Racing at Willamette Sailing Club

One of Willamette Sailing Club's primary missions is to support Corinthian amateur sailboat racing.  Although racing is by no means the sole mission and focus of WSC, we do have a very active core of sailboat racers of all skill levels (from Olympic caliber sailors to those just learning to sail and race at the same time).  WSC holds local racing on weeknights during the summer and Sundays in the Fall/Spring.  On any given race day you can expect from 20-50 boats on the water.  The club also sponsors a number of regattas both locally and at Yale Lake as well as racing clinics. 

Many of the classes of boats at WSC also have strong fleet organizations, providing yet another social opportunity at WSC.  Generally these fleet organizations provide an excellent opportunity to learn more about your boat from fellow WSC sailors.  The classes with strong local fleets include; Laser, Thistle, Vanguard 15, Tasar, DaySailer, and Lido 14.

WSC Motorboat Use Requirements: Everyone MUST have an Oregon Boater Education card and attend a training session to operate WSC rescue boats. This includes race committee members, sailing school instructors, and anyone helping out with events and youth activities. First, visit the Oregon Marine Board web site to take the online quize and obtain your card. Then, attend one of our mandatory motorboat operation and rescue classes, either 9 a.m. to noon or 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 29 (in conjunction with Commissioning Day). If you think your knowledge and experience is sufficient that you need not take this clinic, submit a letter stating your qualifications and experience to the fleet captain. If you need to schedule another date for motorboat training, likewise, contact the fleet captain.

Fleet Captain’s News for 2008

2008 Sailing Season Guide.
Here is a non-exhaustive guide to the 2008 sailing season. It does not include all the high school and college events, club meetings, fleet events, work parties or social events. For the complete calendar see http://willamettesailingclub.com/calendar/2008/

Winter Series, starting Sunday, February 18, all fleets start at 1 p.m. Racing every Sunday except Easter (March 23), through April 6.

Commissioning Day, Saturday, March 29, 11 a.m. No excuses, part one. Chase the raccoons out of your boat! Find your rudder! Join the fun at a communal boat cleaning day! We will have volunteers at the club with toolboxes, spare parts, old sails and foils. The fleet captains will round up their reluctant sailors and make them account for themselves. No excuses. Every boat must be spiffed up, tuned up, and ready to go for the season. (We will also be doing motorboat operation and rescue classes.)

Get Your Bottom Wet Day, Sunday, March 30, 11 a.m. No excuses, part two. Clinic and low pressure racing for newbie or rusty racers. Fleet captains will round up everyone to get out there two weeks before opening day and have some short, low pressure races, coaching, starting practice, chalk talks, demonstrations, newbie RC instructions, and motorboat checkout. Everyone who has any excuse for not racing will get their excuse dealt with. Experienced racers will be there to mentor. At 1 p.m., we will have scored club racing (Spring Series #6), but it will be low pressure and good for practice.

Opening Day, Sunday, April 13, Lasers at 1:00, fleets at 3:00. Anika Olsen, event chair. Not just the first races of Spring Series, but a celebration of Corinthian sport, family fun, food and drink. Make sure your fleet is there. We will have actual trophies for the top finishers in your fleet, but only if you actually have a fleet there! Don't miss this. Even if, Neptune forfend, there is no wind, we will have the grills hot and the drinks cold, so come down for the picnic.

Spring Series Continues, April 14 & 16, Lasers on Mondays, other fleets on Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. starts, through May 21.

WSC Open House, Saturday, May 10, noon to 4 p.m. We will be running notices and ads in several publications, inviting the public to our club for refreshments and free boat rides. Each fleet should send one or two boats to give people rides. This is one of the best opportunities of the year to show people how great our club is. Invite your friends and co-workers.

Summer Series I begins, Tuesday (because of Memorial Day), May 27 and Wednesday May 28, and continues Mondays (Lasers) and Wednesdays (fleets) through July 9.

WSC Rose Festival Regatta returns for 2008. A one day regatta on Sunday, June 1, for youth and adults, with racing downtown. To show off our sport and our club to the Rose Festival crowds, we will race just south of the Hawthorne Bridge, and have an information booth at the 5-flags circle in front of the River Place Hotel. The regatta will include round robin racing for high school sailors in the WSC Club 420’s, and will be open to any other classes, including Opti’s, Lasers, Lidos, Thistles, Snipes, Tasars and V-15’s. (Adults are welcome this year because we don’t conflict with the VLSC Annual Regatta, one week later.)

