Harlan Lachman wrote:

After more than a 30 year absence as crew, I find that I will be racing
my boat in PHRF club races this season -- almost all windward - leward
races.

snip
Thoughts?

harlan


Borrow the local expert?

Gene's right about the rules. They were totally re-written a few years
ago, and bear little resemblance to the ColRegs.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:
Harlan Lachman wrote:

After more than a 30 year absence as crew, I find that I will be
racing my boat in PHRF club races this season -- almost all windward -
leward races.
Thoughts?

Gene's right about the rules. They were totally re-written a few years
ago, and bear little resemblance to the ColRegs.

Agreed, if the OP hasn't raced since the rules were revised in 1997 he
should definitely learn the new version. It is quite substantially
different from what was in effect before and if he tries to play be the
old rules he'll be in a world of hurt.

But I'm not sure if starting with the full-blown RRS is the best use of
his time - the rules in brief available at
http://www.ussailing.org/rules/RulesInBrief.htm is enough for most
situations. Better to spend his time and energy on figuring out how to
make the boat go fast. So I'd suggest that he learn the bowlderized
version of the rules, then try to stay out of sticky situations, get
clear air and concentrate on makeing the boat go fast.

//Walt

Walt wrote:
Andy Champ wrote:

Harlan Lachman wrote:

After more than a 30 year absence as crew, I find that I will be
racing my boat in PHRF club races this season -- almost all windward
- leward races.
Thoughts?


Gene's right about the rules. They were totally re-written a few
years ago, and bear little resemblance to the ColRegs.


Agreed, if the OP hasn't raced since the rules were revised in 1997 he
should definitely learn the new version. It is quite substantially
different from what was in effect before and if he tries to play be the
old rules he'll be in a world of hurt.

But I'm not sure if starting with the full-blown RRS is the best use of
his time - the rules in brief available at
http://www.ussailing.org/rules/RulesInBrief.htm is enough for most
situations. Better to spend his time and energy on figuring out how to
make the boat go fast. So I'd suggest that he learn the bowlderized
version of the rules, then try to stay out of sticky situations, get
clear air and concentrate on makeing the boat go fast.

//Walt

Perhaps I was a bit too inclusive in my comment about the rules. It is
certainly not necessary to understand the pages and pages of stuff from
the middle of the book onward. However, every racer should have a copy
of the RRS, and every racer should have a pretty good understanding of
Part 2. Part 3 is a good idea as well, but not as important as Part 2.

Gene Fuller