ISORA News Items all in date order.
The latest Results for Race No. 5 are published here .....
see the race YB tracks again here ..
and your race photos here ...
The latest Results for Race No. 4 are published here ..... see the race YB tracks again here
Race 4 in ISORA’s Averycrest Offshore Series 2017 took place on Saturday 27th May. From the original entry list of 36 boats, 28 confirmed starting. However 6 boats pulled out at the last minute.
For the week leading up to the race, the weather forecasts were predicting southerly winds. There was also extremely strong tides that day.
As the day of the race approached the different sources of weather forecast varied widely. Some were predicting northerly winds, some southerly and other westerly. In wind strength, the forecasts varied for 0 to 25 knots!! Rain and no rain was also forecast. The feeling was that there was going to be light conditions at the start anyway and the fleet would be punished by the exceptional tide while trying to make their way south.
This uncertain weather with the strong tides was a major factor in the reason why some boats pulled out.
Due to the conditions forecast the course was:
Start at Dun Laoghaire
Muglins (S)
South Arklow (S)
Finish in Arklow
The start was provided by at DBSC Pier mark by Larry Power and Barry MacNeaney. Just prior to the race the weather readings from the Dublin Bay Buoy was 2-3 knots South West. In preparation of this start scenario, where the entire fleet would be push back from the line at the start and not able to cross it, The Sailing Committee decided to invoke the “ISORA starting protocol”. In this protocol the committee boat would stand down at 10 minutes after the start signal and after that, any boats that have not crossed the start line would leave the pin end to (P).
Obviously the “Wind Gods” favour ISORA and Offshore Racing as they provided 5 knots westerly immediately before the start that was sufficient to propel the fleet under spinnaker towards the Muglins. However, even the Wind Gods can change their mind and the wind dropped soon after the start.
This drop in wind scattered the fleet, with some boats heading in towards land to get out of the foul tide while others hunted out to sea in search of zephyrs. It took over one and a half hours for the first boat to complete the 1.5miles to the Muglins.
It was Andrew Halls’s “Jackknife” and Chris Power-Smith’s “Aurelia” who appeared to dominate the position at the Muglins. Paul O’Higgins “Rockabill VI” who had taken the land side appeared to be stall against the land only to accelerate across Dalkey Sound and nudge in behind the leading boats.
At this stage the wind started to build to 5-7 Knots Northerly and just enough to allow most of the fleet to make progress south against the tide.
For such a huge tide, the tidal currents did not appear to be generally exceptional? As the fleet approached Wicklow Head the wind disappeared completely. Fortunately the tide had now started to ebb and was helping the fleet south. Despite no wind, the locally strong tides around Wicklow Head pushed the fleet south past the head at nearly 5.0 knots!!! Adding to the challenge of the race, torrential rain fell on the fleet around Wicklow.
The next decision after passing Wicklow Head was what side of the Arklow Bank would boats go? The decision was mostly easily made as boats “found” themselves one side or the other in the slack winds.
The next twist came at the Arklow Bank when suddenly the wind appeared from the West and increased rapidly to 20-24 knots. The boats that had found themselves in at the shore were now reaching fast towards South Arklow while those outside the Arklow Bank were beating for the mark.
Again at the South Arklow buoy, the enormity of the south going tide was obvious as boats “crabbed” around the mark trying to avoid hitting it!!
The final 10 mile leg to the finish in Arklow was a fetch in the strong westerly winds. As the first boats finished, the tide had turned again assisting those boats towards the back of the fleet.
“Jackknife” took line honours will Colm Buckley’s J109 “Indian”, who had no YB tracker fitted, took IRC Overall and Class 1. Two more J109’s, Peter Dunlop’s “Mojito” and Roger Smith’s “Wakey Wakey” took 2nd and 3rd place IRC Overall and Class 1. Paul O’Higgings “Rockabill VI” took IRC Class 0 while Joe Conway’s “Elandra” took Class 2.
The new “ISORA Progressive ECHO” proved to work well with Brian Hett’s “Oystercatcher” taking ECHO Overall and Class 1 while “Elandra” took 2nd ECHO Overall and Class 2 and Grant Kinsman’s “Thalia” took ECHO 3rd Overall and Class 0.
The ISORA fleet had not been to Arklow before but they were met with a huge welcome from Mark Fallon, Commodore of Arklow Sailing Club and all the members there. The large numbers of tired sailors who made their way to the very comfortable Clubhouse were reward with a complimentary BBQ and some live music. All this ensured that another great ISORA Apres Sail took place.
The next race in the Series will be a unique event in that the ISORA Day race will incorporate two other events and have two finishes. Howth YC will provide a start to the ISORA fleet and send them around their Lambay Race course and provide a finish to the Lambay Race off Howth. The fleet will pass though that finish line and proceed to the ISORA race finish line, provided by Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club, that will be located at the mouth of the Dublin Port channel. They are taking part in the Dublin Port Riverfest being organised by Dublin Port. Berthing facilities will be available for competing yachts so they can take part in this festival along the river. Separate entry will be required for the HYC Lambay Race and this can be made online. HYC will be awarding prizes for this part of the race.
