Regatta called on account of current.

Our fourth regatta of the season was on October 1st, again at NYCC. The day was warm and humid and there was very little wind for the 22 boats on the line. The first two A division races were run and our skippers struggled to find ways of generating speed. After the rotation, the first B division race was run in even less wind. Just as the RC was about to abandon the race, a slight zephyr filled in and most crews managed to finish. In this race our B division skippers Jake and Matt Beauchamp (who was filling in for Erynn who was taking the SAT) finished mid-fleet with a 14th and 15th.



After a postponement awaiting a more stable breeze, the second B division race was started. Unfortunately, the breeze fell out just as the tide began to ebb. When most of the fleet was carried down current of the weather mark out toward the harbor, the RC had no choice but to abandon. The fleet was towed back to the dock and the regatta was officially ended. Since a minimum of six races (3A and 3B) are needed to score the regatta, the day was basically a non-event.

The scores are here.

Our individual finishes were:
Iggy 20, 21
Nick 22, 22
Jake 15
Matt 14

I will upload some video shortly. If anyone managed to take some stills, please send them to me.

One ugly situation raised its head in the light air - Rule 42 and kinetics. After the start sequence of race 1B was begun, a few teams found themselves upwind/down current of the line and needed to get back to the pre-start side of the line. Any action is permitted before boats are racing ("racing" starts at the preparatory signal - with the sound signal starting system that is at the 2 minute mark.) So between 3 minutes and 2 minutes the boats may paddle, rock, pump, fan the sails - any action that can propel them back to the start area. However, at the 2 minute mark only the natural action of the wind on the sails is permitted. A number of boats were protested by the RC for using kinetics and were disqualified after a hearing.

I'll make a video about Rule 42 in the near future. All of our team should know what is permitted and prohibited by the rule and how to "call" others on their disregard of Rule 42.