Avast! Its your old friend “The Barnacle” with some more info that will hopefully navigate you to that paradise of an Island they call a “Stress Free Regatta”. The first regatta of the year for the Opti class will be held on July 8th at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport. To get to Ida Lewis YC go south on Thames Street, then take a right on Wellington Ave. (like your going to The New York Yacht Club, or Fort Adams) on the right hand side you come to a park, and then a stretch of beach that is just before the club and a long cement dock. You want to park your car along that stretch of beach, which is where you will actually launch your child’s Opti. You do not launch the boats from the club itself, but from the beach just before it. If you have never been to this club you are in for quite a treat. The Barnacle has caroused and plundered in many a club on the high seas and this one is a favorite!

When you park, unload the Opti and have your child rig the boat. The goal is to get the boat all set and rigged prior to check in, and the skippers meeting. This is a critical component for getting to a stress free regatta, getting the boat ready nice and early. You must check in wether you have pre-registered or not; check in starts at 8;00 a.m. The check in and skippers meeting will be held in the Ida Lewis Yacht Club itself. To get to the club, the entrance is right on Wellington Ave. just past the beach and the big cement dock: you go through an entrance and then walk up the very long dock to the main club house.

Now, if you foolishly did not take the Barnacles advice to register online well in advance, you can register at Ida Lewis the day of the regatta. However you will need to register your child for the race, and also register them to be a member of NBYA if your child is not already a member.

After you have checked your child in, their will be a skippers meeting at 9;00 a.m. where the race committee chair will go over the sailing instructions and location of the fleets. After the conclusion of the skippers meeting all racers should set sail from the beach to their fleets racing location by 9;30 a.m. with racing scheduled to commence at 10;00 a.m. with no races scheduled to start after 4;00 p.m.

Your child is responsible to bring their own lunch and drink. The lunch should be given to the coach of the program that your child is in. At some point in the racing their will be a break for lunch and your child should find their coach boat to tie up and get their lunch.

Yacht Racing can be a challenging sport relative to spectating! Once your child has departed, and if you do not have a means to get on the water to follow them your options for watching are a bit limited. Every year is different but one year The Barnacle was able to watch the green fleet from the ferry dock at Fort Adams.  If you really want to try and watch from land, your best bet would be to listen at the skippers meeting for the location of the fleets. If they utilize the area between Rose Island and Goat Island you can watch from Goat Island. If they will be racing out further, you will be hard pressed to find a spot to be able to actually see the racing. If you do have a boat, and plan to watch the racing please be mindful to stay well clear of the racers, and keep your wake to a minimum during racing. A pair of binoculars would come in mighty handy for spectating from land or sea; ever look at an Opti from 200 yards away? Oh, and if its not committed to memory jot down your child’s sail number, because they all look the same from that distance and a sail number is the best way to spot them!

Here is the schedule:

7:00 – 7:30 Arrive, unload and rig

8:00 Check in and late registration in the club

9:00 Skippers meeting

9:30 Harbor start

10:00 Warning signal for first race

4;00 No race started after

4:30 to 5:30 Pack up and pick up

If you have any questions please feel free to ask one of the instructors. Or, we have been trying to get our discussion board active, so if you post a question here: http://www.gbsa.info/board/  The Barnacle will try his best to respond. This discussion board can be found under the “News Dock” tab. To post you will have to register but that is quick and painless. Just remember you need to enter the VIP code: 7945 which can also be found on this page: http://www.gbsa.info/about/ This is just a way to keep out automated spam vermin!!

Oh, and remember all of The Barnacles posts can be accessed from this page: http://www.gbsa.info/blog/

P.S.! There is an Opti Green Fleet clinic on Friday, July 2nd at the Conanicut Yacht Club. Details are a little sketchy on the NBYA web site, and the Conanicut YC web at this time, but if The Barnacle gets any more details about this event he will pass them along.

“The Barnacle”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.