Peter Ryan
ISORA Chairman
Photos:
Peter Ryan, Stephen and Thomas Tudor and Andrew Rosewarne “enjoying” the torrential rain on “Sgrech”
Stephen Tudor with Mark Fallon Commodore of ASC announcing the race results.
Another Adventure had a real adventure on the delivery trip to the ISORA race from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire ......
There are great photos of the race in the 'Afloat' article by W M Nixon - here and Y& Y here
The Results are available here
The first offshore race of the ISORA Avery Crest Offshore Championship 2017 took place on the 13th May. 32 boats from the entry list of 36 came to the start line in Holyhead.
The weather forecast was predicting southerly winds increasing fresh to strong later in the day. For the first offshore of the season, and to minimise the exposure of the fleet to the later conditions, the course was chosen to be from the start at Holyhead, taking the M2 weather buoy to port, South Burford to starboard and then to the finish. A distance of 59 miles.
The start at 08.00 was provided by Dawn Russell of Holyhead Sailing Club using the Pier lighthouse and the Clipperra buoy. Despite a huge natural bias on the line for the lighthouse end, boats appeared to be happy spread along the start line in the gusting winds.
Not only was wind going to be the issue for the fleet but a very strong north going tide at the start would push the fleet northwards, turning what should have been a tight spinnaker leg to M2 into a loose fetch. The fleet headed towards M2, some allowing the tide to push them north while others sailed tighter and remained on the rhumb line. Conditions for the first leg were averaging 20knots SSW.
Read more: Race 3 – ISORA Averycrest Offshore Series 2017 Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire
36 boats have entered the first ISORA Offshore race to take place next Saturday. The race will be approximately 60miles depending on the weather, starting in Holyhead and finishing in Dun Laoghaire.
Check out the Provisional Competitor list here This list shows all 2017 competitors with IRC and ECHO ratings.
The fleet is a great cross section, from classic to high tech and from small to large, demonstrating the range of boats that are interested in racing offshore. The newly adopted “ISORA Progressive ECHO” will ensure a greater spread of prizes for the race with prizes for six classes and trophy for Overall as well as the famous “Race Winners Jacket”.
The gathering of such a large numbers of boats and their crew in Holyhead on the Friday evening and again hopefully at the NYC on Saturday evening will generate a great social atmosphere.
At this time there are 34 boats entered for Race 4 on the 27th May. This offshore race is unique as it will start and finish on the Irish side – starting in Dun Laoghaire and finishing in a new port for ISORA, Arklow. We are looking forward to a great reception from Arklow Sailing Club.
By Vicky Ciox (Mojito)
ISORA race 2 was the Pwllheli Castle Race, the first of a three race coastal series within the full ISORA series, and sponsored by Global displays.
The sister race to the Irish side's 'Dun Laoghaire to Wicklow' race also saw light winds and a fair weather forecast. On the pontoons the fleet saw an encouraging 12 kts on the instruments but heading out to the start line at Gimlet rock confirmed that the NW-NNW was going to make things interesting. With winds coming over the hills, flat seas were created but also very light, gusty and shifty conditions.
Chairman’s Report on Race 1 – ISORA Viking Marine Coastal Series 2017 Dun Laoghaire to Wicklow
37 Boats Race in ISORA Day Races
23rd April 2017.
The first race of the Overall ISORA Avery Crest Offshore Championship 2017 was also the first race in the ISORA Viking Marine Coastal Series 2017 and the Royal Alfred Coastal Series 2017. The weather forecast for the race was for little or no wind leaving a very difficult task for the Sailing Committee to set the course.
ISORA dual scores racing using IRC and ECHO
ECHO is a performance based handicapping system administered by the Irish Sailing Association (ISA), the governing Body for the Sport of Boating in Ireland.
ECHO can be very simply summed up as a system that ranks boats in any fleet from fastest to slowest [or vice versa] and handicaps them accordingly. A boat with a higher average speed should always have a higher handicap than a boat with a lower average speed, or, which is the same thing, a boat should not have a lower handicap than a boat that regularly finishes behind it - on the water.
This principle is explained in greater detail in the document here. It answers the basic questions about the nature of ECHO and also explains the difference in approach between ECHO and IRC.
ISORA Chairman, Peter Ryan, explained that 'ECHO compliments the ISORA ethos of running many race results out of the same race. All boats will be dual-scored under IRC and ECHO'
Amendment No. 1 Class splits
The Class split for the 2017 ISORA Series will be as follows
Amendment 4 : Group 3 Sailors
The 'Group 3' sailors are redefined as 'ISORA Group 3' - Group 3 sailors are persons who are paid to sail on boats competing in an ISORA race (reasonable expenses allowed. This amends the 'ISORA 2017 Notice of Race and General Conditions'
Explanation: Following the instructions received at the AGM on this matter and in keeping with the Spirit of ISORA, the definition provided by World Sailing for Group 3 has been considered by most skippers to be overly onerous and potentially detrimental to the growth and advancement of ISORA.
