[Capri25] Thurs Short Course

[Bert Foster]

Hi All,
Odell, Blake and I discussed the Thursday short course at 
length.  Sorry that the fleet ended up with such a short 
course.  Blake and Jarrod were looking at two lines of thunderstorms 
coming toward the lake.  Blake was looking at live radar on the 
committee boat.  The first line didn't have anything in it but rain 
and seamed safe to race, so Blake started.  When they decided to 
race, the second line looked much more active and possibly 
dangerous...lighting.  To further complicate the matter the wind was 
switching direction with possible big changes in velocity.  In the 
interest of safety and of trying to get in a race, Blake give the 
C-25's a shorter course so they could be off the lake if the second 
line of storms with lighting got to the lake.

Odell asked the question, "why couldn't they set a 5 leg course and 
if the storm came, shorten the race after 3 legs at the windward 
mark"?  The problem with this is that we race with a separate finish 
line windward of the windward mark and in order to finish at 3 legs, 
the mark boat would have to notify the fleet of a change of course at 
the leeward mark which would make the timing difficult if lighting 
was coming in the storm front.  We use a separate finish line because 
the 120-125 boats of all different fleets with some going around the 
WW mark and others finishing has a safety issue and is too complex 
for the race committee to know who is finishing and who has another 
round to go.  Blake didn't want to set longer courses and use Bailiff 
to finish some at either the WW mark or at the leeward mark, because 
he wanted to have Bailiff available (not at anchor) to render 
assistance if the storm hit and a C-25 sunk.

As it turned out, both thunderstorm lines dissipated as they hit the 
dry air near the lake and it was a nice light air sail.  So, that 
made the short race disappointing for all.  However, when there are 
big issues of safety, Blake and I will come down on the side of 
safety and what is best for the entire group.

If you still have a problem with what went down, we strongly 
encourage you to go on the committee boat for a race as a guest.  You 
will have your eyes opened as to the complexity of the operation and 
the skill of the WYC race committee.

It is still the intent of the RC to give the C-25 the longer courses 
and so serve the C-25 Fleet.

Please feel free to discuss this with me at the club BUT NOT IN EMAILS.

Regards,
Bert Foster
RC Chairman  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wyc.org/pipermail/capri25/attachments/20090801/cad21dd4/attachment.htm