2016 OSYC SAILING INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLUB SERIES RACES
These sailing instructions (SI)
are secondary to instructions given in any Notice of Regatta (NOR), officially
announced at a skippers meeting for a particular race, or officially posted on
the notice board. Conflicts will be
resolved in the following order: official posting, skippers meeting, NOR, and
finally these SI.
1. Rules
Racing shall be governed by the
Racing Rules of Sailing, current edition, (RRS), the prescriptions of the
United States Sailing Association, the rules of the classes concerned except as
altered by these sailing instructions, Class rules requiring competitors to be
class members shall not apply to OSYC racing.
2. Notices to competitors
Notices to competitors are now
posted on the OSYC WEB SITE CALENDAR. Schedule
changes will be sent to competitors via email.
3. Changes to sailing instructions
Any change to the sailing
instructions will be announced during a skippers meeting.
4. Signals made ashore
Signals made ashore will be
displayed from the club flagpole or other announced location.
When the flag AP (Postponement) is
displayed ashore, racing will begin not less than 30 minutes after the AP flag is
lowered in order to give boats reasonable time to reach the starting area from
shore.
5. Schedule of Races
Races are scheduled as posted on
the OSYC Web site calendar. Additional notifications may be included in
the club group emails.
Unless stated otherwise in the NOR
or posted on the notice board, for regular series events the scheduled time for
the skippers meeting shall be 1200 and the first signal shall be 1300. For two-day regattas, on Saturday the
skippers meeting shall be at 1200 and the first signal shall be at 1300 and on
Sunday there shall be no skippers meeting and the first signal shall be at
1100. Four (4) short blasts will be
given not less than one minute before the first signal of the start sequence.
When more than one race will be
held on the same day, the warning signal for each succeeding race will be made
as soon as practicable. To alert boats
that another race or sequence of races will begin soon, a series of four or
more short sound signals will be made from the Race Committee boat not less
than one minute before the first signal of the start sequence..
No race shall be stared after 1600
during Daylight Savings Time or after 1500 during Standard Time each day,
unless announced at the skippers meeting or in the NOR, with the intention
being to complete the final race by that time.
6. Class flags (unless otherwise
announced)
Class Flag
Dinghies red
Cruisers blue
Mixed Solid Green
7. Racing Area
Races shall be held in the general
vicinity of OSYC on Lake Sinclair, Georgia or as designated by the Race
Committee.
8. Courses
No later than the warning signal,
the race committee boat shall display the course designation for the upcoming
race.
Standard courses are described
below. Other course may be used as
announced and described at the skippers meeting. If not announced as “closed”, the line will
be considered open and racers may cross the line during the race. If the
start/finish is designated “closed”, boats may not cross the line while racing
except to start or finish.
8.1 Triangle (T)
Race starts upwind. Course is A-B-C-finish. Marks are left to Port. Multiple laps may be designated with a number
(i.e., T-1, T-2, T-3).
8.2 Olympic (MO)
Race starts upwind. Course is A-B-C-A-C-finish. Marks are left to Port.
8.3 Windward-Leeward (WL)
Race starts upwind. Course is A-C-finish. Marks are left to Port. Multiple laps may be designated with a number
(i.e., WL-1, WL-2, WL-3).
the
8.4 Turkey Foot (TF)
Race starts in the direction of
the first mark. Course is
A-gate-B-gate-C-finish. A, B, and C
marks are left to Port. The start/finish
line is a “gate” and must be crossed each lap and may be rounded to either end.
8.5 Long Distance (LD)
Long Distance courses may include
any number of marks at any location on the lake and left to either side as
described at the skippers meeting or in the notice of regatta.
8.6 Other Courses
Other course designs may be used
provided that they are within the bounds of the RRS and that they are
adequately described to all competitors prior to the warning signal.
9. Marks
Marks of the course will be
inflatable yellow cylinders or other floating buoys.
10. The Start
Races will be started using RRS rule
26 with the warning signal given 5 minutes before the starting signal. An attention signal consisting of multiple
short horn blasts may be given not less than 1 minute before the first signal
of the start sequence.
