Alex Bolan wrote:
Hey all this is Alex Bolan from SC I sail boat No.40. Our Annual
Outback Regatta is being held September 21-23rd at Columbia Sailing
Club on Lake Murray. It is a very fun regatta and we have been sailing
in it the past few years and its a blast. If I can get at least four
or five boast on the starting line we can have our own start and be
scored separately from the PHRF fleet. If you need places to stay
please let me know and I can arrange for people to house anyone. Casa
Bolan is welcome to any one that would like to stay. Note we are one
hour from CSC. Thanks
All Vipers owners in the SE:
Jay Harrell wrote
We are trying to pull together a Viper fleet for the CSC "Outback
Regatta" next month. See Alex's invitation above. So far we have the
Bolans sailing #40, Bill Shaw sailing #17, and me sailing #19. We
really need a couple of more to make a fleet and Lake Murray isn't
very far from Lake Norman - any takers? I'm certain it will be worth
the trip. If you can come, please reply to this group, me, or Alex.
For more information, here's the URL for the race
http://www.columbiasailingclub.org/lmyra/index.htm?../lmyra/outback/index.htm
Thanks,
Jay
Don Taylor wrote
Also the food is great.
It is catered by Outback. Outback Steakhouse sends this huge grill and big truck full of steaks, etc. Big party and the food and camaraderie are first class.
They will have kegs after the race on Saturday-----Hamburgers on Sunday, etc.
I guarantee you will want to return next year.
They probably will give the vipers their own class if you want.
If Alex gets his dad Tony to buy me enough beer I might watch.
regards
don taylor
We have three boats committed for Lake Murray and we plan to have a great time showing off our Vipers to other slower boats there.... who else is in?
Bill (Viper 17) and Jay (Viper 19) currently have rooms reserved at the Amerisuites hotel. I don't know anything about the place except what I've read on TripAdvisor, but others are encouraged to join us there.
Water Moccasin is tentatively in....
Anywhere to park the Vipermobile?
Tim
Tim, Good to hear from you. The sailing notice said camping was welcome on the club grounds. That should make it easy. Looking forward to seeing you guys.
Bill
Thanks Bill
I'll Check it out
Tim
Awesome! I look forward to seeing you guys again...
Quote from: Vibroman on August 16, 2007, 06:49:03 PM
Water Moccasin is tentatively in....
Anywhere to park the Vipermobile?
Tim
Quote from: Vibroman on August 16, 2007, 06:49:03 PM
Water Moccasin is tentatively in....
Anywhere to park the Vipermobile?
Tim
Vipermobile? Attack cats? Viperettes? .......how cheaply can I fly down?
Dunno but David can't make it so I am on the hunt for crew (or driver)
Unfortunately It now looks like I will not be able to make the trip this year. Work stuff has conspired against me
Tim
Subject: FW: Reminder: Outback Cup Regatta Only 2 Weeks Away
Outback Cup Regatta is only two weeks away.
Come Join the Fun.
The Outback Cup Regatta will be held on Sept 22 and 23. Time is running out to take advantage of pre-registration. Come and join the fun. If you pre-register before Sept 16 you will receive a free Outback Cup Regatta Hat and save $10 over the late registration fee. So get moving and come enjoy our heavy hors d?oeuvres on Friday Sept 21 provided by Carrabba?s Italian Grill. On Saturday evening eat a hugh steak cooked by the Outback Steakhouse and dance to the music of Old School. Plan to visit the West Marine rigging truck. They will help you with any items that you may need for your boat or crew. This is the event of the year for sailors on Lake Murray so don?t miss it! Even if you don?t sail come and join the fun. The Steak Dinners are only $15 each so come and join the party but please get your tickets early. Tickets go on sail Friday evening Sept 21and Saturday morning Sept 22.
You can register early by filling out a Notice of Race form from the LMYRA website columbiasailingclub.org/LMYRA or use the attached Notice of Race. Make checks Payable to LMYRA and mail to Stephen Rose at 251 Shoreline Dr., Columbia, SC 29212.
I would like to express my appreciation to our sponsors this year: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba?s Italian Grill, Water?s Sails, The Gourmet Garage, Exceed Landscape Solution, Inc., UBS Financial Services, Inc., West Marine, Edward Jones, Trapp Insurance Services, Inc., It?s All Good! #287, Budweiser and Sam?s Club. With support like this how can you not have a good time.
