2008
Aug. 1-3, PBSA Rendezvous, Essex, CT
Race #2 Sat. July 12 Galley Ho Race
Race #3 Fri. July 25 -Kindered Spirit Race
Race #4 Sun. Aug. 17- Peconic Cup
Race #5 Fri. Sept 5- Jackrabbit Race
The Commodore’s Message
June, 2008
The 2008 sailing season officially began on May 9th with the annual "Spring Fling" at Lenz Winery. Good friends, sail talk and fine wine resulted in a winning recipe for a truly enjoyable evening. It seems to me that this occurs whenever the PBSA membership gets together! A special thank you is in order for PBSA-member Peter Carroll for hosting this great event again this year.
This month's issue of the newsletter contains the notice of race for the 2008 New Suffolk Series. As in 2007, the series will consist of five races to be held throughout the summer. You will notice that each of the races has been given a name this year rather than simply being designated by number. The first race is named for the late, great Ray Krogman, who for many years was an integral part of the North Fork sailing community. The second race has been designated, "The Galley Ho Race", and is meant to commemorate the traditions of the New Suffolk waterfront. (Incidentally, the Peconic Land Trust, who are the new owners of the old Galley Ho and marina, have scheduled a celebratory clam bake to be held on the property on the evening of July 12th.) The "Kindred Spirit Race", which will be held on the evening of July 25th, is named for the Comando family’s cruising yacht, which will serve as the committee boat for that race. The August 17th race has been dubbed "The Peconic Cup", in honor of the annual PBSA race which has been inactive for the past few years. Finally, the last race of the series is the eponymous "Jack Rabbit" race, which requires no explanation.
Mike Drobet has agreed to take the helm of the Whitebread committee this year. Mike has been deeply involved in the race since its inception 15 years ago. At this juncture, he has assembled a talented and committed team to make this great event happen. Accordingly, we are assured of the continued success of this classic regatta. Thank you Mike et al.
The PBSA website, which is maintained by Kevin Horne, has become an important resource, not only to PBSA members, but to the entire North Fork sailing community. Club members are invited to visit the message board to read and post sailing-related messages including information on PBSA post-race and Wednesday Night social events. If you need help with the user name and password, please refer to this month's newsletter or email me at bandrewsesq@optonline.net.
Fair Winds, Brian Andrews
Committee News
Race Commitee
In response to conversations with PBSA members the race committee has
decided to institute a “Golf Handicapping” type of scoring for PBSA
New Suffolk Series Races. This
decision was made after a meeting of the race committee and discussion of the
pros and cons.
Among the cons, and this is a serious concern to the race committee, is
that this system can be perceived as punishing the most successful boats.
Those boats are also the ones which show up.
We hope that those sailors will have a broad enough view to look upon
this system as a way to stimulate participation in our race program and add to
the enjoyment and competitiveness of our sport locally.
Their Corinthian spirit will go a long way to make this racing
successful. One race committee
member quoted Hobie Alter about this subject.
“If the same boats win every race pretty soon they are the only boats
which show up.”
Among the pros for a system which will allow less prepared and less able
sailors a chance to win is that this style of scoring is meant to create racing
in which every racer is sailing against himself.
If he has a good race relative to his usual performance he will do well. If he sails poorly he will not.
That’s the heart of it. We
believe that this will entice more players into the arena and improve the
sailing skills of those who choose to participate.
Another pro for this system is the fact that for casual Sunday afternoon
races, contestants will not have to optimize their boats for racing.
If you want to sail with your dodger, grill and towing your dingy, you
may as long as you do so for each race. This
and other changes over the last few years, such as no preregistration, a liberal
policy with regard to PHRF certificates, and a race committee commitment to
begin the races on time and to limit the course to finish within three hours,
are aimed at making PBSA racing easy and fun.
The USSA Website has a page regarding “Golf Handicaps”. http://www.usssailing.org/phrf/golf.htm
. ( Golf
Handicaps) If you
visit and read this you will note that the system described there is different
than the system we will be using. The
race committee discussed several ways to accomplish the goal of leveling the
playing field and decided on a system of applying penalties to the first, second
& third place yachts. We note
that this is done by the Off Soundings Club with generally successful results.
The penalty system also has the advantage of being easier to administer than the
system described on the Website.
We also subjected last year’s racing results to rescoring using both
systems and found that there was no change in the order of finish.
We did find, however, that the delta’s between the first and second to
last place (Lasts are thrown out) shrunk to a margin that if any boat had made
better tacking decisions, paid more attention to sail trim or didn’t make a
few mistakes, could have surmounted. In
other words, most boats
had
a chance to win.
New Suffolk Series Scoring Rules
As indicated in the Notice of Race for the New Suffolk Series, the
race committee has decided to improve race competitiveness by using scoring
adjustments to time on time PHRF scoring. These
adjustments are a derivation of “Golf Handicapping” as described on the USSA
Website. There are several ways to
meet the goals of this scoring system but the race committee has chosen a 9-6-3
second time penalty. This will be
easier to administer then the others methods discussed.
Contestants should note that the race committee tested this system
against the results from last year and found that the order of finish did not
change. The margin of victory for
the winning boats was reduced. It is the intention of the race committee and this scoring
system to produce a race in which a boat has to sail a very good race to win;
but that any boat, optimized for racing or not, can win. We hope that this will bring more participation in PBSA
racing in the best tradition of Corinthian yacht racing.
The heart of the system is the 9-6-3-second penalty: First place winning yachts will receive a 9 second penalty
for the next PBSA race in which they compete.
Second place finishing yachts will receive a 6 second penalty and third
place finisher will receive a 3 second penalty. The penalty will be applied to the yachts PHRF time
correction. For example:
If yacht Red Rover has a PHRF rating 186 and wins the first PBSA race,
she will be scored with a PHRF rating of 177 for the second PBSA race.
If she wins the second PBSA race she will carry the PHRF penalty of 9
seconds into the third PBSA race. If
she does not place in the second race her PHRF rating would revert to 186 for
the next race.
The “Golf Handicaps” will apply to daily racing and prizes.
The New Suffolk Series will be scored in accordance with the RRS Low
Point Scoring as indicated in xxxxxxxxxxx based on the daily results.
The daily Low Point scores will be derived from the golf handicap
adjusted results.
If, on a particular day, the race committee holds more than one race each
will be scored separately towards the New Suffolk Series and Golf Handicaps will
be applied to each race. That means
the yacht which places in the first
race will have the time penalties applied in
the second. Yachts which place in
the second race will carry the penalty into the next PBSA race in which they
compete in the season. The
daily score for the daily trophies will employ the Golf Handicaps as described
for each race and will be derived from Low Point Scoring as per RRS Appendix
xxxxxxx.
All penalties expire at the end of the season. For One Design Classes, the fleet captain or representative can opt out of the 9-6-3 penalty system by indicating so to the race committee prior to the first PBSA race.
is now available, be sure to also download the Regulations as some changes have been made.
Flotsam Jetsam
Fall Dinner party a success!
Thanks to all
