TO BE RESCHEDULED

THE APRIL 4^TH MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND AWARDS DINNER

Paul Jennings, Commodore  -  pauljenningspe@msn.com

Harlan Fredericksen, Vice Commodore  -   harlanfred@gmail.com

Bruce Kuryla, Rear Commodore  -  bpkuryla@aol.com

Perpetual Trophy Awards 2019

Off Soundings Club 2017 Race Committee Report

By Principal Race Officer - Greg Gilmartin

In an era where tradition is trashed and you’re only as good as your next event, the Off Soundings Club continues to do pretty well. Maybe it’s because we have a long “tradition”, which means we’ve done a lot of “next” events. I took a quick look at “Reflections”, Bruce Lockwood’s personal chronicle of the club since 1933 to tabulate just how many events have actually occurred. The Club has been in existence since 1934. The first race was held in Spring, 1935 when 11 boats sailed from Block Island to Dering Harbor. Since then, there have been 81 Spring Series and 78 Fall series. Two of the Fall Series were cancelled due to Hurricanes and in the Spring of 1945, with WWII ending, 25 boats sailed from Stamford to Manhasset and then back the next day, but there was no Fall Series that year. Thus the uneven number of Spring and Fall Events in our long history and three years of war. 

The 2017 season attracted over 100 boats each series. Spring Series registered 110 racers and the Fall Series registered 101. The most the club has seen over the years is 230 in 1970. There has been a general downtrend in participation since the 80’s, and most notably since 2004 when we last saw 150 boats. However, Off Soundings continues to be one of the most popular events in Southern New England and is still appointment racing. 85 years as a club and 81 years of sailboat racing is a remarkable tradition and we continued to add to it this year with the usual mixed bag of conditions and personalities that brought smiles to the faces of many one day and curses into the wind, (or lack of it!) the next. We found out where the border lines of technicalities live and just how far friends will push those borders. And we learned that you can never have too much fuel to get to the starting line.

In the end, the usual suspects walked away with the prizes, give or take a newbie or two. And there are now a few gallons less rum on the earth. More traditions!

Spring opened with a cracking beam reach to 1BI on Friday, then a one sided beat south before a downwind finish at the New Harbor. Nor’easter arrived literally as the first multi hull finished at 1320. We seamlessly replaced the mark boat Pop Edgar to record the finishes. The entire fleet was finished by 1450 pm. Apparently not everyone’s beam reach was “cracking”. Saturday, the RC set a course for counter-clockwise around the island. 100 boats started. 

Shifting to the Fall, my intent leading up to the event was to return to Cerberus Shoal on Friday. Mother Nature intervened on those plans and helped us set a bit of history. In the fog and flat water, we announced moving the entire fleet from New London to Gardiner’s Bay in order to start the race there. It was not a hard decision and was made with consultation with some of the brightest minds in the room as well as a belief in the half dozen different weather forecasts at our disposal. Plus a phone call advising us of sunshine at Shelter Island. So for the first time, we moved the fleet on Friday to Gardiner’s Bay. A couple of boats did not make the trip, but we got a short race off in light air in the Bay starting about 1400 and everyone was back at the dock by 1730 and at the party on Shelter Island shortly after.

Saturday’s race faced the same light air - no air issue. After a one hour on shore delay and a couple of delays on the water, we were able to get another short race in under less than ideal conditions. It was a day some may have been wishing for the more traditional windy-rainy weather that has been considered part of the Off Soundings Club story. In summary, the Race Committee did good to overcome various obstacles.

We had two new boats in support of the event, centered around the Fall series where Tom McKenzie allowed us use of Blue Moon as a Signal boat. A serendipitous meeting turned into a new friend for the club. And a long time member, competitor and friend, Norm Peck, also stepped up to lend us his Squire as a mark boat. Tom Weeks in Pop Edgar is now a regular fixture on the course after 3 years and served as Pin Boat. We could not have accomplished what we did without their help.

Henry Dupont IV continues his commitment to Off Soundings in Nor’easter, the iconic image of our Race Committee Signal boat. He has assured me he will be back in the Spring of 2018. Finally, the RC crew continues to evolve with talented individuals making it all happen. Under budget. We approach each event with a desire to create fair and challenging race courses and good management of the 100 plus boats so everyone gets around, gets a score and leaves with an impression that they want to come back for more.

That is a tradition that must be maintained at any cost.

Submitted by Greg Gilmartin, 10/28/17

It was the 79th running of this perennial event and 109 skippers and their crews enjoyed solid breeze, dying breeze, shifting breeze, sunshine, clouds, and drenching rain. 1BI reared it’s ugly tidal head each day and the uncertainty of wind direction, coupled with the variety of wind strength turned tacticians into dart throwers, hoping to end up in the wrong place at the right time. What happens on Block Island, stays on Block Island, and often, only happens on Block Island.

The old school approach was highlighted on Friday by a left over westerly that got the fleet off in good stead with Group 1 heading to Nebraska Shoal on a fast reach for course (N) Z.