National Yacht Club Wednesday 19th April at 19.30 in JB Room.
Speakers - Prof O'Connell North Sails
Kenneth Rumball - Irish National Sailing School
Reception after
Essential for all skippers and crew doing the race. A great opportunity for potential crew to meet skippers
All welcome
See you there
Follow this link here for a A QUICK OVERVIEW of the SIGNIFICANT RULE and GAME CHANGES in the 2017-2020 RACING RULES OF SAILING by Dave Perry excerpted from Dave Perry’s Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing through 2020 available from the US Sailing Store (www.ussailing.org or 1-800 US SAIL-1)
Now that the days are getting longer it is time to think about sailing. We have a great race schedule for 2017 that combines with many top class regattas. Details can be found on the ISORA website.
Two significant events took place over the winter. The first is that Global Displays Ltd generously provided 10 new YellowBrick tracker units to ISORA. They are to be used for the Coastal Races that take place on the Welsh side. This now means that ALL ISORA races will be tracked using this technology.
The second is that we will be using “Progressive ECHO” rating in all races this season. It is hoped that this performance based rating will produce a greater spread in the results and prizes. Much work has been done with the help of Denis Kiely to re-run all last season’s results under the ECHO rating to ensure that those boats who have not used ECHO in the past will have their appropriate performance handicap for the first race, based on their last year’s ISORA performance.
Most boats in Ireland would have an ECHO rating issued with their IRC Rating for the Irish Sailing Association (ISA). To encourage UK boats to take part in the ECHO rating, ISORA have negotiated an initial fee for the ECHO rating of €10 for those UK boats competing in ISORA. Applications for the ECHO rating should be made through ISORA.
One of the highlights of the season will be the D2D Race on the 14th June. The official launch of this race is on the 4th April in the NYC. All ISORA sailors are very welcome to attend.
Our Pre-Season Talk and Reception takes place in the NYC on the 19th April at 19.30. The theme of the talk with be “Preparation and Navigation for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle (D2D) Race. Maurice “Prof” O’Connell (North Sails) will give a talk. This will be of huge interest for anyone considering taking part in this race. It will also a great social occasion where Skippers and Crew get together at the start of the season. Also attending will be people looking for positions on offshore boats in 2017.
Read more: ISORA Acvery Crest 2017 - Introduction - ISORA Season 2017
We have a great race schedule for 2018 that combines with many top class regattas. Details can be found on the ISORA website.
Two significant events took place over the winter. The first is that Global Displays Ltd generously provided 10 new YellowBrick tracker units to ISORA. They are to be used for the Coastal Races that take place on the Welsh side. This now means that ALL ISORA races will be tracked using this technology.
The second is that we will be using “Progressive ECHO” rating in all races this season. It is hoped that this performance based rating will produce a greater spread in the results and prizes. Much work has been done with the help of Denis Kiely to re-run all last season’s results under the ECHO rating to ensure that those boats who have not used ECHO in the past will have their appropriate performance handicap for the first race, based on their last year’s ISORA performance.
Most boats in Ireland would have an ECHO rating issued with their IRC Rating for the Irish Sailing Association (ISA). To encourage UK boats to take part in the ECHO rating, ISORA have negotiated an initial fee for the ECHO rating of €10 for those UK boats competing in ISORA. Applications for the ECHO rating should be made through ISORA.
One of the highlights of the season will be the D2D Race on the 14th June. The official launch of this race is on the 4th April in the NYC. All ISORA sailors are very welcome to attend.
Our Pre-Season Talk and Reception takes place in the NYC on the 19th April at 19.30. The theme of the talk with be “Preparation and Navigation for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle (D2D) Race. Maurice “Prof” O’Connell (North Sails) will give a talk. This will be of huge interest for anyone considering taking part in this race. It will also a great social occasion where Skippers and Crew get together at the start of the season. Also attending will be people looking for positions on offshore boats in 2017.
The following is an article in the Irish Times by David Branigan
Evidence of a continued resurgence in offshore racing will not be in short supply this season as a new trend appears to suggest a trend away from short inshore races and regattas. Fixture list congestion could also be linked to the dropping numbers in the latter.Offshore races involving overnight and sometimes weekend commitments seem to be returning to vogue having previously been dismissed as too time-consuming for crews with limited free time.
Long legs up sections of coast requiring crews to “sit-out” were often seen as pointless compared to technically “pure” windward-leeward type courses.
Arguments that offshore racing involved more seamanship as well as valuable delivery miles gained little popular support. More recently however, the biennial Royal Ocean Racing Club’s (RORC) Rolex Fastnet Race has seen a capacity entry received in record time.
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