Weekly PHRF Racing - Wednesday Evenings
The weekly PHRF racing program is lumbering back to life. Fixed Marks have been deployed and the season is starting in late June and will run until the third Wednesday of September. First race will be a "blow-out the cobwebs" free race - Wednesday 24 June 2021 - with a 7pm start time. Monitor VHF 71 for race-night details.
Weekly racing runs on Wednesday nights. In 2021 starting on 6/30. Earlier in the season the start time is normally 7pm. But by late August the sun is setting earlier and we usually move the start time up half an hour to 6:30pm.
The LHBC Wednesday night Race Fleet from Wednesday 4 August 2021.
See it in motion at photos.app.goo.gl/n2Y6yBAK7fPfrTwR7Put yourself in the picture. Join us, we're racing through late September!
2021 Wednesday Night Racing Application
Get your Fixed Mark Course Details for 2021 here
For those new to racing here's an introduction to racing provided by the club.
For everyone a handy guide to the signals used during a race.
Weekly PHRF Racing Results
2021-07-28
2021-08-04
2021-08-25
2021-09-08
2021-09-15
Annual "Race the Wrecks" (MAST) Race - July 31, 2021
Annual "Race the Wrecks" (MAST) Race - History
The annual MAST (Race the Wrecks) Race was held Saturday July 27, 2017 with a 10AM start time. Racers went around the full 21.1 nm course counter-clockwise. That is they went from the Lorain Light eastward to the Hickory Stick wreck, then NNW to the resting spot of the Morning Star and thence S back to the Light. Winds were constantly from the SW affording a downwind first leg followed by what ended up being two long reaches on the subsequent legs. How much wind you saw varied on the course. Along the shore it built throughout the day from 10-12 knots to 15 knots and gusts around 20. Offshore the wind was less and not as gusty with a constant 10-12 knots most of the time and rarely higher.
The MAST race is named for the group that depoloys the marks we race around -- the Maritine Archeological Survy Team. They are a non-profit club of amature divers who have marked various wrecks in the area with mooring bouys so that other divers will tie-up rather than drop their anchor on the wreck. The buoys mark the wrecks of Hickory Stick and Morning Star.
Hickory Stick was a barge with a crain on it used for dredging harbors. It went down in the early half of the last century while in tow of a tug in heavy seas. The tub, unable to retrieve the barge, broke their tow and attempted to return to Lorain. Unfortunately the tug also was lost off Lorain and has never been found. The crew were saved.
Morning Star was a side-wheeler passenger vessel that went down in the mid-1800s. The vessel collided with a sailing scow which was bringing iron ore back from the upper lakes. The story has it that a crew member on the scow removed the port navigation lantern in the middle of the night for cleaning. By the time the lantern was returned it was too late and a colision occured. Both vessels sank in short order about 16 miles offshore. Due to the possibilities of a safe and valuables on the Morning Star, that vessel was raised and an attempt was made to tow her back to Lorain. This failed and the boat settled again for the last time to the lake floor about 8 miles north of its destination.
We'll have more on the MAST race including an application in the near future. Check back later.
13th Annual "Tom Gibbs Memorial Kelleys Island" Race - August 21 & 22, 2021
The "Gibbs Race" as it is known at the club is an annual event -- this year in its 13th running -- and tops off the season at the club. The race runs to Kelleys Island (Seaway Marina) on Saturday. There's usually a group dinner on Saturday night. This year it will be held at the Kelleys Island Wine Co, about a 10 minute walk from Seaway. Then Sunday morning the sailors race back to Lorain. This year, due to dockage constraints at Seaway on August 28th, we're running the race on August 21st (a week earlier than usual).
We offer mid-course prizes for the fasted corrected elapse time on the ride up to Kelleys in each class. This is a traditional bottle of rum, the namesake's (Tom Gibbs) drink of choice. The overall prize is awarded to the fastest corrected overall time for the round trip race. And the top three overall finishers in each class are awarded another tradition: the blue, red and yellow ball caps (one for each member of the crew).
