GBCA Discussion Forum

Our line-up is just about completed... Clear Lake Racing Association hosts a set of free seminars for any and all sailors in our area. Topics range from basic sail trim, to weather patterns, to boat handling, to preparation. Watching 20+ races as an outsider, one gets a different perspective of what is needed for a fleet, class, and/or individual participant to improve. Many times, it is the very basic simple things we overlook. This year, I have chosen to have the seminars on:

Where: Villa Capri

Time: 6:30 pm

When:
2/7/18: Sail Trim - Part 2 hosted by Jay Lutz of North Sails with a North U powerpoint.
2/21/18: A rigger's POV on what lies beneath the equipment hosted by Alex Crowell of Bahama Rigging. This could turn into an Abbott & Costello type of deal... There will be examples of damaged hardware, some that is not visible to the everyday sailor.
3/7/18: Tactics - one design vs handicap.

I hope everyone takes advantage of our presenter's experience and their willingness to share their knowledge and tips & tricks.

Please visit www.ClearLakeRacing.com for more information on the races and events.

Well, it is that time of year where some extend their racing season in the colder months to enjoy hot beverages and food afterwards - GBCA Icicle Series.

You can find the Sailing Instructions at the following: https://gbca.org/resources/Documents/2018%20Icicle%20Series%20Sailing%20Instructions.pdf

The only change this year is the addition of the MulFoi class. "• MulFoi class – Any boat that can plane or foil. This is an experimental class to include multihull, foiling, and/or planning boats. The intent is to remove high performance boats from Club Handicap into a class with a similarly relaxed handicapping process. Before a boat can be entered into this class, it must complete the entire course once. This handicap will be assigned and modified each race by GBCA, similar in style to Club Handicap. The new class will be scored independently of the other classes for the Series Results and all prior finishes will be moved to the new class. This will affect the current results for other classes."

Schedule:

#1     January 6      Standard

#2     January 13    Reverse

#3     January 20    Standard

#4     January 27    Reverse

#5     February 17   Standard

For those who may not know who I am, my name is Scott Tuma; I will be the Fleet Captain for 2018. I believe I know about 80% of the fleet by first name basis, but I apologize if I have not met you. I wanted to give a brief summary of who I am, my background and what my plans for 2018 and beyond are.

I grew up in GBCA. As a very small kid, I played among the rocks of the old yellow clubhouse that was in Seabrook Shipyard. My family was heavily involved in GBCA for decades, since the 60's. My dad, Frank, ran Veracruz for 26 years, back when races were never canceled because of weather. Unfortunately, this is where I get my attitude and belief of racing - race committee ALWAYS goes out and it is up to the racers to go or not go. Yes, things were different. I keep that in mind these days. At five years old, I was finally allowed to go racing with dad. We owned a 32' trimaran, "Genesis". We lost count of how many thousands of ocean miles we put on that boat; Veracruz every year, Progresso, Tuxpan, Florida, etc... for about 20 years. In 1988, we upgraded to a Condor 40 and I got into beach catamarans. In the 90s, I raced beach cats, Ensigns, Express 27, Condor 40 and bought a J-80. Since 1992, I have been racing with the Texas Blind Sailing teams and won a world gold medal in '97 and a few nationals since. Somewhere in the 90s, I was in charge of membership for GBCA. I ran the Spring/Summer/Fall series races for a couple of years, bringing HYC and GBCA together in a shared effort. I took about a 10 year break from sailing to focus on the family. With my family's involvement in Veracruz and GBCA racing, I have been part of running events and races for quite some time. I was the Race and Regatta Chairman for HYC for 2015 & 2016. This brings us to present day...

My ultimate goal is to build participation and make racing fun. I have seen many people invest 100% in and get very frustrated and bail out; while I have also seen many give 20%, get frustrated and bail out. Sailing is a tough deal, and sailboat racing just adds several more challenges to it. How do we encourage people to bring their boat out, put themselves in a competitive setting and eventually spend more money? That's the jist of it. I have been to some very poorly run events, but the people were fantastic and vise versa. I want to run some good events, encourage people to socialize with some fantastic people; and have a really good time. Should every event be treated like it's a world level event, no. Know your audience and run the event accordingly. I think we should be able to provide different level options for people to chose to attend. I do realize we (GBCA) has the most popular event on the gulf coast; Rum Races. When I talk to people around the country, many are wishing they had half our fleet. I don't want to make any major changes, just tweek the course about 30 degree to the right- the whole course. Running counter-clockwise we will start as normal between #1 & #2 and sail to M55. Make a left hand turn and proceed to the High Range marker (not the low range); while then proceeding to the finish. The course length will be about the same as current course. I have run this course several times and it makes the beat more square (M54 would be perfect, but....) and it makes the "reach leg" a bit broader where it is not just a power beat. People are always telling me "... you can't pass on a reach, it's useless". They have gone into cruise mode instead of race mode. You will see some big difference on this leg. People will relearn how to trim a jib on a reach leg. We also have two more fantastic events that will offer some different racing than what has been done in the past; Performance Cup and Texas Race Week. I will not go into details of TRW, that is for Kevin to do; but we are going to have some fun with Performance Cup Regatta. Handicap boats (PHRF, ORC, Yardstick, what ever) will sail triangle windward/leewards with 2-3nm legs. The one design boats will have their .5-1.0nm leg windward/leeward races (depending on wind/fleet size).

