3-16-10 Newport Beach, CA Balboa Yacht Club.

The Spring Twilights have started with 11 H20 signed up and 10 boats making it to the starting line off M Mark. The racers where greeted with a 6 knot cool breeze from the west and strong flooding current.

Jeff Keenen was our PRO with Chris Killian and John Fradkin helping with markset. With the current and the breeze constantly moving to the south all three members of the race committee stayed busy. If there where not moving marks and passing out beverages they where taking photos of the fleet. Race committee was able to get off 3 races before the breeze turned off and the sun was setting.

This being our first event everyone seemed as if it was the first day of school. By the time we rounded the second leeward mark people where asking for room and if there no agreement people reminded their friends of the up coming rules seminar. Which is kind of funny if you think about it.

Quotes of the night. “Hey, you guys want a Beverage?’ and the reply “UUHH OK” and while sailing to the leeward mark and asking Tom Schock if he had an overlap YES was the quick reply, about tens seconds latter “Well maybe not” then the calls of room started. I knew that he had an overlap for most of that run and the only time we broke it was when I first asked and they regained it in no time. So, the inside was theirs this time.

At the end of the night with the sun going down and the sound of the colors being lowered at BYC that spring smile returned to my face as I looked into the sky and I thought how I love this time of year at M Mark.

We are always looking for race committee and I think we will need someone next Wednesday?

Results can be found here.

I am writing this article in the hope we as a fleet can open a dialogue, on this web site, where the experienced sailors can give input and others can ask questions about rounding the weather mark.

The latest Racing Rules (2009-2012) were changed to address “Tacking when approaching a Mark”.  We also know that when our H20 fleet is approaching the windward mark on starboard, seemingly in a good position, it is common to end up in fourth place down wind, due to Prot Tackers.  This is what the new rule was designed to eliminate:  Yes or No???

Our Harbor 20, Idros, has a hole in its bow from a Weather mark conflagration, hence the frown on her face when you see her out racing.  The problem as I see it, has many parts to it.  These may uniquely relate to our one design fleet and our boats and may not necessarily be covered by “facts found” in a protest.

Here is our broad review as I see it:

The rule 18.3 says port tack boats, tacking within three boat lengths, have added restrictions on them

(a)  The port tack boat cannot force a starboard tack boat above close hauled as they round the mark.

–  Well, we all watch port tack boats squeak up to the mark clear the fleet of five boats coming on starboard and then come to a virtual stop as H20’s do when you have to push the tiller over hard.    The problem for the Starboard tack boats in 5knots (normal) of breeze as you approach the mark with 5 boats around and beside you, pinching will slow your boat significantly, causing everyone around you to bump, crash and burn.  So going above close haul will cause a collision for sure.  As I see it, the only advantage in doing this is you will be able to bring five witnesses to the hearing; the problem is you have lost the race and will most likely lose the hearing for causing a collision.

(b) The port tack boat must give an inside boat room at the mark.

– As one sailor has suggested, the starboard tack boat should fall off and point at the port tacker, in this way picking up speed to go inside.  Hopefully the port tacker will bail out and all will be good.  Our experience says, the port tacker does not bail out, now you will be the inside boat and the port tack boat must give you room.  In our experience this is also problematic.  The port tacker normally sees the gaggle of boats coming and tacks close to the mark to give maximum room and protect their ?? leading position. So even though you are now the inside boat, the port tacker cannot give you room because he is committed and even if the rest of the fleet gives her room, when they put the tiller down to give you room, the transom pivots about the keel again and either hits the inside starboard tacker or pushes her into the mark.

The aim of our fleet clearly has to be, to have clean fair racing.  I believe this is relatively easy, all that has to happen is; we all follow the rules or take our penalty turns when we make mistakes, which we ALL make.  To bring reality to this we have to occasionally protest and go to the room.

Well it should be easy, but we regularly have incidents where a starboard tacker went from first or second going to the mark to a long way back after the rounding.  More of Peter Haynes’s seminars on the rules will always help, but if we are to continue to grow our fleet, fun racing is where it’s at and losing 3 places at the windward mark or worse, a frown of the bow, is not fun.

My question is, how can we  show other competitors and judges she has to go above close hauled to avoid the tacking boat 18.3 (a) without causing problems for all boats except the port tacker.  To duck down inside 18.3 (b) and call for room will cause a collision 9 out of 10 times.

YES / NO ? what is the answer? Please click comment and add your input, a good positive discussion can only help our fleet get more enjoyment from our sport.

by Warren Duncan, #34 Idros

Daylight Savings Time started Sunday, March 13, and Balboa Yacht Club is kicking off our evening sailing this year early with the introduction of the Harbor 20 Spring Series.

This informal series starts next Wednesday, March 16 at 5:30 PM.The start will be in the vicinity of “M” and “N” marks in the main channel.

Many thanks to Len Bose, author of “The Harbor Report” columns in the Daily Pilot for instigating this activity!

There is no cost, and you can register online here, which will help BYC know how many boats to expect.

There will probably not be a Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions, as the idea is to keep this really informal and fun. Be there, and get a jump on 2011 evening racing!

This past weekend, NHYC held the annual W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta. The regatta includes one-design racing for Lehman 12 (A and B Fleets), Lido 14 (A and B Fleets), Harbor 20 (A and B Fleets), and Harbor 25 boats on two consecutive days (Saturday & Sunday) in March each year.