The starting line will be between
a yellow flag on the race committee boat and a flag on the pin buoy. The race committee boat may be positioned at
either end of the starting line at the convenience of the race committee.
A boat that crosses that start
line later than 5 minutes after her starting signal may be scored DNS at the
discretion of the race committee. The race committee may choose to extend this
time depending on prevailing wind conditions.
This changes rule A4.1.
11. The Finish
The finishing line will be between
a yellow flag (or other if announced pre-race) on the
race committee boat and the announced pin buoy.
The race committee boat may be positioned at either end of the finishing
line at the convenience of the race committee.
12. Shortened Course
When the course is shortened, the
finish shall be between a flag on the race committee boat and the nearest mark
and boats shall finish by sailing through the line from the direction of the
previous mark.
13. Penalty System
RRS Rule 44.1 and
44.2 shall apply, except 44.2 is
modified to require only a 360* turn. RRS
Rule 61.1a is modified to remove the requirement to fly a red protest flag. Scoring penalties will not be used.
14. Time Limits
For buoy races, the race officials
will attempt to conduct races of less than one hour. After the 3rd boat
crosses the finish line, other boats will have 20 minutes to round the buoy
before the last leg of the race. Those that do not finish in the required
time limit will be scored DNF and required to proceed as quickly
as possible, preferably motorized or under tow, to the start line for the start
of the next race. The official(s) will sound a horn and put up a flag to
signal everyone to return and get ready for the next race.
15. Protests and Requests for
Redress
Protests must be submitted in
writing. Protest forms are available in
the clubhouse. The protest time limit
shall be 30 minutes after the race committee boat docks. Hearings will be held in the clubhouse as
soon as possible after all parties have been notified. Hearings will be open to all racers.
16. Scoring
The Low Point scoring system of
Appendix A will apply, except as modified by these Sailing Instructions, by a
Notice of Regatta, or by a posting on the notice board.
16.1 Daily Results
· Daily results will be posted for information
only.
16.2 Series Results
Series standings will be based on
all the individual races in the series with 1 of every 5 races being dropped
from the scoring. The dropped race(s)
would be the highest of the racers accumulated placements.
· Each boat starting and finishing a race
day shall be scored points as follows:
First 1 point
Second 2 points
Third 3 points
each place
thereafter, add 1 point
· Boats that do not start/finish a race
will be scored as follows:
a.
DNC or DNS will be scored the
number of finishers plus 2.: Any boat
that does not launch and sail to the starting area (DNC) or does not start a
race.
b.
DNF, RET, or DSQ will be scored
the number of finishers plus 1. DNF is
for boats that started but did not finish.
RET, started but voluntarily retired.
DSQ, competed but broke a rule and did not do
penalty turns.
· Boats who choose to fly a spinnaker will
receive a 1% handicap penalty, for the race but need not declare SP prior to a
race.
17. Miscellaneous
1.
We will attempt to
have a race official on the barge for club races when 4 or more boats are
expected on the start line. We will ask for volunteers to man the barge.
If the volunteer is competing in the series, he/she will receive a score equal
to the average their other races for the series. Each boat that performs
Race Committee duties will be scored as the average score of races sailed
during the series, after the “dropped races” adjustment.
2.
If 4 or fewer boats
are racing or if a race official is not available, one of the boats racing will
need to conduct the start sequence.
3.
If conditions are
right, the race officials may opt for a race of longer time and distance (to
Hauck’s Reef of other designated buoys) instead of a buoy race. These
races are intended to be “one for the day” and do not require any condition on
finish time.
4.
Club Series racers
will be handicapped using the system developed for the 2013 season.
5.
Races may be canceled
one day prior to race day. The race chair or other designated person will
look at the NOAA forecast on the day before the race and if the temp in degrees
F minus the wind in mph is outside the range 35 to 90, an email will be sent
out notifying racers that the races will not be conducted. This will be
known as the 35-90 rule. If the weather is
within the 35-90 rule, any decision to cancel the
races will be made near race time on the day of the race.