Master's US Nationals and Master's PCC's

SFBayLaser

Member
With Spring now if full force it is time to start thinking about that Summer regatta schedule! If you are a Master, even if just a beginner Master (ie 35 on August 12), then let me draw your attention to two fine West Coast events that you won't want to miss!

The first is the Master's US Nationals which will this year be hosted by the fine folks at the Richmond Yacht Club with the racing to be held on beautiful San Francisco Bay in an area known as Southhampton Shoals, just on the North side of the world famous Berkeley Circle. The regatta will be held August 12-14, 2006, which is a Saturday-Monday (see reason for this below). This area is just a little behind Angel Island keeping us somewhat protected from the full force of the typical afternoon breeze, but with still plenty of wind to have a great time! The Richmond Yacht Club are the ideal hosts for this event, situated quite close to the racing area but directly in the shadow of Angel Island. This area is known as the "Richmond Riveria" and is almost always basking in the warm afternoon sun. They also just finished a huge renovation of their docks and now boast the most incredible dinghy launching facility I've seen anywhere. This is definitely a don't miss event if you are a Master Sailor!

Having made the trek out for the Master's Nationals, no need to rush home! The weekend after, August 19-20, will see the Master's Pacific Coast Championship with racing in the Columbia River Gorge at Cascade Locks. If you have not raced in the world famous "Gorge" then here is your chance! And to make it even better, they have scheduled the annual "Gorge Blowout" - a downwind race from Cascade Locks to Hood River City where it just gets windier and windier the further your go - for the friday before!

Here is a your chance to race two big Master's events back to back in the two best breeze venues in North America in just one trip! Yes, but you say "San Francisco is a 12 hour drive from Cascade Locks...". True, which is why we have conveniently placed the Napa and Sonoma valleys, the Mendocino Coast, all of Oregon, etc., right in between! You race the Master's US Nationals on Saturday through Monday, spend Tuesday-Thursday touring wineries or other sites between San Francisco and Portland, do the Gorge Blowout on friday, if still standing then do the Master's PCC's Saturday and Sunday.

The Richmond Yacht Club is making the Master's US Nationals their BIG event this year and pulling out all the stops, it will be a fantastic event. And I've made it a habit of going to the Gorge at least once a year for almost as long as I can remember now and have never not had a great time up there. These are going to be two really great events and not to be missed if you are a Master!

Download the NOR for the Master's Nationals, or go to the Richmond YC site for more information.

Get more information on the Gorge Blowout and Master's PCC's at the Columbia River Gorge site.

Hope to see lots of you fellow Masters at both events!
 
Thanks for the info on the US Masters. Looking forward to getting back there. Last time for me was literally a quarter century ago ('81 Laser NA's). I recall there being no shortage of breeze, and great hospitality at the RYC.
 
This information just forwarded from David Lapier (District 24 Secretary):

Registration forms and NOR are available at www.richmondyc.org, or the district 24 website.

Please register now by mail.

Charters are available from Svendsen's. http://www.svendsens.com/ -- 1-510-521-8454. Ask for Alex.

The racing is Sat-to-Mon -- August 12-14 to fit with travel to the Columbia River Gorge for PCC's.

We will have one fleet with the "rig swapping rule".

RYC plans to add a practice race on Friday too.

The Laser fleet is also invited to a special club dinner party on Saturday, that is included in the registration fee for skippers.

So far, it looks like we will have a great turn out with boats from New England, Florida, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

If you have any questions, please ask Simon Bell, Jonathan Howell, or me.

Yours,
-- David LaPier
 
I'm in the process of lining up a charter for Masters US Natl's; hope to be there, too. I have to keep Dave Hartman from running amok, and tack on him and be in his way at mark roundings.

What wind speeds should we expect over in Richmond? I know it doesn't rip quite like it does through the Gate. Trying to decide if I should bring my radial sail, too, but I won't use it unless it blows 25 kts or more.

Wish I could go up to the Gorge, too, but I have to go to Kauai with my cousin the following week. Cry me a river, life's pretty tough!

:p
 
Michelle said:
What wind speeds should we expect over in Richmond? I know it doesn't rip quite like it does through the Gate. Trying to decide if I should bring my radial sail, too, but I won't use it unless it blows 25 kts or more.

Ok, I am a notorious underestimator of the wind velocity (though I think I get it right!). My prediction is that we start early enough iin the day that we **might** see >20 knots only in the last part of the last race each day. We'll be racing just to the North of the Berkeley Circle and a bit behind Angel Island which will keep the velocity a bit lower (and a bit shiftier). I've attached today's graph of the windspeed at Pt Isabel (from iWindSurf.com), which is just a bit further North, and on shore, of the racing area, so you can see how the breeze evolves over the day. The race course will see maybe 5 knots more wind than this graph...

So, it never hurts to bring the Radial sail (and you might use it) but, unfortunately, I don't think we will do a lot of racing in 20+ knots. In fact, I'm worried that we'll have less wind than too big guys like me need to be competitive.

But, it is still San Francisco Bay, it could happen... a lot depends on the marine layer cycle at the time.

Tracy
 

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PS We will also be sailing on a big flood tide which means the current, which will run 1-1.5 knots in the racing area, will be in the same direction ad the wind. The water will be flatter, the apparent wind less, etc. (and, thankfully for the big guys, the runs will take less time!).
 
The Master's US Nationals is THIS weekend at the Richmond YC! It is not too late to get here for the big event! The RYC is expecting over 40 boats and are pulling out all the stops to make this a great event. The weather and wind is lining up just right as well.

