Gorge is OUT, Racing at Nitinat this weekend is IN.

[Bobson]

I am thinking of heading down to the Gorge this Wednesday(12th) to sail in the Formula Experience Pan Americans which is being held at the same time as the US Nationals down in the Gorge.

Does anyone want to share expenses and head down with me. It means leaving Victoria/Vancouver sometime on Wednesday and returning late Sunday(16th) or Monday(17th). I have room to bring one person and their gear.

Please let me know ASAP so I can confirm arrangements.

[Bobson]

Thanks for your interest but I've canned the Gorge trip and will instead head to Nitinat and confirm some of the things needed for the Event in August are in place and sail BIG GEAR!

Anyone else with Big Gear wanna bring it and we can race..?? I'll bring up some marks to set so we can have some fun racing.....maybe 3 marks....so we can have slalom race and a course race so everyone can experience the racing and get HOOKED!!

So, if you wanna see and enjoy some fun racing come on up this weekend as I'll be there from Thursday to Sunday with a course set up if I can borrow someones kayak,canoe,boat,jetski to set the course.

[Bobson]

Okay, so far we've got at least 5 guys with BIG GEAR coming to the Lake this weekend....should be good for some FUN practice racing! Anybody else wanna get in......I'll bring some small shirts for prizes and make dinner on Saturday night for the TOP 2 finishers!

[mortontoemike]

Hey Raceson. Is there a site that has "Race Rules"? I'd like to give it a try but I'd like to know the rules so I don't screw up.

[Bobson]

Hey MortonToe-Dood,

There are some site that tell you all about the rules of the road on the water. Here is one - http://www.grandprixsailing.com/RRS2005/Intro1-7.pdf

Here are some key points. Good thing about racing this weekend is it won't be too serious....we'll all just be out to have fun, give lots of room to each other and learn some racing rules while we're out there.

Here are some basic points. If you have any questions don't hesitate. These are, in no way are meant to be complete, just some rules I thought might be important to us.

1. A person will avoid contacting another if at all possible.
2. On opposite tacks, Starboard tack has right of way over Port tack. (If your right hand on your boom is closest to your mast then you are on Starboard tack)
3. On the same tack when overlapped, Upwind keeps clear of downwind.(This means the person upwind cannot bear off to make the person downwind bear off just to be a jerk)
4. On the same tack when overtaking, the person astern keeps clear of the person ahead.(This means you can't come right up behind someone and barrel into them just because you're downwind of them)
5. A person shall not change course if their only purpose is to interfere with another person.(read: be a jerk)

There are lots and lots of other rules about rounding marks and starting and other stuff but for this weekend we can just worry about having fun and getting around the course. We'll talk before we race and make sure we're all on the same page. Some of us raced last year and even with two of us it was fun....A few races we had 7 or 8 and it was so fan-flippin'-funtastic!

[PhDewd]

Bobson;
One more in - coming up with the girls and will bring everything up to 8.5 (hey - it's big for me I still weigh only 148 (wet))

[Bobson]

NICE!!!! I've got enough stuff for 3 marks. One is a big orange buoy, nice and noticeable. If anyone has a boat, canoe, jetski that I can use to set the marks tomorrow morning that would be great!!

We should have enough people for some great racing.

I'll bring some wine for prizes!! YA!