Choptank Cup Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, October 8, 2022

CLICK HERE for printable copy of 2022 C Cup NORSI

2022 ESSA CHOPTANK CUP - NORSI

Saturday, October 8th, 2022 (bad weather date, Sunday, Oct 9)

 OVERNING RULES

The racing rules and regulations of US Sailing shall govern except as modified by the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association, the ESSA 20-21 Yearbook and these Race Instructions. As always the most important rule is to avoid collisions. Sail at your own risk.

PARTICIPATION

Any ESSA member who has paid their annual racing fee and is sailing a boat that has received a rating from ESSA or a valid PHRF Certificate of the Chesapeake may enter the race. All boats must check in with the Race Committee or designate boat using VHF Channel 72 least 5 minutes before the starting sequence.  Boats not acknowledged by the Race Committee Boat within the time frame will be scored DNS.

TIME KEEPING

When a Race Committee boat or land crew is available, they will handle starting the race as per normal operating procedures for ESSA Wednesday nights. If a Race Committee boat or land crew is not available a designated competitor (typically the fleet captain) can carry Ollie along and broadcast the start sequence via VHF Channel 72. All participants must individually record their GPS finish time and report it by email (essasailing38@gmail.com), or text 443-521-9920 to the Choptank Fleet Scorekeeper George Breig by 8pm the day of the race. The time of day should be reported: hour, minute, and seconds.

Example: 3: 22: 35 PM. Use GPS time or cell phone time with seconds please.

SKIPPERS’ MEETING

A skippers’ meeting will be held at the CYC Gazebo at 8:30 am. Any final notices before the race will be made on Channel 72.  Channel 72 will be monitored after the race begins.

START LINE

The starting line will be between ESSA “A” aka “G3" and “G1” buoys.

FINISH LINE & SHORTENED COURSE

The finish line will be the same as the starting line unless there is need for a shortened course. In the case of a shortened course, the finish line is where a boat passes abeam of the new finish mark within six boat lengths on the heading between the last two marks, and on the channel side.

If conditions change drastically after the race begins, the course may be shortened to a designated race mark. The course can be shortened by finishing at a course mark or by turning around at a designated mark and finishing at “G1- G3”. A race will be shortened and announced via VHF 72 prior to the start if at all possible. Always finish on the channel side of the mark.

STARTING SIGNALS

The race will start promptly at 9:30 am GPS time.

TIME SOUNDS

Courtesy Warning 6 min 09:24, 5 Short blasts

Starting 5 min 09:25, 1 Long horn blast

Sequence 4 min 09:26, 1 Horn blast

1 min 09:29, 1 Horn Blast

Start 09:30, 1 Long Horn Blast

DELAYED STARTS, RACE ABANDONMENT, TIME LIMIT

Any postponement will be announced at the Skippers’ Meeting or prior to the starting sequence. Three boats must start to qualify the race.  Boats are expected not to retire the race shortly after the start just to achieve the three-boat minimum for a race.

TIME LIMIT

The first boat must finish the course by 5:00 pm or the race is abandoned. All boats finishing after 6:00 pm will be scored DNF.

CLASSES / EQUIPMENT

There will be a Spin and Non-Spin class as long as there are at least 3 boats racing in each class. If there are not enough entries for two classes then all boats will race non-spin (unless all participants are spinnaker boats).

COMMUNICATION

There will be no radio communications unless an emergency exists, the race is being abandoned or shortened, a boat is abandoning the race, reporting of bad weather or the Race Committee Boat is conveying important information to the racing fleet. The Race Committee Boat shall monitor Channel 72 during the race for emergencies or other imperative messages.

PROTESTS

Any yacht protesting another yacht must follow US Sailing Rules with the following provisions and exceptions:

1) Any yacht may exonerate herself for the infraction of a Rule in Part 2 of “The Racing Rules of Sailing” by getting clear of other boats as soon as possible & promptly completing one turn including one tack and one gybe in the same direction.

2) Notify the Race Committee or designate promptly within one hour of the Race Committee boat or designate docking. Protestor should provide a written protest on a standard protest form to the Committee Boat as soon as possible. Protesting vessels must call the Race Committee on VHF Channel 72 to report the protest.

EQUIPMENT

It is strongly encouraged that skippers consult US Sailing to review safety requirements for near shore racing.  https://cdn.ussailing.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Monohull-SER-2022.0-Nearshore.pdf

THE COURSE

Note: If the course must be shortened, it will be at one of the marks of the course, unless changed by the Race Committee prior to start, and discussed at the skippers meeting. Note: G23 is in a new position. The former G7 remains in position and has been renamed G9. 

Outbound	Inbound
G3 Port - G1 Starboard (Start)	G9 Port
G23 Port	R10 Starboard
G19 Starboard	R16 Starboard
R16 Port	G19 Port
R10 Port	G23 Starboard
G9 Starboard	G1 Port, G3 Starboard - Finish
Sharps Light Port
	Course Distance 33.2 Nautical Miles

SCORING

All scoring will be on corrected time utilizing the PHRF (TOT) Time-Over-Time method with a low point scoring system (first place = 1 point etc.) DNF will be scored number of boats started plus 1. Yachts will be scored according to the PHRF/ESSA handicap rating system.

The recipient of the Choptank Cup will be determined by the fastest performance in class on corrected time in the following fashion. The time of each class winner will be compared to the average time of the 2nd and 3rd place boats in that class. The class winner with the greatest time differential over the class average will receive the Choptank Cup.

ALTERNATE COURSE OPTIONS - The Race Committee may choose to shorten the course in response to conditions at the start of the race or any time during the race.  A change to the course will be announced on VHF Channel 72.

 

G3>>>R10 port>>>G3

G3>>>Choptank Light starboard>>>G3

G3>>>R14 port>>>G3

G3>>>G19 starboard>>>G3