There’s currently some not-really-racing taking place on Thursday evenings (what’s being called “Sail Racing Training”). No official club affiliation, no official SI’s, and no official scoring, although elapsed times are recorded and posted, and corrected times are usually produced eventually (for those who like that sort of thing).
There’s no registration or fees. Just come out and have some fun, sail safe, and don’t bump into anything or anyone. Saying “Hi” to the committee boat and letting them know you’re there will probably increase your chance of having your presence counted and your finish time logged.
The guidelines have changed slightly from the first week to the next, but here are the current ones for the July 2nd Thursday.
It turns out that one of the unanticipated (although I suppose not entirely surprising) side effects of using a giant inflatable unicorn for the start pin/leeward mark is that every passing powerboater thinks its a free finders-keepers pool toy. So we had to wave off a few of them with horns and hand signals, and we had several go straight through the start/finish line. But unicorn!
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It isn’t really racing. But here are some times, included corrected times, so the participants can see how their training sessions are going.
Hey Simon Is there an email I can Send Deviant’s New PHRF Cert too? Finally got it back from BC Sailing. Good News is were stuck with 117 
No need to email it to VARC … the usual process is your rating gets communicated directly to the club hosting the event as part of your registration.
Of course if there’s no official registration this doesn’t really work, but if you’re out for any further unofficial Thursday sailing we’ll make proper note of the new ownership and new-old rating!
Perfect sailing breeze and some very close corrected times in this week’s not-really-racing sail training.
Just a quick heads-up, with 75 percent of the participating fleet out cruising and/or doing other vacation-type things over the next two or three weeks, Thursdays in the Bay will be taking a bit of a break.
Anyone who turns up is welcome to do their own Rabbit Start and have fun, but there’ll be no committee boat or marks on Aug 6 (unless the participants organize that themselves).
EDIT: I should correct that to say I don’t think there is any organized race training this week (Aug 6), although according to the Thursday’s in the Bay Facebook page (you can search it in Facebook) there may be a big 190 rated ketch wanting to play that hasn’t raced in 20 years. So perhaps it’s the time for the newbs and rusties to head out and have some low-pressure fun?
Check the FB page for details!
There are only a few more weeks of evening light left, so with everyone back from cruising holidays we’re restarting the “Thursdays in the Bay” sailing from now until likely around late September (so the next race is Thursday August 27).
The official noticeboard for announcements and sailing information is the “Thursday’s in the Bay” facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Thursdays-in-the-Bay-Race-Training-102725051500295), but it’s 99 percent likely in any given week that we’ll simply use the same Sailing Guidelines as posted at the top of this thread – monitor channel 68 and/or listen for hails from the committee boat to stay on top of any last minute changes.
A reminder to participating skippers and crews that you are individually responsible for ensuring your crew is kept small and within your government-recommended social bubble (it’s not like there’s any prizes or overall results anyway, so there’s no reason not to err on the side of caution – several of the regular boats sail short-handed).
Have fun and we’ll perhaps see you out there!
It was a beautiful late-summer evening out there this week, with a nice 6-ish knot breeze that held on long enough to finish almost all the boats, but not quite long enough for a second race. In its first appearance in the series, Excalibur took the bullet with a 40-second margin.
There’s another “Thursdays in the Bay” this week (Sept 3), with Silik and crew running committee. No call quite yet on when it’ll end – that’ll depend on the weather, the available evening light, and the interest level. See some of you out there!
Stacks of current this week, and diminishing light winds. Aboard Krikkit we cacked up the start and got squeezed out at committee, then hit the mark on the second windward rounding, so we were pretty dizzy doing circles by the end of it. Jasmina made no such mistakes, and took a well-deserved win.
Thursday sailing is going on for at least one more week yet, with the crew of Excalibur volunteering to do committee work this week (Sept 10). The weather is supposed to be plenty warm, and the sun won’t set until 7:35 pm. So we’ll perhaps see you out there!
Lovely weather this week, although the wind was veering all over the place, making for legs that started out downwind and ended upwind. Krikkit and Jasmina duked it out hammer and tong, while Silik took advantage, sailed a great race, and came up roses.
It’s a wrap! With the evenings drawing in, Thursdays in the Bay has wrapped up for the season. So there’s no race training this week (Sept 17).
Thanks to all the participants, and especially to those who volunteered as race committee.