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The 2004 racing season has concluded with some significant changes in the top spots for the Mass Bay Sailing Season Championship. Of the five racing classes and two cruising classes, there are five new first place winners in Class A, C, D, E and F. While the overall numbers remained about the same, many events had four or more boats in most, if not all the classes. Congratulations to this season's winners:

Class A SCHERHERAZADE Hugh and Betsy Chandler
  KATABATIC Gordon Hall
     
Class B GOLDENEYE Peter Engel
  GOLDENEYEHOT SPUR Phil DiCarlo
  FAMILY AFFAIR Paul McMahon
     
Class C LITTLE TIGER David Nelson
  GOLD WATCH Horst Lachmayr
  ATLANTEA David Felsenthal
     
Class D BLIXTEN Bruce Baker
  FALL LINE Jack Cochrane
  BLAT NA MARA Bob Foley
     
Class E SHENANIGAN Bob Maxwell
  BARRA Jim and Jan MacNeill
  PTERODACTYL Paul Smith
     
Class F SOLSTICE David Gardner
     
Class G NONPAREIL Tom Anderson
  FACET Tom Tetrault
  AKEEPAH Jody Graul

Midweek racing on Wednesday and Thursday nights is far more popular than the weekend events. Racers have other interests or commitments on weekends and weeknights are just easier to attract crew. Willie Sutton robbed banks because that was where the money was located. Mass Bay Sailing continues to explore what it can do to support the efforts that are being made by the organizers of midweek racing on the north and south shores and in Boston Harbor. Jubilee Yacht Club and Boston Yacht Club attract 40 and occasionally 50 or more boats in their evening series, including some one- design classes. Hingham Bay PHRF has 30 or more boats on a Wednesday night. Boston Harbor has racing in the inner harbor sponsored by Constitution Yacht Club and Cottage Park Yacht Club runs its races in the outer harbor. Scituate Sailing attracts 20 or more boats on a Wednesday night.

The Eastern Yacht Club was very successful in getting out the boat for its Annual Regatta on the Fourth of July with 48 entries. I was told that the membership list was divided among three or four club officers who called members on the telephone to personally ask for their support in their club's annual race. It seemed to pay off. Boston Yacht Club's Beringer Bowl, organized by Phil DiCarlo several years ago as an overnight destination race to Provincetown, once again exceeded fifty boats. Jubilee Yacht Club hosted 38 boats in its weekend regatta and 44 in the Phil Small. The newly combined Corinthian 200 - Chapman Bowl started 30 monohulls in its first year. This destination race will begin in either Marblehead or Scituate and finish at the other location.

Pursuit races or modified pursuit formats are becoming more and more popular. Hull Yacht Club's Great Chase Race had over 100 entries and more than 60 boats started the race even though it was postponed from Saturday to Sunday. The Crocker Memorial held in Manchester is another fun event that even has wooden boats. It, too, has seen over a hundred entries in the recent past. The Flip Flop Regatta, a charity event for the Ally Foundation, is a pursuit format and is also growing in popularity. Boston Yacht Club's Wednesday's Child Benefit Regatta, another pursuit race, continues to see good numbers.

In both 2000 and 2001, only four boats rating above 140 sailed in the PHRF New England Championships. An agreement was reached last year with the event organizers at PHRF-NE that the race splits in two classes would conform to the ratings of Mass Bay Sailing Class D and Class E. In 2003 there were 12 Class D boats and 8 Class E boats in the event. This year there were 16 Class D boats and 9 Class E boats in the two day regatta at Marblehead. This event also counted as two Mass Bay qualifiers for the Season Championship series. It gives me great satisfaction that at least one idea from our members (Larry Tomlinson, Jim MacNeill and Walter Murphy) worked.

Home computers and the internet have also affected our sport. Some clubs are using the internet not only to register boats for their events and posting the results, but also to email scratch sheets to the entrants the morning of the event. PHRF New England has been using technology for several years before, during and after the annual New England Championships. Technology has also assisted achieving 80% growth in Mass Bay Sailing offshore membership from 2003 to 2004. Walter Murphy created an application / renewal for Mass Bay that was sent to all the PHRF New England fleet governors. When the PHRF certificates were renewed, Mass Bay Sailing gained many new members at the same time. While home computers and the internet have helped calculate and disseminate the race results, we need to remember that the scoring is usually accomplished by a volunteer and just does not magically appear on our screens.

Volunteers are the backbone of this sport whether at Mass Bay Sailing, at the several yacht clubs and racing organizations or on the race committee boats. Unfortunately, volunteers are getting more scarce each year. The future of these organizations and the future of yacht racing in Mass Bay are in jeopardy because the few are getting fewer and getting burned out. We need help from new and veteran members; we need new ideas; and we need direction, not just criticism. Most importantly, we need dependable people willing to donate their time in areas such as long and short term planning, membership, finances and writing articles for our web site. Please think about contributing your time and talents, even if for one year. Have a restful winter.

OFFSHORE ARTICLE
Jody Graul
VP Offshore