HHC Appleby Regatta: Sunday, July 14th at 1000 hours

Appleby Race Sunday July 14, 2013 1000 hours (10 AM)
Appleby Race Committee Chair – Bill Banks

The following is an amendment to Hempstead Harbour Club’s 2013 Racing Circular for club races. The 2013 Appleby race has been designed as a tune up for the 2013 Around Long Island Race. Regatta Chair Jimmie Underwood created this 15-mile race to prepare crews for the ALIR.

A course has been chosen which will go west towards Manhasset Bay, and is designed to provide sailing on all quadrants of the compass ensuring maximum practice.

The time limit for the course is 5 hours after the actual start. Course Chart includes Cow Bay (Manhasset Bay) Racing Association PDF for course marks west of HHC Racing chart http://www.manhassetbayyc.org/files/CowBayChart.pdf

Start and finish will be from HHC race committee boat Sunset. Marks are as follows:

  1. Hempstead Harbour Mark E to Port. Cow Bay Association chart has this Bell as Mark F. Green Bell 23 off Prospect Point
  2. Cow Bay Racing Mark J to Port. Gong 1 E of Hart Island
  3. Cow Bay Racing Mark D to Port. Green Gas Buoy 29 off Hewlett Point
  4. Cow Bay Racing Mark J to Starboard. Gong 1 E of Hart Island
  5. Hempstead Harbour Mark E to Starboard. Cow Bay Association chart has this Gong as Mark F. Green Bell 23 off Prospect Point

Retricted area to HHC racers:
Per Cow Bay Chart, no boat shall pass between Mark T (Obstruction Buoy SW by W of Execution Rocks) and Execution Light; nor between Nun 44 NE of Execution Light and that light.

Regatta News

Here we go! Regatta season has started and we find ourselves enjoying friendly competitive sailing. Ten out of nineteen registered boats raced the first week of Wednesday Night Series. The first Champagne race enjoyed amazing weather and competitive results. The first five boats crossed the line within 40 seconds of each other along with our first virtual tie between Bottle Rocket and Speedway Boogie. Congratulations to all the Captains!

Champagne #1 was sailed on May 31 – Course S-Z-Y marks to starboard
Results:
1. Bottle Rocket & Speedway Boogie (tie!)
3. Moonshine
4. Sweet Caroline
5. Bag of Tricks
6. Susie B
7. Grey Goose
8. Navigator

IMPORTANT DATES:
June 8 & 9 @ 1200hrs: Meechum Memorial Series – City Island Overnight Pursuit
Friday, June 14 @ 1900hrs: Champagne #2
Friday, June 21 @ 1900hrs: Champagne #3

Next weekend (June 8 and 9) we will be sailing over to City Island for the first of two overnight trips. This year we will be returning to Stuyvesant Yacht Club. SYC experienced extensive damage to the facility, but their launch dock survived Sandy’s fury. I would like this year for us to support SYC by eating at their restaurant and enjoying the bar. Please email hhcregatta@gmail.com to confirm your interest.

-Jimmie Underwood

Laser Fleet Racing at HHC to Start on May 14th

Tuesday, May 14th marks the official start of Hempstead Harbour Club’s 2013 Laser series. Racing takes place on Tuesday evenings beginning May 14th through October 3rd with the first start no earlier than 6:30pm. Racing takes place in Hempstead Harbor south of Glen Cove Breakwater and is open to non-members. Guests are invited to launch from Hempstead Harbour Club.

Additional information, Sailing Instructions and other race documents are available at https://hempsteadharbourclub.com/racing/laser-fleet/.

For additional information, please contact Bill Banks or Anne Kochendorfer.

HHC Laser Fleet News

It’s always fun to welcome a new sailor to our one design fleet. I am happy to share with you that Glen Marck has purchased a Laser from a neighboring fleet. Glen, the owner and skipper of the J105 Bottle Rocket, has sailed at a high level in club races as well as in many YRA of LIS events. Glen is adding the Laser to many years of fun sailing on a Wind Surfer and will bring a new level of competition to our Tuesday night Laser series this summer. Glen also mentioned that one of his big boat crews is looking at various Lasers currently for sale. As the Hempstead Harbor fleet (open racing to all on Tuesday nights) approaches the mid teens in number of boats, I thought you might be interested in a YouTube video from a Laser’s on board camera recording Tuesday night racing at Bristol RI.

Fleet members are getting their wet suits and dry suits out for preseason practice during warm spells later this spring. The wet suitors usually wait till May 1 (50 degree water) while the dry suitors start earlier. When racing starts mid-May we will be racing multiple windward leeward courses with an average race taking 15 minutes. Some have asked “why so short?”. The fifteen minute race has a start, multiple up-wind tacks on two course legs, two mark roundings and multiple jibes down wind, with all the tactics and rule situations which evolve in a close race, and all this with up to 15 boats participating. One can see this as an optimal way to sharpen critical racing skills demanded of competitive sailing. And then you do it all again 6 to 8 times on one Tuesday evening!

– Bill Banks