GBCA Discussion Forum

Just a little reminder that the End of Year Party for the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races is tomorrow night at the Club Classic...

Social Hour starts at 6:00 pm
Food at 7:00
Slideshow, Music, Trophies, Door Prizes, a talk about the status of the Wednesday Night Races...

I hope to see you there!

Bud

If you RSVP'd for the End of Year Party, or cast your ballots for Most Improved, Sportsmanship, or Best Individual Crew on the old web site, please take the time to do it again on the new one.

As Charles correctly pointed out, http://www.clearlakeracing.org is the new web site url, but http://www.clearlakeracing.com will point to it very soon too (propagation throughout the DNS system is taking its sweet time about the change).

The new web site is a little underdeveloped, but I will be adding pics and filling out the content over the next week.

Thanks for your patience! A new web site is long overdue...

Buddy

Results for Semi-Final 1 are posted at http://www.clearlakeracing.com?pageID=421.

The latest news is posted on the home page: http://www.clearlakeracing.com

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

One of the biggest motivations for accepting the responsibility of the Wednesday Night Races (1995), was to improve the quality of yacht racing on the lake and the bay.

At that time, we were in the middle of a sharp, alarming decline in the number of boats on the bay...so alarming that there were many who were truly frightened by the prospect of yacht racing diminishing to almost nothing around here. The turning point for me came when, for a major regatta (and I can not remember which one), seventeen boats showed up to race...and it wasn't bad weather, bad marketing, or any other obstacle that caused the ridiculously low turnout. It became apparent, even obvious, that disinterest was the root cause... and for someone like myself who loves this sport, it was truly a time for action and effort.

In addition to declining bay participation, there was mass disregard for the rules in the lake races, exacerbated by reaching starts (which resulted in all the boats arriving at the first turning mark simultaneously), and crowds that cheered every time the crunch of fiberglass, or the angry rants of screaming skippers filled the air. The Wednesday Races had nicknames like 'Bumper Boats', or 'NASCAR on the Lake', and it has taken years, if not decades, to recover from that venue. To make matters worse, there were loud, boisterous, and basically unpleasant competitors who were accepted as role models by newbies, which resulted in the propagation of distasteful personal interactions. Occasionally, old behaviors from those days still reappear from skippers who were around at that time. They stick their bows into places where they should not go. They disregard the 'question mark' in the pit of their stomach associated with a high risk manuever just for the chance of passing one more competitor. Low probability moves are slow and detrimental, unworthy of the immediate adrenalin gratification one might receive in the attempt. Slow because they seldom work, they result in penalty turn obligations, and detrimental because they result in protests and sometimes, even hard feelings.

Creating an environment to allow yacht racing to flourish, to grow to its highest potential: competitively, emotionally, mentally, while enhancing sportsmanship and friendship between the competitors, is the job of the organizing authority. It requires constant effort in educating, thinking, talking, getting feedback, finding and keeping sponsors, and implementing all of it into a system that maintains balance and direction.

And yet, that is all the organizing authority can do....create an environment. It is the competitors that have to take the ball and run with it. They are the ones who determine at what level of potential our sport is to be played. They're the ones that have to read the rules, hone their skills, learn new tactics, bring others along, and participate the way they're supposed to. And when you reach the full potential of the sport, when it becomes one of move and counter-move between competitors, when it becomes a quiet dance between boats, competitors, and friends as they strive for the next mark, you start to realize just how marvelous and unique yacht racing really can be...

Then, everyone gets excited. Everyone gets 'bit' by the sport, and they start bringing their friends to turn them on to the experience, because they need a crew, or they just want to take a proactive role in growing the sport. That is, I believe, what needs to happen....

Are you concerned enough, and excited enough about yacht racing to grow the sport? If so, find a neighbor, a friend, a fellow employee, any acquaintence, and invite them to come along. Then, for goodness sake, please make sure their experience is a pleasant one...no yelling, plenty of smiles, laughter, and comfort...and bring them to the party so they can see the crowd and be introduced around.

If you make the experience an overwhelmingly good one, who wouldn't want to join?

Just a few points regarding triangular courses:

1) Reaches are 'No Passing Zones' (aka 'The Parade') unless demanding conditions require higher boat and sail handling skills from the crews and/or equipment (loads increase dramatically as one sails closer to the wind).   'Up in the Lulls, Down in the Puffs', and using the apparent wind to pass to leeward become highly rewarded skills, as these become the techniques used for passing on reaches.

2) A triangular course easily becomes skewed with any wind shift, making one reach tighter and the other broader (see 1 above). Even the steady breezes of Galveston Bay make it difficult for a race committee to keep the course as designed. It also requires a third stake boat and crew to stand by, on station at the wing mark, to move it if necessary....

