Learn from Home: North U Webinars

Want to brush up on your sail trim or racing tactics?  North U offers great seminars that many HYC members have attended over the years.  But now you can...

...Keep your slippers on and take a seminar from home.           

                         

Brand New this year!

North U Webinars feature the latest in sailing and racing technique presented in a full multi-media format by outstanding instructors. But now you can attend on-line, from anywhere.

Webinars are scheduled for Racing TRIM, Weather for Sailors, Performance Instruments & Expedition Software, and Bermuda Race Strategy. Learn all about it at NorthU.com

Lake George Regattas Reports

by Jenny Marten & Taylor Grant

Two weekends back-to-back, two great racing classes, one fantastic venue – it must be Lake George time!  Every fall, The Lake George Club in Diamond Point NY plays host to J22’s and J24’s from the northeastern part of North America.

J22 Northeast District Championship
From September 23-25th, the J22’s had their Northeast District Championship with 40 boats competing.  HYC had 6 boats racing in the event.  Winds were very light and shifty on both days, but the RC managed to get 5 races in.

Overall results for HYC: 11th String Theory, 13th Jazz, 18th Broomstick, 21st Won Ton, 24th Jester, 38th Runs with Scissors.  
For full J22 results click here.


J24 Changing of the Colors

It was a different wind story from September 30th –October 2nd for the J24 event.  A 70 boat fleet made up the J24 Changing of the Colors regatta in Lake George, NY with 3 boats from Hudson making their way down: High Strung, Peacemaker and PuffDaddy! They had great wind both days with all the competitors opting to fly their blade Jib on Saturday with winds at 28 knots sustained and gusts well above 30. One race was completed before RC sent competitors in after a snapped mast and many ripped sails. Some of the locals were saying that they've never seen waves that big on the lake ever! Sunday provided great breeze in the upper end of the genoa with winds from 15-18 knots allowing for 2 more challenging and competitive races before packing up and driving home.


Overall results for HYC: 32nd PuffDaddy, 52nd PeaceMaker.  High Strung unfortunately couldn't compete due to health reasons.  
For full J24 results click here.

HYC ClubChampionship 2011

by Paul Laflamme

The Club Championship series featured just about everything one could imagine in a sailing series. Wind oscillations, velocity, tactical sailing, a protest, some turns being taken, and great display of boat handling and sail trim. The day started with the Wildcard race pitting Dave Cobbett and crew from High Strung (1B Class) against David Godin and the Won Ton crew (J22 class) and Trevor Collins with the Group Therapy gang (1A class).

The winds were at approx 7 knots and primarily out of the West and North West with a 10 degree oscillation. David Cobbett rounded 1st at the windward mark with D Godin and T Collins in hot pursuit, Godin passed Cobbett on the downwind leg and never relinquished the lead after that, thus winning the Wildcard and moving on to the Club Championship (CC) Series.

After a brief delay to bring the boats to shore the CC teams came out for the first of 6 races to determine the Club Champion.

The competition was hard fought with the points lead changing several times over the course of the 6 races. Taylor Grant and crew (Puff Daddy) won the first race in convincing fashion, David Godin won the with a fair margin in 2nd race, Ron Harris and the Jazz crew took the 3rd race with a comfortable lead. The 4th race was won by Alan Gray and the crew from Slim. David Godin won the 5th race by a good distance over 2nd.

For the sake of brevity I am not describing the 2nd through 6th place finishes for each race, but I can assure you that almost all of these finishes were fairly tight and more importantly were crucial to staying in the hunt for the top spot.

The oscillating direction and velocity of the breeze made the racing very tactical and demanding of the crew and skippers alike.

Prior to the 6th and final race 4 skippers and crew were still in the running to win the Club Championship. The 6th race saw David Godin and Allan Gray jump out to a substantial lead at the 1st windward and then further again at the leeward mark.  An unfortunate wind shift magnified their leads with the end result of race 6 having Allan Gray finishing 1st and David Godin 2nd.

After 6 races (one drop race allowed), only 1 point separated Godin and Gray from each other. The only thing left to do before a Club Champion could be named was to hear a protest that had been lodged during the 3rd race. The protest was submitted and the protest committee headed up by David Cobbett was convened. The end result of the protest juggled the scoring with Allan Gray and his crew of Jean Racette and Bernard le Duc being declared the HYC Club Champions for 2011. Bravo to Allan, Jean and Bernard and to all the other Club Championship competitors for a hard fought and exciting Championship series.

