It’s not that long before the first spring race of the year. If you’d like to get a head start on the competition join us for one of the winter series races. The last winter series race of the year is combined with the Commodore’s bash and always gets a good turnout.

A lot of people are working hard to make sure we have a successful year and a full calendar. Please go to the CSC calendar and reserve some dates. Also please invite anyone you think might be interested in crewing to the Jordan Series or tell your friends about our Junior Sailing program.

At the last winter series we had two boats capsize. Capsizing in the winter is a little more serious then capsizing in the summer. The experienced Race Committee (RC) did an excellent job dealing with the situation. What if you were on RC, would you have been ready to help? Would you feel comfortable with the equipment and procedures? If the answer isn’t a definite yes please make sure you attend the training schedule for CSC RC that will be held in the spring.

John

Social Committee Report

Our Soup & Chili Socials after our Winter racing at Ebenezer are going great ! Bring your favorite recipe or snacks and join us. We have gas stoves to heat things up.

Come on out to the Boat Show on Friday, February 20th and join us for our Monthly Social. That's right, instead of the sports bar, in February we're going to have our social at the Boat Show at the Fairgrounds. We start at 6:30pm at the IFG / CSC booth area with refreshments. This will be a great opportunity to talk up dingy racing and the club to all the

Show visitors. At 7:30, we'll have a seminar on Basic Racing Rules.

See you at the Boat Show !

Alan Backus

Social

You have to ask yourself, what makes seemingly normal, seemingly sane people leave the comfort of their homes in the middle of the winter and venture out on a lake in open hulled dinghies for an afternoon of sailboat racing? Is it the spirit of adventure, is it the thrill of challenging the elements, or is it just simply the need to get out of the house and get away from the family for a while?

The Jordan Winter Series January 18^th races weren’t exactly on the same intensity scale as Shackelton’s sailboat excursion in sub-zero temps and occasional gale force winds from Antartica to a small island 600 miles away in a 20 foot open hull safety boat that was jury rigged with a mast and sails and a canvas deck, but it was an adventurous day out on the lake none the less.

When I arrived at the Ebineezer Church launch site at about 10:00 there was not the usual plethora of bass fishing boats in the parking lot, which seemed like a bad omen. It was foggy, the temperature was in the upper 40’s and there was no wind. However, most of that would change by the end of the day.

Soon, the true grit of the Carolina Sailing Club began to trickle into the parking lot and when the fog lifted there were a total of 6 boats prepared to go into battle. The Race Committee showed up with the obligatory 2 RC boats and 2 brand new large orange barrel shaped marks and 2 boxes of Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts (the sailing equivalent to PowerBars). The weather reports said that a front was supposed to come through at some point during the day and that we could possibly see winds above the maximum allowable by CSC winter racing guidelines, but we would deal with that if and when it happened, and deal with it we did!

Sailing instructions were administered to the willing and it was off to the races! The Race Committee of Walter Brier, Amy Grobin, George McKim and Stephen Chobot as PRO headed out into a light fog and mist to set up the short windward leeward courses in a light breeze. The new large barrel shaped bouys wouldn’t stay in the upright position, I think they need a weight on the bottom, but aside from that one small problem they worked great and were visible from the leeward mark. I know what you’re all thinking; “Hey that takes all the fun out of the windward leg!” and “Man, now I won’t be able to justify using my sextant on the windward leg!” Now there will be more to do on windward legs than constantly straining your eyeballs looking for the mark.