Great racing does not come from one person with some ideas, it comes from the fleet. We have a great, ambitious fleet and a spectacular board. We need each class, Non-Spinnaker, 120 raters, 140 raters, J-24s, etc... to push each other and make the calls to each other to get everyone on the water. Each fleet needs a fleet captain to ram-rod people. Look at the classes that are doing very well. They are organized. They organize socials. They help each other. This is what builds fleets. We all know of "so and so" down the dock that hasn't been out in years. Go find out why. Maybe it's crew. Ok, let's help them find crew, or run the boat short handed. Maybe some of us need to offer our time and talents to help them get comfortable with their boat. Maybe the new guy down the dock is interested in racing, but they are watching Youtube videos of the extreme stuff and it scares them to death because they think that is what it is like... or they had a real bad experience in the past. I plan to reach out to some people for their help in becoming a fleet captain in the fleet they race in. Think about it, if you are on the fence about racing and you look at the register and see 12-15 non-spinnaker boat racing, you may be more inclined to join in because there is a big class. THAT would be a kick. I do understand the challenges of getting the boat out (I have owned several), but if we can make it fun and easy, "we" will be more willing to come out more. And, that is what it's all about, right?

Speaking of fun outings... I have Redfish Raft-up on the schedule. My plan is to have a HUGE GBCA raft up at Redfish and listen to Kelly McGuire while we are at it. Think of the scuttlebutt, everyone else will be wondering who we are and how can they be a part of it...

I apologize for this long thread. I believe in an open-door policy. If you have an idea, complaint, or compliment, give me a shout  and let's sit down and discuss it; I don't want to have a long misunderstood discussion on  social media about something that can be resolved with a 15 minute conversation.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing each of you this year....

Have you ever heard a sailboat race with a "soccer themed" commentary?

This Friday, October 20th, at 1600 hours, Lakewood Yacht Club will be hosting a JBoat Legends Regatta to celebrate 40 years of J-Boats, in Clear Lake with commentary provided by the infamous Xavier.

I'll be running a couple of races for some J-24s that will have some "Legends" skippering them. Xavier and his sidekick will be providing an entertaining commentary from Barge 295's upper deck. You can follow a live feed of the racing through Barge 295's FB page. I will have the courses designed to keep competitive racing mixed with spectator interaction. Heckling of the racers is encouraged.....

We hope everyone is starting to get some kind of normalicy after Hurricane Harvey. I am usually not a fan of having make-up races because of the logistics and changing of the calendar, but with the number of cancelled races we have had this year, I have decided to make-up Race 2 of Series 5 because of Harvey. I realize there are some classes where points are close and the logistics of getting away from home and office may have been a bit tough the last couple of weeks. S5R2 will be hosted on 9/20/17 and the awards party will be pushed to 10/11/17. I always try to work around HMR where people can have enough time to get their boats ready.

I do apologize for any inconvience this may have caused and I appriciate everyone's patience and look forward to seeing everyone on the water and at the awards party.

9/20/17: Series 5 Race 2 make-up
10/11/17: Awards Party


cheers...

Scott Tuma, PRO

With participation of regattas very low this year, what is the reason many are not racing?

- Too competitive
- Crew too old
- Skipper too old
- It's expensive
- I've raced too much
- Too hot
- Too sunny
- No crew
- Boat is too old to be competitive
- Start time needs to be earlier/later
- I don't like the host club
- Have to wash the cat
- Domestic complications
- Boat needs work
- Kids are racing, I can't go racing
- Too many races
- I don't like pursuit courses
- I don't like windward/leewards
- I don't like the event
- I've won too many trophies
- I sold my boat
- Or anything else.....

