The
Nimrod Cup
September
2009
Sailing Instructions
1. Safety and Responsibility
1.1 Yacht racing can be dangerous. The attention of owners, skippers and crew is drawn to RRS Fundamental Rule 4: "A yacht is solely responsible for deciding whether or not to start or to continue racing". The safety of a yacht and her crew is the sole and inescapable responsibility of the owner or owner's representative who must do their best to ensure that the yacht is fully found, thoroughly seaworthy and manned by an experienced crew who are physically fit to face bad weather. They must be satisfied as to the soundness of the hull, spars, rigging, sails and all gear. They must ensure that the safety equipment is properly maintained and stowed and that the crew know where it is kept and how it is to be used.
1.2 Cardiff Bay Yacht Club accept no responsibility or liability for loss of life or injury to members or others, or for the loss of, or damage to, any vessel or property.
1.3 The owner and crew will be held jointly responsible for the conduct of the yacht's crew before, during and after a race. Misconduct may result in both owner and crew being excluded from future races and render a yacht liable to disqualification.
1.4 Yachts must hold a valid and current boat insurance which covers them for third party claims of up to £3,000,000 for the entire period of the series.
1.5 Crew members' attention is drawn to RRS 1.2
life-saving equipment . . . "Each competitor is individually responsible
for wearing personal buoyancy adequate for the conditions.".
2. Rules
2.1 The series will be organised by Cardiff Bay Yacht Club and governed by these sailing instructions, The Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), the prescriptions of the RYA, and the rules of the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap system, except as any of these are changed by these sailing instructions.
2.2 The series is designated Category A as described in the ISAF Advertising Code.
3. Eligibility
3.1 Yachts shall be self-righting, single hull vessels racing under
the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap system.
3.2 All yachts are required to display the sponsor’s stickers or flag as provided.
4. Radio Communication
4.1 Final course details and other information for competitors will be given by the race officer over VHF Radio. Normally channel 37 (M1) will be used. In the event of a problem with this the committee boat may hoist the signal ICF “R” with two sound signals, which will indicate that future communication will be on channel 72. If possible the race officer will also announce this over channel 37.
.
4.2 Yachts should refrain from communicating with the race officer or each other on the race channel between the warning signal and the start, except on matters of safety or unless contacted by the race officer.
5. Notices to Competitors and Changes in Sailing Instructions
Notices to
Competitors and Changes in Sailing Instructions will be displayed on the
Official Notice Board, which will be in the window by the main door of the CBYC
Clubhouse, and will be announced over the VHF before the warning signal of the
first race after they are made. ICF “L”
will not be displayed ashore.
6. Schedule of Races
For all races final details will be given over the VHF before the warning signal.
Times & Dates of Races & Course types
|
Date September |
Race |
(Approximate) |
Start |
Type |
|
6 |
1 |
|
|
Low Water Race |
|
12 |
2-3 |
|
|
2 Laid courses
outside |
|
13 |
4-5 |
|
|
Round the Cans
Races |
|
19 20 |
6 7 |
|
|
Low Water Race Race over Low
Water |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26 |
8 |
|
|
Round the Cans
Race |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laid courses will be windward/leeward, Olympic or similar
Races 1 and 6, the long
channel race, will be a round-the-cans of approximately 5 hours duration for
the mid-fleet.
7. Courses
The start & finish line will be between a committee boat flying an orange flag and an inflatable buoy.
The course to be used will be indicated by the appropriate IC Numeral Pennant flown from the committee boat.
Course 1 (Races 4 and
5)
A “Windward/Leeward” consisting of Windward (1) and Leeward (2) marks. Boats must pass through the Start/Finish Line on each leg from mark 2 to mark 1. The number of laps will be given over the radio before the start. All rounding will be to port.
Course 2(Races 4 and
5)
An Olympic Triangle course consisting of Windward (1), Gybe (2) and Leeward (3) marks. A lap is from the Start/Finish line, round marks 1,2,3, through the Start/Finish, then marks 1,3, and back to the Start/Finish. All roundings are to port. The number of laps will be announced over the VHF before the warning signal. Yachts must pass through the Start/Finish line on every leg from mark 3 to mark 1.
Course 3
“Round the Cans”
course using navigation marks and islands in the upper
All laid marks used for the above courses will be either yellow or black spherical buoys.
8. Provision for Heavy Weather
In the event on
heavy weather making the use of committee or mark-laying boats unsafe, all
races outside the barrage may start and finish on a shore-based line running
either from PYC bridge deck to the PYC ODM (the orange can directly off Penarth
foreshore) or from PYC bridge deck to the Outer Wrach buoy. In this event
course C will be used. This will be announced in an amendment to SIs (see para.
4).
9. Starting & Finishing Procedures
For all races except race 2 (the bay race) the Nimrod fleet will have their own start and will use the class flag “C”. For race 2 the class flag will be “M”.
No yacht may start more than 5 minutes after her starting signal.
Committee boat starts will be in accordance with RRS 26 & 29.
For starts on the fixed line
from Penarth Yacht Club (see Heavy Weather, para. 8) RRS 26 and 29 are modified in that the visual
signals will be lights rather than flags and the operation of rule 30 will be
announced over the VHF at the preparatory signal
rather than by the I, Z or Black flags.
|
SIGNAL |
LIGHTS |
|
Warning (5 min) |
Red Light |
|
Preparatory (4 min) |
Yellow Light On |
|
1 Minute |
Yellow Light Off |
|
Start |
Green Light On |
|
Individual Recall |
1 Steady White ON |
|
General Recall |
1 Flashing |
All other signals will be
given over the VHF without visual or sound signals.
10. Protests
Boats intending to protest are requested to inform the race officer as soon as possible by radio etc. Protests shall then be delivered in writing to the race officer, member or delegate of the race committee within 2 hours of the end of racing for the day.
Official protest forms will be available behind the bar in the CBYC Clubhouse.
11. Scoring & Discards
Scoring will be in accordance with RRS appendix A, using the low point system in A2.2, with the following modifications for boats which do not finish.
DSQ, OCS or DNC Points equal to the number of boats entered in the series plus 1
DNS, DNF or RET Points equal to the number of starters in the race plus 1
If 7 races are completed there will be 2 discards.
If 6 races are completed there will be one discard.
If 5 or fewer races are completed there will be no discards.
12 Results and Prizes
Results will be displayed in Cardiff Bay Yacht Club Clubhouse as soon as possible after the race. There will be for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places overall, if there are 5 or more entries. If there are fewer than 5 entries only the Nimrod Cup and 1st prize will be awarded.
13 Commercial Shipping
Commercial Shipping must not
be impeded under any circumstances, this applies particularly in restricted
waters. Inside the limits of the
Failure to
observe this rule may result in a Race Officer protest. In the event of serious
breaches yachts may be disqualified from all races on the day of the.
Additional information for competitors (Not part of
the sailing instructions)
Barrage Locks
At times of
low water flows locking may be restricted in order to reduce salt-water
intrusion into the bay. The organisers are coordinating with the Bay management
and may have to arrange a schedule with each yacht assigned a slot for locking
out. In this event yachts must use their assigned slot or risk being unable to
lock out and therefore missing racing.
Race Committee
David Cairncross Principal Race Officer
Lt.
Col. Syd Thomas Race Officer
Nick Sawyer Race Officer
Scott Cole
Sailing Secretary,
Delegates (for protests - see SI’s
paragraph 10)
To be named