Force 5 Regatta this weekend!

The planning is done.  The food is at the marina.  The equipment is all checked out.  The weather gods are promising very good weather for a sailboat race.   Hopefully, the ACE will let the rain this week will raise the lake some. 

Take advantage of the early registration savings, and have your fleet Captain tell us whether you want to do buoys or distance races.

Sunday 3/27/11 - Let's do some starts!

It's not pretty, but...  We have enjoyed some exceptional weather recently!  This is more like March, as we know it. 

But there is going to be some wind and I'll set up a short course like we did last weekend where we got 6 starts under out belts in a little over an hour.  Yeehaw! 

This week, let me put everyone on notice that I will try to set the little course where one side will send you through a geographic wind shift (whirly-gig, I call them).   Last week, one sailor realized what I'd done and never did sail through it.  A couple more figured it out after going up the right side the first start.  ;)
 

Saturday, March 26th..

Cold and rainy weather will bring a cancellation of the racing program on Saturday.  It's not looking too promising for Sunday, but we'll make that decision on Saturday. 

Now, the Force 5 regatta is the next weekend, and as my friend Jenny says, "The thing I like most about racing is that it forces me to sail in weather I would normally not sail in."  Yeehaw!

Force 5 NOR and Registration goes live

Force 5 Notice of Race (pdf)

Force 5 online registration

Sunday March 20th - Starting Practices with Coach Gaylen!

We'll be setting up a short course Sunday to practice race starts to get in the swing of things. We will have two starts and a very short windward leg. We will let the experienced racers get off in the first start, then have a 2nd start for people who have less, or no experience. If you've never raced before, this is a great opportunity to get out and learn that it doesn't have to be anymore stressful than you make it!

Gaylen Freeman has offered to be our on-the-water coach this weekend. I have never sailed with Gaylen, or asked him a question that he didn't give me some great coaching!

At 10:00 Sunday morning we will have a race committee instruction session for people who have never been on a race committee before. This is a great way to learn about racing and watch some folks who have a lot of experience. People attending the instruction session will get first crack at working the races Sunday afternoon!

Sunday March 13th - updated

Well, I wish we'd have raced yesterday. ;) We had a nice turnout today. Perfect temperature for being outside and active. Just a few rain drops that didn't bother anyone. But... barely any wind. Gaylen made it much further that anyone else and I towed him back. Everyone else opted to sail back and relax.

Next weekend we start two weeks of practice starts.

Race Committee Seminars

The best place to watch sailboat races is on the committee boat! Come join us and find out what racing is all about and why we do it. The last two weekends in March we will hold an introduction to working on the committee boat for those who want to participate in this great activity. Following the introduction, we will go out on the committee boat, set up and run some races for the club. There will then be opportunities throughout the year at our Sunday races and regattas.

Sunday March 20th at 10:30 (race starting practice to follow)
Saturday, March 26th at 10:30 (race starting practice on Sunday)

Come on out and join the fun by either posting a response to this blog, or sending me an email.

Race starting line clinics in March

We will have some clinics on starts the last two Sundays in March (the 20th and 27th) at 1:00.

We'll have a 15 minute round table discussion at 1:00 followed by starts on the lake shortly after 2:00 to a very short windward mark. We will have at least two starts. One for experienced people and one for less aggressive folks. We want everyone who comes out to get comfortable with the starting sequences, their obligations and rights around other boats, in addition to getting back into the groove of racing.

With two starts and a short windward leg, we won't keep score. It will be a race to the windward mark, set your downwind configuration (how ever you want), and sort out your own braqging rights. After rounding the mark, avoid the boats just about to start, or who have just started and return to the starting line. In order to get as many starts in as we can, we will start the next sequence as soon as all the boats in that start are back to the line.

In an hour and a half or two hours we should be able to get in a bunch of starts.

If someone wanted to video tape the starting sequences, we could have a debriefing with the videos. Someone who would like to help improve people's skills is encouraged to get on the boat with us to take notes and talk to the skippers in this debriefing. Don't hesitate to either leave your name in a comment, or contact me via email if you want to participate.

