Time for a Reset

Sometimes technology and service providers just don't like to play along with the program that you set out. I think we have come to that point with Yahoo.

Normally people like to receive official emails from our official notice board for Wednesday Night Racing. I'm happy to do that, but there are so many people! Using Yahoo groups was great because I could manage the big email list using simple tools and they would handle sending all the emails. Well, no longer. Yahoo doesn't want me to manage the email addresses anymore.

So what's a poor Race Committee person to do?

We're switching up to Blogger and Mailchimp to handle our little official group here! It should be very exciting. There will be lots of new ways for people to get information. I think you will like it. More to come as we transition over.

Marshall

No Results from 5/12

Well it was just a little Stormy on May 12th, so it seemed only prudent to head to the Club for a Dark N' Stormy (rather than test our luck out on the water). It was ugly and it definitely rained, but I never saw any lightning hit the ground.

No results for this week, but we'll see you out there on May 19th!

New Hotline

Next to opening presents, there is nothing my Mom loves more than hearing my voice. Now you too can hear me blather on about nonsense. Just call the new phone number for the Hotline:

410-745-4983

If the weather is not looking friendly, I will update the message on this number during the day. If we plan to cancel, you can be sure that I will tell you on the hotline.

I won't make any updates to the message with less than 45 minutes to the warning of the Star class. So get your boat ready and then call the hotline to see if we're racing!

Once it is within 45 minutes of the warning of the Star class, you can reach the Race Committee on VHF channel 78.

Here is the amendment to the SI for you official like people.

Results from May 5th

It was an awesome night to start the season! Not a cloud in the sky, plenty of wind, and very warm for early May.

Well, it wasn't completely perfect. The wind was a bit troublesome for the start of the race. We Set up the course with a dying wind that was clocking to the west, but we were expecting it to fill in and hold on for the evening. Good guess, but bad timing. By the time we had set the starting line, the the wind had already started to shift back south. Once the sequence was underway, we had another huge shift requiring us to postpone and reset everything.

Fortunately, the wind was increasing and people could see that the wind was messing with the start. After a 15-minute pause to reset the marks, we were underway for a very active evening evening.   As the race progressed, the wind from the south filled in even more to allow most boats to race in about 10 knots of breeze. We had two new people on the RC this week, so I couldn't follow the races as close as I usually do. Thanks to Anita and Dick for helping out.

The Stars had plenty of open water and a fairly long course for a Wednesday night. Jim Ryan on Locus managed to build up an impressive lead coming into the finish. The Stars had a second pick-up race with four competitors after the main race. Andrew Parish on Black Seal managed a commanding lead in the second race - good thing since the pick-up races are his idea!

PHRF A class had a new boat come out for the first race; the Cal 40 named Freestyle with the crew from last year's  PHRF B class boat of the same name.We were also happy to see Harry Seeman's Rumor back out on the course this year. We thought she might be headed to other waters. But the boat of the day was Bob larsen's Blue Bird who held in after to big boats sailed away and managed to correct over all to come in first!

PHRF B class had most of the usual suspects along with Jan White's Irwin 28 Whisper and Mike Kabler on a Freedom 21 called Solo. Solo will only make a few races this year, but we hope Whisper will be around all year. The big story was Norm Brown's Pagan which dominated the race course. Not only did Pagan take the gun, but her time was good enough to correct over all PHRF A boats. Fortunately for A, the classes are not scored together.

All the results can be found in the link below:

May 5th, 2010, WNR results for Race 1

Why doesn’t the Race Committee throw them out?

The question comes up a lot. If something happens on the race course, why doesn’t the Race Committee just disqualify the boat that did something wrong? Short answer: We’re only the Race Committee - not judge, jury, and executioner.

It’s an interesting question. What if a competitor does something in full view of competitors that is obviously wrong? Let’s say that a boat hits a mark of the course and does not attempt to exonerate herself. Can the RC throw her out for breaking a rule? The answer, according to the Rules of Sailing, is no. The RC is just like any other boat out there on the race course when it comes to witnessing competitors break rules. Only the Protest Committee can throw out a competitor for hitting a mark and not exonerating herself.

So what should be done? If you see a boat breaking the rules, you should protest her. You could say, “Protest. I saw you hit that mark!” This lets the boat attempt to exonerate herself. If she does not, then you should inform the RC at the finish and file a protest (using the protest form) as per the Sailing Instructions.

So why can’t the RC just do this for you? Well, there are several reasons. First, you are the competitors and we are just impartial third parties. Second, you are sailing close to the other boats and are more likely see a rule being broken. Third, you can hail to the competitor that you are protesting – the RC cannot hail to competitors. Fourth, we’re actually working on other things and do not closely monitor the boats for rule violations.

If the RC witnesses a competitor break a rule and no other competitor could have witnessed it, the RC will protest someone. The RC wants the race to be fair for everyone, so the RC will protest if necessary. But remember that the RC can only Protest a competitor just like you. We will protest if necessary, but it is better for you to protest since you are a better witness.

That being said, there a couple times when the RC can make decisions. If you are on the course side of the starting line at the start, the RC can record that without a hearing. The RC can also record that a boat didn’t finish within the time limit without a hearing. Other than that, everyone gets a hearing in front of a Protest Committee. It's kind of like getting your day in court.

Here is a copy of the protest form. Be sure to use it (or one like it) if you want to protest.