GRSA Racing 101 Seminar –May 18th

GRSA Racing 101 Seminar –May 18th

As mentioned on a recent Race Committee email, we’re holding an introductory racing seminar designed to be a low pressure environment for folks that are new to sailboat racing, been out of it for a while and want a refresher or just have initial interest in racing.  The seminar will be held on May 18th at GRSA starting at 9:00 am and be broken into two parts:  a morning “classroom” session in the pavilion where we’ll go over the items below and then an afternoon session where we’ll be on the water so people can practice what they learned.

Please note that this is not an “Introductory to sailing class”.  The expectation is that you’re already proficient in basis sailing techniques and boat handling and want to learn more about racing.

9:00 AM Session classroom topics:

• Necessary equipment and safety
• Having your boat ready to race
• What is the Race Committee and what do they do?
• Race day- what happens and when
• Introduction to boat classes, who starts when and handicap racing
• Basis rules of racing and Right of Way
• Race courses that are used
• Starting sequence and signals
• Basic racing tactics and boat handling/positioning:
• • Before the start
  • Upwind legs
  • Downwind legs
  • Reaching legs
  • The finish
• Scoring system

12:00 Lunch

1:00 PM Session- on the water:

• We’ll have the committee boat in the water and we’ll set up a short upwind-downwind race course out in front of the club.  We’ll use this to run a series of short practice races so people can practice running through starts, an upwind mark rounding, a downwind mark rounding and a finish.  Races will likely be about 15-20 minutes long so we should get a lot of repetitions in.  In order to participate in this session, you’ll need to have your boat in the water ready to go so it’s probably best to launch your boat in the morning before class starts.

Cost:  The GRSA race committee is supporting the cost of this seminar to encourage people to come out and experience racing so there is no cost to the participant.  However, each seminar participant is expected to serve on a future regatta race committee as part of the full racing experience.  This will help you better learn racing by observing the different tactics and techniques employed before the start and throughout the race.

Signing up:  to get an accurate head count and to make sure we have enough materials please send an email to racecommittee@grsa.org.