SMSA Keelboat Race Info
SMSA has a fun, friendly, and competitive keelboat race program. Some of the boats are from new "hot" classes, some are more seasoned, some are more comfortable, dual-purpose racer-cruisers. We are always looking for more boats on the start line and more crew to participate in our informal and formal races. Our boat skippers and crew include novice racers and life-long sailing/racing aficionados. Our racers take a turn at being the Race Committee so everyone has a chance to experience and appreciate race management challenges. Our keelboat fleet is a fun-loving group of club-level racers and guests who are addicted to the sport of sailboat racing and building friendships when we are not racing.
The Keelboat Program Race Circular contains General Sailing and Race Management Instructions for all SMSA races as well as the Special Sailing Instructions (SIs) for each race. Electronic copies of the Circular can be downloaded from the SMSA website. A printed copy of the SMSA Race Circular is provided to those who have paid seasonal keelboat race fees.
SMSA-sponsored bay and river races are open to SMSA members and sponsored guests who have an entry form on file with the race program chairman and either a valid PHRF certificate issued by PHRF of the Chesapeake Bay or an interim PHRF rating issued by SMSA.
River races include the Wednesday Night Series, Frost-Goode, Mixed Couples, Vice Commodore Cup (some years), and the Spring and Fall Frostbite Series. Bay races include middle distance races to Sharps Island, Little Choptank, Hooper Island/Point No Point and Smith Point as well as Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association sanctioned Spring, Summer and Fall Invitational races. We also have spring and fall women's series races that provide a venue for competition / camaraderie / training for women skippers and crews.
Racing classes and identification flags for this racing season are in accordance with PHRF of the Chesapeake publications. PHRF ratings are expressed in seconds-per-mile, deducted from elapsed time to produce corrected times. Corrected time for each boat is calculated by multiplying its elapsed time by its PHRF rating. Corrected times shall be rounded to the nearest second, with 0.5 seconds rounded up. Except where otherwise specified in the SIs, participating boats are divided into PHRF-rated Spinnaker (A, B, C) and Non-Spinnaker (N) classes.
RCs are made up of volunteers on an individual race/event basis. RCs are responsible for the conduct of the race, computing provisional race results, and providing the provisional results to the SMSA Scorer. All racers are expected to share the load of RC duties. All SMSA keelboat racing (dues-paid) owners are expected to serve as RC Principal Race Officer (PRO) (preferably for at least one Wednesday race and one weekend race). If possible, use the website to signup for RC duties. Any questions regarding race conduct should be directed to the PRO for clarification. RC Boat indoctrination/checkout can be scheduled by contacting the Keelboat Race Chair.
In order to ensure fairness in the sport, we follow US Sailing Racing Rules (RRS) and prescriptions that are available for download from the US Sailing website which are amended by our sailing instructions. When there is a violation of these rules or instructions that requires arbitration or a hearing, we appoint a protest committee to hear both sides of the situation and provide an objective and fair application of the rules following all of the US Sailing procedures.
Club-level scoring is described in the Race Circular. We use Normal or Low Point scoring for individual race events, and High Point Percentage scoring to calculate our Season High Point winners. Provisional scores should be sent to score@smsa.com. Our master scorer again this year is John Kriz. Final scores are posted to the SMSA website.
Awards are made to the owner or skipper and yacht when considered as a single entity. Awards will be for first, second, and third place provided that there are three/five/seven starters in a race, respectively. In the event less than three yachts register to compete in an event, a start will be given but there will be no award.
The 2022 Keelboat race schedule , RC signup, and results can be found on the SMSA website.
Please report
any problems to Score@smsa.com
Southern Maryland Sailing Association
PO Box 262, Solomons, Maryland 20688
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