Portland Area Team Race Champs, Friday and Saturday, June 13 & 14. The WSC team clobbered the competition last year racing Cal 20’s. This year we will invite Portland area clubs and fleets to WSC for the 2008 regatta. We will use our Club 420’s. Friday start, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. (Sunday is Father’s day.) RSVP to Stephanie Winchester, regatta chair.

Vancouver Lake Youth Regatta, Saturday and Sunday, June 21 & 22. Our annual Northwest Youth Racing Circuit regatta, sailed at VLSC.

Summer Series II begins, Monday, July 7, and Wednesday, July 9, and continues Mondays (Lasers) and Wednesdays (fleets) through August 27.

Al Morris Regatta, Saturday and Sunday, August 9 & 10. Our big annual regatta at Yale Lake. See the NOR. Michael Rees, regatta chair.

Astoria to Portland Cruise, Friday, August 22 – Monday August 25. Sail with the wind and tide from Astoria to Portland on the Columbia. Put in at John Day County Park, camp at Cathlamet Marina (Friday night), Longview Yacht Club (Saturday night), Sand Island Marine Park (Sunday night), tour the Portland waterfront and return to WSC on Monday afternoon. This trip has been done by lots of Thistles, a Windrose 22, a V-15, and a West Wight Potter. You can put in or take out at any stop to do a shorter cruise. In 2008, the tides were not right for Labor Day Weekend, so we had to schedule it one week earlier. Contact Allison Blakemore, abmore1@aol.com, (503) 774-2455.

Fall Series, begins September 7, and continues Sundays, Lasers at 1 p.m., fleets at 3 p.m., through October 19.

Club Championship/Johns Landing Youth Regatta, Saturday, September 13. With both of these fun regattas happening at once, the club just comes alive. In 2008, we will continue this tradition started last year. The club champs will be sailed in the WSC Club 420s, round robin style.

Wild Turkey Regatta, Saturday, November 1. A potluck and/or novelty races, depending on the weather, with a special prize.

Annual Banquet, Saturday, November 8. Location to be announced. Not just racing awards, but an evening to celebrate everything WSC. Hosted by Tony Norris.

For the complete calendar see http://willamettesailingclub.com/calendar/2008/

Registration.
Registration for club racing is optional for WSC members. Just come down and race. Give your name and sail number to the race committee if it is your first time.

No Charge for Club Members.
There is no charge for WSC members to race. Members of other recognized sailing clubs may race one series for $25.

A & B Laser fleets.
Lasers can race in A & B fleets, to be divided up according to rules made by the Laser fleet. The WSC race committee will offer two separate starts so that those Laser sailors still working on their chops get a chance to start in clear air. The fleet division will probably start either spring series of summer 1, when participation is up. Contact the Laser fleet captain, George Yioulos, george@westcoastsailing.com, to work out the details.

Race Committee for Everyone.
To encourage participation of all WSC members in the activities of the club, I am assigning race committee duty to members who haven't been racing. I will assign race committee duty to anyone who does not specifically petition to be exempted from RC duty. These members will be added to the usual 4 person crews to make 5 person crews. No more than one of these non-racing race committee members will be assigned to each RC crew, and not all races will necessarily get a 5th member assigned.

Separate Start and Finish Lines for Multi-Fleet Races.
With the extra people helping with race committee, we should have plenty of people available to provide separate starting and finishing lines whenever more than one fleet is racing. There should be not be three or four fleets waiting around for the last fleet to finish before they get their start.

Race Committee Attendance.
The fleet captain will strictly enforce the race committee skipping penalties. Only a serious emergency will merit an exception. Work hour sanctions, scoring penalties, and the dunking stool will be employed ruthlessly.

Race Committee Notification.
Anyone who requests race committee reminders can sign up for email reminders or post cards. Otherwise, I will assume everyone reads Telltales and checks the web site. If you want email or post card reminders of your race committee assignment, let me know. These reminders will be sent as a courtesy. Failure to receive a reminder will not exempt you from RC duty.