I would also like to thank the race committee members: Debbie Hodgson, Marian Kuiper, Larry Gray, Nick Townsend and son, Jim Freeman, Jim Simons for their great work. A note of thanks goes to Ron Harris, John Marten and Bernard LeDuc for organizing the J22s and a thank you goes out to the protest committee members, David Cobbett, Chris Campbell and Darryl Seaman for their work.

Best regards

Paul Laflamme

Senior Sailing Director

PS there is still a lot of sailing left, Fall series, the Frostbite, the Captain's Broom, the Thompson Long Distance Race, so we will see you on the water!

HYC Canadian Champions

HYC can be proud of the achievements of its sailors both young and, umm, well more mature.  Recently two teams have secured top spot in Canadian championship events, both at Kingston.

29er
Lauren Laventure and Emily Tang took top spot at the Canadian 29er championship sailed out of Kingston Yacht Club July 23 and 24, beating a very competitive fleet of 27 boats.  For full results click here.

J/22
Ron Harris, Pete Amos and John Marten won the J/22 Canadians sailed at CORK on July 9 and 10th.  HYC was there in strength with 7 boats. A very fun weekend was had by all. For full results, click here.

Monday - Resail for Wed B1

Reminder: this Monday 1 August is the date for the resail of Wed B1.  First gun at 7pm as usual.

From the Protest Desk

by Dave Cobbett

A couple of interesting protests lately:

1 – Two boats – call them Blue and Red. Time of incident – about 15-30 seconds pre-start. Location of incident – about midway between RC boat and pin, and about ½ to 1 boatlengths below the line. Both boats on starboard. Blue was ahead and to windward. Red overtook Blue, obtaining a slight overlap on Blue. Red called Blue up, and Red responded slightly, then bore off again. Red again called “up”. At this point, Blue turned up, and the action of turning swiveled her transom such that her outboard motor propeller hit Red’s starboard hull between mast and prow. Red protested Blue under Rule 11 “On the same tack, overlapped”

Question: Was a rule broken here ? Did Blue (windward) fail to keep clear of Red after Red obtained an overlap from astern ? Did Red break Rule 15 “Acquiring right of way” and 16.1 “Changing course” by not giving Blue room to keep clear ?

The Protest Committee had to decide whether Blue had failed to keep clear of the leeward boat, or whether Red, in luffing up (changing course) had got so close to Blue that Blue could not respond without contacting Red.

The Protest Committee decided that the principal rule broken was 16.1 “When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear”. Inasmuch as Blue, in attempting to keep clear, could not do so without her outboard striking Red’s hull, it was actually Red who broke a rule. The Protest Committee therefore disqualified Red, even though Red had lodged the protest in the first place.

2 – The second situation involves 3 boats on a downwind leg….Boats,A,B and C. There are several stages to this protest situation.

Stage a
- Boat A – clear ahead and outside leeward boat.

- Boat B – clear astern and to windward of Boat A
- Boat C – clear astern and to windward of Boat B.

Stage b – Boat B overtakes Boat A to windward, and Boat C overtakes Boat B to windward, each establishing an overlap.

Stage c – Boat A calls to Boat B to luff up, whereupon Boat B calls to Boat C to also head up and keep clear.

At this point, Boat C refused to luff up, claiming that Boat B had no overlap. Consequently, Boat A protested Boat B for failing to keep clear, and Boat B protested Boat C for the same reason. There was no contact between any of the boats.

Boat B’s protest of Boat C was the only one recorded as received by the Protest Committee.

The protest was ruled invalid by the Protest Committee Chairman, on the grounds that a red cap was displayed, not a red flag., and that too long a time had elapsed before the cap was displayed. Racing Rules of Sailing Rule 61.1.a states “shall conspicuously display a red flag……..”. Nevertheless, this is how the rules might apply in this case.

Stage a: each boat is clear of the other.

Stage b: Now Boat B must keep clear of Boat A, and Boat C must keep clear of Boat B.

Stage c: Boat A is perfectly within her rights to luff Boat B, and as Boat B luffs in response, Boat C must keep clear of Boat B. Of  course, the boats that are luffing must give the windward boats time and opportunity to keep clear.

Now Boat C refuses to respond to Boat B’s luff, claiming no overlap. Yet Boat B claims that she had to pull in her jib which was flying on the starboard side, lest it hit Boat C’s port spreader. This strongly suggests that Boat C was NOT clear ahead, and definitely vulnerable to B’s luff (Rule 11).

Rule 17 “Proper Course” does not apply here, since Boat B overtook A to windward, and C overtook B to windward – not leeward.

Rule 15 applies:”When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat’s actions.”  In this case, Boat A acquired right of way when overtaken to windward by Boat B, and Boat B acquired right of way when overtaken to windward by Boat C – other words, both A and B acquired right of way by another boat’s actions.