3) A lot of today's modern designs easily pop up on a plane on tighter reaches. No rating system on Galveston Bay properly accounts for the increased speed of planing (Portsmouth does). Owners of older designs should not be campaigning for triangular courses if they are going to race in planing conditions for their competition... unless, of course, they are compassionate, understanding, and ok watching a passing competitor, their bow spray landing fifteen feet behind their stern, catching occasional glimpses through the spray of the beaming grins and wide eyes of their excited crew.

4) Wind shifts provide opportunities to pass and are more easily tracked on leeward legs. Lack of planing (usually) on leeward legs allows the rating system to better account for design differences.

5) No passing zones aren't necessarily bad things for those participants that just enjoy going around a race course with, and against, their friends... or for those that want a leg on which to relax a little, or break out lunch.

6) So, quite possibly it boils down for whom the race committee is setting the race course. Reaches are faster and definitely require a different skill set. For some designs, reaches can determine the more experienced, stronger crews, or allow some time on the race course for a cheese cracker and a sip of wine.

Everything has its place...

Hello Everyone...

Well, the 2010 sailing and racing season has certainly kicked off, and the Topics are over, but before they get too far into the distant past, it's a good time for feedback...

If you attended, did you gain from the experience?
   Would you recommend the Topics to your friends?
   Will you come again next year?
   What would you change?
   ...and please suggest Topics you would be interested in hearing about.

If you did not attend, can you tell us why?
   Too far away?
   Wednesday schedule was already full?
   Topics not of interest?
   Speakers not of interest?
   Not aware of the series?


Some of the feedback already received suggests:
   1) At times, the subject matter was more advanced than was usable by beginning sailors. Please create a session(s) to communicate the basics.
   2) Please have some marine industry representatives speak on their products or services. (bottom paint, engines, electrical systems, canvas and sails, etc.)


Of course, you don't have to answer all the questions above. Just give us your thoughts. Your input is important to us...

The foreseeable schedule for Wednesday Night activities:

March 24th  :  Gains around the Race Course - Add new techniques and skills, and eliminate detrimental habits to improve your finishes.  (Buddy Brown)

March 31st  :  Registration, Skipper's Meeting and Kickoff Party for the 2010 Wednesday Night Season.

April 7th      :  Series 1 Race 1 for the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races on Clear Lake!

All March events start at the Club Classic at 6:30 pm with the bar open at 6:00.
The first gun for Series 1 Race 1 is 6:15 pm on the lake.

Hope to see you there!!

A job well done by Joe 'JT' Taylor at last night's Topics at the Club Classic. Lots of inside info shared and insight into the requirementsw for excellence in yacht racing.

Thanks JT!

Next week, join us to listen to one of the most successful Wednesday Night Racers. Stuart Lindow will be sharing his knowledge and techniques for performing well in the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races. His Topic, "Winning on Clear Lake" will address the winds, geographical shifts, current, courses, and strategies for racing in Clear Lake.

Next Wednesday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!), Club Classic, 6:30 pm

Well........

It is nice to know up front how many classes are being formed, primarily because of the End of Year Class Champion scoring that occurs over the six scheduled series (with one throw-out).

But it not a hard and totally fast rule...The V15's broke out of the Portsmouth Class a few years ago, midseason, and probably will continue to have their own start this year...

Expected classes are: PHRF Non-Spin, Laser, Sunfish, V15, Portsmouth, J22, J24, J80, and PHRF Spinnaker. We have contingency plans for multihulls, if they decide to participate... Also, Ben Miller bought a Catalina 22 and Rob Calkins, Charles Broaddus, and others have been talking up a class start.

In general, any group of five identical boats that enter for the year have a real good chance at their own start. There is a limit however... The lake is small and the courses interlace in such a way that we have a difficult time with more than eight starts simply because the first class is back upon us by the time a ninth start gets away... We always try to accommodate however...


Skipper's Meeting, Registration and Kick -Off Party scheduled for March 31 at the Club Classic... 6:30 pm


Best regards,

Buddy

Just confirmed with Joe Taylor about his presentation Wednesday on:

"The Art of Foredeck"

His discussion is to include:

• Tools
• Tips
• Techniques
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Task Sequence

and of course, he just came back from the Mexorc with the Mojo crew, so we can expect a few new stories to go with the old...
so, come out and listen as Joe Taylor passes on the knowledge gained from his years and years of yacht racing experiences!

This Wednesday, 6:30 pm at the Club Classic.

Limited seating, first come-first seated, Bar opens at 6...

OK... sorry about the delay... I've been working on a new website for the Wednesday Night Races..and I've just run out of time...

March 31 is registration, skipper's meeting and the Kick-Off Party.

April 7 is the first race of Series 1...

Look for the (old) website to suffice until the new one appears. I will update it today...

Bud