NOTICE OF RACE 

Lightning Fleet 50 Championship Series 2009

as of 3/13/2009

1.            RULES

1.1       The series will be governed by the rules as defined in the racing rules of sailing.

1.2       The Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for each of the series listed in part 3 of this NOR apply to this series except when changed by paragraph 1.3. 

1.3            Racing Rules A2, A3, and A9 and an ILCA Class Rule will be changed as follows:

1.3.1   Each boat’s series score shall be the average (rounded to the nearest 10th) of her scores after excluding the worst 30 percent (rounded up to the next integer) of the number of races in the series.   This changes rule A2.

1.3.2   Each boat’s finishing place shall be determined only among those boats entered in the series at the start of the race.   See 2.1.  This changes rule A3. 

13.3    If a boat finishes a race with fewer than 3 crew members, she shall inform the scorer of this fact and she shall receive a penalty of one point added to her finishing score.   This changes an ILCA Class Rule. 

1.3.4   A boat whose owner was on the race committee (and whose boat did not come to the starting area) shall be scored a blank for up to a maximum of 20 percent (rounded up to the next integer) of the number of races in the series.   (In 1.3.1, blanks are neither included among the excluded races nor in the calculation of the average score.)

1.3.5   Unless 1.3.4 applies, a boat that did not come to the starting area or that was not entered in the series (see 2.1) shall be scored points for the finishing place one more than the number of boats entered in the series at the start of the race.  This changes rule A9.

2.            ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY

2.1       Before the first race in the series, all owners or co-owners of Lightning class sailboats who were members of Potomac River Sailing Association (PRSA) and Lightning Fleet 50 of the International Lighting Class Association (Fleet 50) in 2008 or who are current (2009) members of PRSA will be automatically entered in the series.   Other owners of Lightning class sailboats will be entered in the series at the time that they join PRSA by completing and signing an application.   This can be done on-line at www.potomacriversailing.org.  

2.2       At the conclusion of the series, series scores will be calculated for all owners entered in the series (who have fulfilled PRSA member responsibilities).

2.3       Other members of an owner’s regular crew (or a non-member co-owner) may helm the boat during a race whether or not the owner is present on the boat.  

2.4       An owner who purchases another boat during the series may race that boat instead of the original boat for the remaining races of the series.   

3.            RACES IN THE SERIES

            The following five series make up the championship series:

1.      PRSA Spring Sunday Series, excluding those races scheduled for the Sunday of the Potomac Cup.

2.      Lightning Fleet 50 Potomac Cup Regatta. 

3.      PRSA Spring Regatta

4.      PRSA President’s Cup Regatta

5.      PRSA Fall Sunday Series

            The dates of each of the above series are available at www.lightningclass.org/fleet50.  The Notice of Race for each will be available from that website before the beginning of that series.

4.            SAILING INSTRUCTIONS

            Sailing instructions for the two PRSA Sunday Series will be available at www.potomacriversailing.org before the 1st race of the Spring Sunday Series on April 5, 2009.   Sailing instructions for the regattas will be available at registration for those regattas. 

5.            AWARDS

5.1       To qualify for awards, the skipper and its crew must have paid 2009 membership dues to ILCA Lightning Fleet 50. 

5.2            Awards will be given to the (up to four) crew of the top 5 qualifying boats in the championship series at the Fleet 50 annual dinner.  

5.3            Perpetual trophies with the owner’s name added to the trophy will be given to the top 2 boats in the championship series, also, at the Fleet 50 annual dinner.   The winners may keep these awards until the next annual dinner.  

NOTES ON CHANGES

1.3.1   No “byes” for attending other district regattas are included this year.   Increasing the throwouts to 30 percent provides some extra room for sailors to do that.   For those staying at home they get to exclude more of their messed up races and a change to move up a few places in the finishing positions. 

1.3.4   Blanks for RC along with average series scoring is mathematically equivalent to using total series score and getting RDG equal to the average score after throw outs.   This is a LOT easier for the scorer to implement because in the past the RC had to recalculate the average each week.   This method does it automatically within the scoring program.   It is slightly different from the past in that in the past we calculated the average for races in the spring for spring RC duty RDG and the average for races in the fall for fall RC duty RDG.

1.3.4   …  (and whose boat did not come to the starting area) … If a boat is on the race course, the boat’s finishing position counts for the owner even if the owner is on RC (and counts against competitors who are beaten by the boat).   Otherwise it is like a non-racing/cruising boat getting in the way of racers and affecting the results.   

1.3.5   This rule will give a worse score for DNC than we have given in the past.  This insures that DNCs will be excluded before actual finishing position scores. 

2.1       This is a liberal definition of entered in the series.  It doesn’t require paying the 2009 dues just indicating an intention of doing so by completing the application.   It does not require joining Fleet 50.  However, the definition is concrete which is what the scorer (and competitors) need.