BAMA Racetrack Open
Dear SSS gang, Please feel free to pass this to your members...
The Bay Area Multihull Association is pleased to announce the BAMA Racetrack, a scenic 10-nm central Bay course open to all Bay area boats. Do it any time you want, as many times as you want. Just turn on your GPS receiver, choose any buoy but Alcatraz to start/finish, and take lap--or several laps. Upload your GPX file to BAMA, you will be scored, and you can replay your race against others (or yourself, if you do it more than once) in GPS Action Replay. The Racetrack is open from this weekend through Oct 30, and only your best lap will count for the season barn door and corrected honors.
If you started at the leeward pin, in typical southwesterlies the course would be a beat, a close reach, a beat, a run, and a beam reach (YRA8-p, Alcatraz-s, Big Harding-p, Blackaller-p, Blossom Rock-p, YRA8-p). We are looking forward to the fast cats--Shadow, Tuki, Adrenaline, and Beowulf--establishing and then eating away at the course record.
The goal of the Racetrack is two-fold:
First, we want to encourage people who haven't raced or do so rarely to give racing a try. There is no start-line crush of boats to worry about and you don't need to be a rules maven, so you can focus on boat handling, sail trim and mark rounding. If you blow a tack or a spinnaker drop, just sail to the closest mark and 'restart;' there are no consequences. And everyone enjoys sailing past the islands, grazing the Gate and along the City Front. If you want a mellow ride, do it in the morning or mid-day. After building confidence, try an afternoon lap in more breeze.
Second, we want to give experienced racers an exciting course to hone their skills and train crew. There will be singlehanded, doublehanded, and crewed 'divisions.' Origami sailed it last weekend: With its short legs and several sail changes its a perfect crew workout, and it was a blast to sail. The real challenge will be to choose the winds and currents that maximize the speed for your vessel, and that will take some thought and planning.
So, we think the Racetrack will have something for everyone. On top of that, there will be no entry fee in 2010. To download the Notice of Race/Sailing Instructions/Race chart, just go to: http://www.sfbama.org/racetrack
Fair winds,
R o s s
Ross Stein
BAMA Race Chair
Racetrack Pit Crew: Commodore Richard Keller, Urs Rothacher, & Thom Davis
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