With the NOR for the Single/Double stating various length distance courses, would the PRO consider something more than just a Rum Race, or Icicle, course? Something at least 22.48nm.... my thought would be Start > M55 > High Range > Start area > M55 > Finish. Or, some large triangle Windward/Leeward course.

HOOD cruising chute with a basic retrieving sock for a 37-38' boat.

Dimensions:
Luff = 47'
Leech = 39'7"
Foot = 25'8"

Condition is good.

Price: $900.  For extra fee, I can show how to set it up and how to use it.

In the last Rum Race, I noticed at least 8-10 boats that deliberately sailed into the ship channel. Please note the Houston Ship Channel is an obstruction, as noted in the Sailing Instructions:

"Boats shall not enter the Houston Ship Channel. The Houston Ship Channel shall rank as an obstruction."

There are several people that noticed the same thing. The Commodore brought this point up during the awards, but I noticed many who entered the ship channel were not present at the party afterwards. This goes along with the ones who would benefit from the free seminars, don't attend. I do not mind publically calling these people out, but I would rather someone speak to them privately and remind them the Houston Ship Channel is off limits for this event. I can identify about 6 of the ones who entered the ship channel just after rounding E mark. There are enough people watching to be able to identify the culprits... and I am in full support of giving these boats DSQ for violating an obstruction. I can assume they might not have known; because, who really reads the sailing instructions anyways???

If any of you know any of the ones who sailed into the ship channel, please remind them that area is off limits.

Our Seminar calendar (also listed on GBCA and CLRA calendar):

March 1: Race Preparation - Boat & Mind
March 8: How to recover from a bad start...
March 15: New rules discussion - interactive
March 22: WNR Courses/Tactics

These seminars are free of charge. We only ask that you tip the bar tender well. Cash bar. Food available for purchase.

Where: Villa Capri on Clear Lake

To let everyone know, I had to rebuild a new CLRA FB page. Not sure why, but FB had shut down the old page. I have sent two requests of why, but have not received any response. So..... I will try again. I apologize for the inconvenience, but the page has not been hacked. If you check your friends list, the original ClearLake RacingAssociation was removed.

If you were not a previous friend, I apologize and ask you send a request. If I don't accept, or respond, send me a message. There gets to be a lot of requests.

cheers...
Scott Tuma

The awards party for the Wednesday Night Races on Clear Lake will be hosted by Villa Capri on Nasa 1 starting at 6:15 pm. I will start the awards at about 7 pm. There is no fee to attend the awards, but purchasing food and drinks from the Villa is always encouraged. We will be handing out the awards for Series 5, overall year, Crew of the Year, Sportsmanship, Buddy Award, Boat of the Year, Most Improved, (loved and hated) Aargh Award and some odd-ball special awards...

The CLRA FB page is having issues.

I will make notifications for the party on this forum. The party will be at the Villa Capri at October 5th at 6:15 pm. Please email me your nomination choice; c_l_r_a at Comcast dot net.

We are going to have a schedule change:

I am going to postpone Series 4 Race 2 to August 3rd so that more of the sailing community can attend the US Olympic Sailing Team send off at Houston Yacht Club.

Here is the link: http://www.houstonyachtclub.com/portals/0/news/national_team_sendoff.pdf

The Houston Yacht Club is hosting the send off party for the US Olymipic Sailing Team. This will their last stop before heading to Rio.

Please come out and help support our sailors in representing USA in the Olympics.

We will just push everything 1 week... Series 5 Race 1 will be August 31st.

I apologize for any inconvenience, but I feel it is important to support our team...

The original TGIF races are back...

Why: It's too hot to sail during the day - many people enjoy sailing into the sunset
When: Base start time is 7pm on August 5th, August 19th, September 2nd, September 16th, September 30th
Where: Galveston Bay - using GBCA's longer Rum Race course

2016 TGIF Series Sailing Instructions

I.   Introduction
The TGIF Series races are a step back to the roots of GBCA racing. This is a very casual/fun event. These will be held every other Friday in August and September as a trial period. The starts will be a staggered rabbit start. The pursuit base start time will be 7:00:00 pm. The intent is to race in the cooler part of the day and finish at night. All boats are required to have working running lights, per USCG. Any participant that feels the need to push the rules, or manipulate their intent, may be excluded from participation. We may make any change unannounced when we feel a need. After the finish, we encourage everyone to raft up/anchor and enjoy the firework show.  There is no race committee; therefore, these races are built on honesty and integrity. If you fail to exercise either of these, the other participants will let you know.