So, did Boat C keep clear of Boat B ? Judging from the diagram accompanying the protest, all three boats could easily fetch the next mark, with Boat C needing to move downwind a bit so as not to overstand. But there was no real reason why Boat C could not keep clear of Boat B., at least not in terms of “proper course”.. The rules state that it’s not necessary to have contact in order for a boat to be found to have not kept clear.


However, in the absence of a protest by Boat A, really the principal factor in causing B’s protest, and the lack of a timely and official red flag hoisting, and the lack of contact or damage,the Protest Committee would likely have concurred with the decision to invalidate Boat B’s protest of Boat C.

Best regards,

Dave Cobbett

La Nocturne - The Night Race

Bonjour à tous,

Je me permet de vous envoyer une invitation pour la course Nocturne qui en est à
sa 10ième édition cette année! Tous les membres des clubs du lac des
Deux-Montagnes sont invités. La Nocturne aura lieu cette année le vendredi 5
août et le départ est toujours donné à 20h00.

Je vous envoie l'affiche de la Nocturne, l'avis de course, et la grille de
départs puisqu'il s'agit d'une course poursuite.

En espérant vous voir nombreux à cette régate et n'hésitez pas à communiquer
avec moi si vous avez des questions.

Julien Jéhanne

CVMO(Roughly translated into English)Hello everyone. Please accept this invitation for the 10th Annual "La Nocturne" night race.

All club members (HYC, CVL, CNDM & CVMO)of Lake of Two Mountains are invited.

The Nocturne will take place this year on Friday August 5th and the start will be at 20:00.
Please find attached the ad poster for the Nocturne, the NOR and the grid for the start times,
as this is a pursuit race with graduated starting order as per handicap.

Hoping to see you at this regatta and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Julien Jehanne LacasseCVMO

Etchells Canadians

by Allan Gray

On July 2-3, historic Pointe Claire Yacht Club on Montreal’s West Island hosted the 2011 Canadian Etchells Championships. Seventeen boats from Vermont, Windsor, Toronto and the Montreal area appeared on Lac St-Louis on Saturday morning jousting for space on the start line.

Saturday brought stupendous sunny weather, but light and shifty winds. Under the expert eye of PRO Madeline Palfreeman and her race committee, 2 races were completed resulting in a tie at the end of Day 1 between Hank Lammens and Jerry O’Brien.  That evening, the regatta committee and PCYC hosted a great dinner on the deck overlooking the lake as the sailors relaxed and enjoyed PCYC’s hospitality. They even timed the dinner to have Air France’s ominous and gargantuan Airbus fly over the club during dessert.

On Sunday, better racing conditions greeted the sailors. Winds gradually built in the morning and peaked in the 10-knot range, allowing 4 races to be completed before the 1400 hrs deadline. The racing was close, the leaderboard was in constant flux, but at the end of the day Hank Lammens, with crew Dirk Kneulman and J. Clark were victorious (these guys finally seem to be getting the hang of the boat). Second place honours went to Jerry O’Brien, D. Nuttial and B. Boston and the third place finishers were Allan Leibel, M. Wren and B. McFarlane.

In truth, the real winners were the members of Montreal’s Fleet 3, who had the opportunity to race against superb competition and meet their fellow Etchells Sailors.  Thanks go out to PCYC for being such gracious hosts, to Regatta Chair Dave Covo and his committee for their organizational excellence, and to Madeline Palfreeman and the Race Committee for setting fair courses in sometimes difficult conditions. Thanks also to all the sponsors who helped make the event possible, including title sponsor Ye Olde Orchard Pub.

Wednesday Night Storm

Racing was cancelled again when crews scrambled for cover as a massive storm blew across the lake and lit up the sky.

Set Your Sights on the Canteen

Starting June 24^th, the new season starts and we’ll be up and running.

This year, we’re targeting the Tuesday and Wednesday racing crowd with some dinner box combos, ready in under 10 minutes.

Come on back to the canteen!

Racing Update

TUESDAY WHITE SAIL
Attention all sailors, due to circumstances beyond the sailing committee's control, tonight's White Sail (A1) will have to be canceled. The Hy Seas III will only be ready for the weekend, and the new Bosun can only start work this weekend (the Spring Regatta). 

WEDNESDAY SPINNAKER SAIL
Please be advised that tomorrow's Wednesday night race will go ahead as scheduled due to the fact that the RC duties are CVL's responsibility.

