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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
