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Just a couple more that have surfaced from the handout from Kyle on Tuesday. This sheet is called the “10 Racing Rules for Radio Sailing”.
I’ve not duplicated those already spelled out above, just those not already mentioned there which I believe are relevant to us.
~ Windward keeps clear of leeward (you are to leeward when the other boat is closer to where the wind is coming from than you)
~ Astern keeps clear of boat ahead (you are ahead when the other boat is completely behind a line drawn at right angles to your transom)
~ Keep clear when tacking or gybing
~ If you have violated a rule take a penalty immediately, don’t wait to be called out on it.
Good point Kermit, I’m with you on not having to take a losing penalty when you have only just brushed the outside of a bouy as it’s rounded.
Taking Pete’s Point of view on what other clubs do is a good idea too. Just to put those two ideas together for a minute, I read about one club on the mainland that don’t penalise the touching of distant bouys, only close ones. This is sensible as none of us have flash eyesight anymore and judging distances is hard to do.
So, to summarise, if we made a local rule that touching the outside of a distant bouy is a non-penalty, but touching say a start bouy, (that is right in front of us) would be a penalty.
How does that sound?
NB while this would work for our own sail days, it will not in the case of a next level competition, ie The upcoming Summer Series Tasmanian Championships we are hosting in March.
The penalty for any infringement by the way is a 360 deg turn. It this tight racing we have now it is far, far better to back off than lose 3 or 4 places doing a penalty turn you could have easily avoided.
I should like to start the ball rolling with a couple of obvious ones.
1. Starboard boat has Right Of Way (ROW).
This is the most basic rule of all and must be adhered to at ALL times with NO exceptions. Boats on Starboard tack have ROW over any on Port tack, up or down wind.
2. Giving Mark Room to the inside boat.
Without getting into drawn out discussions and technical explanations, it simply means allowing the inside boat at a mark to have room to make ‘their’ turn without being rammed by you. Now this topic usually spirals down into overlaps and distances out from a mark that an overlap occurs etc etc. blah, blah.
This is making something easy to understand more complex than it is.
If there is a boat or any part of a boat between you and a mark, give them plenty of room to make ‘their’ turn. ie, dont start making your turn until they do.
3. Barging
There are a couple of times during a race where this is likely to occur. At the starting line and tacking in front of another boat right in front of a mark
Again, common sense and etiquette tells you what must happen here.
At the ‘favoured’ end of a starting line if there is no room between the boat closest to the mark and the mark itself DON’T try to push in. Instead, move further down the line and start there. You will avoid the ‘rafting up’ and conflict that often occurs in that situation and you are also much more likely to get cleaner air and a faster start.
At any mark, don’t try to cut in (barging) between another boat and the mark itself by tacking right in front of that other boat. It’s poor form, is penalised by the RRS and is unnecessary. Ducking under them or sailing further past their line before tacking yourself will often result in you being in a better position on the next leg anyway.
……….……
Ok, there is a start, now it’s up to you to voice your opinion on good and simple rules to follow that will make our sailing experience more enjoyable…..
Another thought …
The more I do this, the more convinced I am that the percentage sailing strategy is to avoid congestion and keep looking out in front of your boat at all times. A distance of anything up to 5 metres ahead will alert you to incoming dangers that might cost you distance, places, or the race itself
Horses for courses I guess. I’m getting long life from the 700mA Zippy LiFe rechargeables. Use only one battery type for 2 x boats and 2 x Tx’s, Min weight for DF’s, safest battery on the market, cheaper than most and only one charger using one setting for everything.
Pretty happy all round. Might be a different story if I had power boats and /or aircraft where more juice or longer discharge times were required.
The session on Tuesday will be conducted with the DF95 as the focus. It’s true there is a lot of bits of info out there already for this boat, but not a lot on why these measurements are effective, or even a good systematic method of achieving them every time.
The following week (22nd Jan), barring work scheduling arrangements Kyle will conduct a session on the DF65. He has a lot of experience and recently won the Northern Round of the Summer Series at Winspears with his DF.
As far as I know these two early sessions are “one off” and won’t be repeated. There is a possibility some of it might be filmed and in the case of this first one, there will be handouts at the conclusion that you can use as reference if you wish.
If these first two are well attended and achieve their intended outcomes, a further two workshops on other aspects of RC racing are likely. More of that later.
Excellent work Pred, will get some on my next shopping venture. I too had some vinyl backing sheet stick to the mat and was considering removing all the sticky stuff then redoing with spay tacky stuff that I have seen in Bunnings. Will give the wipes a go first now though.
You and your bloody wind indicator Pete!
Thats it! I’m going to make one for you as you seem obsessed, (possessed?) by them. 😈
A skull and crossbones! Now there’s an idea!
Take no prisoners !!!
I like it. 👍
Right back at you Pred. Very excited about the year ahead. Lots of Saturday mornings shooting the breeze whilst pretending to sail at Lauderdale. Our DF day’s @ the Duck, which began in 2018 are now becoming better known and our fleet of 65’s and 95’s are also growing.
This year at Puddleduck we are hosts to our first State event; the RG/DF65 Summer Series named the Peter Smith Memorial Regatta in March 9 & 10. I encourage everyone to get involved and help to make it the best it can be.
Yes, the website has reached a good level of functionality and user friendliness and the goal to make it the flagship of everything we do is within sight this year.
It is yours to share and comment on and I urge all to make visiting it a regular part of your everyday routine for 2019.
We are an odd bod lot and it will be my pleasure to know and to spend time with you all again this coming year.
And another two. One I made for Ron below, (purple of course), and another black A+ for me.