Group 2 set off fetching 1BI on the course (B) Z. It seemed in the first many years of my experience racing in Off Soundings, this was the go to Friday course. It is also the first time we have set two courses in many years. This year is likely the final time for that course since the US Coast Guard plans to remove Nebraska Shoal buoy at the end of this year. And good riddance, say some!

With 13 classes off, Nor’easter quickly raised anchor, anticipating a fast race in the solid breeze. It is always a challenge to get to the finish line before the fast sleds, many of whom were planning right off the start line. But, there turned out to be no worries. The RC set mark Z in place 2 miles west off the finish line, hoping everyone would get some windward work in after the long reach to Block. We saw some of that for the early leaders, but mainly we saw the
Westerlies shift to Northerly, Northeasterly, Southerly for a bit, Nothing for another bit and finally, as the first boats were fetching the finish line from Z, a solid Easterly filled in from out of the new harbor and we had an upwind finish! Hey, if you don’t like the breeze direction, just wait a few minutes.

All was forecast by the Weather service provided by North Sails to the fleet as part of their sponsorship of Yacht Scoring...except for the Easterly!

Delta class Milago was first boat to finish covering the 21 miles in 2 hours 43 minutes.

The Viper 830 Suspect 2nd in 3 1⁄2 hours and then Spectre and Settler less than a minute apart, covering the long course in about 3 hours 23 minutes.

Wave Dancer was the first of the Group 2 boats to finish, covering the 18 miles in just 4 hours. Valkyrie in C-2 and the Nonsuch Mistral took the final nod from the RC as they covered their respective courses in just over 5 hours. Thankfully, our gracious host Henry Dupont IV has a well stocked food locker and plenty of cool drinks to keep the RC crew on task.

Friday’s rendezvous under the tent included the new era of scoring. Yacht Scoring made it’s debut and proved an unqualified success. Scores were posted by the time Nor’easter docked and the results were scrolled on a TV under the tent. The focus was on enjoying the party and reconnecting with old friends and new stories about the Block and her ever changing Saturday, the forecast predicted nasty weather late in the day and it was the RC intent to get around the island as quickly as possible. The wind was perfectly out of the south and we couldn’t have set it better if we had picked our direction. The fleet headed off upwind for the long beat down the West side of the island for a course of 4 B. It was my intent to keep it old school by allowing the fleet to play along the rocks if necessary, especially on the East side in case the Ebbing tide took effect late in the race. The ever present sea lawyers forced an amendment to the SI’s to keep the island to port rather than looping 4 and staying on the west side to loop B. We took care of that and off we go, 108 boats starting.

Once again, the Block took control and the breeze shut down, stalling some of the slower boats, including the Nonsuchs. Many of them couln’t get around 4 in the flooding
current. The wind continued to vary, with many able to enjoy a decent spinnaker run up the East side, but facing the ever changing current and wind shifts at 1BI. Even the boats who got around early, ran into major shifts during the final miles along the Northwest side of the island.

The Rich family took the first gun in Settler, changing sails twice in the last half mile.

They covered the 16 mile course in just over 3 1⁄2 hours. Direwolf and Spectre were a few minutes behind, followed by Suspect and Caliente finishing in just over 4 hours.

In the end, 81 boats finished, 26 boats retired and one had the time limit expire at 5 pm.

A long day for all and did I mentioned just when it was going flukey it rained and rained hard.

But, hey, we need the water. And where else would you rather be!

In summary, a good event from the Race Committee perspective, plenty of good stories and while conditions were rarely perfect, they were perfectly typical of an Off Soundings event where the wind never blows from the same direction consistently and you have to be smart and lucky and ready to enjoy being with your mates in trying moments. And the sun came out for the party!

I was pleased with Yacht Scoring. It worked as advertised and I know many of the racers were dialed in to it. We need to perfect the TV set up in the tent to have the results scrolling for all as part of the presentation. The North Sails giveaways went over big and I think we might remove our baby shoes and allow them more exposure under the tent. No one blinked that they were involved.

As I mentioned, the final results were posted shortly before Nor’easter hit the dock.

The weekend results with BOW were up immediately. The ECSA results without BOW were posted on YachtScoring by Tuesday evening. To date, there have been no scoring inquiries.

The results will be made final on Friday, June 24th just to allow any inquiries.

If anyone has any suggestions for the Fall Series and how we can improve our game, please pass them along.

Submitted 6/19/16

Greg Gilmartin

director@mystv.com.  

Dave Perry and Racing Ethics

The schedule for racing rules webinars is posted at the link below.

North Sails Webinars on Racing Rules

Fall 2015 Race Highlights

Changing conditions, challenging racing and a solid weekend of racing entertainment was held for nearly 100 boats and their crews.  There was even an impromptu diving contest in the 3 hour wait on the calm waters of Gardiner’s Bay Saturday.   In the end, two races were sailed and trophies were dispersed.