CBYRA Region 4 High Point Awards Presentation/Dinner:  Saturday, January 18th, at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  Region high point award winners will be honored for their season long accomplishments.  And, Joe Hallissy will receive a special award from CBYRA for his many years of devotion of time and effort to race management on the Bay.  The social hour begins at 5:30pm, dinner follows at 6:30pm, and awards will be presented around 7:30pm.  The social will be BYOB, but beer, wine, beverages and hor d'ouvres will be provided.  The cost of the dinner is $12 to $15  per person.  The event is open to all.  Please let Tom Roberts, event point of contact, know that you plan to attend. Contact Tom at  (804) 843-2682, or email to mobjack@crosslink.net  or Lin McCarthy at (757) 850-4225, email to  mcbear@earthlink.net

Leigh Morgan has announced that the 2003 Laser District 11 Championships will be sailed in Hampton Roads with Hampton Yacht Club hosting the event.

IMPORTANT HEADS-UP:  The 2003 CCV Racing Guide General Sailing Instruction will show RRS 26 as the Starting System of choice.  If an individual club wants to continue to use the "old" or some other starting system, it will need to show that in the club's sailing instructions and notices of race (i.e. flyers for the 2003 CCV Racing Guide).

SAIL EXPO opens in Atlantic City this Thursday, Jan 9th, and runs through Sunday, the 12th.  Contact:  www.sailamerica.com  for info.  And, the Strictly Sail Miami show is set for February 13-18, 2003.

The 2003 racing captain for York River Yacht Club is a J/24 racer.  Mike Mastracci's boat is named Shifty - like those sometimes "unpredictable" summer winds on the York.  Speaking of J/24 racers - there is one down in North Carolina with whom you may have spoken, but not known of her predilection for J/24s. Jennie LaMonte works at Layline in Raleigh and races her  J/24, Trailer Trash.

2003 New Years Madness Race - Wet and Wild!  The term "certifiable" came to mind as 20 race boats fully skippered and crewed left Hampton Creek for a New Years Day monsoon in hefty winds.  The staggered start race originated at Old Point Yacht Club when they established the 2000 Millennium Madness Race.  Since then OPCYC and HYC have co-sponsored the staggered start race that begins in Hampton Creek and finishes in Mill Creek.  RESULTS:  Spinnaker Class:  1.  Incentive, Ron and Barb Lewis (1st overall); 2. Feather, Phil Briggs; 3. PF Flyer, Larry Preddy.  Non-Spin Class: 1. Callinectes, Ben Cuker (2nd overall); 2. Invictus, Rhet Tignor; 3. Midnight Mistress, Jake Brodersen. Cruising Class: 1.  Pegasus, Jim Beaudry (10th overall); 2. Hakuna Matata, Frank Bush; 3. Sailavie. Jeff Rogers was the event organizer, John McCarthy and Bob Williamson handled the start and finish lines respectively, and the 2003 Racing Season was officially begun!

Hey, Murphy, there's a new Big Dog in town! John Martin, the former owner and skipper of MarLuv, a boat that had an extensive and successful racing career in the PHRF fleet as well as blue water cruising experience, has a new baby - Moon Dog.  The Amel Super Maramu 53'  beauty cis urrently at the Bluewater Yachting Center on Sunset Creek in Hampton.  Ask John about her.

Check out the cover of the December SpinSheet magazine.  You could have what may become a collector's copy.  That's  Strother Scott, his dad Strother Scott is the former (2002) commodore of Fishing Bay Yacht Club, and Harry Scott, his dad is big time racer Dave Scott of Annapolis.  The picture was taken by pro photog Dave "Toots" Dunigan, who southern Bay racers remember for his long time affiliation with Gray Kiger's Fatal Attraction racing team.

Got a Red Hat or two?  The company that the coveted red hats represent is celebrating it's 300th birthday this year.  So, to mark the occasion and it's special relationship to racing sailors, Mount Gay Rum will enter all boats sailing this year in a MGR sponsored regatta in a drawing for a signed print by a well known artist.  But, wait ho! - there's more.  Winning a print gets you in the pot for a drawing for a trip for two to....... Barbados, of course, home of MGR.

Media Non-Target:  Most racers love to see themselves or their boat and crew in publications - actual photos are most rewarding and mentions in stories are good too.  However, Buk Lawrence, who sails his Islander 36, Slowdance, in the PHRF non-spin fleet, is suffering from Rodney Dangerfield-itis.  Buk's picture appeared recently in a huge layout in the Daily Press (Newport News, VA) on the 2003 New Years Madness Race.  Alas, Buk was identified as Jeff Rogers, who at the time of the photo, was racing with Dana Dillon on Dana's Amarylyn.  This is not the first time Jeff, er, ooops, BUK, has been mis-identified, un-credited, or wrongly credited in the media - just ask old Whatshisname.  Or, better yet, next time a reporter speaks with you, tell'em your name is Buk.

