PISCATAQUA SAILING ASSOCIATION

Evening Sailing Instructions

2011 PHRF TUESDAY EVENING SERIES

Rules: Racing will be governed by The Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012 (RRS), the prescriptions of US SAILING, this Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, and the rules of applicable Class Associations (except as altered by this Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions).

Entries: PSA PHRF Tuesday Evening Series is open to current members of the Piscataqua Sailing Association (PSA). A current member is defined as one who has registered a yacht with the PHRF fleet  and whose yacht has been assigned a PHRF fleet with all applicable PSA fees paid. A PHRF yacht will not be scored until fees are paid. A yacht may compete only in the PHRF Racing or Cruising fleet assigned and race only on Tuesday. Current PHRF Certificates are required for those yachts racing in PHRF fleets and need to be on file with PSA for the yacht to be scored. J24 boats are not allowed to race in this series.

Insurance: All PHRF racing or cruising yachts must be properly insured. 

Changes to this Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions: Any change to this Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions will be made either by email to the Skipper of each registered yacht by Friday the week prior, or through hails made on VHF Channel 68 prior to the first Warning Sound the day of the race.

Fleet, Class & Class Flags: A “class flag” per RRS 26 shall recognize each division or class start.

Colored flags and class association flags shall recognize each division or class start and shall be displayed from the backstay while racing.

Racing Fleet; Racing Class - Yachts racing in Racing Class (spinnakers permissible). Class flag is "F" (Red Diamond on White). Yachts will be scored on PHRF Racing Rating.

Class flag is "D" (Blue Line on Yellow) Yachts in this class will be scored on PHRF Cruising Ratings.

The decision as to what class a yacht shall race under rests solely with the Fleet captains and Race Chair of PSA.  

Check in Before Start. Yachts are required to check in by sailing past Race Committee prior to their warning signal. Boats that withdraw from a race or decide not to start after coming into the racing area, must so advise Race Committee as soon as reasonably possible. Sail numbers shall determine a yacht’s identification.

Once the Race Committee Boat is on station at the starting line, a yacht is required to check by leaving the stern of the Race Committee Boat to starboard.

Yachts that withdraw from a race or decide not to start, SHALL advise Race Committee as soon as reasonably possible on VHF Channel 68.

Sail numbers are required and shall determine a yacht’s identification.  The sail numbers must match on all sails.

The Start.

The first start will be for Cruising Fleet and the second for Racing Fleet.  At the Race committee’s discretion, there may be more than one race each evening for a given fleet.

Races will be started using RRS 26

Practice race: Tuesday May 17, 2011;  Firstsignal for the first race of the Series will be 18:00.

First race: Tuesday May 24, 2011;  First signal for the first race of the Series will be 18:00.

Starting Tuesday September 6, 2011; First signal for the first race of the Series will be 17:30.  

Last Race: September 13, 2011.

RRS 26 STARTING RACES:

Races shall be started by using the following signals. Times shall be taken from the visual signals; the absence of a sound signal shall be disregarded.

The starting line will be between the orange post on the Race Committee Boat on the starboard end of the line and the nearest mark on the port end of the line.

Yachts whose preparatory signal has not been made shall remain well clear of the starting area and of all yachts whose preparatory signal has been made.

The Race Committee may deploy a small orange inflatable buoy at a distance of eight to ten feet from the transom of the committee boat, the purpose of which will be to keep starting yachts well clear of the Committee Boat. Such a buoy and its painter, if deployed, will be deemed to be an extension of the Race Committee Boat. 

A yacht starting later than 10 minutes after her starting signal will be scored Did Not Start. This changes RRS 4.1.

Courses utilizing inflatable marks are shown in Illustration A. Each course is assigned an identifying numeral and all roundings are to be left to port as shown in each diagram.

The Course.
Courses using inflatable marks and government aids to navigation may be used. These courses will be displayed on the Race Committee signal boat with letters identifying marks to be passed in the order of their passing. Either a red or green signal will be displayed after the letters indicating a port or starboard rounding.