II.   Start/Finish Line
•   The Start/Finish Line will be between Clear Lake entrance Marker #1 and Marker #2, located in Galveston Bay. 
•   Participants shall not interfere with traffic in the Clear Creek Channel when starting and finishing.
o   In the event there is heavy traffic in the channel, attempt to start/finish as close to #1 or #2 as possible. If this exception is manipulated, the participant will be asked to excuse themselves from future events.

III.   Marks of the Course
•   Start/Finish Line:   29°33.164'N     29°59.551'W   Clear Lake Entrance Marker #2
•   "J" Mark:      29°30.324'N   94°54.641'W   Harvesting Marker "M 55"
•   "E" Mark:      29°35.787'N   94°56.935'W   Low Range Marker
In the event any of these marks are missing, boats shall round the coordinated given.

IV.   Starting Times
•   Starting times are calculated by the following:
o   S=14.42 x (300-R)
    Let R be the yacht's PHRF or GBCA Club Handicap rating and S be the starting time adjusted in seconds.
o   Starting Time = 7:00:00 PM + S
o   Or listed in Attachment #1 and based off a 14.42 nm course. Times are based off GPS time.
•   Boats starting shall NOT interfere with boat traffic in Clear Lake Entrance Channel.
•   Base starting time is 7:00:00 PM

 
V.   Course Description
•   Course 1
o   Start/Finish Line to J Mark
o   J Mark to E Mark
o   E Mark to Start/Finish
•   Course 2
o   Start/Finish Line to E Mark
o   E Mark to J Mark
o   J Mark to Start/Finish
VI.   Classes and handicaps
•   Classes may consist of:
o   Spinnaker – White Flag
o   Non-Spinnaker – Black Flag
o   GBCA Club Handicap – Orange Flag
   Results from this series are not intended to be used in recalculating Club Handicap.
o   Multihull
VII.   Finishing
•   Each yacht shall record the finish of the next yacht in their class behind them.
•   There is no time limit
VIII.   Awards
•   Physical awards are TBD, and not guaranteed.
•   Points shall be awarded based on number of finishers submitted, using a modified high-point system:
o   First place points = number of finishers
o   Second place points = number of finishers – 1.
o   Etc...
•   Results shall be emailed to Scott Tuma at TexasTuma@Comcast.net; where they will be posted on the GBCA Discussion Forum.
IX.   Race Schedule
•   Race 1: August 5th: Course 1
•   Race 2: August 19th: Course 2
•   Race 3: September 2nd: Course 1
•   Race 4: September 16th: Course 2
•   Race 5: September 30th: Course 1

TGIF Attachment #1                           
Scratch start time: 7:00:00 PM   PHRF Min     Sec    Start time   
                               171    31     -      7:31:00 PM   
Nautical miles: 14.42              168    31     43    7:31:43 PM   
                               165    32     27    7:32:27 PM   
PHRF Min     Sec    Start time              162    33     10    7:33:10 PM   
300    -       -      7:00:00 PM      159    33     53    7:33:53 PM   
297    -       43    7:00:43 PM      156    34     36    7:34:36 PM   
294    1     27    7:01:27 PM      153    35     20    7:35:20 PM   
291    2     10    7:02:10 PM      150    36     3    7:36:03 PM   
288    2     53    7:02:53 PM      147    36     46    7:36:46 PM   
285    3     36    7:03:36 PM      144    37     30    7:37:30 PM   
282    4     20    7:04:20 PM      141    38     13    7:38:13 PM   
279    5     3    7:05:03 PM      138    38     56    7:38:56 PM   
276    5     46    7:05:46 PM      135    39     39    7:39:39 PM   
273    6     29    7:06:29 PM      132    40     23    7:40:23 PM   
270    7     13    7:07:13 PM      129    41     6    7:41:06 PM   
267    7     56    7:07:56 PM      126    41     49    7:41:49 PM   
264    8     39    7:08:39 PM      123    42     32    7:42:32 PM   
261    9     22    7:09:22 PM      120    43     16    7:43:16 PM   
258    10     6    7:10:06 PM      117    43     59    7:43:59 PM   
255    10     49    7:10:49 PM      114    44     42    7:44:42 PM   
252    11     32    7:11:32 PM      111    45     25    7:45:25 PM   
249    12     15    7:12:15 PM      108    46     9    7:46:09 PM   
246    12     59    7:12:59 PM      105    46     52    7:46:52 PM   
243    13     42    7:13:42 PM      102    47     35    7:47:35 PM   
240    14     25    7:14:25 PM      99    48     18    7:48:18 PM   
237    15     8    7:15:08 PM      96    49     2    7:49:02 PM   
234    15     52    7:15:52 PM      93    49     45    7:49:45 PM   
231    16     35    7:16:35 PM      90    50     28    7:50:28 PM   
228    17     18    7:17:18 PM      87    51     11    7:51:11 PM   
225    18     1    7:18:01 PM      84    51     55    7:51:55 PM   
222    18     45    7:18:45 PM      81    52     38    7:52:38 PM   
219    19     28    7:19:28 PM      78    53     21    7:53:21 PM   
216    20     11    7:20:11 PM      75    54     5    7:54:05 PM   
213    20     55    7:20:55 PM      72    54     48    7:54:48 PM   
210    21     38    7:21:38 PM      69    55     31    7:55:31 PM   
207    22     21    7:22:21 PM      66    56     14    7:56:14 PM   
204    23     4    7:23:04 PM      63    56     58    7:56:58 PM   
201    23     48    7:23:48 PM      60    57     41    7:57:41 PM   
198    24     31    7:24:31 PM      57    58     24    7:58:24 PM   
195    25     14    7:25:14 PM      54    59     7    7:59:07 PM   
192    25     57    7:25:57 PM      51    59     51    7:59:51 PM   
189    26     41    7:26:41 PM      48    60     34    8:00:34 PM   
186    27     24    7:27:24 PM      45    61     17    8:01:17 PM   
183    28     7    7:28:07 PM      42    62     -      8:02:00 PM   
180    28     50    7:28:50 PM      39    62     44    8:02:44 PM   
177    29     34    7:29:34 PM      36    63     27    8:03:27 PM   
174    30     17    7:30:17 PM      33    64     10    8:04:10 PM   

