Racing News - December 2011
January 2012 brings a new season for CMCS racers, even though we’re well into the Caloosahatchee Boat of The Year Series.
Some things are changing – some are not! Your Rear Commodore – Racing is still Steve Roake for another year. I’m the old race chairman with some new ideas! Many of the changes are meant to streamline the administrative tasks of the race chairman in an effort to make the job more appealing to others!
There will be some changes to the race course designations. In addition to the more “complex” course arrangements, the simpler courses will just be designated with a “T” followed by the number of legs for a triangle course; a “TW” followed by the number of legs for a triangle-windward/leeward course; and a “W” followed by the number of legs for a windward/ leeward course. Generally, these courses will utilize the starting pin as the leeward mark unless announced differently.
The Buoy Racing Series will remain for the coming year. The Distance Race Series concept will be changed back to individual race awards (One only had to participate in two distance races this past year to be eligible for a series award – not much of a series!). The Buoy Series will change from “Regatta” scoring to individual race scoring, although qualifying will still be about the same. By changing to “race” rather than “regatta” scoring, a boat that has a particularly bad race within the regatta can discard it and not lose out on the whole day of racing. For boats not appearing on a particular race day, the boat receives a DNC for each race missed, whether one or three races are held. Races within the Summerset Regatta will still be counted, but the races will be re-scored using only boats that normally (more than four races, not counting Summerset) race in the buoy series, and multiple Summerset sections within a division will be combined into one section per division. 80% of the total races finished will be counted for series scoring (example: if there are 12 total races, 10 races will be counted; if there are 15 total races, 12 will be counted; DNC scores will be two positions plus the number of starters in a particular race (for a race with 9 starters within a division, a “no-show” or DNC boat would receive a score of 11.)
There will no longer be individual race trophies awarded after each event. Awards for each of the Long Distance Races and Buoy Series will be awarded at the Annual Change of Watch Dinner. Hopefully, the money saved for the many individual awards can be used to provide more “meaningful” annual awards.
There will no longer be skippers meetings before most races. These events were poorly attended this past year. If there are changes or amendments to the race instructions, it is only fair that ALL participants receive the information. E-mail has worked very well in this regard, so this will become the default method for distributing information to all racers. There may still be skippers meetings before some of the distance events and Summerset is, of course, excluded from this change.
Attendance at post-race parties has grown and proven popular. To this end we will try to have a social event after each event. Hopefully, this will encourage greater crew participation. Most events already have a club social. Last year only two race events didn’t have a club social, and they had post-race parties – we’ll try to do the same again this year. I’d like to have a volunteer to organize each of these (2) events (and other racer-specific social events!).
Another change will be scratch sheets. Racers may no longer receive scratch sheets prior to each event. Many organizations have abandoned scratch sheets for club events where the participants are usually the same players. We will periodically distribute a roster of participants based on their entered division and sorted by sail number. The roster will be updated when a new boat enters an event. The roster may not be indicative of boats actually entered in a particular event. This past year, we had boats entered that didn’t race for one reason or another but were still on the scratch sheet, so the scratch sheet wasn’t necessarily a list of actual participants. Other fleets that I’ve raced in didn’t have scratch sheets and this didn’t seem to be a problem. I will make every effort to keep the roster current and available via e-mail prior to every race. However, errors or omissions will not be grounds for redress!
This past year I had hoped that encouraging the multiple-entry process would streamline the race administration process – it didn’t. It became more cumbersome to administer for a variety of reasons. 2012 will see a big change! To encourage seasonal entries, we will have a new entry and fee system. Much like we pay dues whether we come to club meetings or not, we will pay racing fees whether we come out to race, or not. There will be a single entry fee for all five Buoy races and a single entry fee for all Distance races in 2012. The Buoy Series fee will be $70 ($63.00 for USSA members) and the Distance Series fee will be $50 ($45 for USSA members), with a combined fee of $110 ($100 for USSA members). Boats can still enter races individually, but the individual entry fee will increase to $25 ($22.50 for USSA members) per regatta. This system offers a significant savings for those who enter races seasonally, yet still permits racers to participate in an individual event. Seasonal fees will be non-refundable. Individual entry fees would only be refunded if the race was cancelled. “Special” races, such as the Ladies Race, would be handled separately with an individual entry fee and awards specific to the event. Summerset Regatta races will still be scored in the Buoy Series (there is already an award for the Summerset distance race). There will be no additional fee beyond the Summerset entry for these events. Entry fees for non-members will still be the same as for members to encourage participation from members of other clubs.
I hope to have some “guest” race committee boats out for some of the races in 2012. Perhaps some of these “guest” participants may consider doing it on a more frequent basis! Anyone wishing to be a “guest” Race Committee Boat, please contact me. If you’re uncomfortable doing this alone for the first time, I’d be happy to come out with you. You will only be responsible for the on-water activities. I’ll still take care of scoring, etc.
You will soon be receiving a new entry form, 2012 general sailing instructions, course layouts and a roster of racers.
Our participation steadily increased throughout 2011. I hope that we can keep up this momentum! The True Cruising Division has really grown and now dominates the fleet. The non-spinnaker division has lost some boats to True Cruising. The Spinnaker Division has struggled and the multi-hull division may struggle more this year with the temporary loss of Ned Christensen’s Passion III, which is off cruising in the Caribbean.
Perhaps we need some rules changes to encourage the more competitive racers to “move up” from “True Cruising” to Non-Spinnaker. Perhaps the boats finishing first, and second, or first, second and third in the buoy series last year in True Cruising would move up to non-spinnaker. If our True Cruising division continues to grow, perhaps it should be split into two fleets based on the above criteria or handicap splits. I’d like to hear from the active participants in these divisions regarding this possible change! In any event, look for a major overhaul of the True Cruising regulations in the near future!
I’m looking forward to a GREAT 2012 racing season! I hope to see all of you out there as much as possible. Your participation is important! Our program improves as participation increases!
Steve Roake