Speaking of southern Bay youngsters in racing - Brett Baker was recently named the 2002 recipient of the Clyde Winters Outstanding HYC Junior Skipper Award.  Brett's mom, Joan Baker credits Clyde Winters with encouraging her and Brett's dad, Charlie, to get Brett involved in junior sailing.  This past summer Brett crewed for Olympic hopeful Steven Hunt in the Albacore North America's in August.  Hunt and teammate Michael Miller are currently number one in 470s on the US National Sailing Team.

Henry Amthor and Steve Sparkman carried the southern Chesapeake Bay mantle to Fremantle, Australia, last month and finished in the top third (30th) in the GROLSCH 505 World Championships against 97 other entries. Great finish in a tough class!

Finally, The Louis Vuitton Cup Finals! No more repechaging, no more whining (well, hopefully) - they are down to the Nitty-Gritty.  Racing in the final round to determine the challenger to NZL for the America's Cup begins January 11 in New Zealand.  Check the web site for details - http://www.lvcup.com

This is award season for US Sailing and the owner and crew of a J/30 named Rocket J won the Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal for not one, but a string of 3 rescue incidents, at different times during spring and fall racing south of us on North Carolina's Pamlico River.  Randy Boyles and his crew (Paul Baumback, Neil Craven, Mike Hession, Tom Hughes, and Keith Sparks) rescued folks on three different days.  They sail out of Washington (NC) Yacht and Country Club.

North Sails' NORTH U is coming to Norfolk on February 8th and 9th.  Saturday will be a session on "Racing Trim" and Sunday will feature "Cruising and Seamanship".  For info and registration call 800-347-2457, or check the web at www.NorthU.com  or email  fran@northu.northsails.com  Plans are for the seminars to be held at the ODU Sailing Center in Norfolk.

Training for "Big Boat" Crewbies:  Looks like there should be less singing of the "I ain't got no crew" blues in 2003.  Two groups, MORC and Cruising Club of Virginia (CCV), expect to offer crew training this spring.  Mike Karn and Lori Moyer are the points of contact for the Rappahannock area MORC group (operating out of FBYC) and Neal Garrett honchos the CCV program (based at HYC).  Watch for details regarding registration, dates, etc. as the groups finalize plans.

2003 Scheduling Notes:  These dates are not all in stone, but the chisels are being sharpened.  As of now, Black Seal Cup (Southern Bay Race Week) is set for June 13-15.  CCV Tune-Up Race, April 6 and CCV Spring Series Races, April 13, 27, and May 4.  HYC Wednesday Nights start April 9.

Get ready to go racing by marking your calendar:
    Race Management Seminar - Saturday, March 15. - A must for Race Committee people and a good idea for racers.  Co-sponsored by CCV and HYC.
    Racing Rules Clinic - Tuesday, April 1.  Sponsored each spring by CCV ( also the CCV 2003 Racing Guide is distributed at this event), this is a must for all southern Chesapeake Bay racers.  The Mariners Museum (Newport News, VA) will again host the event.
Watch SBRNYCU for details as these dates get closer.  Both the seminar and the clinic are free and open to all. For info contact:  John McCarthy at (757) 850-4225 or email  mcbear@earthlink.net

J/24 Fleet 71 new web site:  Chris Duer checks in to say that there is now a Fleet 71 web site, located at  www.cox.net/j24.

MURPHY'S LAW:  Remember how the space program gave us Tang?  Those America's Cup designers are about to go one better.  Three of the syndicates have developed a second skin or false hull that effectively lengthens the boat and counts as a fixed appendage under the AC design rules.   Lengthening the hull, i.e. sailing length, is one of the most powerful generators of speed in yacht design.  (Ref:  Scuttlebutt #1220, dated 15 December 2002).   So, try this:  That post holiday eat-a-thon outer hulI am wearing is not the real me.  The true me, my petite inner hull, is hidden ... I only look bigger.  Over the holidays I have become really, really fast! Living to race, racing to live./s/ Murphy The Racing Beagle

To subscribe directly, hit your "reply" button, give your name, and say "Sign me up!"  SBRNYCU is free.
You may reprint or forward all or any part of this publication, but please give credit to:
               SOUTHERN BAY RACING NEWS YOU CAN USE, Lin McCarthy, Editor