I will post the PDF version on ClearLakeRacing dot com

The Leukemia Cup supporting the Leukemia and Lymphomia Society will be held June 25-26, 2016.

The One-Design Line will include all boats wishing to race a windward/leeward format around movable buoys. Depending on the number of entrants, will dictate if we separate this into two lines.

The classic Pursuit Line will include racing and cruising boats that wish to add a little bit of distance racing to their game. The Pursuit courses will range from 8-15 nm in Galveston Bay.  The Distance Non-Spinnaker fleet will race a course about 10-18 nm in length. Spinnaker classes will be given the longest course, up to 25 nm. Each of the course lengths will vary depending on the boats racing, and the weather conditions. I am going back old-school with this course layout - each of the mark used in the bay will be identified with a letter. The order of mark roundings will be determined at the warning signal. This method gives race committee many options on course length and directions, it adds a bit of navigation, and it makes things interesting.

NOR: http://houstonyachtclub.com/Portals/0/race/2016_LeukemiaCup_NOR.pdf
Registration: https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registration_form.php?regatta_id=12581

The increase of WNR and decrease of weekend participation has become more prominent across the country...

Some questions for us to answer and ponder:
1. Why the decrease in weekend participation?
2. What is the draw of a WNR?
3. What are some of the reasons (you) won't sail a weekend event?
4. Would (you) be more willing to race a 1 day event instead of 2 days?
5. Do the weekend races start too early? Too late? Should we start at 3 pm?
6. Do we cater the weekend races to the party too much? Does the racing become compromised?
7. Do people want a course different than a W/L? Triangle W/L? Star? Combo?
8. Are 3 day races too inconvenient?
9. Should we make some big regattas Thursday-Saturday? Leave Sunday for family?
10. Should we give rating credits for having kids/new people on board?

These are some questions that have been floating around and I hope people can answer honestly. I would love if people would respond here, but PM me if you'd like to quietly give your opinion. Getting honest answers is the only way any of us can improve the racing. I constantly hear people complaining the racing is dying - help do something!!!

Who's interested in a Level 120 class for HOOD?

In the past, boats that rate between 120 and 130 would forego their handicap and race heads-up. The last time I raced Level 120, we win in the Soverel 27.

I will attempt to post the videos I take of the Wednesday Noght Races here for those who don't use social media.

FREE SEMINAR...

Have you ever wondered why some people can run away upwind, why you get smoked on a reach, or how "Bob" can sail deeper and faster downwind?

It is the boat, the driving, the sails, or sail trim?

Now that we've learned that pulling the strings keeps the floppy things under control and they make the boat move forward.  Ever noticed how sometimes you are healed over much more than everyone else, but they are going faster? Ever thought a reach is just a parade and everyone goes the same speed, except those couple people that are minutes ahead of you?

Everyone is welcome to Villa Capri on Clear Lake tonight at 6:15pm to get an insight into some of the aspects of sail trim: benefit of moving Genoa lead cars, adjusting sheet tension & vang pressure, and the benefit of that pesky outhaul...