Welcome to the 2014 FBYC Offshore Season! With the Spring Equinox (March 20^th) just around the corner and Opening Day in a month, it’s high time we sent out information highlighting important items of note. First, I wanted to introduce your 2014 Offshore Leaders and their respective responsibilities.

Bob Fleck (Offshore Div. Lt. Cmdr.): Bob is responsible specifying how scores should be collected, checking accuracy of scores, and uploading those scores for all to view on the FBYC website.

Bonnie Black (Offshore Div. Race Chair): Responsible for staffing PROs and Race Committees for our offshore club events.

Gregory Watt (Spinnaker Fleet Captain): Acts as a representative and advocate of the spinnaker fleet. Acts as spinnaker fleet safety officer. Generates excitement about racing and getting people out on the course.

Michael Dale (Non-Spinnaker Fleet Captain): Acts as a representative and advocate of the non-spinnaker fleet. Acts as non-spinnaker fleet safety officer. Generates excitement about racing and getting people out on the course.

Secondly, I wanted to stress the importance of renewing your PHRF certificate for the 2014 season. This process is SO easy this year because now there is an online form that you can fill out. Find it here: http://www.phrfchesbay.org/bin/application.php

Thirdly, say goodbye to the equipment categories of old. This year PHRF of the Chesapeake has adopted new requirements and FBYC has followed suit. Our club races fall into two categories. PHRF Ches Bay (Former 4P) or US Nearshore (Former 5P/6P). We will use Nearshore for daily club races and Ches Bay for our long distance series. Check out http://www.phrfchesbay.org/bin/main.php for a requirements spreadsheet and corresponding compliance certificate. You will see these changes represented in the 2014 Sailing Events Book.

Fourthly, scoring – everyone’s favorite topic in 2013 is back for its 2014 run. As you know, for series race scores, we have adopted the High Point Percentage Scoring System. For 2014, we have added a participation incentive as follows, “Each boat that competes in the series and attains 100% participation will receive an additional 3 points added to the sum of her race scores.” This incentive is added BEFORE the percentage is calculated – so it doesn’t overinflate scores but helps award boats that have perfect attendance. If you would like a detailed explanation of High Point scoring, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will happily explain how and why it works.

Fifthly, for your convenience, we are opening up registration further in advance for our club races. This allows you to register for many events at once and get these dates nailed down for your crew. Currently, registration is open for Spring, Long Distance, and Fall Series. Early registration is preferred and encouraged. And one final note: Please register every race day that is part of a series and not just the first race day. This helps the Race Committee and Social Chair plan accordingly.

And finally, once again we will hold a non-mandatory meeting after the Opening Day Distance Race for skippers and crew. We did this last year and it helped greatly to understand what people want to get out of the offshore racing program. Again, this is NOT a mandatory skippers meeting, it is simply a forum to express thoughts and ideas for what you would like to see for the year. Please come share your thoughts and suggestions!

Spring cannot come fast enough! Please forward this communication to your crew or anyone else you think did not receive it. All feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Paul Wash

804.399.2568

paul.wash@webnext.net