WILSON HARBOR YACHT RACING ASSOCIATION
2024 THURSDAY EVENING RACING SAILING INSTRUCTIONS
RULES
Boats shall be governed by the rules as defined in the “The Racing Rules of Sailing‟ (RRS).
ENTRIES
Only current members of WHYRA are eligible to race. To join WHYRA, a completed entry form with fee may be submitted to a WHYRA committee member by mail or in person. The entry fee is not dependent on the number of races in which a boat competes.
To register for racing, each boat shall submit a current PHRF-Lake Ontario Handicap Certificate to the handicapper at the start of the season. Boats shall not be scored until such certificate is received. PHRF-LO handicaps will be used; local adjustments may be made as necessary.
Boats shall be assigned a class (for example: Spinnaker, Main & Jib I, Main & Jib II) prior to the beginning of the season based on their PHRF rating and their use of a spinnaker. Boats that wish to request a change of class must notify the handicapper or a member of the WHYRA committee a minimum of five (5) days prior to the start of the series that the change affects.
NOTICES TO COMPETITORS
Notices to competitors will be posted on the official notice board located at the WHYRA web site (www.whyra.net).
BOAT OWNERS ON THE RACE COMMITTEE
If permanent or volunteer race committee members are not available, owners of boats registered with WHYRA will be expected to serve as race committee. The assignment of registrants as race committee members will be determined by lot. The assigned race committee (R/C) members shall include the boat owner (or an experienced representative) and at least one accompanying crewmember. They will be responsible for carrying out race committee duties. The race committee’s boat will be considered to have competed in that race and scored per the SCORING section of these instructions.
SAFETY
It is recommended that all participants who are not below decks wear approved PFDs when starting.
Boats that retire from a race before finishing shall notify the R/C via hail or VHF channel 68 before leaving the course area, or if that is impossible, insure that the R/C is informed of retirement after it arrives ashore.
SIGNALS MADE ASHORE
Signals made ashore will be displayed at or near the TYC gas dock.
When a race has been postponed by a signal made ashore, a warning signal will be made not less than twenty minutes after the AP flag is lowered.
SCHEDULE OF RACES
The racing season will consist of three five-race series with one drop each. The racing schedule is posted on the WHYRA web site (www.whyra.net). The first start time (ST) for all regularly scheduled races is 7:00pm.
RACING AREA
The WHYRA race area shall be as per the diagram available on the WHYRA web site (www.whyra.net).
COURSES AND MARKS
The course letter and course length boards for all classes shall be displayed from the signal boat on the side facing the starting line. Refer to the map and the WHYRA RACING COURSES sheet on the WHYRA web site (www.whyra.net) to determine the course designations, courses, passing sides and rounding order. The starting/finishing mark is designated as “P” on the course map.
All marks shall be white, orange or green spars topped by an inverted bucket.
Note that the courses for the spinnaker fleet and the main & jib fleets may be different.
STARTING AND FINISHING
Two starts will be used. The first will be for all white sail boats. the second for all spinnaker boats. The class flag for the white sail fleet start will be a white flag. The class flag for the spinnaker fleet start will be a red flag. The preparatory flag for both starts will be a blue flag. There will be one minute between the white sail start signal and the warning signal for the spinnaker fleet. This modifies RRS 26.
WHYRA STARTING SEQUENCE
Example times are for a 7:00 pm first start time (ST)
| Nominal Time | Example Time | Signal | Flag and Sound | Minutes before start | |
| ST-5 min. | 6:55pm | WARNING | WHITE flag raised,
1 sound |
5 | |
| ST-4 min. | 6:56pm | PREPARATORY | BLUE flag raised,
1 sound |
4 | |
| ST-1 min. | 6:59pm | One minute | BLUE flag removed,
1 long sound |
1 | |
| ST | 7:00pm | White sail START | WHITE flag removed,
1 sound |
0 | |
| ST+1 min. | 7:01pm | WARNING | RED flag raised,
1 sound |
5 | |
| ST+2 min. | 7:02pm | PREPARATORY | BLUE flag raised,
1 sound |
4 | |
| ST+5 min. | 7:05pm | One minute | BLUE flag removed,
1 long sound |
1 | |
| ST+6 min. | 7:06pm | spinnaker START | RED flag removed,
1 sound |
0 | |
The starting and finishing lines shall be between the mast on the committee boat and the top center of the starting/finishing mark.
INDIVIDUAL RECALLS
The R/C shall attempt to hail the sail number and/or boat name of each boat that started prematurely, however, failure to do so or the timing or order of the hail shall not be grounds for redress. This modifies RRS 29.1.
ABANDONMENT
Abandoned races shall not be restarted, nor made up.
MISSING MARKS
In the event that a racing mark is missing:
If the R/C knows before the start of the race it shall attempt to notify boats of the new course to be raced verbally or by VHF radio (on channel 68). The new course may not be a standard course as indicated by the standard course signboards. It is incumbent on racers to verbally contact the R/C to verify the new course. Failure to do so shall not be grounds for redress.
If the R/C is not aware of a missing mark before the start, and it becomes apparent during the race that a mark is missing, the race shall be abandoned.
This modifies RRS 34.
TIME LIMIT
The first boat in each class must finish within two (2) hours of the start time for that class or the race is abandoned for that class.
The first boat in a class must round the first mark within one (1) hour of the start time for that class or the race is abandoned for that class.
The last boat in each class must finish within 1 hour of the first boat in each class to finish.
PENALTIES FOR BREAKING RULES OF RRS PART 2
The Two Turns Penalty specified in RRS 44.1 and 44.2 is modified to be one turn, including one tack and one gybe.
PROTESTS
Boats intending to protest shall inform the R/C of the sail numbers and/or boat names of the boats to be protested via hail or VHF channel 68 before leaving the course area, or if that is impossible, insure that the R/C is informed after it arrives ashore.
SCORING
The low-point scoring system of RRS Appendix A, including RRS A9, shall apply for each series. Each boat’s total score for a series shall be the sum of her best FOUR races for that series (this modifies RRS A2). The boat with the lowest series score wins the series. If fewer than 4 races are completed for that series, her score will be the sum of her scores in all completed races.
In the event that a competitor is assigned as race committee for a given race, the race committee’s boat will be scored as the average of their scores for completed races after drops are applied, minimum of 2 races. If the race is cancelled or abandoned r/c will not receive a score.
The season championship will be determined by the sum of the boat’s three series scores.
WHYRA reserves the right to award duplicate prizes for series ties rather than use the tie breaking procedures outlines in RRS A8.
SCORING CODES
DNC – did not compete – number of registered boats in the fleet +2
DNS – came to race area – did not start – number of boats that started race +1
DNF – number of boats starting race +1
OOD – R/C duties average of scores of completed races, minimum of 3 completed races.