See you on the Water
Stephen Rose
Regatta Chairman
Hootie Bushardt
Assistant Regatta Chairman
Looks like the Barracudas won Class A spinnaker division in their Viper.
Congrats to Alex and Kala
http://picasaweb.google.com/viper640photos/2007OutbackRegatta
In a surprise twist of fate, summer returned to the south for what's likely to be our final weekend of "dang hot" temperatures and very light wind. The bad part is that this occurred at the end of week of cool, dry, sunny and windy weather while we all suffered at work. So instead of our hoped-for first taste of fall sailing, instead we got a last blast of summer.
No matter, we still managed to have fun! With only three boats, the Vipers were lumped into the large "PHRF spinnaker" start. We had 3 Vipers, 6 U-20s, a bunch of J-24s and S2s, some large cruisers, and even an Olson 30 starting with us. In the light wind, these large boats cast a wind shadow about a mile long. And we were well under hull speed, so this wasn't going to be a good day for handicap racing. The first start ended in a general recall as much of the fleet crossed the line as much as 30 second early. Wow! On the restart, Alex got the jump on the fleet and never looked back. Meanwhile Bill and I where able to prove beyond a doubt that it was Alex's skill in play and not just his fast boat by finishing somewhat further back in the pack. Not to mention a DSQ for me for sailing through the "closed gate" not just once but twice. (So did half the U-20s BTW, so I wasn't the only one to miss that line in the SI).
As if the first race wasn't light enough, the second was even more so and part way around the wind died completely. Ratings no matter, the entire fleet converged on the leeward mark at the same time in a giant ghosting pinwheel. Except for Alex that is - he was already nearing the finish line by then.
Sunday morning brought a 10am start, but the wind didn't arrive until later. With finally enough wind for a start, we got yet another general recall. The restart (with the I flag) was successful and we got in one more drifter before heading in for lunch and packing up, and watching Alex pick up his prize.
And to those who didn't make it, you missed the best regatta food anywhere - fantastic meals both Friday and Saturday night. And next year there will be a new $3 million club house overlooking the lake. I would definitely recommend a return trip, particularly if we can get enough sportboats there to have our own start as a group instead of being forced to fight it out with the bludgers. (So, where exactly does rule 18 turn on when one boat is 21 and the other is 30 feet long?)
Jay
Rule 18 turns on when you are "about to round a mark".
In a drifter that can be 1/2 a boat length. In a big breeze in a Viper, that can be 5 or 6 lengths from the mark. The inside boat can call for "room" as soon as everyone starts to get ready to round.
The two length zone when the overlap can be broken depends on the boat closest to the mark. I was helming Shamrock IV at a PHRF regatta 10 years ago. At 154 feet the 2 length circle is 308 feet, which takes some getting used to.
Yeah.....like you really care about 18 but hey it allowed me to mention my time with Shamrock, which is a close second to my Viper as my all time favorite boat. I think it was the fact that Sir Tommy had solid sterling silver door knobs on his racing yacht that convinced me that he was one cool sportsman.
Since you took the bait, maybe others can chime in on this situation:
Setup:
-Viper heading towards the windward mark on port tack perhaps 4 boat lengths below the layline.
-Large Craft (30 feet?) heading towards the windward mark on starboard tack, above the layline.
As boats converge, Large Craft (LC) hails "starboard".
Viper tacks below LC. We reach a close hauled course still more than 2 boat lengths from the mark (we think). This course is considerably higher than the LC's course and we are easily going to clear the mark. At this point, we were either overlapped or ahead.
We turn down a bit and then became clear ahead of LC and directly between them and the mark. I'm still not entirely sure how we so easily became clear ahead of a boat that I wasn't sure we were even going to cross, but weird stuff happens in very light air. I think perhaps they were footing/overstood far more than I realized ahead of time. Or we got a lucky shift, or a little puff. Anyhow...
After we were clear-ahead, the LC had to alter course slightly to avoid us. This was accompanied by some complaining that Viper had tacked inside 2 boat-lengths of the mark in violation of rule 18.
