Racing Action - Sunday Nov. 11, 2018

It was the first scored race day of the Winter Series with the temperature in the mid-high eighties. I believe 11 Soling’s sailed. Half of the EC-12 fleet had sailed in the National Championship regatta in Punta Gorda so the big boats did not sail on Lake Catherine. Micro Magic’s began their series with 4 boats. It was interesting to see how closely matched the boats and skippers were. After splitting tacks to the first mark three boats would round within a boat length or so of each other. The lead would change often with boats close together for the entire race. This happened more than once.
 
Most of the Dragons must have stayed in their caves, but it was a good day for sailing the DF-95. Terry sent a well thought out summary of the Dragon Flite 95 to all of our members and it will be added to the website. Great to hear that Doug Bowe is ordering one. There was quite a few positive comments about the DF-95 at PG. Naples fleet is now 45 DF-95 boats.
 
Soling 1 Meter National Championship for 2019 will be held Feb 22-24 hosted by the Suncoast Model Sailing Club in Punta Gorda. Registration is now open:   http://www.suncoastmodelsailingclub.net/calendar.html
The Gator Regatta for EC-12 is Dec 1 & 2 in the Villages.
 
The Soling rudder  and keel thickness minimums, and flangeless deck beam measurements were voted on by class members and approved. They will be upheld for National and Regional regattas. I suggest that we as a club bring any boat that does not meet the new rule into compliance by Jan 15 2019 in order to eligible to compete in our series. Chris has the official measuring device.
 
Thanks to Chris working with the city of Palm Beach Gardens, a restroom is planned for Lake Catherine. This will be a relief for many.
 
Tom asked about our thoughts on throw outs in scoring. In a Regatta of 10 to 20 races it is typical to have one throw out for every 6 or 8 races. In our season of racing over 100 races take place. The effect on our overall standings of a few races where we have something bad happen is minimal. We qualify those skippers who participate in 50% of the races as eligible for the trophies.
 
Jean asked if there had been any thought of changing the Soling sailing time. Not at this moment. Perhaps we should have a weekday official competition for a sort of new / learning Soling group.
 
I will make a new stand for the second start clock.
 
 
George
George Balaschak, Commodore PBGMYS