Beacon - Annapolis Yacht Club

This is the type of change that we make to constantly
improve WNR. We describe it in Attachment “A” and
tell the competitors about these changes at the skippers’
meeting just before the first race. The team that misses
that meeting or fails to get the final Attachment “A” is at
a decided disadvantage on the first race.
With the instructions to the sailors in hand, I also
need to get the committee signed up. We have about 50
people on the committee. We have a group that goes
out on the signal boat that fires the gun, hoists the flags,
records the last minute before the start and other duties
necessary to start the race. We also have a volunteer boat
with several people who set the other end of the starting
line. Another group of people sets the marks out in the
Bay with direction from the signal boat. We also have
another group of volunteers that mans the second deck
and records the order and time of finishes. All told, we
usually have a committee of 24 people to run each race.
I generate a schedule for the committee members
to fill out during April and develop a weekly duty roster
from that. I try to send out the duty roster for the following
week by the Friday before each race. I generally
go out again around the 4th of July for the committee to
update their schedules for the second half of the year.
I also work with the Club to make sure we have the
right prices on drinks and food for the after race party
and reserve the date for the awards party in September.
Although we run the race, we still compete with the rest
of Annapolis for the sailors’ food and drink business. To
do this, we run a video of the evening’s races and offer
special drink prices. Our club management continues to
be very supportive of our efforts and I think our servers
truly enjoy the party after WNR.
By the time the first race day hits, everything always
seems to come together. This is largely due to the SERC.
Many have been on the committee longer than I have,
and it has become a part of their lives. I suppose it is part
of mine, as well. But race day is when the fun begins.
We leave the dock at 5:30 p.m. and proceed to a
point just off Horn Point (shoal pole) and anchor. Once
settled, we decide on the courses based on wind direction,
pressure, anticipated pressure, weather, and sunset.
We vector Mark 1 into place to set the first (movable)
mark. We then send them off to set the other marks we
will use that night.
We then set the other end of the starting line. This
is the hardest part. The trick is to get the fleet to use the
whole line. The sailors need to believe that they have the
same opportunity to win no matter where they start on
the line. If we get it right, they use the whole line and we
get clean starts. If we don’t, the boats bunch up at one
end or the other and force each other over early. This
causes blowing of horns, calling out of sail numbers and
terms of endearment, and some scuffing of gel coat. But
it gets sorted out and the racers start sailing their race.
It is all good!
On average, we put 125 boats over the line in six
starts starting 40 minutes after we leave the dock. The
boats finish in front of the Club starting around 7:30
p.m. to the enjoyment of many spectators at the clubhouse,
on the bridge, anchored in the harbor, and in
many of the other waterfront businesses. By the time I
am off the water, the deck crew is usually starting to finish
boats. If we get the courses right, the boats will come
in at a steady pace so recording is peaceful.
When they do come in bunched together, things can
get tense. We have back-up timers and set one recorder
off to the side to make sure we get all the numbers. The
large boats moored next door also block our vision until
the last minute. But the crew is great and we rarely miss
a number.
After the finish, we score the race on the computer
in the Race Committee office. We use notes from the
starting line to reconcile the finishes, then I review the results
to see if anything is amiss. If there are protests from
the week before, we need to wait for them to be resolved.
Then, we print the results and post them on the web and
the official notice board. By now, it is usually 10 p.m.
After everything is scored and posted, I like to go
down and talk to the sailors to see what they thought
of the race. I find their feedback very useful and I think
they appreciate that I ask. I think it adds to the competitors’
overall WNR experience which keeps participation
up. In fact, WNR has held its own during the economic
downturn while other events have suffered. That is pretty
special for the Annapolis Yacht Club. It is also pretty
special for the City of Annapolis and local businesses
that prosper from our efforts.
The end of the WNR is the Wednesday following
Labor Day. That has become the unofficial end of summer
and the beginning of the fall sailing season. Our
regular Race Committee gets busy running the Fall Series
and many of our other annual races. I get a little
more time to write the Frostbite NOR and SIs, but
November will be here in no time, and we will do it all
over again.
12 AYC BEACON VOLUME 1, NO. 2