Naturally, we were blessed with great spring type weather (about 70 degrees on Saturday and 66 on Sunday) with sufficient winds on both days to complete 7 races for the Harbor 20’s. The A Fleet had 12 participants while the B Fleet had a record 18 participants for a total of 30 Harbor 20’s and 14 races over the two-day event, which included a buffet dinner on Saturday night.

A first for the Fleet, Newport Harbor Yacht Club provided each boat with a transponder so that their track over the coarse was recorded and could be watched live, or played back to review the race. Below is a clip of Fleet A, Race 1.

The full race can be viewed on on Kattack.com.  Results of the regatta can be downloaded from the NYHC Website, here.

The Winners were: (all of us, for a great weekend!!). But really, the winners are:

A Fleet:

1st Place: Skipper Terry Gloege and Crew Byron Capps

2nd Place: Skipper Tom Schock and Crew Jane Schock

3rd Place: Skipper Bob Yates

Terry Gloege, Tom Schock, Betty Schock, Byron Capps (photo courtesy of Bob Yates)

B Fleet:

1st Place: Skipper Walter Johnson and Crew Karen Pierce  (promoted to A Fleet for winning a 2-day regatta)

2nd Place: Skipper Helen Duncan and Crew Audrey Nye

3rd Place: Skipper Jack Cannon and Crew Phil Crosby

Tom Schock, Betty Schock, Walter Johnson, Karen Pierce (photo courtesy of Bob Yates)

We asked Emile Pilafidis, #209, who recently qualified for A Fleet and experienced his first A Fleet regatta, to share a bit about his experience sailing in the A Fleet for the first time:

I advanced to A from B with my results in the Midwinter Regatta in February; ended with a first place finish in Bs, a result I hadn’t expected!  I got a number of lucky breaks during that regatta, and at the end I was on top by one point over a three–way tie for 2^nd-4^th, and by two points over 5^th!  So close!

Needless to say, my expectations for the Schock Regatta this past weekend, against other As, were minimal!  But I did agree on an objective with my crew, Alice, that it would be great not to be in last place for the regatta!

So with no pressure and no expectations, we began the regatta, with one core strategy, namely, to try and follow Tom Schock!  As it turned out Tom got tangled up at the start of the first race, and I had to quickly decide to follow other boats!   The strategy worked better in the second race, and after the first two races in light air, I found myself in sixth place out of twelve boats!  This of course didn’t last long, since we came 12^th and 10^th the next two races, despite having sailed without making any major mistakes.  We just were not as good at the start or as fast as the others.   At the end of Saturday, after four races, we were next to last, but only a couple of points behind three other boats, and feeling quite ok!

On Sunday we realized there would be a throw out race which sounded like a plus for us, and started with the same plan in mind!  Yet we quickly realized that Tom was the wrong target, since he got so far ahead winning races 5 and 6!  We tried to sail close to others, but ended with an 11^th and a 10^th.  At the final race, we crossed the start line in decent order, continued on starboard tack to near the C mark, tacked twice, reached the mark in the first group of boats, and followed Tom and Terry Gloege all the way to the D mark, while noticing Bob Yates and Nick Froehlich sailing slightly faster on the right side of the course.  At the finish line we ended behind all of them in fifth place, yet with our best result of the two days.  Later we found out that we had finished 10^th overall, and were thrilled!

Reflecting on the experience, my take-aways are that is good to have a plan but need to be very flexible, that is crucial not to make major mistakes in the course chosen, and that it is so much more fun to sail in the middle of the fleet or higher and not way in the back!

Oh yes, and that it will be a great learning experience and a lot of fun racing with As!

So we intend to enjoy our year as As, and hope to get lucky again at just the right time so we can extend our stay!

Emile Pilafidis, Party Globe # 209

The Harbor20 Association would like to thank the NHYC for hosting the event, and specifically to Jennifer Lancaster, Charlie Underwood and all the Race Committee volunteers for hosting an excellent W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta again this year!

If you are registered to race in the W.D. Schock Regatta this weekend, please note: There is a mandatory check in from 8:30 am until 10:45am followed by a mandatory Skipper check in at 11am.

The first warning is schedule at 12:00pm

At the check in, all race participants will be issued a transponder to carry on their vessel which will record their track in real time which spectators will be able to watch on a monitor in the club! This transponder will track the actual course taken by each vessel as they race the course allowing spectators to watch the action as it happens.  Each vessels track will be identified by their sail number as they move up and down the course against the competitors.

After the race, the entire races will be replayed so competitors can analyze their strategy and tactics – and eventual results.

Please make sure you arrive at the NHYC prior to the mandatory 10:45am check in to receive your vessel transponder.

The NOR’s, Entry and other information can be found here

This weekend, the Newport Harbor Yacht Club will host the annual W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta. The Regatta  includes one-design racing open to Lehman 12, Lido 14 (A and B Fleets), Harbor 20 (A and B Fleets), Harbor 25, Schock 35, and Santana 20 boats on two consecutive days (Saturday & Sunday).

Entry is available online here. No entries will be accepted after 1800 on March 4, 2011 (Friday).

More information and all racing documents can be found on this website here, or on the NHYC Website.