Call for help on the race committee!

We are filling up the slots on the race committee boats for the Force 5. We need one more experienced power boat/chase boat driver and some other folks to help out.

We offer great company, a lot of fun and the best viewing spot for the races. If you want to get involved, don't hesitate to contact the PRO or Regatta Chair of any regatta.

We will have a race committee training session or two toward the end of March in conjunction with setting a mini-course on 3/20 and 3/27 to do practice starts. Anybody who wishes to be on the race committee for a regatta is urged to attend a training session and help out with the Sunday races the last two weekends in March.

Send an email to me, or leave your name as a comment, if I can look you up in the club directory.

After the Force 5, we will start regular Sunday racing. We will need race committee people every weekend through October. It is a lot of fun to get out on the lake with somebody else buying the fuel, watch some races, and share the responsibilities of putting on good races.

Sunday - March 6th

It looks like the storms in here Saturday will blow through by Sunday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed.

Sunday - February 27th

Uh oh. A big group of storms is heading our way. The timing looks very bad for us today.

But, I'll be there in case they get past and some people want to do the Island Course since it is so nice otherwise and the lake has risen 4 feet, so we have more room under our keels.

Water temperature and Hypothermia

As of Friday morning, 2/25/11, the water temperature at the surface of Percy Priest Lake is 43. Officially, you'd have about 30 minutes until you loose consciousness. But we discovered last weekend trying to free the anchor rode that you loose feelings in your hands very quickly. We were not able to get the first turn off the prop because our fingers lost feeling before we could do even that most simple task.

Accordingly, please consider that a MOB in 40 degree water will almost certainly require retrieving someone who is not able to help you in the most simple ways.

You might find this little article from BoatSafe of interest: http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hypothermia.htm

Sunday - February 20, 2011 (update)

It was a great day for sailing. There were lots of boats out on the lake. Unfortunately, Tom Grube had sail slide issues and he couldn't make it out. Kenny Cooper had other obligations, and we ended up leaving 3 people on the dock looking for rides. I'm sorry I could get back to the porch to help find you all rides.

I set a personal record yesterday. I fouled two lines on two different boats in the same day. The first one was trying to set a windward mark in the cove about noon. Things went downhill from there.

Randy Campbell and Don Barridge tied for 1st place and Roger Arnold spent time mapping the rocks near Suggs Creek at the alternate Wednesday race course turning mark.

Thanks to David Perrine for rescuing me and Randy for retrieving the run away mark.

Thanks!

In the first month of the race blog we have had over 1,000 visits. I hope we can provide a weekly program that gets you all on the water. :)

Sunday - February 13th (update)

The day turned out to be one of those February gifts! Great winds, nice temperatures and lots of sunshine. Unfortunately, I didn't live up to everyone's expectations. I tried to set a starting line as far from the South no wake buoy as I could, to use the buoy as a windward mark. Then the committee boat drug so bad, we ended up on top of the other no wake buoy. THEN, I missed a starting sequence time and had to Postpone and restart the sequence. Sorry, you all. I'm glad 3 boats got off the line exactly on time!

Experienced class:
Don Berridge - 1 point
Roger Arnold - 2 points
Mark Gerone - 3 points (they had so much fun flying their chute they abandoned the race) :)

Inexperienced class:
Kenny Cooper - minus 2 points
Denna Deck - 2 points

New Program for PPYC races!

The winner of each race, whether it is Wednesday, Sunday, or part of regatta series will get one of these stickers!

You can put them on your boat, your bumper, or give them to your crew. I suspect some people will collect quite a few of these this year.

So far, Marc Fortune and Roger Arnold have each earned one and Kenny Cooper has earned two. Congratulations guys. I'll have them for you this weekend.

Sunday - February 6, 2011 (update)

It was a beautiful day on the lake today! Too bad the Superbowl got in the way. Roger Arnold took first place in the experienced class with a minus 2 and Kenny Cooper to first in the inexperienced with a -3.

We had 5 new folks out today! Thanks everybody. I hope you had a great time!

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!