Couta Boats

This is the ONB – Official Notice Board 2018-19. Couta Boat sailors can find all the relevant information below regarding upcoming races. For those unfamiliar with Couta boats, please click here to find out more about our Club.

Notice to Competitors 26C: Weather and Abandonment. See below.

 Join WhatsApp Couta Boats 18-19

• NOR-SIs 2018-19
• Course sheets 2018-19
• Enter here
  See who’s entered
• SSCBC – Cat 7 Couta Safety Dec
•  SSCBC Performance Handicap Rules V12
  NOTIFY Crew or equipment changes
  Handicap Adjustments made

PROTESTS

Portsea Cup Protest 1 
Protest Decision 2
Protest Decision 3

OTHER

• SSCBC Race Management Policies .
• Safety and Rules Information
• Information night presentation Oct 2018

Winter Series RSI -18-19

5-5-19 11:00 BOX 

19-5-19 11:00 BOX

26-5-19 11:00 BOX

2-6-19 11:00 BOX
Notice to Competitors 26A: Winter Series / Gill Midwinters- First Warning Signal Times: An RSI will be issued closer to sailing.

Notice to Competitors 26B:  RSI June 8-9 2019 Couta Boats V1

Notice to Competitors 26C: Weather and Abandonment on 9 June:

If the Strong Wind Warning is current at the 5:10 am  Port Phillip forecast update, Couta Boat racing will be abandoned on Sunday without the need for any further notice.

The BOM Strong Wind Warning appears to be based on conditions that are predicted to be in our race area at our race time.

As the conditions are colder and include sailing with more congestion, it is appropriate to abandon Couta Boat Racing if the Strong Wind Warning is current at  the 5.10 am forecast update.

8-6-19 TBA TBA 11:50 OW – Sorrento Gill  Midwinters

9-6-19 TBA TBA 10:50 OW – Sorrento Gill Midwinters

17-11-18 14:00 A OW
Notice to competitors

Sam Byrne & Ted Seibereisen Memorial Trophies

Opening Day Schedule

1100hrs – Official ceremony commences in the dining room, including announcement of Junior Club Captains for 2018/19, Commodore’s and Club Captain’s address.

Dinghy and Couta Boat briefings follow immediately after the Official Opening

1215hrs – Official guests and committee members board Moonraker

1245hrs – Sail past commences

1300hrs – Dinghies 1st Warning Signal 

1330hrs – Couta Boats 1st Warning Signal

The old text message system will no longer be used – Join WhatsApp Couta Boats 18-19 here

Notice NO 11 Around Mud Island race has changed to Laid Course Racing at SSCBC new warning time of 1400. On water Start, Standard SI’s   – due to weather conditions.

Notice to Competitors Pursuit Races 18-19

24-11-2018 – Notice to Competitors

As there is a Strong Wind Warning current at the 5:10 am BOM Forecast update this morning, Couta Boat Racing has been abandoned.

A number of boat crews are still coming down to the club for lunch regardless, why not join them?

  Notice to competitors 23/11/18 at 1520hrs.

Venue has moved from Portsea to Sorrento.

We will continue to monitor the weather as the BOM has issued a strong wind warning for Saturday 24 November. A decision will be made after the 0540hrs bulletin on Saturday morning and a notice posted on this board and posted to the Whatsapp group at that time.

For further information on the Race Management Policies, please click here.

 Notice to Competitors No 16
Lacco Cup – Change to Race Management Policy – Weather

16B – Sunday Morning Update 9.00 am
It’s all looking good and following the trends for racing. South Channel is reading higher than any of the ships passing it and it looks quite suitable at the club – See you down here for a Box Start and fixed mark course followed by BBQ.

NTC 16 – Summary

• The current forecast and warnings indicate there are likely to be good sailing conditions at the scheduled time for racing off Sorrento.
• They do not look suitable to release boats to set off to the Pinnace Chanel race course area at the time they would need to.
• Racing location has been moved to Sorrento.
• Regardless of a Strong Wind Warning at 5.40 am on Saturday morning we will proceed with Couta Boat racing as scheduled.
• The Race Committee will determine whether to abandon racing or shorten course based on the revised forecasts and models and the actual conditions.
• Further updates will be posted here and notified via WhatsApp in the morning.

Detailed explanation

The BOM has issued a Strong Wind Warning for Sunday. Looking at the forecast and all of the models, the warning is for early Sunday Morning, abating for race time.

The Strong Wind Warning is very likely to remain in place for the remainder of today and part of Sunday morning.

This is forecast as strong wind over night and then easing in the morning.

Therefore, in these forecast conditions, racing will not be automatically cancelled if there is a Strong Wind Warning current at the 5.40 am BOM forecast update, however racing conditions will be monitored to ensure that conditions are safe to head out to the race course and continuously throughout the day to manage safety. That does not change. 

