DEADLINE ALERT!! CCV Awards Party - This Friday, November 8th.  For a reservation form look in your CCV Racing Guide or contact party coordinator and CCV Commodore Dave Bouchard at (757) 484-8388.  Take advantage of a $2.50 per person break by making your reservations TODAY, November 4th.  Get your ressies in, you dancing shoes out, and your party face on!

Yesterday 53 boats left Hampton Roads for Tortola.  And, they were racing, although they call it the West Marine Caribbean 1500 Rally.  It is for a Cup and they do havea starting line!  As cold as it was (in the 40s on the water), it is a wonder that some of the Frost Bite Series crews did not overpower their skippers and head for Tortola too.

HYC Frost Bite #2 - Abandoned after great racing conditions at the start deteriorated to too little wind for too much current.

2002 Fall Regatta - November 9 -  420s, Vanguard 15s, and Lasers - Participants are expected for the Carolinas, all parts of Virginia, and Maryland.  Joe Buczkowski is PRO.  For information go to the Hampton Yacht Club web site   www.hamptonyc.com   or call HYC at (757) 7220711.

Former CBYRA Region 4 vice president and current CBYRA Executive Secretary and Fishing Bay-ite John Dodge has been tearing up the race course on various go-fast machines.  Two  weekends ago he was on the A0 class winner Canvasback (Farr 50) and has been part of the team breaking in a new Swan 45, Capricieuse.   Capricieuse was set to race in Class A in this past weekend's IMS Mid Atlantic Regatta.  Also, racing in that class was Javelin (Farr 49) with local sail maker Ken Saylor serving as tactician.  A Hampton Roads area boat, Victoire (Beneteau 40.7) was a late entry in Class B.

More Growls from the GRRRS (GrassRoots Racing Readers Survey):  Those who had the strength of their convictions, the "smattering [who] picked Larry Ellison's Oracle team," are now feeling pretty good; they are the ones who are as puffed up as the Pillsbury Doughboy@, aka "DC", they might say. As of Friday, Oracle had moved into the top half (4th) of the 8 contenders.  So, now that the America's Cup challengers field has been downsized, where do you stand?  Hit you "reply" button to send along your GRRRS input.

The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show wraps up today.  Wish we all were there!!

For your 2003 campaign schedule:  Block Island Race Week is scheduled for June 22-27, 2003.

Construction has officially begun on the re-creation of the Schooner Virginia.  The original Virginia was a Virginia Pilots' station vessel at the Virginia Capes from 1919-1926.  There is a racing connection.  This Virginia is scheduled to be complete February of 2004.  Just in time for a good shakedown before the October 2004 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.  The Schooner Virginia shipyard is beside Norfolk's Harbor (baseball) Park and is open to the public on a regular basis.

One of the local "landmarks" in the middle of Hampton Roads harbor is the Navy ammo barge or ammo crib.  Yesterday while struggling against the current the Frost Bite fleet had ample time to notice a number of Army landing craft there.  Remember, it's a good idea to give that place as well as the military piers a wide berth, especially these days.

IMPORTANT!  2003 SCHEDULING IS UPON US! CBYRA Region 4 (Southern Chesapeake Bay) Scheduler Martin Holland is cranking up the scheduling process for the coming season.  Yacht Clubs, sailing clubs, and event organizers should begin right now to prepare schedules, so that when Martin sets the scheduling meeting (probably mid-November) the attending delegates are ready to discuss date desires for events.  The date is one of the single most important factors in the success of every regatta.  " 'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'to talk of many things...' " and he meant to include schedules!

Here is a scheduling note for bluewater racers: The 2003 Hemingway Ocean Race start date has been announced by the Storm Trysail Club as May 9, 2003.  The race course brings the fleet from Ft. Lauderdale, rounds Cape Hatteras and finishes in the Chesapeake Bay  at Baltimore Light.

MURPHY'S LAW:  My cat friend uses his whiskers to measure how tight a space he can fit through - if the whiskers don't fit, he doesn't go there. Seems some of the fleet's whisker poles may not be legal. Here's the word:  Refer to the 2002 PHRF of the Chesapeake handbook, 16.A, page 39, which says the maximum length of a whisker pole shall be no greater than "J".  And, it says that if you have an adjustable whisker pole, a red color must show if it is extended beyond its legal length (another red color which may result is your competitors' protests flags).  "J" is the distance perpendicular from the fore side of the mast line to the point of intersection of the forestay with the deck (see "Definitions" page 47). So, non-spin racers, regarding your whisker pole: measure it, mark it, and sail legal.  And, to my cat friends, don't go anywhere with bent whiskers! Living to race, racing to live.  /s/ Murphy the Racing Beagle

To subscribe directly, hit your "reply" button, give your name and say "Sign me up!" SBRNYCU is free.
You may reprint or forward all or any part of this publication, but please give credit to:
                SOUTHERN BAY RACING NEWS YOU CAN USE, Lin McCarthy, Editor

For additional information contact:  Lin McCarthy, (757) 850-4225
SOUTHERN BAY RACING NEWS YOU CAN USE #127
SBRNYCU is an independent weekly publication of southern Chesapeake Bay racing happenings.