Prep Flag Up!
Prep Flag Up!
Rani Cerny sanded the bottom paint of A L’Assaut in preparation for new bottom paint.
Posted Thursday, April 14, 2022 3:55 pm
Mary Marta l Round Bay Sailing Association
It’s late March as of this writing and Round Bay Sailing Association (RBSA) members and board are preparing for the upcoming sailboat racing season. The first event is the annual skippers meeting set for April 9 in-person and via Zoom.
With April approaching, skippers and crew are busy with their boats. Sails are being repaired, hulls are being waxed, and there is often a need for new bottom paint. For example, Rani Cerny has been sanding and bottom painting the family boat A L’Assaut, a Dufour 40. In addition to other annual maintenance, the Dufour will need teak varnishing once warmer weather sets in. Cerny, an RBSA member for five years, is the former owner of Airborne, a Catalina 27. Many years past, she raced one design on the Chesapeake Bay. She recalled that, like RBSA sailors, the 27 fleet was a friendly group.
RBSA board members are also getting ready for the season. The big news is that a different handicapping system will be used this season. Time on Time scoring (ToT) rather than Time on Distance scoring, will start with race one. ToT handicapping calculates a boat’s corrected time for a race by multiplying the total elapsed time around the course by the boat’s handicap (or time correction factor) and does not consider race distance. While the switch may prove challenging, the board agreed that the new system will be fairer to the entire fleet.
Among many key tasks, board members do maintenance checks on in-water race marks as well as replenishing the race kit. While a more mundane task, maintenance of the race kit is critical to the race committee (RC), because it contains everything needed to start and monitor the evening’s race; for example, flags, horns, race placards, start instructions and suggested courses. Skippers use the kit every week as they each take a turn serving as RC for their peers.
The first race of the RBSA season is April 20, with three class starts at 6:20pm, 6:25pm and 6:30pm. See you out on the water or at www.roundbaysailing.com.