8-12-18 12:00 A OW 2 races Capel Sound
Raft up and presentation at BYS straight after racing.
Happy hour will be brought to you by the Wooden Boat Shop – So duck into the marina and enjoy the series completion.
Tender ducks will operate extended hours so you don’t have to rush back to your mooring.

BYS Berthing

The eastern side of pier is available as well as

Some BYS berths listed below
please use only these as others may belong to racing yachts out on course
A65,66,68
B 64,65,67,70
C59,60,62,63,64,
D64
Plus the Tee ends will be available to use

24-11-18 12:00 A OW 2 races Portsea – Abandoned

1-12-18 14:00 A BOX SSCBC – Sternchaser
(preceded by Couta Conversation)

Sternchaser Race Sailing Instruction (RSI) here

WBS Sternchaser Start times

The old text message system will no longer be used – Join WhatsApp Couta Boats 18-19 here –  Share with your crew.

24-11-18 12:00 A OW 2 races Portsea

15-12-18 14:00 P BOX (N/A)
(P=Pursuit race)

22-12-18 14:00 P BOX  Start Times

9-2-19 14:00 P BOX Abandoned

16-3-19 14:00 A OW 

6-4-19 12:00 A OW 2 races

20-4-19 12:00 A OW 2 races

Book for Presentation night here

27-4-19 12:00 A OW 2 races

Admin

27-12-18 10:00 OW
Start off SSCBC and arrive in time to watch M2H and M2L races

RSI Dash to the Heads -18

RSI CBA Nationals 2018 – Race Sailing Instructions

28-12-18 12:00 A OW CBA 2 races

29-12-18 12:00 A OW CBA 2 races

Presentation Drinks on western lawn after racing.

30-12-18 11:00 A OW CBA (TBA races – resail if needed)

RSI South Channel Race 2019

We have changed to an On the Wind start

1-1-19 A PA BOX OW South Chanel
Div 2 warning 13:00
Div 1 warning 13:30

3-1-19 TBA OW

NOTICE TO COMPETITORS

RACE SAILING INSTRUCTIONS

Protest Time Limits
Div 1 – 17:11
Div 2 17:00
Portsea Cup Protest 1

The scheduled First Warning Signal is changed to 14:00 hrs.

There will be an Information Session at 11.30 at the club

5-1-19 14:00 A OW CBA Portsea

9:00 Portsea Cup Breakfast

6-1-19 10:00 A OW CBA Portsea (Resail)

12:00 Picnic and Presentation at Quarantine

Race Sailing Instructions

12-1-19 14:00 A OW

13-1-19 12:00 A OW  (Resail)

19-1-19  14:00 OW

RSI Gill NEXT GEN 2019 V1

• Registration – Training Centre       11:00 – 12:00
• Briefing – Coloured wall 12:30
• First Warning Signal Div. 1             14:00
• First Warning Signal Div. 2             Follows
• Presentation follows racing

26-1-19 A PA OW  Portsea – Sorrento- Rye **
Change to Start – will be off Portsea Pier

RSI Race Sailing Instructions 3 Piers 2019 V1.

Briefing- Coloured Wall 12:00
Div 2 warning 13:30
Div 1 warning 14:00

No re-sail but there will be a twilight at 1600 on Sunday

27-1-19 A PA BOX  (Resail) **
Div 2 warning 12:00
Div 1 warning 12:30

Notice to Competitors Pursuit Races 18-19

26-12-18 17:00 P BOX –

4-1-19 16:00 P BOX – ABANDONED

11-1-19 16:00 P BOX –

18-1-19 16:00 P BOX –

25-1-19 16:00 P BOX – POSTPONED
Due to the strong wind warning and the weather models predicting gusty patterns around the time of the start, the race is postponed until Sunday.

27-1-19 16:00 P BOX – NEW –   START TIMES
We realise many people might have plans and this won’t work but for others, it could be a great chance to have another sail over the long weekend.
Because these are stand-alone races and not part of a series score we can just schedule races when we think people might want to sail.
Hope we have some boats get out for a sail and have some fun.

   FRED    Admin

2-2-19 A PA OW  Mud Island  Sorrento

Div 1 warning 12:00  now 1400

Div 2 warning 11:30 Immediately after Div 1

RSI will be released later in the week   Standard Course Racing from Season SI’s

16-2-19 14:00 A OW

PHOTOS

23-2-19 14:00 A OW

  Notice to Competitors 21: Racing still going ahead for Lacco Cup – Change to Race Management Policy.

• The current forecast and warnings indicate there are likely to be good sailing conditions at the scheduled time for racing off Sorrento tomorrow morning.
• Regardless of a Strong Wind Warning at 5.40 am on Sunday morning we will proceed with Couta Boat racing as scheduled.
• The Race Committee will determine whether to abandon racing or shorten course based on the revised forecasts and models and the actual conditions.
• Further updates will be posted here and notified via WhatsApp in the morning.

