The Committee Boat

The motor raises and lowers (slightly). There is a hydraulic system which does that. It is a black box on the floor just to the right of the steering wheel and below the gear shift/throttle assembly.  To raise the motor, tighten (clockwise) the knurled knob at 7:00 on the top of the box, put the transmission in forward gear, and pump the handle fore and aft until it resists further motion. The motor is now up. To lower, just loosen (counterclockwise) the knurled knob. The motor should be up for launching, hauling, and trailing; down for use on the lake.

The fuel tanks are connected via a quick disconnect to the motor. One fuel fitting doesn't fit quite right (it won't quite seat and lock), but rubber bands will hold it from falling out, and most times a single fuel tank will get you through the day's racing. A rubber squeeze pump built into the fuel line will prime the motor before trying to start it, and, if the motor misses and loses power, a quick squeeze often restores fuel flow. A needle valve in the middle of the fuel tank lids admits air as fuel is consumed; be sure to open it or the motor will choke out completely. The valve should be closed when the boat is not in use to prevent fuel evaporation.

The gear shift/throttle is at seat height on the right of you as you sit behind the steering wheel. The choke is a rubber covered button (labelled "choke") at 6:00 on the box.  The small lever nearer the gunwale is the fast idle. The fast idle helps with starting and low speed maneuvering to reduce stalling. The lever is raised and pushed forward to increase the idle speed; pulled back and down to reduce the idle speed. The gears will engage in fast idle, but an interlock prevents cruising (fast) while the fast idle is active.

The gear lever/throttle is the larger lever, closer to the pilot's seat.  It must be straight up (it clicks into that position, and close doesn't count) for the starter to activate. Pulling back on the gear lever puts the boat in reverse gear; pushing forward puts the boat in forward gear. The prop is first engaged with the motor still idling; as the lever is moved further, the motor speed increases; full throttle comes at about 100 degrees around counterclockwise from the vertical neutral position.  

Starting the motor is often slow. Especially if the motor was allowed to run out of gas by the last user (sometimes recommended to reduce the possibility of gumming up the carburetor during a long idle period), and even though you pump up the fuel line, it can take several seconds even at full choke for the motor to catch. The starter is engaged by turning the key (on the aft face of the gear/throttle box) clockwise to a 3:00 position. The gear lever must be in neutral (clicked straight up).

The Tractor

The Ford tractor is required to launch the committee boat. The garden tractor doesn't have enough weight for traction, especially when hauling out.  The draw bar has to be on the tractor. Sometimes the blade, scoop, or mowing attachment is mounted because of work around the grounds. 

All the attachments are three point attachments with lynch pins: one on each side at knee height and one just behind the seat just above waist height. (The mower has a power take-off connection in addition.) Tools are not usually required (a crescent wrench being the possible exception); the spring clips holding the lynch pins can be pulled out by hand and the removed attachment left where it rested. The draw bar is attached using the same devices except that a sturdy bolt is used behind the seat. If attaching the draw bar requires an adjustment up or down at one end, small adjustments can be made using the leveling crank on the right rear of the tractor. (A minor tilt in the draw bar is of no consequence.) 

Generally, take care not to operate the power lift while the draw bar is attached; the draw bar is not designed to be raised or lowered, and bending the strap iron strut which keeps the draw bar level is to be avoided. The power lift control (just inside your left knee; forward is disengaged) should be kept tied in the disengaged position to guard against accidental activation.

The Ford has its ignition switch just out of sight at the left under the aft edge of the hood cover, behind a scratched indication that the toggle switch is put up to go on, down to go off. The transmission must be in neutral to start the tractor; an interlock prevents the starter from working when the transmission is in gear. 

The choke is at the right, and labeled. When starting cold, the choke is pulled clear out and then eased in when the motor catches. The throttle is right in front of the steering wheel. It moves in an arc; fully counterclockwise is dead idle; moving it clockwise revs the motor up.  Give it maybe 6 to 8 of the little detentes of gas for a start. 

