10 Sep SAILING NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2021
COVID Update
Firstly, I hope this newsletter finds you and your family well.
We are still in lockdown, and without zero cases locally, the restrictions will likely not be eased until we reach the 70% double vaccination target. It has become clear that vaccination will be our passport to less restrictions. Just as visiting the club will only be available to those fully vaccinated, I expect all sailing crew will be required to be fully vaccinated.
At this stage, it is not clear when community sport (which include racing) will resume. However, for the LGA’s that come out of lockdown tonight, community sport has not resumed. I think this provides us with a clear signal that the easing of restrictions will be incremental, and community sport will not immediately resume after we reach the 70% vaccination target.
So what does this mean for the resumption of racing and the start of the 2021-22 season? I think it is clear now that we will not be starting the new season in the near future. If we come out of lockdown in the 2nd half of October, we may start racing sometime in November. I expect we will need to restructure the season, when we clearly understand when we can resume racing.
We will refund race fees on a pro-rata basis depending on the number of races we lose due to the Health Order restrictions. These refunds will be processed when we know when we can resume racing.
Australian Sailing continues to do an excellent job in keeping us informed about the changing Covid-19 restrictions.
Here is a link to the updated Australian Sailing COVID-19 Information page, which also provides links to the various government websites as well – https://www.sailingresources.org.au/covid-19/nsw/
I will endeavour to keep all members informed as the situation changes.
2021/22 Season update
Given it’s still unclear when we will get back to racing, we have relaxed the timetable from this point forward a little.
- The Sailing Committee has determined the preliminary Divisional allocation, and the TCF and preliminary divisional allocation of all boats were advised to all boat owners on Wednesday 8 September.
- A boat may request a change of TCF based on a change from Spinnaker to non-Spinnaker or vice versa by Friday, 17 September. The Sailing Committee will ask the handicapper to review the TCF. Taking into consideration the information provided by the handicapper and the principles above, the Sailing Committee will advise the boat owner of the results of the review by Wednesday, 29 September. The decision of the Sailing Committee will be final.
- If a boat owner feels that they have allocated to the wrong division, then they can appeal in writing to the Sailing Committee by Friday, 17 September with reasons why the divisional allocation should be changed. The Sailing Committee will review the appeal, taking into consideration the information provided by the boat owner, the handicapper, and the principles above. The decision of the Sailing Committee will be final and advised to the boat owner by Wednesday, 29 September.
- The Sailing Committee will advise all boat owners by Friday, 1 October all boats starting TCF and Divisional allocation.
- All boats nominating after 8 September will be allocated to a Division based on their TCF, and this allocation will be final.
Cat 7 Audits that expired on 30/6 have been extended to 30/9 and these will need to be extended further. We will provide more detail on this when we have a clear date to re-commence racing.
I would like to thank the Handicap committee headed by Phil Blanch, Ross Ahrens and the Sailing Committee for their diligent work preparing the TCF’s and Divisional Allocations this year. These people volunteer their time year on year so we can have fair and competitive sailing at LMYC. The process that has been developed by Phil, Ross and previous handicappers is exhaustive and fact based. The close results in all Divisions last year is clear evidence that the process that we have in place works.
There are several principles the Sailing Committee uses to determine the divisional split –
- A boat’s TCF is the primary determinant for divisional allocation.
- The handicappers have a significant amount of data to determine the TCF of every boat, and they do this independently from the Sailing Committee.
- It is preferable to have boats of similar potential speed sailing together.
- It is preferable to have a reasonable TCF gap between the lowest-ranked boat of a division and the highest-ranked boat of the division below.
- It is preferable to have Divisions of approximately the same number.
As in previous years we have split the Divisions in accordance with these principles and have decided the TCF range for each Division as follows –
Division 3 – Boats with a TCF below 0.800
Division 2 – Boats with a TCF from 0.800 to 0.899
Division 1 – Boat with a TCF above 0.900
The Sailing Committee recently asked the Course Committee to check the length of the Division 1 and Division 2 courses and they advised as follow –
- Pulbah – 4 courses are the same and the other Division 1 courses are approximately 1 nautical miles longer
- Bay Course – Division 2 Courses are approximately 11 nautical miles and the Division 1 Courses are approximately 1-2 nautical miles longer
- Windward Leewards – Courses are set on an approximate time of 40 – 50 minutes for the first boat
- RKR – Division 1 courses are approximately 1 – 2 nautical miles longer but the common courses are shorter than the Bay courses.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
I would like to make special mention of our sponsors for the upcoming season. These people support sailing, and if you can support them as well, that would be appreciated.
- Marmong Point Marina (Wednesday Series/Corporate Sponsor)
- Buy’a’Boat (Bay Series)
- Crusoe’s on the Lake (Pursuit Series)
- Stephen Pearson Electrical (Twilight Series)
- Hillier’s Advisors (She Sails Series)
- Fever Tree (She Sails Series)
- Lake Macquarie Moorings (Winter Series)
- JR Marine (RKR Series)
- Whitworths (RKR Series)
- Newcastle Skin Check (Pulbah Series)
- Coastal Shipwright Services (Combined Windward Leeward Series)
- Gerry Wubbel’s Automatics (Club Supporter)
- Bella Group Services (Club Supporter)
- Adam’s Family Meats (Club Supporter)
- Sticky Digital (Club Supporter)
- Cutcher & Neale (Club Supporter)
All the best and please stay safe,
Steven Ford
Rear Commodore LMYC
E: rearcommodore@lmyc.com.au