And... this event could set the world record for raffle prizes with over $2000 in gear donated including items from Colie's, APS, Harken, Gil, New England Ropes, West Marine, Ronstan, Vanguard, Zhik, etc. There is so much stuff that it is assured that everyone is going to go home with something (hey! is there an Easter Bunny during the summer?)

Check out the info at http://www.technicalwizardry.com/d24laser/2006MastersRichmond_NORs.pdf
 
Just back in FL after a really great time at US Masters. Wish I didn't have a conflict with the PCC's in the gorge. I am stoked about the radial rig in good wind. I'm not a lightweight(185). Winds at Richmond YC were 18 - 25 kts. My boat speed upwind was pretty good, able to hang with the big boys until I got tired. Under 20 the radial does suffer offwind, particularly downwind. It is faster than a deathroll! At one time or another there were up to 15 of us using radials. Seems the rig switching rule is a good thing. The Richmond YC did a great job of race management and on shore hospitality. D24 members put together a great program. Thanks to LaPier, Spevak, Bell, Boome, Usher and all the rest who made this thing happen. When's the next time we can do a good regatta there?
 
what is this " rig swiching rule" i keep hearing about? can you sail radial one day and full rig the next and still be scored in a regatta? can you switch in the middle of a day of racing or only at the start? i haven,t seen this done at any of the regattas i've been at.
 
calicosine said:
what is this " rig swiching rule" i keep hearing about? can you sail radial one day and full rig the next and still be scored in a regatta? can you switch in the middle of a day of racing or only at the start? i haven,t seen this done at any of the regattas i've been at.

This is a rule for North American Masters' events only: you may switch your rig as long as the change is done onshore. So, if you think it will be really windy you can elect to sail a Radial. If the wind drops (and you can get back to shore to change) you can switch back up to a Standard.

The original idea was to encourage those who might not otherwise attend an event, to still come racing when its going to be breezy even when they may not be confident in their heavy air chances. It seemed to work pretty well at the Masters' Nationals with about 1/3 of the fleet electing to sail Radial (and a number thinking hard about the switch). I'm not sure the numbers but a few sailors did switch rigs between the days (with at least one sailor getting it backwards on Saturday and Sunday). At this event the "shore" was too far away to change between races so once the decision was made you were stuck with it for the day.

What I heard (and what I saw too!) was that, in this event where the wind was only less than about 18-20 on part of the last day, was that the Radials were as fast upwind (I rounded behind some Radials in a few races), could keep up on the straight downwind legs, but were definitely disadvantaged on the reaches. The RYC RC did a lot of Triangle courses and I bet that is why the top Radial (Peter Seidenberg) was not higher in the final standings.
 
The rig switching rule was a huge help for me at the US Masters Nationals. The wind was so strong on Saturday that I probably would have blown off all attempts at sailing. Even though I was no where near being competitive against the heavy air aces, I was able to race and keep from capsizing (well part of the time). Also if you do capsize, the rig is easier to right. It really made for a fun regatta. My vote is a BIG yes on keeping the rig switching rule in effect for Master sailors.
 
Those pesky little Radials were all over me! I can tell you one thing for sure.. that a properly sailed Radial in 20+ knots of breeze with steep bow submerging waves.. are just as fast or faster then all but the few top Full Rig guys.. and way faster then a tried Full Rig Master just trying to get around the course. Having the Radial Rigs mixed in with the Full Rigs was fun for everyone and worked great at this regatta. I am looking forward to trying a Radial Rig in a masters regatta after seeing their proformance at this heavy air venue. Thank you Richmond Yacht Club and everyone involed for making this such an enjoyable event for everyone who made the trip to San Francisco Bay.
 
so will the rig switching rule be in effect this weekend at the pcc,s at the george? i didn't see anything about it in the nor when i sent my money in, i was planing on trying my new radial set-up because i've heard it blows like crazy on the columbia river.
 
calicosine said:
so will the rig switching rule be in effect this weekend at the pcc,s at the george? i didn't see anything about it in the nor when i sent my money in, i was planing on trying my new radial set-up because i've heard it blows like crazy on the columbia river.

Yes, it is part of the Masters' rules, so it will be in effect for the event this weekend.

However... iWindSurf is circulating a nasty rumor that it might not be very windy this weekend. I'd bring both rigs!
 
and of course, CONGRATS to our very own class president for winning Masters Nationals!


I hear the same rumor about this weekend. It's going to be HOT in Portland, and it's always hot inland there, so might not get the Gorge action we anticipate.... we'll see!
 
i see, said the blind man to the fish.........so do all the lasers race in one big group? no seperate start for the radials? that would be cool.is it scored according to what rig you are sailing? or is it just a big free for all?:confused:
 
All are scored as one fleet. The objective is to keep more of us "old people" sailing our fun little boats in a wider range of conditions. Scoring is according to the Masters guidelines. If you've never done it, take a look at an NOR for a major Masters regatta. The NA Masters NOR is posted at Milwaukee YC site. The final NOR also includes another experimental rule which modifies Rule 42 in higher winds. Not sure that is posted yet.
 
Thanks to two great photographers we now have pictures from the Masters' US Nationals in Richmond and the Masters' Pacific Coast Championships in the Gorge uploaded to the Laser Class website. You can see them at http://www.laser.org/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&Itemid=136&func=viewcategory&catid=2

The PCC's photos were taken by Sean Trew and you can view more pictures from this event at his website at www.pacificfog.net

The US Nationals photos were taken by Patrick Grey and you can see more of his pictures at http://www.pgrey.smugmug.com/gallery/1773649

It is especially impressive to me to see the photos of the Great Grand Masters out there sailing in these two events. It shows you that you really can sail Lasers your whole life!

Tracy
 

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