.
In the end, three boats did not know it was one lap instead of two. I feel bad that this had to occur. Our sailing rules are sometimes reminiscent of the communication between 19th century boats, flags and signals. I think we can move into the 21st century and begin using things like the web or even twitter to get race course selection through. This is a constant problem I have experienced for over 30 years and it is time to eliminate it. It would have been nice if I could have sent a tweet (terminology courtesy of my wife). Then everyone would have the course. Maybe I’ll look into that for the next go around.
The important lesson is to check the course board after your warning signal. That is the only iron clad requirement in the rules. Everything else is non-binding.
The other protest was between two boats. I will not go into details about it. Arbitration was a failure by me. I think if I could have convinced the parties to give it a better chance, we could have arbitrated it, but I was too quick to allow them to proceed to the actual hearing. The trouble with the protest hearing is that you are right or DSQ. Nothing in between. In arbitration, you can impose alternate penalties.
The hearing went by the book. I don’t think we finished until 19:30. Luckily, I had spent a lot of time preparing for a protest. I even felt Saturday morning that I should have prepared more for on the water than protest, but I was relieved I had prepared once I knew there would be a hearing. The decision we reached was a difficult one and I wish it could have gone a different way. I am bound by the rules and evidence and that produced a result I was not happy about. A correct result by the rules, but a troubling one nonetheless.
Sunday was perfect. A light SSW breeze that built as the day went on. Captain Al of Moon Dog was nice enough to anchor twice as I was determined not to set another shitty line. This time the line was square, the course was perfect, and the race went off without a hitch. This is how I imagined Race Committee and it was nice to have an easy day after the shit storm on Saturday.
Personal Notes
I was amazed at the effort and concern all the race committee volunteers have for this regatta. I had the distinct honor of being in charge of the on the water activities for a group that were seasoned pros at this. Every operation of the committee boat was planned and executed with precision. Captain Al guided us to the right spot and did not complain as we ran around his boat all day. Jackie and her team of score keepers and flag hoisters were spot on to the second. Tom D. had everything in place to make the regatta a success. My normal crew, Eric, dutifully went around in the mark boat as I asked with every slight breeze on Saturday. All around, a perfect effort on their part.
All mistakes and errors Saturday were solely in my area. This is no pity party, I am confident I did a good job, but there is plenty of room for improvement. In Race Committee, there is no chance to make up for a mistake. If you screw something up, there is no going back, at least not without a high cost. Let’s look at some of the decisions I wish I could redo and see if I can improve for next year.
1. When the breeze finally seemed to be filling in, I rushed to get a race in. During that rush, I did not get a reading of the final wind, but had the mark boat set the first mark in the general direction of where the wind was filling in from. I think with an extra 10 minutes, I could have had a better course. As a result, the wind was further left than expected and the course was thus skewed. The starting line was skewed as well.
2. I do not regret the short course. Contrary to the anonymous caller asking for a longer course, I wanted two races and the best way to guarantee at least one was to set the first course shorter than I normally would. I stand by that decision and welcome comments to the contrary.
3. When I reset the marks for the second race, I did not direct the mark boat to go west far enough. This was a minor error as they were already getting close to the channel and we were running out of room anyway.
4. The larger error in the second race was the skewed line. I had the mark boat change the line by about 30 degrees, but should have moved it 20 or 30 more. Unfortunately, I had the mark boat go to the leeward mark instead of hanging around the pin. When I realized the line was off once again, I could not get them back in time to reset it. With a hard stop time for the day’s sailing, I decided to start with the skewed line rather than hoist the AP (postpone). The error was sending the mark boat away. They could have set the leeward mark after the start. I was hesitant to do that since it may confuse boats, but it was the right call and I did not make it.
5. The course confusion in C could use improvement. I need to think of ways to better communicate courses and changes to those courses. I will mention in next year’s skipper meeting to make sure everyone checks the course after their warning signal. You may see a course 15 minutes before your start, but it can change right up to the warning signal. This is where twitter or a web page could help.
I was happy to help the club and take over some of the tasks they did not like. I will think about the above points and many other possibilities that were considered during the weekend. Hopefully, we will have an even better regatta next year.
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