GBCA Discussion Forum

All,
An amendment to the NOR has been posted for the Heald Bank regatta, see link below.  This amendment is primarily intended to address a date error for the competitor's briefing.  The briefing will be held on Thursday June 22 at Lakewood YC and also online for anyone who cannot attend in person.  A link to the meeting will be sent out to all registered skippers no later than Wednesday evening.  We are also allowing one or two boat classes to allow competition for the Navy Cup / S. Rhoads Fisher trophies as part of the TORC series even if there is only a one or two boat class for the Heald Bank regatta.  The sailing instructions have also been posted so you can start plugging courses into your chart plotters.  Please note, due to relatively small number of entries I will likely combine the starts for all classes, to be discussed at the competitor's briefing and confirmed by VHF at 09:45 on Saturday morning.
https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/26512

Please make sure to have your crew waivers completed before the competitor's briefing on Thursday.  I note that two boats are presently only showing one crew member each.  As to fleets, please let me know if any desired changes.

Lastly, please remember to RSVP at 281-474-2511 for the special "soggy and groggy" Sunday brunch at 10:30 if you wish to attend.  This will be a fun chance to swap stories with other sailors and have some coffee to keep you awake through the day, or alternately a bloody mary to put you to bed for the day.  Assuming good wind and no protests we intend to have awards ceremony at the brunch at 11:00; however, you do not need to purchase brunch to receive awards.

Any requests for late registration can be addressed to the PRO and are likely to be granted.

Reminder - Heald Bank Regatta is coming up on 6/24.  Registration closes tomorrow, 6/17.

Amendment #2 to the SIs just posted.

Only change was to update the list of ORC boats starting times.

Amendment #2 Posted to SIs.

The only change was an update to the ORC start times to add additional boats.

Hi' I am Don Lazarz, owner of a J-29, named Touche'. I'm struggling to find crew for the Rum Races, starting June 17. I can teach you anything on the boat. I was a sailmaker for 20 years but racing since 1967. I am retired and have time to sail my own boat. The boat is well appointed now with all new gear and restored, and safe. New sails also.

Amendment #1 Posted this morning.

Apologies, but there was a typo in the coordinates for the "Virtual Mark" 2A boundary for the oyster reefs.

The coordinate should read:

  - San Leon Oyster Mitigation 2A ”Virtual Mark” (SLOM 2A): N 29o 32.310’ W 094o 56.817’

Amendment #1 Posted this morning.

Apologies, but there was a typo in the coordinates for the "Virtual Mark" 2A boundary for the oyster reefs.

The coordinate should read:

  - San Leon Oyster Mitigation 2A ”Virtual Mark” (SLOM 2A): N 29o 32.310’ W 094o 56.817’

SIs are posted on home page.

We had to work through a few more logistics this year.

The Sailing Instructions for Rum Races are posted on the www.gbca.org home page.

We apologize for the delay, but we had a few changes for this year. We held off a bit to see what the Port of Houston was going to do in regards to marking the new Oyster Reef. If you do not know, there is a new Oyster Mitigation Reef in the south part of Galveston Bay. A line from Kemah #2 to J Mark crosses the NE corner of this new reef. I have found depths in the 6' range with this new reef and they are still working on dumping and compacting dredge spoil. With that, we came up with a solution until some marks can be placed.

We have also added an ORC class with start times.

Thank you for your patience and understanding and we look forward to seeing everyone this Saturday.

I added the new oyster reefs to the GBCA Obstruction Map:  https://gbca.org/ObstructionMap.

On Sunday, we saw two large mooring buoys about 1.25 nm ESE of the H-mark.  Nothing was tied up, but it seems likely these are related to oyster reefs.