GBCA Discussion Forum

I'd be interested in helping out.  I'll get together with the powers that be

For those of you who remember the Bridge Harbor venue for TRW, I'd like to propose looking at 2023.
Xavier reported that he could get Wild Rover all the way to the Pool. (evidence that they've done some dredging)

Could we bring up at the next board meeting?

Regards,

Roy Olsen
"Danelaw"

There will be a celebration of life to honor a longtime GBCA sailor and friend to many, Jeff Lamm. It will be held on Sunday, Feb 7 starting at 1200.
There will be a bagpiper and many sea stories.

Hope to see you there

I wanted to float the idea of boats that would like to do a "beer can" race to Port A. My idea would be to start on 29 October at marker #5 @ 1300.
The "finish" would be at the Port A Sea buoy. Boats would take their own finish time, Corinthian rule would apply. For simplicity's sake, we could use PHRF TOD. We could gather for a quiet little drink at the back porch or other suitable venue.

The Sydney Hobart race started this way. Friends making a friendly wager in a pub.

this could be a lot of fun, without the politics or. administrative hassle.

If interested, email me @ yucatan63@hotmail.com. or call me @ 713 203 7852.

Cheers,

Roy Olsen
Danelaw

In 50 years of racing in GB, I have never seen a perversion of a rule than the decision to let a boat with a bow sprit enter in a conventional pole class. Sprit boats definitely have an edge racing on short legged courses. Boats with retrofitted sprits already carry no penalty on their base rating, and carry kites with greater sail area. If our aim is to minimize skew in handicap racing, I implore PHRF GB and local race pros to revisit this misguided decision. 

Respectfully

Roy
 

I would wholeheartedly support an ORC format. I fail to understand complaints about cost. Any certificate cost is dwarfed by the cost of keeping a boat on the race course. I got the Polaris from the trial a few years ago, and they were definitely in the ballpark of my boat's capabilities.

Count me in😜

Plans are heating up for the Texas 2 Step. Come be a part of the inaugural premier offshore event on the Gulf Coast!
The perfect time of year to sail down the coast. (no beating into a norther on your way home.)

The Danelaw Team

Please note:

The address is Bikearound the bay.org

Sorry for the confusion

Roy and Leslie

 

Leslie and I are riding in the Bike Around the Bay, on Oct 13 - 14.  This is a charity ride, with all proceeds going to the Galveston Bay Foundation.
If you'd like to contribute, go to the website Bikearoundthebay.com.
and find our name in the donate to individual link.

Many thanks in advance to our fellow Galveston Bay Sailors!

I myself wonder about why the olympic (traingle windward leeward ) courses went away. This course selection would certainly make it easier on the larger boats who can't manouver like a J 22. Would any of the clubs be willing to employ this tried and true course layout for a major regatta?

Roy

Bee had some good points.

I would sure like to get a read on how many of us would give ORC another chance if some of their concerns could be mollified.

Roy

Looking at the steadily shrinking scratch sheets of Galveston Bay handicap racing events, it merits reflection on possible causes, and what could be done to revitilize the handicap race fleets.

The ORC rule, for a while, seemed to hold a lot of promise as a cost effective way to handicap boats using only speed potential, not crew performance, as its only criteria. I still believe that the ORC, competently managed, could work. Proof that it is a fair rule was demonstrated in the 2007 Harvest Moon race. The first four boats that year,  Premier, Neftigaz, Mojo,(the Melges) and Danelaw, ( a 40 year old design)  demonstrated that the VPP of radically different designs generated highly accurate results. We can assume that all 4 boats were sailed to the top of their potential. Mojo and Danelaw corrected within 63 seconds of each other.

PHRF, for some of us, has become frustrating to the point of killing all desire to go through the expense and effort to race, when it is clear that other boats in your class that you owe time to, or rate even with, are simply physically faster by every paramenter that makes a boat fast. I've been racing GBCA events religiously for over 4 decades, and it is hard to think about giving up on something I've enjoyed for so long. I'd like to think that there still is hope for regenerating interest in handicap racing. I'd be glad to offer my input into possible ways to implement a handicap rule, that would rate boats by the boat's potential, nothing more.