It is the practice among many of us (though the leak has been repaired) to turn off the fuel feed under the gas tank and above the carburator on the left of the motor about half way forward. If the tractor starts and then conks out, that is probably the trouble.  While no longer really necessary, the valve should probably be turned off when you finish your day.

The gear shift is on the floor on the right in front of you. There is a diagram of the positions for each gear (often grease covered) in front of the foot of the gear shift lever. Reverse is left and forward (about 11:00), low gear is right and forward (about 1:00), and 2nd gear is middle and back (6:00); there are 2 more forward gears, but you don't need them for launching and hauling out.

The clutch is the foot-lever on the left; the brakes are on the right.  Usually you put your foot on both brake levers at once (you don't need a brake-assisted turn while launching/hauling out). There is a "parking brake" which consists of pawls where the brake levers enter the transmission, but they are almost impossible to engage at all and absolutely impossible to engage tightly enough to hold on the ramp, so you must shut off the motor and put the tractor in a low gear to hold it in position while you are off the tractor launching or hauling out. Restarting involves braking, putting in neutral, starting, putting in gear, and releasing brakes and engaging the clutch in one smooth operation.

Before Launch

Check the gear. The life jackets are in the cubbies in the front section of the boat. The orange sphere (port end of starting line) is usually in the boat. The Danforth anchor and its line and float are also in the boat; the committee boat, secured to said anchor, serves as the starboard end of the starting line. (Only one anchor is used ordinarily, but there are actually 2 of them; use both in wind conditions of 20 mph or more, or the anchor will drag; the second anchor attaches to the same chain as the first, about 4 feet above it). The three inflatable marks which define the triangular course are in the chest on the port side of the boat. The station flag and the starting sequence flags are toward the aft of the port storage at floor level; the window weights are forward of them in the port storage; the mushroom anchors (which hold the marks in place) are forward of the chest on the port side; The marks stored on the starboard side are not in normal use because they are so much less visible than the orange inflated marks.  A boat hook is stored on the starboard side with the disused marks. 

Inflate the marks.  I've been using the generator and the vacuum cleaner donated by Bart. The generator starts easily with a very brief choke to start with. The vacuum cleaner has its hose on the side that blows and is turned on.  (Finding the on/off switch is something of a challenge, so leave it on and just plug/unlug it from the generator.) The critical thing is to put the vacuum cleaner hose over the inflation tube on the marks in such a way that the plug attached to the inflation tube cannot get in the air pathway. With luck, you may be able to use the plug on the side of the tube to hold the vacuum cleaner hose on without having to hold it. It takes about 4-5 minutes per mark to fill them if you don't obstruct the inflation tube; much longer if you let the stopper interfere. The inflated marks are very large; they seriously overcrowd the committee boat if you try to carry them in the boat. I've been putting them on a 12-15 ft. tether and towing them out onto the lake. They follow very docilely. But be very careful not to foul the prop with the tether.

Check fuel.  A short triangular course in light conditions uses about 1 1/2 to 2 gallons. A long triangular course in choppy conditions will use a bit more. The trip up the lake to Garrison Cove and back again for a long distance race uses 3 1/2 to 4 gals for each trip. Two fuel tanks are in the boat. The fuel is 50:1 gas:oil. Mix it in the tanks in the boat, estimating the gallons of gas used. Pints of the oil (with built in scales for estimating the ounces used) are in the aft starboard storage space; larger quantities of oil are in the red shed.

Check/install drain plug.  Put the plug in the drain hole at the back of the boat before launching. The boat sinks if you forget. The plug is left right under the motor when the boat is not in use to allow for drainage of rain water.

Launch

The trailer has a front wheel with a crank to assist in raising and lowering the tongue onto the draw bar hitch ball. The wheel stalk is swing up parallel to the trailer frame by pulling out on the handle of a rod which locks the wheel stalk into position. Lock it into the up position before lunching. 

