For additional information contact:  Lin McCarthy, (757) 850-4225

Southern Bay Racing News You Can Use   # 472

SBRNYCU is an independent weekly publication of southern Chesapeake Bay racing happenings. Founded in April, 2000.

The 2010 season starts with  New Year's Day races.  Get crew, gear, boat, and skipper lined up now!   New Year's Eve celebrations can cause "convenient" memory losses i.e.  "I said I would do WHAT on January 1st?"

STARDANCER,   COOL CHANGE,  SCOUNDREL, and  FAITH  won their fleets in the 32nd Annual GABOON RACE  yesterday.  What was billed by the weather experts as a likely  bitter cold day turned out to be, for most of the racers,  not too bad.  The downwind, down current start in  Hampton River caught some thrill-seekers unaware as they surged over the line ahead of their assigned starting time.  There were several in the fleet of 23 who had to re-start.  Stardancer, John Blais' Beneteau,  was first to finish  the pursuit race followed by Richard Payne's J105, Flying Colors, and Phil Briggs' J36, Feather.   Fleet Results:  PHRF A  - 1(and overall winner) John Blais, Stardancer;  2.Richard Payne, Flying Colors; 3.Phil Briggs, Feather.   PHRF B - 1.Rusty Burshell, Cool Change; 2.Bill Gibbings, Jonathan;  3.Ben Cuker, Callinectes. PHRF C - 1.Cliff Porter, Scoundrel;  2.Mike Klopf, PDQ;  3.Tom Wood, Sarenda.   PHRF Non-Spin - 1. Jerry Lotz, Faith; 2.Tony Thornton, TL Sea.  Event Chair - Phil Briggs; Race Committee - John McCarthy, Buk Lawrence, Dick Boykin, and Lin McCarthy.   Mark Boat - Marshall Findley and Sue Downing. 

Murphy the Racing Beagle's first cousin, Beagle Lucy Lawson, and escort Jack Russell Terrier Boo-Boo Wilkins, who raced in the Gaboon on Number 2, were honorary celebrities at the first annual Murphy's Sail Sockless Challenge gathering Sunday morning.  Beagle Lucy's appearance was facilitated by  Eddie Williams of the Doyle Sail Loft (Hampton).  Lucy was resplendent in her red and blue cold weather boating gear (purchased for the occasion by her "peeps", Greg and Pam Lawson).     A photograph of the group of MSSC racers was made for posterity and will be available for scrutiny at Challenges to come.   The Racing Enquirer  has reported that Lucy and Boo-Boo seemed quite taken with one another.  Watch the canine tabloids for details on this.

DOWN THE BAY 2010 officials have announced a new event co-chair from the southern Bay.  Graham Garrenton (Hampton YC) will take up the duties previously handled by 2009 co-chair Vince Behm.  Graham will serve as co-chair  with Wayne Bretsch, Storm Trysail Club, Chesapeake Station.  Also, returning for 2010 are starting line race officer Dick Neville and PRO /  finish line race officer John McCarthy.    The start of  Down the Bay 2010 will be Friday, May 28.   Officials will likely move the actual start area closer into the Annapolis harbor, near the Naval Academy.  Other than that change, racers can expect the event format to be essentially the same as last year's very successful 60th anniversary event.

The skipper and crew of  one of the GABOON RACE boats, TL SEA, Tony Thornton's Catalina 31, traveled upwind in cold,cold air for almost two hours from Portsmouth to Hampton to get to the starting line yesterday.  They explained, upon arrival at the pre-race gathering, that they were especially  race-ready.  They had saved considerable weight by not carrying ice for the beer.  That IS looking on the bright (and light) side!

Find yourself... and other boats too!  From Ken Knull  (he and Karen own and operate Yankee Point Sailboat Marina) comes some interesting information on a new Gamin product.  The following is reprinted from Yankee Point News, December 1, 2009 issue.  Ken Knull's comments:    "Garmin has announced the introduction of a new product that is worthy of note:  the Garmin AIS 600 Automatic Identification System Transceiver - I can tell you from recent personal experience on a delivery to the Bahamas that AIS beats the heck out of Radar in that everything that you want to know about a vessel in your area can be displayed.  It provides everything from ship course, speed and CPA to the ship's name so that you can contact them.  That is HUGE when a 990 foot tanker is bearing down on you in the middle of the night!  Add a new level of safety and convenience to your vessel with this black box AIS transceiver which allows mariners to receive AIS target data as well as transmit their own vessel information to other AIS receivers in their area.  The AIS 600 aids in collision avoidance by helping users track and contact anyone in the area who has a VHF radio and MMSI number.  Mariners can now rest easy knowing that they have visibility of boat traffic around them and that they can be seen by other vessels while at sea.  The AIS 600 is NMEA 2000 certified and is easily added to the existing NMEA 2000 network.    Once installed, the AIS 600 is controlled via chart plotter display - giving you all the information you need right at your fingertips.  In addition, the AIS 600 comes with a built-in active splitter that allows one VHF antenna to serve both the AIS 600 and any VHF radio with minimal signal loss to give users more space to make installation easy without the need for additional hardware."

Don't hide from PHRF.  Early in the coming year  PHRF of the Chesapeake will be sending out  RATING RENEWAL packages for the 2010 season.  If your mailing address has changed, please call the PHRF office at (410) 414-3270 and leave your new/changed address on the message machine.  Do it now,  they're beggin' ya!

Sailing: Speed and Passion - An Evening with Gary Jobson   January 21, 2010   7:30 P.M. Huntington Room at The Mariners' Museum   $15 for Mariners’ Museum Members, $20 for non-members.  Gary Jobson, President of US SAILING, world class sailor, television commentator and author, has written 16 sailing books and is Editor at Large of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines. He has won many championships in one design classes, the America's Cup with Ted Turner in 1977, the infamous Fastnet Race and many of the world's ocean races.  This award-winning sailor has been ESPN's sailing commentator since 1985. Gary is also the National Chairman of The Leukemia Cup Regatta, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's sailing program. Doors open at 6:30 P.M., light reception to follow lecture. For more information contact Bryan Hill at bhill@MarinersMuseum.org or 757-591-7749.   FOR TICKETS CALL TMM Gift Shop (Wed - Sun) at 757-591-7792.

MURPHY SEMINAR 2010  heads-up.  Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 20, 2010, for the annual MURPHY RACING SEMINAR.  MURPHY 2010 will feature a virtual trip around the race course emphasizing the relationship between rules and tactics at key points along the way.   MURPHY 2010 will be hosted by Norfolk Yacht & Country Club.

MURPHY'S LAW: Yrs Truly, the Racing Beagle  has ordered the jingle bell tail tip tassel,  the reindeer antlers head band, and  the holly berry neck bandana.  This racing beagle is HOWL-IDAY READY!!     /S/  Murphy the Racing Beagle, the sailing spirit in us all.

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SOUTHERN BAY RACING NEWS YOU CAN USE,  Lin McCarthy, Editor