There will not be any vendor's booths. Representatives from Svendsen's, and West Coast Sailing will be in attendance though. If you really have questions about their stock, visit them on the web and email them.Will any new/used Laser's be for sale in your vendor booths?
that was the worst race committee ever. if you are going to hold a high level laser regatta on the SF bay you better have a RC that knows what they are doing. the pin boat was an 8 foot long inflatable, unable to handle the conditions, the RC boat was a sailboat swaying 40 degrees back and forth in the chop. the marks were drifting all over the place. the RC lost control, not knowing who was finishing, who was still racing etc in the challenging conditions. once on shore and the support boats were in i heard a RC member ask how many dollies were left! that was how the checked to make sure everyone got in!! 12:00 starts were scheduled but the first 2 days the RC didn’t leave the dock until 11:45 and we were postponed due to lack of RC preparation. they only got in one race the second day, when if they got out on time they could have had 3 races before it got too gnarly. the final day the RC decided to race us inside, in 5-10 knots when outside there was a solid 15+ outside. people traveled from all over the country and spent thousands of dollars to sail in the reliable SF bay conditions, but got an unprofessional RC and newport harbor conditions on the final day. finally, there were many problems with scoring in the radial fleet. i can understand if this was all fine with nor cal weekend sailors, but for those of us who traveled far and spent much money this regatta was a disappointment. regardless, the sailing was fun, and on land everything was well managed, thank you to all the volunteers who helped with launching and food. in the future i would recommend that for high level regattas (especially regattas that are expected to be very windy) proper preparations for the RC are made in terms of safety boats and staff.
Having served on many race committees in half the conditions we had at the PCC's this year.. I personally would like to thank all race committee members, stake boats, shore crew, judges and all the volunteers for running a first class event in arguably some of the most challenging difficult conditions for any venue. Sitting on a anchored committee boat in 30+ knots in breaking waves while orchestrating multiple starting sequences, mark placements, coordinate rescue boats, record check-ins and finishes and be accountable for every other problem that arises.. Thank you. My money and long travel was 100% worth the price. The final day’s racing in the sheltered area on Sunday was the right choice to assure a full day of sailing. It is easy for some to criticize race organizers but ultimately we are all responsible knowing where you finished, safety on the water and knowing one’s limits and ability. At the end of the day, all the boats were scored properly, everyone launched and arrived safely and all the racing was fair and challenging. It’s a privilege to race in these events and I look forward to sailing out of Treasure Island again.
Peter Drasnin
Paul Kamen here, your friendly neighborhood Rule 42 judge on San Francisco Bay.
First things first: Yes, on Friday I played hooky with the judge boat for a few minutes to take some photos. and they are on the web and available for download at:
http://www.well.com/user/pk/photos/Laser-PCC-2007/
All 16 frames are from the third race on Friday, at the end of the reach across the top of the trapezoid.
Feel free to use them in any way you like, but I would appreciate if my photo credit and email are retained if they are used on a website or in a print publication. Thanks!
They are cropped and photoshopped, so let me know if you want the unprocessed .jpg as it came from the camera (sorry but no .raw file available).