The SIs are out

It's almost time to go racing!

The Sailing Instructions are available for you to download by clicking HERE.

Make sure you understand the instructions and how they change the racing rules. What should you know for this year?

• Do your Man Overboard Drill
• Know the special race dates
• Know when you start!
• Keep clear of others starting

Any questions? You can post them here.

It should be a lot of fun. See you out there in two weeks exactly!

Spiffy Course Sheet!

You know the Skippers Meeting is coming up on Wednesday the 23rd, 6pm at MRYC. So, why should you attend?

Sure you could come just to hang out with your friends while you register for the season, but why else? Could it be to harass Bob Flower and Jeep Jallade while enjoying a beverage? Sure! Could it be to find out who worked on their boat all winter and hopes to leave you in the dust? Of course! Could it be to ask questions about this crazy series and get the SI? Absolutely! Can you just come to find out the new boats and which crew decided to jump ship? That's fine too.

The real reason to come to the Skippers Meeting is to get your spiffy laminated copy of the course chart and flags. It's a cheat sheet specifically designed for you the Wednesday Night Racer.

Spiffy laminated cheat sheets, Instructions, gossip, beverages - Like you had something more important to do. See you Wednesday!

TAYA's annual race coming up

It's time for the 2nd Annual 

TAYA Race 'Round the Island

Saturday, May 3rd! Captain's meeting at 9:00am; race begins at 10:00am leaving from Tilghman on the Chesapeake Yacht Club and Marina. Courtesy slips are available the night before and night of the race. An After-Party will include food, music and awards back at the clubhouse. Boat/Captain registration is $50 which includes all festivities. Crew and Spectator registration for the After-Party is $10. The money raised will be used for enrichment programs for our Tilghman area youth.
For more information or to register go to www.tilghmantaya.com or mailtotaya501@verizon.net.

2013 SMURF Results

Are you wondering how you did last year using the SMURF handicapping system?

Well, that's easy! You can get the results HERE.

Congratulations to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman who won the smurf A division as well as Norm Brown and his crew on Pagan who won the smurf B division. You all did an awesome job of consistent quality racing to pull off a win for the smurf trophies.

Note that in each class there was only two points different between the first and second placed boats in the smurf divisions. Only 10 points separate the first 5 boats in the B division. That means there is plenty of opportunity to move up. If every race you figure out how to shave 3 seconds off your finish, you will demolish the smurf divisions!

SUMRF for the PHRF classes

It's never really possible to leave well enough alone. If you can mess with something, why not mess with it? Hence we have SMURF, or the Saint Michaels Unifying Rating Formula.

So what do you need to know as an average PHRF racer at the start on a Wednesday Night? Well, the main thing to remember is that this is for fun.

Yes, we will still be doing all the normal trophies for finishing 1st, 2rd, 3rd, etc., for each of the PHRF classes. Besides that, we are going to rate the boats using SMURF.  This should provide more opportunities to win trophies and definitely definitely gives you an idea if you had a good night, or not so good.

How does it work? HERE is the description.

What is your score today? Check it out:

Sail Number	boat name	current SMURF Rating
26	Colgate 26	204
36	Javelin	99
52	Ful Dek	150
97	Viper 640	114
102	Red Dog	207
181	Hinesight	138
543	Salt	144
589	Knave	324
687	Moonraker	216
906	SJ21	285
1113	Taaris	240
1144	Blew Bird	102
1247	Allcutt	273
1322	Evil Woman	135
2213	Flyer	120
23743	Claiborne Ferry	156
40612	Phone	69
42064	Mooncusser	138
42138	Victorine	174
53591	Ostiato	90
73075	Redbeard	111
83116	Resolute	183
83233	Pagan	159
83346	Peniless	174
93259	Swagman	207
93573	Chien Deux	237

2014 Notice of Race

Here it is!  It's the Notice of Race.

Pick it up HERE

What do you need to know?

• Skippers Meeting April 23, 6pm, MRYC
• First race May 7th
• Do your Man Over Board drill!

This is the last post that goes to Yahoo!. Embrace this new website because it is the Official Notice Board for St Michaels Wednesday Night Racing. That means any official communications for racers will be posted here and you are expected to know about official communications.

Here is the website:

http://sm-wnr.blogspot.com/

Want to be sure you are receiving all the posts on the website? Sign up here:

http://eepurl.com/NmTXb

Two weeks to the skippers meeting!

Barging at the Start

You know, we see a lot of barging at the start. Crazy amounts of barging! Being so close to the water on Volunteer, barging makes us very nervous. I mean, where would we go if a big boat decided to plant itself right into the committee boat?

So are you a barger? Do you know the rules about barging?

Look To Windward did a great series on the rules relating to barging. Check it out here:

http://rrsstudy.blogspot.nl/2014/03/back-to-basics-part-4-barging-i.html

It's time for a change

After many years of reliable email updates about Wednesday Night Racing from Yahoo!, we are moving on. Yahoo! was great, but they decided that I can no longer add email addresses. That's no good.

So it's time to move to a new system - one that will still meet all our needs and maybe even add some new features!

It's Blogger from Google:

http://sm-wnr.blogspot.com/

When we have updates that I would normally send you, they will now be posted at the website. Just after that the site will send you an email with a link to the new information. It's almost the same as before except:

• Now anyone can go to the website and see the updates
• Anyone can easily sign up to receive emails
• Everyone can manage emails through any email they receive
• There are new ways to share photos and videos

It should be a fun change. You know it will be fun! Come on, embrace the change - it's going to be great!

You will get this email both from Yahoo! and from the new site. Check out the difference.