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Sail in Stunning Northumberland

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(Article from June 2005)

New Racing Marks

The winter and early part of the season saw an exciting new development in club racing at KWSC with the revamp of the racing marks. You may have seen the layout of the new marks on the back of the Year Book but if not the picture is reproduced below (click one the thumbnail for an enlargement).

The marks have received some excellent feedback and have quickly become popular. However, just in case you have missed all the excitement Mike Scott provides some explanation below. The various types of course Mike refers to are shown after the explanation.

The twelve mark wheel

30º angle between marks as seen from the start line, so in theory the beat is at worst 15º off the wind.
Reaches can be either 60º or 45º from downwind
Lends itself to all the course shapes
Alternate colours of marks (orange for odd numbers, yellow for even numbers) means that in all courses apart from the Olympic, you stick to marks of the same colour – so should be reasonably easy to see where you are going.

Morning races:

Fewster Cup: The windward/leeward course with downwind finish line/gate is always used. If sailing more than one lap, boats go through the gate in a downwind direction and can then go round either the pin or the committee boat before starting the next lap. The target time for each race is 15 to 20 minutes. You have to fit THREE races in.

Junior / Ladies / Novice / None of the Above: The small triangle is always used. An extra mark is laid a few yards to leeward of the pin (or the committee boat if you set a starboard handed course), ideally so that they can round it and cross the line without tacking. The target time for each race is 15 to 20 minutes. You have to fit THREE races in.

Single-Handed / Double-Handed: Normally use either the simple trapezoid (without sausage) or the P course. For the P course, lay the extra mark just to leeward of the committee boat. The target time for each race is about 30 minutes. You have to fit TWO races in.

Afternoon races:

Stern Chase: Any of the large wheel courses will do. The note at the bottom of the starting line up print out will tell you the race duration from the first starting signal. When you are hovering on station at your chosen finish mark, display the Orange flag so that competitors know they are finishing.

Round the Lake: Set the course on the club house course board. It should always include G unless the wind is too light to get there. Also use P if possible. Finish between the club-house and mark 9.

Ramblers Series: Like a mini Round the Lake. Set the course on the club-house course board. One BIG lap using any marks EXCEPT G or P. Aim for the fastest boats to do at least an hour – can be more on the long summer days. Finish club-house – 9. Remember one patrol boat may have a lot of water to cover so you need to be extra vigilant. If starting the race from a RIB, it is free to become an extra patrol boat after the start if there are spare personnel to man it.

Other Series: Any of the large wheel courses, or include other marks if you want to be creative. Target race time is about an hour.

Shortening etc:

On the wheel courses, always consider finishing slower boats after one lap (if using the Olympic course make sure it is a complete lap including both triangle and sausage). Once you have finished one boat, every boat should normally be finished the next time it completes a lap. Under our current Sailing Instructions, you only need to use the S flag if the fastest boats will be sailing fewer than the published number of laps.

TYPES OF COURSE

Using the 'wheel' there are seven basic types of course, illustrated below, all of which can have port or starboard variants:

This is the windward/leeward course and uses the committee boat moored to the wheel centre mark as one end of the start/finish line - this course usually has only the port variant where mark 1 in the picture is rounded to Port every time..

A basic triangle - port or starboard variants.

A Basic Triangular course - port or starboard variants

A 'triangle/sausage'.

A trapezoid course.

A Trapezoid with outer loop.

The P course (use some imagination).

and finally the M course:

How the wheel (and other marks) can be used in club racing

Fewster Cup: 3 short windward leeward courses in the morning

Junior/Ladies/Novice/None of the Above: 3 small triangle courses in the morning

Single-Handed/Double-Handed: 2 races in the morning so can afford to be slightly longer than the above – simple trapezoid or ‘P’ could be good. The 2 races could be different courses.

Stern Chase – objective is plenty of mark roundings so can finish as close as possible to the target time – trapezoid with sausage or ‘M’ would work well

Seasonal series, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Easter Egg – lots of choice. When there are 2 races in the afternoon the first could be one of the big ‘wheel’ courses and the second could take in some of the further out marks, possibly finishing at the club house (but this would rule out average lap times)

Ramblers Series – intended to make as much use as possible of the outlying marks (with the exception of Plashetts and Gowanburn). Should be one big lap, finishing at the club house but starting on the water if possible.

Round the Lake – as with the Ramblers but including Plashetts and Gowanburn.

Mike Scott

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