2015 Sailing Instructions

Iron Mountain Yacht Club

2015 Sailing Instructions

March 1, 2015

SCHEDULE and FORMAT

The IMYC 2015 Series Races will occur on Saturdays of alternating weekends.  Specific dates will be announced prior to the beginning of each series

SCORING

Contestants will receive 1.5 points for each first place finish, 2 points for second, 3 points for third and so on.  The winner is the contestant with the lowest point total for the event.  In the event of a tie, the lowest total corrected time will determine the winner. Series scoring will exclude each competitor’s worst three race scores.

RULES

Races shall be sailed under the Racing Rules of Sailing for 2013 – 2016 of the International Sailing Federation, except as otherwise stated herein.  The Racing Rules can be downloaded free of charge from the following link:

http://www.sailing.org/documents/racingrules/index.php

PROTESTS, FOULS AND PENALTIES

Skippers should hail for their rights well in advance of any disputed situation. 

Section 50 of the Racing Rules is modified to state that any yacht which acknowledges her foul may exonerate herself by completing a 360-degree penalty maneuver after the foul, but not before she has started, and before she has finished.

Protests must be presented in writing to the Race Official within 30 minutes of the return to dock of the Race Official in order to be considered valid.

HANDICAPPING

IMYC will use the Time Correction Factor (TCF) system for determining corrected finish times and scores.  The TCFs will be determined based on standard average published PHRF handicaps.  The TCF will increase the time adjustment on slow days and decrease the adjustment on fast days.  The final TCF will include adjustments for sail area, fixed props, etc. as described under Ratings Adjustments.

TIME CORRECTION FACTOR

All corrected times will be calculated as:

Corrected Time = That Yacht’s Elapsed Time times its Adjusted TCF

Adjusted TCF = Base TCF + TCF Adders as specified below

                            Base TCF =     ______650_______

                                                550 + PHRF Rating

RATINGS ADJUSTMENTS

Each yacht’s TCF will be modified to reflect the adjustments described in this section prior to the computation of that yacht’s corrected time.

Ratings Class:

Each yacht may, before any race, designate her Ratings Class as: RACING, CRUISING, or NOVICE.  This designation will carry forward until changed by the yacht.  The declaration is purely at the discretion of the yacht, except that any yacht with a designation of NOVICE for a race finished in first place in that race during this racing year shall be required to change her designation thereafter.  Absent any declaration, a yacht shall be scored with a Ratings Class of Racing.      
  

Spinnaker Declaration:

Each yacht’s TCF adjustment will be based on her declared spinnaker inventory.  However, prior to the preparatory signal for any race, any yacht may declare that she will not fly her spinnaker during that race.  Her TCF will be adjusted accordingly for that race.  Hoisting of her spinnaker during that race will result in disqualification. 

Adjustments shall be made to a yacht’s TCF based on the following rules:

EQUIPMENT                    Elapsed Time Adjustment                      TCF Adder

Fixed Prop – 3 blade              Reduce ET by 2.0%                                        - 0.020

Fixed Prop – 2 blade              Reduce ET by 1.0%                                        - 0.010

Jib LP less than 150%      

   - Masthead                         Reduce ET by 1.0% per 10% of LP                  - 0.010

   - Fractional                         Reduce ET by 0.5% per 10% of LP                  - 0.005

Jib LP more than 155%    

   - Masthead                         Increase ET by 1.0% per 10% of LP                 +0.010

   - Fractional                         Increase ET by 0.5% per 10% of LP                 +0.005

Spinnaker                        

   - Racing                              Increase ET by 2.0%                                      +0.020

   - Cruising/Asymmetric          Increase ET by 1.0%                                      +0.010

Class

   - Cruising                            Reduce ET by 1%                                          - 0.010

   - Novice                              Reduce ET by 2%                                          - 0.020

Example of Adjusted TCF calculation:

Boat 1:           PHRF = 100 (Swan 43), folding prop, 150% jib, no spinnaker, racing class

Boat 2:           Catalina 30, tall mast, fixed 3 blade, asymmetric spinnaker,

                      roller furling 142 jib, Cruising class

From the US PHRF Average Handicaps for 2011 (latest version available), the average PHRF is:     CATALINA 30 TM,    174

                                                                                       Boat 1            Boat 2

Base TCF = 650/(550 + PHRF) =                                    1.0000           0.8978

Prop Adjustment =                                                        0.0000           -0.0200        

Jib Adjustment = [(150-142)/10% x 1%] =                     0.0000           -0.0080

Spinnaker Adjustment =                                               0.0000            0.0100        

Class adjustment =                                                       0.0000           -0.0100        

Adjusted TCF =                                                            1.0000            0.8698

The handicap calculations expect the Catalina 30 TM to sail at 86.98% the speed of the PHRF100 boat.

Example of Corrected Time calculation:

The corrected time is calculated by first converting the actual elapsed time to seconds, then multiplying by the Adjusted TCF.  For Boat 2 above with an actual elapsed finish time of 1 hour, 23 min, 20 sec the corrected time is:

Elapsed time = 1 x 3,600 + 23 x 60 + 20 =     5,000 seconds

Corrected time = 5,000 x 0.8698 =                 4,349 seconds

TIME LIMITS

Time limits, postponement for weather conditions or cancellation will be at the discretion of the Race Officer.

PROPULSION AND SAIL ATTACHMENT

The only allowable source of energy for propelling a yacht through the water shall be the wind.  Section 50 of the Racing Rules is modified to allow ANY means or configuration of sail attachment, placement, and sheeting, so long as the wind provides the only source of energy.

Communication of Race Information

The course and any other necessary information for each race will be communicated by the Race Officer prior to the announcement of start time.  It is the responsibility of each competitor to acquire the necessary race information.  The course will be described by a series of letters representing marks (either islands or portable marks) in the approximate locations shown on the Racing Mark Locations map below. VHF channel 71 will be the default used for race related communications.

RACE STARTS AND TIMING

Race timing will be managed via synchronized clocks.  About ten minutes prior to the start of a race the Race Officer will announce the exact race start time via VHF radio, and by hailing upon request.   Start and finish times will be as indicated by the Race Officer’s clock which will be synchronized to the U.S. time standard.  Each racer will be responsible for accurately recording their own finish time as indicated on their synchronized clock.  After the race the Race Officer will poll the racers for their finish times.  Racers may utilize any clocks they deem appropriate.  It is the racer’s responsibility to maintain synchronization with the Race Officer’s clock.  Commonly available “atomic” clocks will synchronize automatically and most of them display seconds.  

If at any time prior to start the Race Officer hoists the YELLOW flag racers should contact the committee boat for important information.

It is the responsibility of each yacht to make a proper start.  The responsibility for a boat’s decision to participate in a race or to continue racing is hers alone.