GBCA Discussion Forum

Just a reminder that awards for Series 4 will be presented at the Club Classic this coming Wednesday, September 22nd, after the first Semi-Final (8:30-ish?). Awards for Series 5 will be presented following Semi-Final 2, and Series 6 will be presented following the Finals.

Our season is not yet over! Come out and pull for your Class Champion, and support our primary club sponsor. As a new idea, if you want to anchor on the lake and let your boat serve as a pick and cheering platform, we'll set the course up to take proper advantage...

The End of Year Party and Awards Banquet will be at the Club Classic on Wednesday, October 13 from 6 - 10:30 pm. Go to the Wednesday Night website http://www.clearlakeracing.com for more details...

Just wanted to know if there is a Challenge Cup planned for this year, and what the format, date, and boats are....

It needs to use the receiver hitch on the back of my truck, and I'm taking three mountain bikes...

I've looked at buying one, and thought I'd try this first.


Thanks,

Buddy Brown

two eight one   four six eight    six nine oh nine

Yacht Racing Topics to Kick Off  the 2010 Season

The Clear Lake Racing Association will host a series of Yacht Racing Topics at the Club Classic in Seabrook. This sharing of information will occur every Wednesday until the series ends. The currently scheduled topics are listed below, although more topics may be added.

Topics include:

• Jan. 6          Starting Techniques                      Presenter:       Buddy Brown, CLRA


• Jan. 13         Yacht Racing Tactics                    Presenter:      Jay Lutz, Yachtsman


• Jan 20          Small Scale Weather Effects           Presenter:      Brian Kyle, Nat. Weather Svc


• Jan. 27         Team Racing                                Presenter:      Gerard Coleman, TAMUG


• Feb. 3          Racing Rules of Sailing                   Presenter:      John Butler, CLRA


• Feb. 10        Sail Shape for Speed                     Presenter        Buddy Brown, CLRA

Let?s get the year started with a dose of yachting in the warmth and comfort of the Club Classic! The club will be closed to the public, but open for sailors attending the topics.

All topics begin at 6:30 pm   Bar open at 6:00   

More information at www.clearlakeracing.com

Hi All!

The CLRA End of Year Party is tomorrow night at the Club Classic. The night will have:

Live Entertainment
Slide show of this year's action
Cash Bar
A (sit down) dinner buffet
Awards and Door Prizes
Preview of 2010

The format is pretty much the same as its been in years past:

6:00 Cocktail Hour with a performance by David Swope
7:00 Buffet Dinner (Brad has arranged for us to be able to sit down together and share a meal)
7:45 (or so...) Trophy Presentation begins:

Shirts to Race Committee members
Shirts to 2008 Class Champions and crews (Ike delayed)
2009 Class End of Year Awards
Most Improved Perpetual Trophy
Best Crew Perpetual Trophy
Boat of the Year Perpeual Trophy
Sportsmanship Perpetual Trophy
Fleet Champion Perpetual Trophy

Afterwards, a few words about next year... preparation has already begun...

Cost is $15 if you register online today at http://www.clearlakeracing.com/index.php?pageID=115, and $20 if you wait to pay at the door. So far not very many have registered, and that has me a little worried that the Club Classic is going to prepare too much food...

Let's get together to share one last evening together in 2009!

The Texas Challenge Cup is a competition to determine the top yacht racing club in Texas. The format is one where participating clubs field teams to race in a number of selected classes, where each club's scores in those classes are totalled to determine a club's final score. Clubs consistently participating over the last few years are GBCA, LYC, HYC, and TCYC, although not too long ago, the Fort Worth Boat Club also participated. The 2009 version of this event is currently being organized with the date being the weekend of November 7th. The boats scheduled to be used are Sonar, J80, and PHRF boats rated between 68 and 78. The event is a great concept, but it typically runs into a few problems:

1.) Finding an acceptable weekend on which to run the event.
2.) Participating clubs tend to be those based on Galveston Bay, even though it is titled the Texas Challenge Cup.
3.) Selecting and finding boats to be used. Currently, each club is expected to provide its own boats, one each of the chosen designs. This, even though not every club has access to all the designs chosen.

The easiest of these problems to solve is probably the scheduling. The date should be announced early in the year to allow clubs sufficent time to prepare their teams and boats. A Fall event would allow sufficient preparation, and sailors would be in their best form. Perhaps it should be held annually on a set weekend in early November before HYC's Turkey Day Regatta.

Ideally, this event would attract teams from across the state, involving more than just the Galveston Bay clubs. In addition, the selection of boats should give every club a fair shot at winning. Getting wider statewide participation and solving the boat issue might be resolved using the following principles:

Set a deadline in the Spring, say March 31st, before which every club must announce its intention to participate. Along with a club's intent to participate, each would announce its own chosen design. Each club would then be obligated to provide enough boats for itself and every other participating club. Maintaining a round robin format would ensure equal boat performance. In this way, the burden of finding boats and ensuring fairness is dispersed across all the participating clubs.

A typical scenario might be:

TCYC - Sonars
LYC - J80's
HYC - Ensigns
GBCA - J105's
White Rock YC - Flying Scots
Fort Worth Boat Club - J22's
Austin Yacht Club - J24's

In this scenario, each club would provide seven boats of its chosen design, and would also field teams to race the other classes.

This is a great event. We should do everything possible to make it easier to facilitate, enhance fairness, and build it into a true Texas Championship. Texas has a lot of great sailors. We should be spending more time racing against them, getting to know them, and the boats they race.

Your thoughts?

Best regards,

Bud