Launching offers no particular difficulty. The tractor will turn at almost a right angle to the trailer without the tires hitting the boat or the trailer, so maneuverability backing down the ramp is very good. Go down until the tractor tires just reach the edge of the water and the committee boat will be nearly floating free. Probably you'll just want to ride the brakes all the way down -- putting the throttle to idle helps some, but the descent is still fast unless you brake all the way. Turn off the tractor motor and leave the tractor in a low gear while you get the boat out to the dock. Return the tractor and trailer to the dinghy park. Sometimes I lower the front wheel on the trailer so others can use the tractor, though most dinghy sailors use the garden tractor to launch their boats or do it all by hand. 

Setting Marks

The goal is a triangular course with the windward leg directly to windward.  and the jibing mark to port from the starting line looking to windward.  Figure out roughly where the starting area will have to be to admit of a mile or two of windward leg and a reasonable distance to port for the jibing mark.  If the wind is right across the lake, about a mile is the most you can manage for the windward leg, but you can stretch the course out by going way to the side to the jibing mark if you want a long course. 

Go to your selected starting area.  One big problem is setting the committee boat anchor so it does not drag in high winds. I've made a practice of putting the anchor out first in the area where the starting line will be established and tugging at it a bit to get it to start to hold. Then I put the orange globe on the anchor line float and throw the float and globe overboard.

That gives it 50-60 minutes of light pulling by the wind and waves to get the anchor well set before the starting line is established after the skipper's meeting. Always use the full scope of the anchor line; that is not always enough with the one anchor on the line. Perhaps using 2 anchors will change that.

The practice of using an anchor float allows the committee boat to leave the starting area without disturbing the course. This is especially useful when the committee boat is required to do some rescue work. Keeping the orange globe near/on the anchor float allows it to be found from a distance.

Then put out the inflated marks. I usually go in the order windward, jibing, and leeward, but it really doesn't matter. At each location, put a window weight on the harness at the bottom of each mark, and attach a line from one of the mushroom anchors to the harness at the same point.  Throw the window weight and the mark overboard and convince the mark to stand upright. Then, still holding the mushroom anchor line near its attachment to the mark, let the mushroom anchor go. The line unwinds from the anchor as the anchor goes down; you'll notice the line goes slack when the bottom is reached.  

Occasionally (especially in high water), the anchor doesn't reach the bottom, in which case it may have fouled and failed to unwrap, or it may simply need to be extended.  When you have the anchor on the bottom, you can let go of the anchor line and back away (don't foul the prop) from the mark's location.

For the windward mark, go to a point where sighting dead downwind finds the orange globe. (This is another reason to mark the starting area with the orange globe; the committee boat anchor float is not visible from any great distance.)  If the wind is shifty or systematically veering or backing, just do the best you can; everyone will understand. The length of the upwind portion of the windward leg will pretty much determine the size of the overall triangle. Keep it short on calm days or days of falling winds; stretch it out on windier days, especially if you have only avid sailors in catamarans and keel boats.

Now go off to port to establish the jibing mark. Ideally, it will be exactly abeam from the starting area (i.e. such that if you point the committee boat at the starting area from the jibing mark, the wind will be directly abeam from the port side). A very long distance from starting area to jibing mark will favor planing centerboard boats and catamarans, and a relatively short distance with a very long windward leg will favor keel boats because they will be less disadvantaged in planing conditions and usually have an advantage to windward.

Now go to a point directly downwind of the starting area and the windward mark. If you like isosceles triangles, you'd go at the same angle to the line from jibing mark to starting area that you made between the lines from the jibing mark to the windward mark and to the starting area. But it is often more important to increase or decrease the size of the course (if your first mark drops made too small or too large a course) by increasing or decreasing the length of the windward leg downwind from the starting area or, if the course turned out to be skew in some way, to set out this last part of the windward leg so that it, at least, offers the sailors a challenge that would otherwise be omitted (like a beat).

You should go in to the skipper's meeting now.

On your return to the course, take the orange sphere off the anchor line and take it out toward the jibing mark some tens of yards. Tether it with the remaining mushroom anchor, allow for windage if the anchor line is long enough to permit some, and leave it there. Ideally the starting line will be perpendicular to the wind direction or slightly upwind at the port end to encourage the fleet to distribute itself along the line by luring a few boats to a port end start.