Detailed explanation

The BOM has issued a Strong Wind Warning for Sunday. Looking at the forecast and all of the models, the warning is for late Sunday Evening.

The Strong Wind Warning is very likely to remain in place for the remainder of today and part of Sunday morning.

Therefore, in these forecast conditions, racing will not be automatically cancelled if there is a Strong Wind Warning current at the 5.40 am BOM forecast update, however racing conditions will be monitored to ensure that conditions are safe to head out to the race course and continuously throughout the day to manage safety. That does not change. 

Notice NTC 14 Lacco Cup RSI

It’s all about the boat!

BBQ and discussion to follow racing each day.

MORE DETAILS HERE

17-2-19 11:00 BOX – Completed

24-2-19 11:00 – BOX – Completed

17-3-19 11:00 BOX – Abandoned

24-3-19 11:00 BOX – Paella afterwards – book with Henry.

 Notice to Competitors No 15
Change to Race Management Policy – Weather

Summary

• The current forecast and warnings indicate good sailing conditions at the scheduled time for racing and a breeze that builds in the evening that will be unsuitable for racing.
• Regardless of a Strong Wind Warning at 5.40 am on Saturday morning we will proceed with Couta Boat racing as scheduled.
• The Race Committee will determine whether to abandon racing or shorten course based on the revised forecasts and models and the actual conditions.
• Lacco Cup on Sunday is still being monitored.

Detailed explanation

The BOM has issued a Strong Wind Warning for Saturday. Looking at the forecast and all of the models, the warning is for Saturday evening. The conditions predicted during the YPO and then the Aggregate look to be very good, with a very comfortable buffer as the breeze builds.

The Strong Wind Warning is very likely to remain in place for the remainder of today and tomorrow.

As this is a building breeze, as opposed to a southerly change and front coming through, there are much lower risks of being hit by unexpected gusts and wind that are locally stronger than the prediction.

It context, we have had a number of days this season when we have conducted dinghy racing with a strong wind warning like this and even on two occasions with Gale Warnings and successfully monitored the weather to ensure the Dinghies are ashore before the front arrives. We have also called off racing the day before  on a couple of days, because the forecast would not provide a suitable window aligned to racing where we would be comfortable sending the boats afloat.

Therefore, in these forecast conditions, racing will not be automatically cancelled if there is a Strong Wind Warning current at the 5.40 am BOM forecast update, however racing conditions will be monitored continuously throughout the day to manage safety. That does not change. 

Lacco Cup – we are still monitoring the forecast conditions for the Lacco Cup – That forecast is different as the predicted weather will need to ease to be suitable for a decision to race and we will need to consider Queenscliff boats that are scheduled to set off at 9.00 am on Sunday.

Click here to see the Meteye and Predictwind models we considered.

2-3-19 14:00 A OW
Our She Sails @ Regatta is on this weekend
BYS – WASZP Racing Area

 RSI – RSI Race Sailing Instructions
NTC 18B: Weather update

The forecasts and models for sailing weather are variable with quite a few disagreements between them.

As such we will simply run with the planned schedule for First Warning Signals and consider the conditions each morning. There is no conclusive data to support changes to the race schedule at this stage.

Socially, boats and competitors should be aware that we may postpone racing due to weather conditions and we may finish later than usual as the event is the CBA State Championships.

Peroni Bar after racing each day and after race snacks with compliments of the CBA & SSCBC at presentation on Sunday.

9-3-19 12:00 A OW CBA 2 races

10-3-19 12:00 A OW CBA 2 races

11-3-19 11:00 Provision for Re-Sail A OW CBA – The RSI details the conditions under which the re-sail day will be used.

NEXT CONVERSATION – The Debrief!
16-3-19 10:30 Training Room

Our final Couta Conversation will be a debrief – with video- about some of the incidents that occurred over the season and it should be a pretty lively conversation too.

On the weekend we had a couple of incidents, some of them captured on Video that make for a great conversation.

We had a few boats join in the conversation about what happened with the windward mark touch, what they thought should have happened, what didn’t happen from the umpire and what would have happened in a protest hearing. And all the answers were different!

We’ll debrief this and explain why no umpire penalty was given but a DSQ would have occurred in a protest… This is the difference between the certainty required for an umpire penalty to be awarded and the balance of probabilities test that a protest committee uses.

We’ve also got footage from a contentious All Clear start where one boat was convinced Ripple was OCS – That old parallax chestnut.

On the subject of OCS, we had an incorrect OCS call -Identified the wrong boat – We’ll step through what the boat could have done about it and how the Scoring Enquiry system works.

(RRS 90. 3 (c) – When the race committee determines from its own records or observations that it has scored a boat incorrectly, it shall correct the error and make the corrected scores available to competitors.)

