A reminder that The Opti New England’s are being held out of Sail Newport this year with registration and check in being held August 2nd, and racing held on the 3rd, 4th and 5th. There will be a Green Fleet as well as Red, White and Blue. Here is the Notice of Race if you want to learn more about this event.

You must be a member of USODA in order to complete the registration process.

If you are already a member of USODA Go Here to log in and register.

If you are not a member of USODA and wish to register for the regatta you must first join Here.

If your child is on the Opti Race Team at GBSA please note for the days of July 29 and 30 the team will be practicing at Potters Cove in Jamestown, and then participating in the Opti New Englands on August 2 through 5. As such there will be no formal Opti Race Team activities at GBSA. However if your child is on the Opti Race Team and not attending these events they are welcome to still attend GBSA and they will be able to join in with the other classes being held.

The next 420 Regatta which is the third and final one will be held on August 3rd at Bristol.

“The Barnacle”

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Opti Regatta # 2

The next Opti regatta will be help in our home waters right here at EGYC! So were looking for a great turnout.

The regatta will be held right here at GBSA, so if you ever thought you could have a stress free regatta this is it! There will be a bevy of activity with sailors from throughout Narragansett Bay coming to race so we need to be sensitive on the room available in the north lot. If things look tight it would be helpful if some EGYC members could park in one of the other lots around the club house.

The schedule of events for this regatta will be the same as the first;

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

Good luck to all the racers!

The NBYA Girls Championship and Clinic

Will be held on July 25 and 26 at The Conanicut Yacht Club. On Sunday July 25th there will be a clinic, and on Monday July 26th there will be a regatta. You must register for this event, and you can register for both, or just the clinic, or just the regatta. This is a great event for girls of all abilities, there will be a 420, laser and opti class.

Here is the Registration Link

Laser Regatta # 3 is August 10 at Conanicut

420 Regatta # 3 is August 3 at Bristol.

Junior Race Week Registration Deadlines

Be aware the penalties for mutinous behavior, such as not registering on time for Junior Race week, are harsh! JRW is $85 if paid by 5;30 p.m. August 2nd. After that, and up to August 12th its $115, and if you register the day of its $130! Yikes!! So, take the Barnacle’s advice and get this done now!

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Regatta Results

Now that the racing has started your probably wondering how everyone is doing. Well The Barnacle has you covered there. Results have been posted on the NBYA web site, and here are the links.

Opti # 1

Laser # 1

420 # 1

Laser # 2

420 # 2

Looks like another year with a strong showing from our locals!

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I also want to fire a few cannon rounds as a salute to a few of our own, Norbert Mongeon and Matt Coughlin who went down to Newport with sabers drawn and tangled with the big dogs at the recent Sail Newport, Coastal Living Regatta. Nobert came in 1st and Matt tied for 3rd in the Laser Radial division; well done boys!

Click here for the RESULTS

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Thats it for now, see you around the Bay and at the local watering holes!

“The Barnacle”

If you were on the fence about your child attending and did not pre-register on-line you can still attend and register at Ida Lewis prior to the skippers meeting.

If you did pre-register you still need to check in inside the club house.

If you missed my excellent post on attending this regatta Click Here

Next up is a Laser Class regatta on July 13th at Wickford, and a 420 Class regatta on July 15th at Barrington.

To see the NBYA schedule for Opti, 420 and Lasers Click Here

Good luck to all the Opti racers!!

“The Barnacle”

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”

Over the summer there are 3 regattas plus Junior Race Week for; Opti Green, Opti Racer, Laser and 420 classes. There are other events we will cover at a later date, but I wanted to go over these first. These events are administered by Narragansett Bay Yachting Association, NBYA (yes! your child gets to tell their teachers and classmates in the fall they spent their summer YACHTING!) and each event is hosted by an individual yacht club.

In this episode of,  ”How to Have a Stress Free Regatta” we are going to cover your entry point to getting a good start on sorting out the needed paperwork to enter your child in these regattas:

If you go to this link:

http://nbya.org/shop/

The two sections you want to visit are “Junior Regatta Registration” and “Dues and Membership” (why dues and membership you say? well you cant go YACHTING if your not a member of the YACHTING Association of course!)

If you click on the “Junior Regatta Registration” link you will see an online shopping cart type experience where you can select the regattas you wish to enter, and pay for them online.

If you click on the “Dues and Membership” link you will see a link for “NBYA Junior Dues” where you can register your child with NBYA. Your child must be registered with NBYA to enter the regattas.

