Sunday 1/30 Update

WOW! I counted 22 people out today - half of which are new members! We had 7 boats participating, although not everyone got off the starting line. Bob and Kathy Ware helped out getting people rides. Thanks to Kenny Cooper, David Pilcher, John Calvano, Marc Fortune, Deanna, Clayton Bob and Kathy for sharing your love of sailing with others!

The wind gave out around the island by the YMCA, so we cut the course short so everyone could come back through the cut, where we were treated to a low sun and spectacular views sailing through the flock of sea gulls landing for the evening out in front of the marina.

We are subtracting one position for each new sailor a boat has on board. So, it is possible to have a negative finishing position. I also arbitrarily have split the boats into two fleets - Experienced and New Racers. Here are the finishing positions from yesterday:

Experienced fleet:
Fortune - (1) points
Pilcher - 0 points
Calvano - 2

New Racers
Cooper - minus 1 point
Deck - 1 point

Yesterday turned out to be exactly what we hoped would happen in January! Temperatures close to 60, some sunshine and views of the beauty of Percy Priest we normally don't get to see.

Sunday January 30, 2011

It snowed Tuesday and now it looks like it's going to be close to 50 for our Sunday races.  No football and a great January Day.  This is going to be a great first race for the Drake Holiday Winter series.   Keep your fingers crossed for the weather forecast to hold. 

For those on a trailer, remember we have a 20' extension to help get your boat in the water. 

Force 5 date moved to April 2/3

This time of year is always very busy, with many regattas.  To avoid a conflict with a fleet, we have moved the regatta to the first week of April this year.  We have worried about low lake levels and getting boats launched earlier in March, so hope this fits better with our racers.  - Bob

Sunday - January, 23, 2011

Wunderground predicts a high of 36 today, so we are calling off the races.  :(  Not much, if any wind anyway.  Hopefully, the warm front will linger around all week since there are no football games next weekend.

Anybody got a sports bar they want to meet at to watch some football?

Drake Holiday Winter Series Starts Sunday January 23, 2011

We will race if:

1. Forcast temperature from Wunderground for Sunday is 38 degrees or over, and
2. Chance of rain is 40% or less

How we'll do it:

•  Informal skippers meeting at 1:30 (see Bob Keim or Paul Latour)
• Start at the no wake buoys at 2:00 - we wil have a starting line with a 5 minute start.  The pin will be a no wake buoy.  If you can't figure out which one, ask the committee boat. 
• Race the old "C" course, now the "I" course around the island by the YMCA camp.  We will have course diagrams available at 1:30.
• Portsmith time-on-time scoring
• Experienced racers will bear a Corinthian attitude that will always encourage participation by new racers never putting their own finishing position before the goal of sharing the joy of racing with new folks.
•  We will use the Racing Rules of Sailing.
• There will be no arguing on the course over the rules - fly a protest flag and we'll have an open protest hearing after the race to promote understanding of the rules by all PPYC participants.
• You will advance your finishing position by one spot for every newbie, spouse, or significant other on your boat (no limit!).

We solicit anyone who wishes to help to post a response to this blog entry. 

Your comments are encouraged, as we want to increase participation and will modify these basic rules, should the group has ideas how to do that. 

Tom Ragsdale Opens Annual Meeting 1/15/11

Winter Racing like we used to do!

Starting Sunday January 23, 2011 we will bring back winter distance racing to Percy Priest in the Drake Holliday Winter Series. We will run the old distance course around the island down near the YMCA camp.  Course "I", I think it is now called.  It used to be course "C" when we ran it years ago.   We may throw in another course given the winds, or lack thereof.

We will have a starting line for a regular 5 minute start using one of the "No Wake" buoys and the committee boat.  Depending on the wind, if we have room, we will put out a windward mark.  No offset mark.  You'll recognize it if you see it.

We will have people on the race committee (RC) boat to handle the scoring.  We will use the Sunday races to increase RC skills on the boat and to work out the bugs of computerized scoring. 

Watch for updates about this series soon!