The Start/Finish Lines are opened and can be sailed through, example: sailing from the windward or reaching mark to the leeward mark, a boat can sail through start/finish line and does not have to go outside around the RC boat or the Pin.  Courses shall be sailed once around if there is no numeral following the course designation.  Courses to be sailed twice, or even three times around, will be signaled as such with the appropriate numeral following the course designation. Government aids to navigation shall be identified as follows:

“K”  R "2KR" Fl R 2.5s WHIS Kitts Rocks
“L”  G C "1" Little Harbor
“G”  G "1" Fl G 4s Gunboat Shoal
“F”  C "1A" Foss Ledges
“R”  RW "RH" Mo(A) WHIS Rye Harbor
“W”  R “2” F1 R 4s (North/North West of Whaleback Light)
“X”  Windward Inflatable
“Z”  Leeward Inflatable
“Y”  Wing (Reach) Mark Inflatable

Illustration A 

Recalls.

Individual and General Recalls will be handled in accordance with RRS 29.2 and RRS 29.3.  Race Committee will try to hail Individual premature starters.  The following shall not be grounds for redress: (a) failure of a boat to receive the recall broadcast (b) failure of the Race Committee to broadcast recall numbers (c) a boat’s position in the sequence of broadcast numbers  

Change of Course after the Start. A change of course after the start will be signaled on VHF channel 68 -this changes RRS 32, 33, 34 - before the leading yacht has begun the leg, although the new mark may not be in position. Any mark to be rounded may be relocated to maintain the original course configuration, after all the yachts on that leg have completed it.

Abandonment or Shorten Course. Race Committee may abandon the race or shorten course for any reason.

The Finish. The finish line will be between the orange post on the Race Committee signal boat and the nearby mark.  

Time Limit. If any yacht in her class has finished within two hours of her starting time and before 20:30 hours, the race will be counted for that entire class.  Yachts failing to finish within thirty minutes after the first yacht in their class or within the time limit, whichever is later, will be scored Did Not Finish.

Protests. Protests will be in accordance with RRS 61 except as follows:

Yachts intending to protest will, after finishing or retiring, notify Race Committee at the finishing line of the sail number of the protested yacht. A boat that has retired may notify Race Committee ashore if unable to do so on the water. Protest filing shall be as follows: Protests must be in writing and sent in the mail to:  PSA Protest Committee
PO Box 4427 Portsmouth, NH 03802  Or, preferably, emailed to with copy attached as PDF or TIFF file;Race.chair@SailPSA.org  All protests shall be Postmarked or Emailed on the day of, or the day immediately following the protest incident. All protests that do not meet the requirements of 13.2.1 and 13.2.2 will not be accepted by the Protest Committee. Upon receipt of a valid protest, the Protest Committee will contact the interested parties to schedule a protest hearing.  Typically the hearing will be held the following week after racing is finished.  S

Scoring. The Low Point Scoring System, RRS A2 & A4 will apply, except as modified herein. PHRF yachts will be scored using Time on Time, TOT, as prescribed in the New England PHRF guidelines. PHRF yachts may elect to race with their "Racing Rating" and fly spinnakers, etc. PHRF yachts must "declare" which rating they will sail under so they can be assigned the appropriate class. The declared rating will then stand for the entire series.  A race will only be started and scored for a class or division in which two (2) or more boats start.

Standings for each fleet/class will be calculated based on results from 60% + 1 of the total races sailed to date.  If more than 2 races are held on a single day, only the first two will be counted. Boats that do not qualify will be removed from the overall standing so as to have no effect on seasonal results.

Radio Communication and Emergency Conditions. The Race Committee will utilize Ch 68 VHF for communications with competing yachts for race information, change of course, etc. Failure to do so shall not be grounds for redress. Yachts shall monitor VHF Channel 68.

Safety. All commercial traffic in the channel should be considered “Restricted in Ability to Maneuver,” as defined in Rule 18 of The International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), and as such, have the right-of-way in all circumstances. Results. Results are to be posted on the PSA web site as soon as possible.

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Piscataqua Sailing Association

2011 J24 Class Thursday Evening Series

Organizing Authority: Piscataqua Sailing Association, Fleet 139 and the Kittery Point Yacht Club 

Click here to view the J24 sailing instructions.