One rule of thumb is that the starting line (defined between the orange globe and the committee boat) should be about twice as long as the combined lengths of all the boats starting. Our typical race with 6-8 boats, say 7 yards long on the average, would suggest a line length of 80 to 100 yards.  We get away with shorter lines because we are not terribly competitive at the starting line. If the wind shifts direction a lot, the line will change length as the committee boat swings on its long anchor line, so the length of the line isn't tightly controlled anyway.

Return to the anchor float, give a tug or two to verify the anchor is holding well, settle down, and wait for time to start the sequence of signals for the race.

The long distance race is much easier to set up. Just put out a starting line prior to the start, trusting to overtake the fleet to set out the up-lake mark an hour or so after the start.  Signal the start for the first boat by the usual starting sequence and then give the

start signal over again for each subsequent starter at the time of his appointed start. Let a few boats start at the times dictated by the staggered start and then take off up lake to put out the single turning mark. (Waiting for the fastest boats to start may jeopardize your chances of putting out the up-lake mark in time.)  The line can be short (20-25 yards) because the staggered start implies that only 1 to 3 boats will be starting at the same time. No (or little) attention is paid to the wind direction. Depending on the wind direction it may be a running, reaching or upwind start and a beating, reaching or running finish. Agree ahead of time about the location of the turning mark and, if you have reason to alter it, notify all the boats as you return of the revised location.  Boats starting after you leave the starting line are on their honor to start properly, and, if you are not back on station when boats finish, they are on their honor to record their finish time (not really necessary, since the staggered start means the scratch finish order is the corrected finish order).

The Skipper's Meeting

At the skipper's meeting, review the course, describe the orientation of the course and the position of the marks, give everyone a chance to synchronize their watches, and get all the skipper's names (at least; crew's names too, if reporting the results is to give the crews their due) boat classes and sail numbers. We customarily use the modified Olympic course, which is once around the triangle followed by a windward-leeward-windward leg with start and finish to windward and all marks rounded to port. Try to get an idea of what the fleet might prefer as to a second race to follow the first, and its course.  Since we seem always to run handicapped races, establish the handicaps to be used.

Establish the starting time and the time of the first signal in the starting sequence. Get someone on a keel boat to take one of the VHF radios to increase the possibility of radio communication if there is some need for it.  You'll keep the other VHF radio on the committee boat and monitor it for calls for help.

For the staggered start we use for the long distance races, calculate the starting times for every boat and get everybody to understand how a staggered start works. The staggered starts are determined from the PHRF, which is determined from the Portsmouth Yardstick (D_PN) by the formula PHRF=6*(D_PN)-55 which gives the difference in speed in seconds per nautical mile for boats of different Portsmouth numbers. Arrange the boats in order of increasing speed and calculate the time differences over the course (i.e. multiply PHRFs by the distance, up-lake and back). The slowest boat starts first at the announced starting time, and the other boats are instructed to start after an interval determined by the difference between their expected time over the course and that of the slowest boat. If all goes well (i.e. every boat sails to its potential and the handicaps are accurate), all the boats should finish simultaneously.

(But the liklihood of a simultaneous finish is small enough that you can use the very short finish line which already served as the starting line.)

Running The Race

The starting sequence follows that laid out in the International Sailing Federation Racing Rules for 2001-2004, except that we use the time-honored colored flags as the visual signals. The following table depicts it as we do it.

• Warning signal white flag up horn -5:00 mins. (ours is yellow)
• Preparatory signal white flag down horn -4:00 mins.
• blue flag up
• One-minute blue flag down horn -1:00 mins.
• no flag flies
• Start red flag up horn start

It takes closer attention than you might think to track these times.  It helps to start all races on some even time, on an hour (first race) or on a multiple of 5 minutes (second race) to minimize the chance of missing a signal. 

