Santa Barbara Yacht Club

2007 Hot Rum Series

January 6, 2007

January 20, 2007

February 10, 2007

Sailing Instructions

1            RULES

This series will be governed by the 2005-2008 Racing Rules of Sailing, the prescriptions of the US Sailing, and the rules of the Southern California PHRF Fleet, (except as any of these are altered by these sailing instructions), and by these sailing instructions.  A yacht’s PHRF Buoy rating shall be used for the series.  Competing yachts shall designate one PHRF rating configuration for the entire series.

2          ENTRIES

2.1       Eligible boats may be entered for the series by completing a registration form with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club no later than 1100 hours on the first day of the series.  Exceptions are at the discretion of the Race Committee.

2.2       Eligible competitors shall have valid PHRF Certificates and be equipped for Category IV Races.  Valid PHRF rating Certificates for PHRF boats must be on file with the Race Committee no later than February 10, 2007.

2.3            SERIES ENTRY FORMS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ENTRY FEE OF $40.00 FOR BOATS 30’ OR UNDER OVERALL LENGTH OR $60.00 FOR BOATS OVER 30’ OVERALL LENGTH. 

3            NOTICES TO COMPETITORS

3.1       Notices to competitors will be posted on the official notice board located on the SBYC lower deck.

3.2       A skippers meeting will be held at 1100 hours each race day.  The 2007 SBYC Course Chart will be made available at the skippers meeting.  Each boat will receive a starting time sheet calculated on the basis of the Hot Rum course lengths and the boat’s PHRF handicap.

4            CHANGES IN SAILING INSTRUCTIONS

Any change in the sailing instructions will be posted before 1130 hours on the day it will take effect.

5             SIGNALS MADE ASHORE

Signals made ashore will be displayed from the Santa Barbara Yacht Club yardarm.

6            SCHEDULE OF RACES

Races are scheduled as follows for each regatta date:

RACE 1    First Warning: 1225 hours

RACE 2       Following Race 1

Awards       Following Race 2

7            CLASS DESIGNATIONS

Class breaks will be announced at the skipper’s meeting on January 6^th, 2007.  It is the intent of the race committee to evenly distribute boats into classes based on handicaps and number of entries.  A minimum of 5 boats is required for a separate class.  Class breaks will remain the same for subsequent races.  The class breaks may not be grounds for protest or redress.

8            RACING AREA

The racing area starting line will be approximately .5 n. miles southwest of the entrance to Santa Barbara Harbor.  Racing will take place in the Pacific Ocean off Santa Barbara.

9          THE COURSE

9.1            Courses will be taken from the 2007 SBYC Course Chart.  The course for each race will be posted from the SBYC deck with the warning signal.

9.2       If a letter ‘R’ is displayed following the course number, the course shall be sailed in reverse.  Marks shall be passed in reverse order and on the opposite side read on the course chart.

10        MARKS

10.1     Marks will be as designated on the 2007 SBYC Course Chart.

10.2     In the event of missing marks, boats shall return to the starting line as soon as possible for a restart and monitor Channel 71.

11        THE START

11.1     All boats will start in one reverse handicap staggered start.  Races will be started using RRS 26 with the warning given 5 minutes before the start.  The class flag shall be a red flag with a white ‘A’. 

11.2     The race committee will make the official race clock available for all competitors at the skipper’s meeting.

11.3     A boat’s starting time shall follow the Start signal by the amount of time listed on the daily Start Sheet for the posted course.    This sheet will be made available at the skippers meeting each day.

11.4     Boats whose start time is more than five minutes away shall keep clear of the starting area.

12        OVER EARLIES

The race committee will attempt to raise code flag ‘X’ to notify the OCS boat and may hail the yacht on VHF channel 71.  The flag will remain up for one minute or until the OCS start is corrected (whichever comes first).  If another OCS occurs while the X flag is displayed, it will remain displayed for one minute or until both OCS starts are corrected (whichever comes first).  It is the responsibility of each boat to start correctly.

13.            CHANGE OF COURSE AFTER THE START

13.1     The race committee may shorten the course with a signal from the Santa Barbara Yacht Club deck.  The change will be signaled before the leading boat has finished the shortened leg.

13.2     When the course is to be shortened, the shortened course will be signaled by the display of code flag ‘S’, accompanied by two sound signals.

13.3     For shortened courses, the finish will be between mark X and the SBYC flagpole.  If the shortened leg is to the Gate (Gt) the finish will be between the gate marks.  If the shortened leg is to the start/finish line on a twice around course the finish will be between marks F and G as shown on the current 2007 SBYC course chart.

14        THE FINISH

The finish will be between mark ‘F’ and mark ‘G’, as shown on the 2007 SBYC Course Chart.

15        PROTESTS

15.1            Protests shall be lodged on US Sailing standard forms available in the SBYC hallway, and must be delivered to the Race Committee within one hour of the protesting boat’s finish time.

15.2            Protests involving an infringement of a rule of Part 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing will be subject to non-binding arbitration in accordance with SBYC Protest Arbitration Guidelines.

15.3     The protest committee will hear protests in the approximate order of receipt as soon as practical.

15.4     The deadline for filing Protests and Requests for Redress will be one hour after the last finish time.

16            SCORING

The low point scoring system of Appendix A of the Racing Rules of Sailing, will apply, except that each boat’s total score shall be the sum of her scores for all races.  Boats scored as ‘Did Not Finish’ in a race shall be scored ‘the number of finishers + 1’ in the race (modifies Appendix A4.2).  There shall be no minimum number of races required to be completed to constitute a series. 

17            PRIZES

17.1            Trophies will be awarded to the top finisher in each class for each race.  Trophies for the top overall finishers each day will be awarded based on the number of boats that start a race that day, with a maximum of five places. 

17.2     The Hot Rum Series Perpetual Trophy will be awarded to the overall winner of the series.

18.            DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

Participants in this event compete entirely at their own risk. See Rule 4, Decision to Race.  The organizing authority will not accept any liability for material damage or personal injury sustained in conjunction with or prior to, during, or after the regatta.