Dateline Nyack, NY June 29

A group of noisy agitators picketed with signs marching back and forth in
front of the Nyack Boat Club late Wednesday evening. The signs included
"DOWN WITH A MARK!", "LET'S LEVEL HOOK MOUNTAIN FOR BETTER WIND CONTROL!",
and "DEMAND THE COAST GUARD LET US MOVE MARK A!"

Text messages, Facebook postings, and e-mails burned their way through the
internet as racing members of the Nyack Boat Club complained about the race
course set out by the Race Committee. Principal Race Officers (PRO) Mike
Lucas and Howie Rinehart defended the selection by trying to calm the crowd
with logic. "This was just a fun race," Lucas explained. "The wind was good
from the northwest all evening and we set out 1.5 mile legs for a
windward/leeward course," said Rinehart. "Sometimes the wind dies during the
race, but that can happen. I don't know what people are complaining about?"
said 3rd place winner and Cruising Fleet Captain - Racing John Michael.

Outside the crowd became louder and started chanting "Kill mark A !, Kill
mark A !, Kill mark A !".

The rumpus was about a fun Pursuit race scheduled as part of Wednesday Night
racing June 29th. A record number of 28 boats raced. The idea of a Pursuit
race is that generally smaller boats (highest PHRF ratings) start first,
with larger (faster boats) starting last on the 3.0 mile course. Exact start
times, in minutes and seconds, are calculated in advance. The faster boats
pursue the smaller boats and try to catch and pass them. If the PHRF ratings
are perfectly assigned, and the skippers and crew execute the race course
with no mistakes, then all racers would (theoretically) finish at exactly
the same time. But that's not what happened. On Wednesday night more than 40
minutes separated the first and last boats to cross the finish line.

According to Sailflow readings from the anemometer on Tappan Zee Light 14
(Ossining), the northwest wind blew at a steady 8 - 10 mph all evening. The
racers got good starts in good air, quickly tacking to port to lay Mark A on
one beat. However, within 200 yards of Mark A beneath Hook Mountain the air
was dead. Not a zephyr. Nor a wisp. Nada. At first the little boats died
quickly, not able to round the mark and go against the 1.5 mph incoming
current. But the bigger boats, coming up from the rear with more momentum,
charged in taking what little air there was from the smaller boats, muscled
their way through, tacked around the damnable cylinder, and kept going.
There was, of course, much shouting-cursing-yelling. But hey, we were just
out there to have fun, right? This was a classic Fluster Cluck (defined as
"much commotion in the hen house") with most of the Cruising fleet bonding
well with their fellow competitors.

After a small eternity the racers managed to get past mark A, find the
beautiful breeze again, and make it back to the finish line before sundown.

But small temper eruptions occurred later on the patio as some sore losers
blamed their loss on the placement of mark A under the shadow of Hook
Mountain. "That mark should never be used!" said one racer as he pounded the
table. "I won't cross the starting line the next time the Race Committee
calls for those courses," said another. "It's always a guaranteed loss for
everybody, except the winners" said another bitterly. "Next time. Just wait
until next time."

that's why the fastest fleets start first, etc. etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Lucas via Wednightracing wednightracing@maillist.nyackboatclub.org
To: Lee luce01@optonline.net
Cc: Cruising Fleet Racers wednightracing@maillist.nyackboatclub.org
Sent: Thu, Jun 30, 2016 4:24 pm
Subject: Re: [CruisingFleetRacing] Race Results - Pursuit Race - June 29, 2016

So that is what happened at the A mark ……… Howie and I were sitting in those lounge chairs on the race committee boat, with a nice breeze flowing through the open cabin windows, enjoying a cold shrimp platter (we have found that cold Hors d’hoeuvres are more convenient on the RC boat than items such as bacon wrapped scallops), sipping on Frozen Daiquiris, while watching you through binoculars and we could not figure out what was going on a mile and a half away at the A mark. It looked like boats were going every which way.  Are they lost? Did the mark disappear ?  What was going on up there?  Now we know.  🙂😅🙂😅

On Jun 30, 2016, at 12:05 PM, Lee via Wednightracing wednightracing@maillist.nyackboatclub.org wrote:

Dateline Nyack, NY June 29
A group of noisy agitators picketed with signs marching back and forth in front of the Nyack Boat Club late Wednesday evening. The signs included “DOWN WITH A MARK!”, “LET’S LEVEL HOOK MOUNTAIN FOR BETTER WIND CONTROL!”, and “DEMAND THE COAST GUARD LET US MOVE MARK A!”
Text messages, Facebook postings, and e-mails burned their way through the internet as racing members of the Nyack Boat Club complained about the race course set out by the Race Committee. Principal Race Officers (PRO) Mike Lucas and Howie Rinehart defended the selection by trying to calm the crowd with logic. “This was just a fun race,” Lucas explained. “The wind was good from the northwest all evening and we set out 1.5 mile legs for a windward/leeward course,” said Rinehart. “Sometimes the wind dies during the race, but that can happen. I don’t know what people are complaining about?” said 3rd place winner and Cruising Fleet Captain – Racing John Michael.
Outside the crowd became louder and started chanting “Kill mark A !, Kill mark A !, Kill mark A !”.
The rumpus was about a fun Pursuit race scheduled as part of Wednesday Night racing June 29th. A record number of 28 boats raced. The idea of a Pursuit race is that generally smaller boats (highest PHRF ratings) start first, with larger (faster boats) starting last on the 3.0 mile course. Exact start times, in minutes and seconds, are calculated in advance. The faster boats pursue the smaller boats and try to catch and pass them. If the PHRF ratings are perfectly assigned, and the skippers and crew execute the race course with no mistakes, then all racers would (theoretically) finish at exactly the same time. But that’s not what happened. On Wednesday night more than 40 minutes separated the first and last boats to cross the finish line.
According to Sailflow readings from the anemometer on Tappan Zee Light 14 (Ossining), the northwest wind blew at a steady 8 – 10 mph all evening. The racers got good starts in good air, quickly tacking to port to lay Mark A on one beat. However, within 200 yards of Mark A beneath Hook Mountain the air was dead. Not a zephyr. Nor a wisp. Nada. At first the little boats died quickly, not able to round the mark and go against the 1.5 mph incoming current. But the bigger boats, coming up from the rear with more momentum, charged in taking what little air there was from the smaller boats, muscled their way through, tacked around the damnable cylinder, and kept going. There was, of course, much shouting-cursing-yelling. But hey, we were just out there to have fun, right? This was a classic Fluster Cluck (defined as “much commotion in the hen house”) with most of the Cruising fleet bonding well with their fellow competitors.
After a small eternity the racers managed to get past mark A, find the beautiful breeze again, and make it back to the finish line before sundown.
But small temper eruptions occurred later on the patio as some sore losers blamed their loss on the placement of mark A under the shadow of Hook Mountain. “That mark should never be used!” said one racer as he pounded the table. “I won’t cross the starting line the next time the Race Committee calls for those courses,” said another. “It’s always a guaranteed loss for everybody, except the winners” said another bitterly. “Next time. Just wait until next time.”

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