The Course

[Robin Gray]

These questions prompted by the discussion here on "The start" and comments made in another place about poor rule observance at the first mark. 

My club is new, racing only DF65s at present and none of us has ever been racing at another club.  It would appear that the normal course used is not described in the MYA SSIs but from watching YouTube videos seems to be Start, beat to windward mark (1),  short reach to spreader mark (2), run to a gate (3S and 3P) below the start line,  back to 1 and 2, back to gate and then to finish (which is the same line as start).  Am I correct?  Is it normal for two laps and what would be the normal target time?

This is the same course as was used by full size boats for a long time, but for many years the windward leeward course has been Start to 1, 2 run to gate situated above the start line, back to 1, 2, and then either run to 3P and finish across the bow of the CV or run straight back to start/finish line.  If this was used it would give a longer first beat and separate the fleet a little more before the first mark and possibly reduce the poor rule observance mentioned above.  Just wondering about the rationale of using a start/finish line half way up the beat?

Still learning!

[John Bennett]

Two clubs I am in sail for 2 hours with about a 10 minute break in the middle for coffee.

We aim to get at least 8 races in so we can have 2 discards.  This means we aim for a race to be about 10 minutes.

We try to maximise the first beat to the windward mark to spread the fleet a bit by the time we get there.

We also like to have a reasonable long beat to the finish , otherwise it is just a race to the last mark and no chance to overtake on the final beat. This means the finish line is further windward than the start line.

One venue I sail has fixed marks, the other we throw some extra buoys in as required. You can't always make a "perfect" course but we try to make it fair.

[Trevor]

As John says. We have a spread of fixed bouys so we can choose a course according to the wind direction on the day. Also a couple of inshore marks to allow for weed spotting and clearance pit stops. We are surrounded by trees so some marks are occasionally in wind shadows and not used that day. Marblehead, IOM, J Class and DFs have fun here. 

[Stephen B]

When I joined Hunts, used to have a ring of bouys about270 deg and start line in the middle, depending on wind adjusting course was easy, but with the club growth, moved to either race of two triangles or triangle + sausage courses, with either a bottom mark or a bottom gate.

gets you used to racing this course at open meetings

[Gordon W Davies]

At many world or continental championships, and other international events, the start line is laid to windward of the gate (and sometimes to leeward to increase the length of the beat.

The finish line is set to leeward of the windward gate, or may be between two windward marks. This allows for a long first beat and two full beats. It also means that boats for the next beats can be launched to leeward of the course as soon as the last boats in the current heat are progressing up the beat.

[David Woodford]

Hi Robin,

Really interested in you RC Marker Bouy, have been considering one for our club for some time, looked at Bout Bouy but as we are only a small club it’s way to expensive, so self build was the way forward. Your New Version which is 3D printed looks really interesting, you’ve obviously spent a lot of time perfecting the project. I would be interested to know if it would be be possible to purchase a copy your CAD file, and what it would cost.

Thanks David

woodforddavid10@yahoo.com

07811410122

[Robin Gray]

Hi David - Happy to share both .stl files and FreeCAD files - email sent