The first race was kicked off in light winds (5.3 knots), overcast and misty conditions. Four boats were at the starting area prior to the start and they were Alan Bachus with crew members J. J. Kemper and Jim Knowles in Thistle 2728, Kevin Sheehan with members John McLaughlin and Ann Prather in Thistle 3674, Eric Rasmussen with crew Joleen Rasmussen in Tanzer 232, Barry Saunders with crew Nick Titus in Jet 962. There were two late arrivals John Norton in Laser 142637 and John Fragakis in Laser 16847. Actually the commodore timed his start almost perfectly from the launching ramp, arriving at the starting line right at the starting gun, however the other Laser didn’t make the start on time but joined the race half way through. The Jet 14 had a good start and was neck and neck with the Thistles, however the larger Thistles soon pulled ahead. The two Thistles, the Tanzer and the Jet 14 went to the left or eastern side of the course where according to Walter there is more wind. The commodore bucked the trend and went to the right possibly in anticipation of the wind clocking around to the west, which it did do during the course of the two and a half races. The Sheehan/McLaughlin/Prather Thistle rounded first followed by the Backus/Kemper/Knoles Thistle and the Jet 14 rounding third, the Rasmussens fourth and the Commodore fifth. At the leeward mark it was Sheehan, Backus, Norton, Rasmussen and Saunders (who had to do a 360). Backus took it to Sheehan on the next windward leg and held them off until the finish winning by 20 seconds uncorrected time. Norton crossed the line third, Rasmussens crossed fourth and the Jet 14 crossed fifth. However after all the nautical data was crunched it was Eric and Joleen (who had apparently been moving very fast in the abstract world of corrected time) who took first place in corrected time, Backus second, Sheehan third, Norton fourth and Saunders fifth.

Race two began in approximately 6.2 knots of wind and six boats started. Again most boats went to the east side of the course, but the commodore took the road less traveled and went to the west side and well let’s just say the majority ruled. The Sheehan Thistle rounded first and stayed out in front all the way to cross the line first, the Backus Thistle crossed second at eighteen seconds back, John Fragakis crossed third with the other John six seconds behind crossing fourth, Eric and Joleen fifth and Barry Saunders sixth. Once again it was Eric and Joleen who got the virtual gun at the virtual finish line to sweep the series with two virtual bullets. John Fragakis finished second in race two in corrected time, John Norton third, Sheehan and company fourth, Backus and company fifth and the Barry and Nick Jet 14 took sixth.

I couldn’t help notice some dark clouds rolling in from the southeast at the end of the second race. By the start of the third race the wind was picking up strength and was probably in the 12 mph range and gusting up to 15 mph or more. All hands on deck and everybody was hiking out on the first and only windward leg. After rounding the windward mark several boats courageously flew their kites. Half way down the windward leg the Backus Thistle was hit hard by a gust and they turned over and the boat went over turtle almost immediately and soon there after John did a back flip on his Laser. Eric and Joleen were the first to get to Alan’s boat to help out and J.J. was downloaded to their machine, wet and slightly shaken. John was given a lift back to his Laser and both RC boats went to Alan’s Thistle and after several attempts we were able to right his boat and tow it back in. Everyone retired to the parking lot to lick their wounds and enjoy some chili and refreshments after an shortened but adventurous day

Thistle Fleet News

THISTLE CREW U COMING IN THE SPRING

You’ve seen the beautiful Thistles sailing on Jordan Lake and Kerr Lake. You’ve heard the class is one of the most successful in the country with fleets all over the US, but you’re not sure how to get involved. THISTLE CREW U will be held in the spring before one of the Jordan events. It is a 3 hour instructional course for people who might be interested in crewing on a Thistle and attending local and regional regattas. Students will then be taken out for a day of racing on Jordan. Look for details at the boat show and in future Newsletters.

Junior Fleet News

Sign up NOW for OPTI instruction!

We expect to sell out our OPTI boat charters and instructional slots at the up coming boat show. This is your 10 day advance notice to sign your child up for a season of fun and sun at the lake.

Participation Committee

Club Members:

The sign-up process for Race Committee work has been going beautifully since we first posted the spreadsheet on the web December 1. At this point, we have 63% of the remaining slots for the year already filled. The club requirements are to work on Race Committee two days per year. This means either two Jordan Series events or one Kerr Series or Governor's Cup weekend.

As previously planned, the time is nearing to enter an assignment phase of the process. The way this works is that, if by March 1, you have not yet signed yourself (and participating family members) up, you will be assigned a weekend by the Participation Committee.

Once the assignment process has taken place, you can find your assigned weekend(s) by looking for your name on the spreadsheet. If you find that you will be unable to serve on Race Committee that weekend, it will be your responsibility to trade with another member for another date(s) prior to the weekend that you have been assigned. You and your switching partner will need to contact the PRO for the weekends involved. You will also need to let Alan Krauss know of the switch, so that the spreadsheet can be corrected.