Complaining only, no protest. And some more "discussion" at the bar, the only outcome of which was a disagreement about whether we had tacked inside two lengths. I'm certain that we were on a close-hauled course more than 42 feet from the mark, as it took a dang long time to get there after the tack. They also did not have to avoid us while tacking and had room to keep clear after we became right-of-way boat. It's possible that we were inside of two of their lengths when we reached close-hauled, since they were so darn long. But we were closer to the mark, right?
So, what do you think now? Was I lucky, rude, a rule-breaker, or something else?
Tuesday at the Ourback
The Ronnies and I decided to try the Outback Regatta. With a combined age of 182 vs 30 and and estimated 70 we had the experience, but not nesessarly the the agility and good sense to sail a smart race.
On the first race we were 3rd at the first mark, very close to the 1 and 2. We were ready for the spinnaker set because Ronnie #1 (Young) and I had practiced the spinnaker set and retrival a few times a week or so earlier and all had gone well. Ronnie #2 (Hartley) had decided to work on the committee boat for the "good of the team" as the air was light, building to 7, and he knew we did not need the extra weight. I think he also knew that it was going to be a hot light air race. Anyway, since we had done so well in pratice, we left the spinnaker in the boat rigged just the way we had taken it down on our last retrival. Back to the race: The spinnaker went up OK and we were OK but the coarse dictated a jibe. We jibed the spinnaker and all went to hell instantly. The spinnaker and sheets wrapped around the forestay in a bad way. After a few "casual" converastions about what might be going on, I realized that when we had set the boat up, after leaving the spinnaker just as it had worked well during practice, we had left the spinnaker sheets inside of the forestay when we set the boat up. We pretty much waved the fleet by as we worked through the disaster. We were so bad that the committee gave us the dsq for Jay going through the closed start line. In all fairness, in the end, they gave both of us the dsq for Jay going through the closed start line. You should be punished for doing dumb things!
In race 2 we were caught below some really big boats at the start, and tacked away into a hole and were never heard from again. End of racing, day one.
Day 2, the air was once again light and Ronnie #2 had once again abandoned ( I mean volenteered for the committee boat) After a bit of a delay, the race #3 was started. We were 4th at the first mark very much in contention. We rounded and hoisted the spinnaker and it would not budge out of its dark little hole. We pulled the halyard hard and still no spinnaker. It had worked well in race # 2 and it was just as we had left it except for the knot I made in the halyard to the forestay to keep it in place while towing back to the launch ramp. If you pull on a loose knot hard enough it gets very tight. Once again we waved the fleet by as we practiced boy scout knot un-doing.
The regatta was great!!!!! If any of you miss this event next year, you are missing a major happening.
I have never been to a regatta with better food and beer. Period! If you like to sail and you like a good time, put this regatta on your calendar next year. Hayatt $107 a night for a 3 bed room. How does that compare with Boston?
In the end, Alex wipped Jay and I on the course, and we really don't care. I think Alex is the the southeast's hope for beating up on some of the Marblehead group in the future. He sailed a great series, but more importantly was a great host for his home regatta.
Put the Outback on your schedule next year and come try to beat
Alex and enjoy a whole bunch of Columbia Sailing Club hospitality
Quote from: bill shaw on September 26, 2007, 10:59:58 PM
With a combined age of 182 vs 30 and and estimated 70
Very generous Bill - my boat had a combined age of 87 on board....
i isses sary bout da speallin and grama ons mines lastest postes. i gets vary sloopy wdth spealin an gramaw winds i gots speallin cheks. butts i sents da postes whichouts ckin da spallen.
sooreey, bell
Bill .......having a bout with the "Hammer and Sickle" are we?
In the UK the "Two Ronnies" is widely considered the greatest and funniest comedy old TV show of all time. Sounds like you lived up to the reputation! I will try and find some of their best sketches. But they always finished with "Its goodnight from me" "and its goodnight from him".
Jay......Tacking inside 2 Boat Lengths does not contravene Rule 18. You only contravene Rule 18 if the boat on Stbd has to sail above "Close Hauled" in order to avoid you. If they were overstood and footing then they probably only had to head up and did not go above close hauled.
Be aware, it does not matter if you completed your tack clear ahead or to leeward, or how much time they had......if they have to go above close hauled you are done..........hence it is a very risky manoevure....which is what the rule makers intended.
The only other loophole, is to leave enough room for them to bear away and go inside you..and then you give them rights, but dont go to the room with this one. Cheers J