Any club member is welcome to come-up to Kelleys to join us for dinner and a little island fun. The last departure for the mainland by the Kelleys Island ferry is usually 11pm so there's plenty of time to meet up with the crews that made the race up earlier that day. Or take your own boat, sail or power, and meet us on Kelleys Island.
COVID-19 is again surging in Ohio. If this trend continues upward we may need to amend or cancel the race.
Learn more and sign-up for the 2021 Gibbs Race here.
Racing Rules of Sailing - 2021-2024 Edition Available
Every four years the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) are updated and a new edition is published. The 2021-2024 edition is now out and available online.
Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) 2021-2024 EditionThere are a number of changes regarding dealing with protests, exhonoration and process. You should check a copy of the rules for these details. For everyone else there are a number of subtle changes to how one conducts themselves on the race course. For a summary of these changes you can check a locally composed summary.
Summary of RRS 2021-2024 Racing ChangesOne of the more significant and universally applicable rule changes is that ONLY the position of the boat's hull on the finish line denotes a finish. It used to be that any part of hull, sails, rigging or crew crossing the finish line can count. That was changed in the current rules.
A reminder, those joining US Sailing in 2021 will automatically get an iPhone/Android app to access the full set of rules.
Club Racing Rules
The club maintains its own set of additional and overriding rules for its weekly racing series. These rules override the basic set found in the current four-year world racing rules update.
LHBC Club Racing Rules
Racing
Sailboat racing has long been a major activity at Lorain Harbor Boat Club. At LHBC we offer weekly and one-off racing for auxiliary and one-design sailboats. One-off racing includes special races that happen once each season such as the Gibbs race to Kelleys Island and the annual Lorain One-Design regatta. Weekly racing is offered to local sailors which, as the category implies, happens once every week.
Our auxiliary fleet races most Wednesday nights from early June through late September. Boats race under a time-handicaping system known as PHRF ("perf"). PHRF stands for the Performance Handcap Racing Fleet. Locally we race under the PHRF-LE (Lake Erie) rules and ratings. Racing happens on a fixed mark course and is timed to mostly happen prior to sunset.
Our one-off races include the following
- The annual Lorain One-Design regatta offers one (sometimes two) days of weekend racing, usually held in July, to boats racing in the "Star," "Interlake," and "Jet-14" one-design classes. The regatta ends with social time, awards and a meal at the clubhouse.
- The annual MAST race sends auxiliary on an off-shore 22 mile triangle around marks that are part of the Ohio "MAST" (Marine Archelogical Survey Team). The non-profit MAST program uses grants and donations to place mooring marks over Lake Erie shipwrecks. This allows amature divers to tie-off to their mooring buoy rather than dropping an anchor which risks damaging the wreck they've come to dive on. LHBC uses the marks to form a 22 mile triangle starting and finishing in the Lorain Harbor.
- New in 2018, we offer a late-July "night race" for auxiliary sailboats. This race is designed to race the fixed mark course in a race that starts and ends after sunset. The race challenges its competitors in their navigational skills. It's a fun race held under the stars and moon. Start at sunset, finish by moonlight.
- An annual classic, the Tom Gibbs Memorial Kelleys Island Race (or "Gibbs race") honors a past member and avid racer of the club, Tom Gibbs. The two-day race takes auxiliary boats on a 25 mile race to Kelleys island where racers share a Saturday evening steak-fry and commradary. Sunday morning the fleet races back to LHBC. The overall trophy is awarded to the fastest, round-trim corrected time. This annual race runs in late August and is a season topper for our fleet.
In addition to our club races, LHBC has a history of hosting various national one-design championships. Most recently for the Star, Interlake and Jet-14 classes. These races are awarded to clubs by the national classes and rotate around clubs that post a bid from year to year.