THE SPRING REGATTA
The Spring Regatta offers an excellent opportunity to shake off the winter blues and cobwebs and more importantly get your boat and crew ready for the coming summer of racing on Lake of Two Mountains. The Regatta will feature 3 races Sat and 3 on Sunday.  Don't forget that the 3 races on Saturday also count as the SAT A1 in the regular club series, so this regatta is doubly important for those wishing to get off to a quick start in the HYC racing series. The Regatta already has 13 entries as of last weekend, please do not miss out on this event, register as soon as possible. You may only register on line at:     http://hycspring2011.sailspace.net      It is fast and simple and NO COST!!

See you on the water!

Racing Starts this Week!

Tuesday 24 May - White Sail A series.

Wednesday 25 May - A series, together with CVL.

The first boats are in the water and racing is getting underway this week. 

First gun: 7pm

Let the games begin...

First Sail

The club was busy this weekend with many boats launching and several crews taking advantage of the fine spring weather to tune-up in advance of the racing this upcoming week.

If you havn't booked your launch date, do so soon.  The season is short, so take advantage of every day you can.

Spring Regatta - Please Register

The Spring Regatta is scheduled for May 28 and 29 and is a wonderful opportunity to blow away those winter cobwebs and get your team working together as a well-oiled sailing performance machine.  Alternatively, you can also approach it as a weekend of fun and pretty relaxed racing and a good way of easing into the season.  Remember that the three Saturday races are also the Saturday A1 series.

The good folks who organize our regattas are testing out a new registration tool that we would like to use for Fruitbowl this year, so please take a few minutes to register by clicking here for the Spring Regatta Web Page.  You will also find the NORs there. There are no obligations associated with registering, but it helps plan for numbers and will allow us to test the software.  If you have any feedback on the tool, please email us at sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com.

Limited Crew Membership

If you wish to have a regular crew sailing with you in racing events, who is not currently a member of the club, this is possible through the Limited Crew Membership.

It's a great deal and allows the person use of club facilities on days when a racing event is scheduled.

It is the skippers responsibility to submit proposals for the Limited Crew Membership.  Please contact the HYC office for the forms and further details.

Crew Bank Sign Up

If you're a skipper building your crew for this season, or a sailor looking for a ride, check out the Crew Bank link on the right of this page.




For those who signed up last year, let us know if you still want to be on the crew bank or if any info has changed.

Send any updates to sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com

Keelbolt Maintenance Bulletin

Courtesy of Waterline Systems
There aren't many maintenance areas that are more important, or more often overlooked than keel bolts. This is true for every boat, but particularly so for J/22s, J/24s and J/80s, all of which routinely hoist the boats in and out of the water using the bolts.

Failure of any keel bolt is bad, but most bolts are part of a massively redundant system, where the failure of any one bolt is rarely immediately catastrophic.  For boats that are hoisted, the failure of a bolt holding the lifting gear can be catastrophic and has the potential to lead to the loss of the boat, or much, much worse.

While this article is being distributed to USWatercraft and J/Boats customers, it applies to virtually all production boats, regardless of builder or brand.  If they use Stainless Steel keelboats and most of them do, it applies. Feel free to pass it along to your friends and fellow boat owners.  It's pretty important.


Click here for the full article.

Sailing Calendar Updated

If don't have you calendar handy and are wondering when the next race is, you can always click on the link on the right of this page.  It's now been updated for the 2011 season.  There is also a calendar of external events.  Admittedly it's a little J22-centric, so if you'd like some dates added for other fleets, drop a note to sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com.

Spring Sailors' Meeting - Wednesday 13th April

Greetings sailors and welcome back from the chilly depths of winter!  The ice is melting fast, it's time to turn our thoughts to the upcoming season.

To kick-start that process, the Spring Sailors' Meeting will be held at 07:30pm next Wednesday 13 April in the HYC bar.  

Come and hear all about the sailing program for this season and have all your questions answered.

What series are planned?  

Are there any changes to the SI's?  

What inter-club competitions will be sailed?  

How many regattas are planned?  

Do we have a bosun? 

Sign up for your preferred slot for RC.   

See you there!

Obtain Your Pleasure Craft Operators Card

Power and Sail Squadron

WINTER COURSES

2011

An Important Reminder to all boat owners.

If you operate a boat with any kind of motor, gas or electric, you are required, by law, to have a Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC).

The fine for not having the card with you on board when you are on the water is $175 plus costs…well over $200 in total. This fine applies even if you are not using the motor ( i.e. sailing, with a small motor to get you in or out of the harbour.)

You can obtain a PCOC by passing a 50 question exam designed to test your knowledge of safe boat handling.

The Lake of Two Mountains Power and Sail Squadron can teach you the required  information as part of the Boating Course offered at HYC starting Jan 18th 2011

For complete information contact: Douglas Belanger (450  424  5022) or Ian Walker (450  458  2207)