Choptank Fleet 2021 Spring Note

Choptank Fleet 2021 Spring Note

Choptank Fleet,

I hope you are reading this note on a warm sunny Spring day with a 8-10 kts blowing across the Choptank. It’s finally time to wake your boat from hibernation and contact your crew - Sailing Season is Almost Here!

In this note I’ll highlight several changes (hopefully improvements) for the 2021season

Revised Course List    (Click Here)

From George Breig — Also shown on the ESSA Blog.

This year the Choptank Fleet will be using a predefined list of 32 courses.  Several courses from last year were deleted due to lack of use and redundancy. Some courses have been modified and some added to provide more reaching legs. The list has been reorganized from Zero degrees Magnetic to 360 degrees.  So trash last year's list. This is a major edit.

Laminated copies will be available at the Sailing Open House on May 1 (see below).

On occasion, the Race Committee may decide to customize the race course depending on weather conditions. Print a copy of the list and keep it in your boat.  Skippers are expected to have the list.  The committee boat will only post and announce the course number on VHF Channel 72.

New Cruising Class Fleet

This season we are introducing a Cruising Class Fleet. This new fleet is designed to attract skippers of boats better suited for cruising and skippers who are new to racing and do not want to deal with congested starts.

The Cruising Fleet will start 6 minutes after the Non Spin Fleet. The starting line will be “open” for 5 minutes to allow skippers to start when they want within that time. Boats will then report their elapsed time after crossing the finish line at buoy Z and the Yacht Club.

ESSA will waive membership dues and racing fees for 1 year to attract new Cruising Fleet boats to join us on Wednesday nights. If you know of a skipper who may want to sail in the Cruising Fleet, please encourage them to contact me at (513) 477-2584 and come to the Sailing Open House on May 1.

May Race Schedule

Practice Race - May 5

Series 1, Race 1 - May 12

Series 1, Race 2 - May 19

Series 1, Race 3 - May 26

FYI - The Stedman Smith Cup will be raced on June 5. We will again have the traditional crab cake lunch at TAYC. More information to come.

Sailing Open House

The Eastern Shore Sailing Association and the Cambridge Yacht Club are hosting a Sailing Open House on Saturday May 1, from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm at the Yacht Club gazebo on 1 Mill St. in Cambridge, Maryland.

 We hope to attract sailors new to the area who have a boat and want to learn more about racing with us on Wednesday’s.

 Also, we hope to meet people who want to crew. So if you need crew, please come and we’ll hook you up.

 Also we’ll provide information on the new Cruising Fleet and hope to sign up a few new skippers.

 The Yacht Club will be showcasing several sailing programs at the Open House including:

• A new Adult Learn to Sail program
• A season long G19 Buoy Challenge
• The Summer/Fall Cruising Program

 Fleet Zoom Call - Wednesday, April 21 at 7:00 pm (I’ll send out a Zoom Call invitation).

 Final Thoughts - I expect the 2021 Season to be a return to normal for Wednesday Night Racing. I’m hoping to see several boats back on the starting line after sitting out 2020 plus a few new boats and new faces who will add to our fleet.

So get your boat ready. Again, if you need crew, recruit them at the Open House on May 1. Hope to see you on the line May 5 for our practice race or on May 12 for the first race of the 2021 season.

Bob Gallagher

Choptank Fleet Captain

rgallagher1.rg@gmail.com

513-477-2584

 Bob

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