Done you think? No! you still need to fill out the “Waiver of Liability” form (what if your child should ram some guys Hinckley with their Opti and plunder their grey poupon? NBYA wants no part of being keel hauled for that!) and the “Consent to Treat” form. Here is the link for those: http://www.nbya.org/junior_sailing/forms/NBYAWaive_ConsentWeb090315.pdf

Oh, theres one more thing you must register and pay for,  (yes everyone gets a cut, and people think pirates are greedy!) If you are going to attend Junior Race Week you will need to be a member of US Sailing, you cannot participate in Junior Race Week if you are not a member of US Sailing. To do that go here: http://membership.ussailing.org/

Helpfull Tips! (yes “The Barnacle” said he would give more than just scuttlebutt here!)

# 1 Yes, you can register for the regattas day of the event, BUT do not fall into this trap! You don’t need to be worrying about getting your child registered when your already stressing out about the fact you just discovered they lost their wind indicator last week and forgot to tell you, or that their life vest was last seen somewhere in the GBSA parking lot and your in Bristol!

# 2 After you have registered your child on-line for the regatta and with NBYA well in advance of these events, make copies of the e-mail receipts you will get and bring them with you just in case theres some sort of snafu.

# 3 As far as The Barnacle knows, this is the schedule for the three regattas and Race Week;

Opti; July 8 – Ida Lewis, July 27 – EGYC, August 10 – Bristol

420; June 27 – Saunderstown, July 15 – Barrington, August 3 – Bristol

Laser; June 27 – Saunderstown, July 13 – Wickford, August 10 – Sakonnet

NBYA Junior Race Week; August 13 through 15

Heres a good link for some more info, downloads if you want to register and pay by mail, and some important cut off dates; http://nbya.org/blog/?page_id=170

Well thats it for this weeks class, stay tuned as there will be plenty more coming. BUT the first step to having a stress free regatta is to register well in advance so get off your arse and do it!

The Barnacle

• Come and show your support for the valuable mission that is GBSA!
• Great Items to bid on in both silent and live auction format.
• Here is a small sampling of the tremendous selection to bid on;

12 Meter Sail!

A North Sail

Florida Get Away

Block Island Fall Weekend

Kirkbrae Foursome

Plus lots more AND you can still buy raffle tickets for the sail on Puma!

Come to the auction! For more info go to GBSA.info

Here are details on another terrific item you can bid on at the GBSA auction to be held on June 5th.

One of the oldest structures on Block Island, this antique home has wide plank flooring, ship’s beams used for interior structural purposes, low ceilings, low door frames and steep stairs.

4 bedrooms: 2 Queen, 1 Full, 2 twins (occupants

1.5 baths (shower only) plus enclosed outdoor shower

Large private yard

Includes:   Dish TV/ DVD/VCR/ CD player

Microwave/ Dishwasher/ Blender/Coffee Pot

Washer/Dryer/ Charcoal Grill

Does NOT include:  Cleaning, Trash Removal, Linens

Fall Weekly rental rate/ $1800.

For more info on the auction and to purchase tickets CLICK HERE

You can win this! There will only be 50 tickets sold so your chances are excellent.

WE NEED YOUR HELP  -  THIS RAFFLE IS A BIG PART OF THE GBSA FUND RAISER TO HELP IN THEIR MISSION OF GETTING CHILDREN OUT ON THE WATER LEARNING VALUABLE LIFE SKILLS!

You do not have to attend the auction (although you would be crazy to miss it!) to buy the raffle tickets or win.

To purchase your tickets Click Here or got to www.gbsa.info

Week in Bonita Springs Florida – Your choice, long weekend or extend your stay to a full week at a Gorgeous Carriage House in Bonita Springs FL.   This luxurious condo overlooks the 3^rd hole!  You’ll have access to a championship golf course to help you unwind from the blahs of the chilly northeast.   This donation is compliments of Fred and Jean Darlington!

p.s. GBSA is in need of some volunteers to help out the night of the auction, so step up and contact Beth Coughlin at coughlib@cox.net if you can pitch in!

North 3DL thermo-molded sails have dominated America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and Grand Prix race events for over 15 years. With the new Easysail™ from North Sails Direct, you now can enjoy the unmatched performance and shapeholding of 3DL with thicker films and an added layer of woven taffeta for improved chafe, tear and UV resistance.

Easysail is the clear choice for club racers and performance cruisers looking for superior performance, durability, versatility…and value! With Easysail you CAN have it all.

Learn More here about the Kids Should Be Sailing Auction to be held on June 5th at 6;00 p.m.