The Shanghai 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 IRC, except as any of these are changed by these sailing instructions.

 

2.2 The team racing rules, as specified in RRS appendix D, will not apply except as specified below.

 

RRS 41 will be modified to add “A boat which receives help from a team mate does not break this rule”. (This is Appendix D rule D1.1 (e)). Note that some forms of assistance may still infringe other rules.

 

      The following rule is added

(a)There shall be no penalty for breaking a rule of part 2 when the incident is between boats in the same team and there is no contact

 

(b) A boat damaged by a team-mate is not eligible for redress based on that damage

 

(This is Appendix D rule D1.2)

 

 

2.3 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 and have a valid IRC certificate covering the entire duration of the series. IRC TCF’s must not be less than 0.810 or greater than 1.100.

 

3.2 All yachts are required to display the sponsor’s stickers or flag as provided.

 

3.3 The Shanghai Cup is for teams of 3 yachts, but individual entries will be accepted, and individual boat prizes will be awarded for each race and overall. Teams may not include more than 2 sports boats.

 

3.4 Teams may apply to the race committee for permission to replace a team member who is unable to continue. Permission will be refused if there is any suspicion of  “tactical substitution”.

 

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

Cardiff HW

(Approximate)

Start

Type

6

1

08:48

11:00

Low Water Race

12

2-3-4

12:35

10:00

3 Laid courses outside

13

5-6

13:50

10:00

Round the Cans Races

19

20

7

8

08:00

08:39

11:00

11:30

Low Water Race

Race over Low Water

26

9

12:24

10:30

Round the Cans Race

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laid courses  will be windward/leeward, Olympic or similar

Race 1 and 7, the Low water races, will be a round-the-cans of approximately 4-5 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 2,3 and 4)

 

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 2,3 and 4)

 

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 Bristol Channel. Laid inflatable marks may be included. The course details, including start and finish lines, which may be different, will be announced over the VHF before the warning signal.

 

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

 

All yachts will start together. The Class Flag will be ICF “B” (Except for races 2, 3 & 4, see section 6 above)

 

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 White ON      

       

 

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

 

Shanghai Cup team positions will be decided on the sum of all three boat's scores, with the 1st placed team being the one with the lowest total score, and so on. Team positions will then be scored in accordance with RRS appendix A2.2, low point system.

 

Discards apply to teams for the Shanghai Cup and to boats for the individual prizes

 

If 9 races are completed there will be 2 discards.

If 7 or 8 races are completed there will be able one  discard.

If 6 or fewer races are completed there will be no discards.

 

13 Results and Prizes

 

Results will be displayed in Cardiff Bay Yacht Club Clubhouse as soon as possible after the race. There will be prizes as follows:

 

The Shanghai Cup will be presented to the winning 3-boat team.

 

Overall prizes will be awarded for each boat in the 1st,  2nd and 3rd placed teams.

 

Individual boat prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places overall.

 

 

14 Commercial Shipping

Commercial Shipping must not be impeded under any circumstances, this applies particularly in restricted waters. Inside the limits of the Port of Cardiff merchant vessels must be regarded as constrained by their draft.

 

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 incident or the team may be scored DND (points for number of entered teams plus 1) for that race.

 

 

 

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, Cardiff Bay Yacht Club

    

     Delegates (for protests - see SI’s paragraph 10)

     To Be named