Ahoy Racers,
We have 42 more days until our first Wednesday night race on April 22. So start thinking about getting your boats ready and let the 2020 Racing Season begin……
I am excited for the upcoming season and I hope we can get more boats on the starting line. So, far the meetings have been awesome and the communication is excellent!!! Just need to put all of this new energy and ideas into practice. The ultimate goal is getting more boats racing!!!
North U is coming to town next weekend, March 14th, to teach a Racing Tactics Class. It will be taught by Andrew Kerr and only a few spots are still available……. If you don’t have the boat speed, you beat them with your Tactics……You can register at: northu.com/product/tactics-indianapolis-in
At our last race meeting, we discussed a lot of exciting things to improve our racing season. One of those things discussed was assigning a mentor for each new member. As I get the names of these new members, I will contact the new members and will let them know who their Mentor will be. We already have quite a few members who have stepped up to offer their assistance. As the season unfolds, we will be offering more on the water clinics and class room work for those who need it.
We also discussed the Blue Fleet and will copy what Rich Fox wrote about this subject:
“I want to let you know that at the ECSC Race Meeting on Saturday, everybody was in favor of separating the Blue/White Fleet.
Blue Fleet for boats that are Dacron sails only, no spinnakers, for skippers who may want a more casual racing experience, and to serve as a fleet to help introduce members who are racing for the first time at ECSC.
White Fleet for boats that have at least one non-Dacron sail, spinnaker and non-spinnaker, for skippers who sail Cruiser/Racer type boats and who want a more competitive racing experience and who also have a couple of years of racing experience under their belts. Boats to include, but not limited to – C22 Sport, S2 6.7, S2 6.9, S2 7.9, Ranger 22, Lindenberg 22. Anybody in the Blue Fleet could also make the choice to racing in the White Fleet, but not the other way around.
Both fleets will start together, but scored separately.
In the case of McClure sailing a Beneteau 23.5, I am leaning towards keeping them in the Blue Fleet as they have one full year of racing experience. I would like to monitor their performance in 2020. If we get a new racer, such as a Capri 22, if they have all Dacron sails, then they would start in Blue Fleet and we would monitor to see if their performance warrants movement to White Fleet. If a boat repeatedly dominates the Blue Fleet, then either I will need to adjust their PHRF rating, or they will need to move to White Fleet.
The change will help bring more balance to the Blue Fleet so it is no longer dominated by a couple of boats Series after Series, year-after-year.
I am also using Dacron sails or no Dacron sails as one of the key deciding factors of fleet designation. This is because a boat that has at least one Mylar type sail suggests to me that they want a more competitive experience, and most likely their boat is equipped as such.
What I am trying to do here is to help manage our fleets to meet the needs of the membership, instead of expecting members to meet the needs of the fleets. Thus, there will continue to be some “gray” area for a few boats as to which fleet they belong. “
I hope to see a lot of you next weekend. Let me know if I can be of assistance in getting your boat ready for the sailing season,
Marcus Rogers
Racing Chair