At this time the weekends in most need of volunteers are the Governor's Cup weekend (June 19-20) and the September Kerr weekend (September 18-19). Now is the time to check your calendars and designate which weekend you can volunteer for. Again, the web address for the spreadsheet is: http://www.carolinasailingclub.org/racecommittee/

Michael Rees

Participation Committee Chairman

Miscellaneous News

Boat Storage, Kerr Lake Series

Carolina Sailing Club Members can store their boats at Acorn Pointe Storage for the Kerr Series for $150. 5 minutes from Henderson Point, and where CSC keeps the RC boats. That's $25/mth storage. Contact Brenda Lugar, Acorn Point Storage, 877-312-6823.

Tanzer for Sale

The boat is in good condition and in no need, so far as I can tell, of any work before it can be sailed. We have, I think, 2 sets of sails that I got when I bought the boat, but one set was newer and that is what I used. We have a spinnaker, but I never really learned to use it, and I think one or two blocks on the mast, needed for the spinnaker, need replacing. This was Ralph MacGregors boat, and I am blanking on the number--367, 397, or 327? The trailer is 'ok', but needs new lights and one fender, (a heavy mate stood on it at my last race and it came off on the highway somewhere.) Anyone who wants can look at it at my house. I washed it this fall and covered it with a tarp; it has been in an open shed garage under my house and out of the sun/weather the whole time I have owned it. Asking $1500.

If interested e-mail Mark Ash at mash@smithlaw.com

Basic Race Management Seminar

Carolina Sailing Club - Raleigh, NC

Saturday March 13, 2004

This seminar is sponsored by the US Sailing Race Management Committee, the Carolina Sailing Club and the Carolina Sailing Club Foundation. It is designed for people with some race committee experience who wish to become certified, or maintain certification as a US Sailing Certified Club Race Officer. It is also an excellent course for those who are interested in race management even if they do not wish to participate in the US Sailing race officer certification program. This seminar is the best way to find out how a race should be run. Race committee experience is helpful but not required.

The topics to be covered include race committee objectives, competition formats, sailing instructions, race committee jobs, race committee equipment, race day preparations, setting the course, starts, during the race, finishes, post-race responsibilities, and scoring.

The principal instructor for this seminar will be John Slater, from the Lake Norman Yacht Club. John is a US Sailing Certified Regional Race Officer and regularly serves as Principal Race Officer at major regattas. He was the PRO at the 2003 Flying Scot North American Championships. John will be assisted by Eric Rasmussen who is a US Sailing Certified Club Race Officer, US Sailing Judge-in-Training, Director of Race Operations for the Carolina Sailing Club and serves on race committee as little as possible.

At the seminar, you will need your own copy of the Racing Rules of Sailing -available at http://ussailing.org/rules. If you own a copy of the US Sailing Race Management Handbook, please bring it as well. All other materials, including a copy of Join the Race Committee Team, will be provided. Participants should also complete a set of race management study questions -available at http://ussailing.org/racemgt/Race_Officer_Prog/Documents/RMStudyQ7-basic.pdf. Bring the results with you to the seminar.

The Club Race Officer Certification Test will be given at the end of the seminar and is optional. However, to be certified under US Sailing’s race officer certification program, you must attend a complete basic seminar and pass the test. You will also need to have your own copy of the current US Sailing Race Management Handbook and meet the program’s other criteria. The Carolina Sailing Club Foundation will sponsor the testing fee for those who wish to participate in this program.

The fee for this seminar is $25.00 and includes a continental breakfast, morning and afternoon break refreshments, lunch, seminar materials, a copy of Join the Race Committee Team, instruction, and test administration. Location:

Meredith College – room to be announced. Directions are coming soon.

Schedule:

8:00 am Registration and continental breakfast

8:30 am Seminar begins

12:00 Lunch

4:45 pm Test

5:15 pm Test debriefing

5:30 pm Seminar concludes

Advance registration is required – registration closes March 1, 2004.

Seating is limited and will be filled on a first come-first served basis. To register, complete the attached form and return it along with a check for $25.00, made payable to Carolina Sailing Club, to:

Carolina Sailing Club

Basic Race Management Seminar

5712 Island Road

Hillsborough, NC 27278

For additional information, contact Eric Rasmussen at (919) 732-5410 or email ejrasmussen@mindspring.com.

Advance registration is required

The completed registration form and seminar fee must be received by the Carolina Sailing Club by March 1, 2004. Seating is limited.