North Sea Open Regatta – January 25th 2017

From the left (in boats): Peter (TMS Laser One), Cryptic (Dolphin Moth), Rayz (Flying Shadow), Joris (Shields Class), Neil (Bandit IF), Lucy (Quest Melges-24), Beane (Quest Melges-24), Red (Bandit IF), Jackson (Bandit IF), and Luna (Shields Class).
On the dock: Joshua, Arwen, Rulette, Petra and Peachie.

This weeks North Sea Open Regatta saw a large fleet turn up with a great spectator turn out. We had 15 racers sailing across the North Sea as the small boat fleet was 14 strong and the big boat fleet 10 strong. We also spectators gathering again in large numbers along the shores of Eden Albatros and Lighthouse Isle in the Ziziphus region, as well as on the Poseidon Centre Spectator Pier in Eden Puffin and the committee boat dock in Breadnut. The sims themselves behaved well as we saw only 2 DNFs due to crashes in each race.

The small boat fleet, racing on the NS-CCW course, was comprised of a majority of four Bandit IFs. Three Shields Class, two TMS Flying Shadows, two Quest Melges-24s, a TMS Laser One, a Quest 2m, and a Dolphin Moth rounded out the remainder of the small boat fleet. The fleet saw a great start as everyone was across the start line onto the course as 47 seconds ticked off the race clock. Jackson, in his Bandit IF, got things started by crossing the start line at a perfect 00:00:00. Beane, in her Quest Melges-24, was next to cross the line, right on Jackson’s stern, at 00:00:01. I was right behind Beane, in my Dolphin Moth, crossing the start line at 00:00:02. Peter, in his TMS Laser One, was next to cross the start line at 00:00:06. ViV, in her TMS Flying Shadow, and Lucy, in her Quest Melges-24, were both next across the start line at 00:00:07. Neil, in his Bandit IF, was next to cross the start line at 00:00:10. Red, in her Bandit IF, was across the start line next at 00:00:25, followed by Luna, in her Shields Class, and Rulette, in her Bandit IF, both at 00:00:29. Moon, in his Shields Class, was next to cross the start line at 00:00:39, followed by Joris, in his Shields Class, at 00:00:41. Rayz, in his TMS Flying Shadow, and Joy, in her Quest 2M, were both across the start line next at 00:00:46. I quickly jumped out to front of the fleet, in my quicker Dolphin Moth, as Viv, in her TMS Flying Shadow, sped past several racers and settled in right behind me. Beane, in her Quest Melges-24, found herself just behind Viv. Rayz, in his TMS Flying Shadow, made his way quickly through the fleet from his late start to nip at Beane’s stern just ahead of Lucy, in her Quest Melges-24. Peter, in his slightly slower TMS Laser One, having fell off the front pack of the fleet, settled in the middle of the fleet. Joris paced the Shields Class pack, with Moon and Luna right behind. Joy, in her Quest 2M, settled in just ahead of the Bandit IF pack. Jackson, in his slower Bandit IF, fell slowly to the back of the fleet after his perfect start with Neil, in his Bandit IF, just behind. Rulette and Red, both in Bandit IFs, wound up crashing and recording DNFs. My pace at the front of the fleet held as I crossed the finish line first followed by Viv, who crossed second. Beane was across the finish line next, followed by Rayz, Lucy, Peter, Joris, Moon, Luna, Joy, Jackson, and Neil.

The big boat fleet, racing on the North Sea Copacabana course, was comprised of a split majority of three Trudeau 12 Metres and three Wildwind RC-44s. Two TMS One Design 65s, a Wildwind AC-45, and a TMS Ushuaia made up the remainder of the big boat fleet. The fleet again got off to a nice start as everyone was course side of the start line as 47 seconds ticked off the race clock. Peter, in his Trudeau 12 Metre, got things underway as he crossed the start line at 00:00:02. Lucy, in her Wildwind RC-44, was next to cross the start line at 00:00:06 followed by Beane, in her TMS One Design 65, at 00:00:07. I was next across the start line, in my TMS Ushuaia, at 00:00:09. Moon, in his Wildwind RC-44, was across the start line next at 00:00:15 followed by Rayz, in his TMS One Design 65, at 00:00:21. Luna, in her Trudeau 12 Metre, was across the start line next at 00:00:26 with ViV, in her Wildwind AC-45, crossing the line next at 00:00:32. Joy, in her Wildwind RC-44, was next to cross the start line at 00:00:42 with Isilme, in his Trudeau 12 Metre, right behind at 00:00:46. Beane, in her faster TMS One Design 65, quickly took the lead of the fleet with Lucy, in her Wildwind RC-44, falling in right behind her. Peter, in his Trudeau 12 Metre, settled into the middle of the fleet with Isilme, also in a Trudeau 12 Meter, falling in right behind him. I fell in at the rear of the fleet, in my much slower TMS Ushuaia. Moon, in his Wildwind RC-44, Joy, in her RC-44, and Rayz, in his TMS One Design, all unfortunately sailed the incorrect course and were disqualified. Viv, in her faster Wildind AC-45, had taken off to head the fleet but crashed and recorded a DNF. Luna, in her Trudeau 12 Metre, had settled in just ahead of my position in the fleet but crashed as she was heading to the green buoy south of Lighthouse Isle, in the Ziziphus region, right on the border crossing. Beane held her lead to the finish, crossing first and taking line honors with Lucy crossing just behind her, second. Peter crossed the finish line next, followed by Isilme and myself.

More pictures, courtesy of Joshua and Petra, after the results.

Race Director: Petra
Wind: SW (225°) 18kts

Note:
Did Not Finish (DNF) = number of finish +1
Did Not Start (DNS) = number of start +1

Today’s winner was Cryptic (Cryptic Resident), with Peter (PeterSailor Resident) second, and ViV (vivipezz Resident) in third place. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you to everyone who came to sail and spectate.

Race Note:
Rayz (Rayzza Rubble), Joy (JoyofRLC Acker), and Moon (moonglownight) were all unfortunately disqualified (DSQ) in the big boat race for sailing the incorrect course.

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Neil (eager2discover Resident) and Rayz (Rayzza Rubble) both finished tied with 16 points. Rule A8.1 of Guidance on Scoring under Appendix A to the Rules of Sailing is used to break this tie:

“If there is a series score tie between two or more boats, each boat’s race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the boat(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.“

Skipper	Best Finish	Next Best Finish
eager2discover Resident	5	11
Rayzza Rubble	6	10

With the race results rearranged in best to worst finish order, per A8.1, the tie breaks in Neil’s favor with having a fifth place finish over Rayz’s sixth place finish as his best.

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Joy (JoyofRLC Acker) and Joris (Joris Tolsen) both finished tied with 18 points. Rule A8.1 of Guidance on Scoring under Appendix A to the Rules of Sailing is used to break this tie:

“If there is a series score tie between two or more boats, each boat’s race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the boat(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.“

Skipper	Best Finish	Next Best Finish
JoyofRLC Acker	6	12
Joris Tolsen	7	11

With the race results rearranged in best to worst finish order, per A8.1, the tie breaks in Joy’s favor with having a sixth place finish over Joris’s seventh place finish as his best.

Photo courtesy of Joshua.

Photo courtesy of Joshua.

Photo courtesy of Joshua.

Photo courtesy of Petra.

Photo courtesy of Petra.