2006 RACING PROGRAMS

The object of this association shall be the development of the art and science of sailing, the acquisition of knowledge of the theory and practice of seamanship, navigation, meteorology, aerodynamics, yacht design, and construction and allied subjects; and the furthering of this purpose by the promotion and encouragement of races, regattas and cruises ……..FBYC Constitution, Article III

Offshore Division events will consist of 3 major series for 2006: a spring series, a fall series, and the distance series. In addition, a number of stand-alone events have been scheduled. These events include Opening Day Regatta, June Races, Closing Day Regatta and the Autumn Races. Offshore Division is also adding a new twist this year with Friday evening ìbeer can racesî. The selection of formats for these events will provide a mix of drop mark races and government mark races. The two major offshore division events this year will again be the Leukemia Cup and Stingray Point Regattas. Both of these regattas will be two-day events. These races continue to draw boats from other areas of the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, FBYC is hosting a J-24 Invitational Regatta. Over the past several years a number of FBYC boats have traveled to participate in both regional and national events and this trend is expected to continue. Competition between boats is hotter than ever. Combine this with outstanding race management and you have all the elements for a successful and enjoyable racing season.

One Design Division events will continue to follow the multi-race day format, with series races spread out over the spring and fall and interspersed with Offshore events to minimize conflicts for the sailors who race in both divisions. One Design fleets and racing at FBYC continue to grow, anchored in recent years by the Front Runner and Scot fleets. The steady growth of the Flying Scot fleet, the excitement around the 420’s, a re-energizing of the Lasers, and the consistency of the Front Runner fleet, combine to promise excellent participation this year. The Spring Series will carry into the month of June. July will host the Long Distance Race and Summer Sea Breezes. Our women skippers had so much fun in 2005 with a transition from a Portsmouth format to a One Design event raced in 420’s that we’ve decided to repeat it in August.. Fall Series races are dispersed between several big One Design Regattas to include the 67th Annual One Design Regatta, the Laser Masters and Laser District 11 Championship. After three years of hurricanes and other foul weather we have high hopes for a strong turnout for our Indian Summer Regatta, a one day event this year, to be held on October 14^th.

The FBYC Junior Division‘s programs have been further expanded to insure all our kids have summer-long opportunities to spend time on the water and get the coaching they need. This year we’ve hired two top-notch coaches from Argentina to raise the skills levels of our racing juniors. We’ve also added a local Learn to Sail program for kids that want to simply learn to enjoy the pleasures of non-competitive sailing at FBYC. Our new coaches, Alejandro Cloos and Diego Ravecca, collectively have decades of experience between them teaching competitive sailing in Optimists, 420s, Lasers and Laser Radials in regional, national and international events including the Olympics. They will be providing summer-long opportunities for racing juniors to learn and refine their racing skills through classroom, on the water and race course coaching. As always, we’ll be kicking off our program with Opti Kids and Junior Week in June, but this is only the beginning. For Junior Week, we’ll not only have our exceptional coaches to teach advanced racing, we’ll also have nationally famous Green Fleet Coach Tommy Coleman to teach our intermediate Optimist classes. This year we’ve also worked closely with the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association (CBYRA) Junior Division to coordinate our sailing programs with the other clubs around the Bay to provide a summer full of opportunities for kids to test their racing skills at numerous regattas and clinics. As a part of this program, FBYC will host the Virginia State Junior Championship on June 24^th, followed by a Team Racing Clinic on June 25^th and a High Performance Racing Clinic on August 2^nd. In order to facilitate the cooperation and coordination of participation of our Junior Parents, we are also implementing a volunteer coordination program to insure kids are able to get to practices and regattas during the week. Carpooling and chaperoning will be key elements to this program and we look forward to having all participating parents to help with this aspect of the program.

This year we will continue to expand Team Racing across all three racing divisions, including Offshore, One Design and Juniors. ìTeam racingî refers to representation of FBYC by teams of three or more boats which sail competitively against other club teams in inter-club competition under the US Sailing Team Racing Rules (Motto: ìFriends don’t let friends finish lastî). This activity provides an exciting alternative to fleet racing and a unique platform for true interclub competition between FBYC and other yacht clubs on the Chesapeake and beyond. In ideal circumstances, the teams use boats provided by the host club to avoid transporting boats. One Design at FBYC has been the leader in this activity, having conducted team racing in Flying Scots at FBYC in 2003, and having traveled to Rappahannock YC and Lake of the Woods in 2003 and 2005 for team racing in Flying Scots. Additional team races are planned for 2006 in Flying Scots, though dates and locations are still being firmed up. Team racing has caught on in the J-24 Fleet at Annapolis YC and a ìsloopî fleet at Norfolk Y&CC (ìsloopî fleet yet to be identified), and both clubs are looking for adversaries, so opportunities to expand FBYC’s team racing into other boats are available. Team racing has long been a staple of high school and collegiate sailing, so it is a natural area for expansion of our Junior division activities, and this year, for the first time, an opportunity for FBYC Juniors to get involved will be presented by Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, which has invited us to send a team or teams for their team racing regatta. Get in touch with the Division Commanders or Fleet Captain if you are interested in getting involved in or learning more about these opportunities to race under the FBYC burgee.