And finally we’ll explain the two different forms of exoneration, in particular automatic exoneration under RRS21 – (Exoneration: When a boat is sailing within the room or mark-room to which she is entitled, she shall be exonerated if, in an incident with a boat required to give her that room or mark-room,

1. she breaks a rule of Section A [rules 10-13], rule 15 or rule 16, or
2. she is compelled to break rule 31.)

RRS 10 – Opposite Tacks – Port / Starboard

RRS 11 – Same Tack – Windward / Leeward

RRS 12 – Same Tack – Clear Ahead

RRS 13 – While Tacking

RRS 15 – Acquiring Right of Way

RRS 16 – Changing Course

RRS 31 – Touching a Mark

16-3-19 10:30 Training Room

Past Couta Conversations

18-10-18 18:00 – 19:30 – Couta Boat Information Session at Sandringham Yacht Club:
Your Safety, Changes to the SIs, New Pursuit Race Handicap System, Aggregate Handicap system changes, Safety Inspections, Race Management Policies
Information night presentation Oct 2018

10-11-18 10:30 hrs Lacco Room + Tune up racing

• Aaron Cole and Ian “Biggles” Johnson from North Sails
• 1030 start time in the Lacco Room
• Coffee available at the bar from 9 am
• Rolls available off the bar from 9 am
• Tune up racing will begin after Couta Conversation.
• Multiple starts, on water coaching.

There will be a presentation and discussion led by Aaron Cole of North Sails.

Aaron will be talking about adjustments to the rig and how this effects control and trimming of the sails. This will be of great value to both “hot shots” and beginners alike. Don’t miss it.

Following the presentation, all Couta Boat skippers and crews are urged to have their boats ready for a “shakedown” sail commencing at approx. 1230 hours. Following some practise starts, on water coaching will be provided. Our aim is to get skippers and crews into the groove for the first aggregate race on Club opening day the following Saturday the 17th.

1-12-18 10:30 Lacco Room

Special guest speaker: Nigel Abbott – to provide some tips and tricks on making your boat go faster!

We’ll also talk about the various ways that boats can resolve disagreements about rules – the turn penalty, post-race scoring penalties, arbitration, protest requirements, validity and when a protest, race or technical committee may, shall not or shall initiate a protest.

Rules disagreements

Nigel’s Talk

1-12-18 10:30 Lacco Room

Special guest speaker: Nigel Abbott – to provide some tips and tricks on making your boat go faster!

We’ll also talk about the various ways that boats can resolve disagreements about rules – the turn penalty, post-race scoring penalties, arbitration, protest requirements, validity and when a protest, race or technical committee may, shall not or shall initiate a protest.

Rules disagreements

Nigel’s Talk

16-2-19 10:30 Lacco Room

Starting: Tom and Greg Chisholm and Ben Fels

Ben will explain what the Race Committee tries to do to get a start away cleanly with Course, Tide, Boat and Wind and Phase bias factors.
Tom and Greg will then talk about the way they assess the course, the line and choices that the Race Committee have provided and then the soft tactical issues such as faster boats to leeward and keeping clear of boats with specific characteristics.
They will round this out with Ben and look at the rules obligations in different tactical scenarios and how to manage obligations, exert rights and keep it friendly for afterwards on the deck.
https://sscbc.com.au/rules-blog/ 

Div 1 2nd General Recall

Div 2 Start

Pope’s Eye is likely to be inside the course

23-3-19 11:00 A OW CBA Queenscliff

30-3-19 14:00 A PA OW

MIXED GEN or Female Helm

13-4-19 14:00 P BOX

To enter the race you must have:

1. A female helm, or
2. A mixed gender crew (equal males and females plus or minus 1)

As this is the school holidays, here’s a great chance to get your kids, grandkids or partners out for a sail. The race is competitive with a pursuit style Box start and removes the start line tension – but not the skill and opportunity provided by a well planned and executed start.

There will be prizes for best start of the day, as well as prizes for female helm as well as mixed gender crew.

22-4-19 11:00 OW

Notice to Competitors 25: 2/3 handed race

Change to sailing instructions

The start will be between Gillie D and a pink mark.

The Course will be windward/leewards, the windward mark will be a fixed yellow mark and the leeward mark will be a pink mark

The course will be announced on VHF and a boat may check the course at any time (Changes rule 41).

The finish will be between the windward mark and Gillie D

Notice to Competitors 25: Winter Series. A strong wind warning has been issued for Port Phillip. The forecast explains and the Predict Wind and Meteye Models show that this warning relates to the weather this evening.

The weather around our race time is predicted to be suitable for racing – though it will be fresh and colder than normal.

Racing on Sunday 2nd  June will continue as scheduled and conditions will be monitored throughout the morning and during racing. We are not guaranteeing beautiful weather but there is no good reason to abandon early.