The -4:00 minute activity takes 2 people because 2 flags and a horn all have to be manipulated simultaneously. 2 people aboard is probably a good idea in any case, in case a boat gets in trouble, to work the radio, to assist with setting and retreiving the marks, etc.

Settle back and enjoy the race. It is fascinating to follow the progress, perhaps by taking the time each boat rounds a mark and seeing who gains on whom on each leg.

As boats finish, sound the horn when the line is touched and jot down the finish times. If time permits, the corrected times can be calculated and the order of finishes established. As boats finish in the first race, see if there is interest in a second race and, if it is getting late in the day or if there is a straggler who will take a long time to finish, announce to each that the second race will use a shorter course, like once around the triangle or just windward-leeward-windward.

Pickup and Stowing

Sometimes a racer will pick up the windward or jibing mark after finishing and the fleet has all rounded it to help out by taking it to the dock.  This is easily done from a centerboarder or a keelboat with a boat hook as there is only a mushroom anchor, some line, a window weight and a very light mark (which can be allowed to deflate partially on the way in). This is a big help at the end of a long day and should be encouraged. Nothing can be lost if nothing is detached before getting it to shore.

After the last boat finishes, haul in the anchor float, line, and anchor, and rewind the anchor line on the float. Pick up the orange globe at the port end of the starting line. Use the boat hook. Then pick up any marks which racers have not retrieved. Again, use the boat hook. Remove and stow the window weights; remove the mushroom anchors and lines from the marks; allow the marks to deflate (lie down on them (yes!) if you're not driving the boat to hasten the process and hold them in the boat as you travel to the next mark); rewind the mushroom anchor lines around the stems of the anchors; stow them in front of the chest. When the marks are sufficiently deflated stuff them in the chest, where they will continue to deflate to make room for the second and third ones.

At the shore, store any mark gear which racers brought in for you, take the results up to the picnic table to let people see how they did, and fetch the trailer. It is often hard to drive the boat onto the trailer, but it is usually not difficult to straighten it on the trailer after driving it on crooked. Raise the motor before taking the boat up the ramp.  Some will advise running the motor dry of fuel by disconnecting the fuel line and running at fast idle until the fuel is exhausted.  This is essential after the last race of the year. If you do this, don't haul out until the motor finally quits. Close the needle valve on the fuel tank you used to minimize fuel evaporation. At some point after hauling out, remove the stern plug so that any water taken aboard during the races drains, and leave it out so that rainwater will drain while the boat is not in use.

Calculating the Corrected Times

The Portsmouth number (D_PN) is used. We have not been using the wind speed factors, but that could be done by a committee person who wishes to. To calculate corrected times in seconds, simply divide the elapsed time for a boat in seconds by the Portsmouth number and multiply by 100. To convert from hours:minutes:seconds to seconds, multiply hours by 60, add in the minutes, multiply that sum by 60, and add in the seconds. To convert from seconds to hours:minutes:seconds, divide the seconds by 3600, record the hours (integer part, if any) and subtract the integer hours away, multiply the remaining fraction by 60, record the minutes (integer part, again) and subtract that integer away, and multiply by 60 again to get the seconds.

Example: A laser (D_PN 91.7) covers a course in 1:18:36.  That is (((1*60)+18)*60+36 or 4716 seconds. Divided by 91.7 and multiplied by 100 gives 5143 seconds, corrected time. That works out as 1:25:43.

If you are lucky enough to have a calcultor which does sexagesimal arithmetic, it is much easier. Just enter 1:18:36, divide by 1/100th of the D_PN, and read out the answer: 1:25:43. (1:18:36/.917 gives 1:25:43 directly).

The results are determined by the order of increasing corrected times.

Reporting the Results

Bart has asked for a writeup to be sent to him for use on the BVYC web page, and we'd like to get a copy to the Mercury for possible publication. We haven't done well at this this past year. I can work at that on days that I am at a race.

Ken Conrow (kconrow@ksu.edu) 
2371 Grandview Terrace, 
Manhattan KS 66502

(785) 539-2046