Wednesday Night Races

Tim R. · May 12, 2011

Preaching to the choir. I have been advocating for all sailors to do at least a little racing. Even if only rail meat. It will make you a better sailor overall.

I raced my Pearson 28 then my Ericson 35-3 and now I crew for others. It is a great way to break up the work week and hone your skills.

Our club provides dinner after each race that is prepared by a different crew every week. One of the crew owns a local brew pub so at least once a season we get some great BBQ and fresh beer.

Rick486 · May 12, 2011

kpgraci said:
Tagged along with the WNR crowd - why has no one told me about this before? What a blast, totally enjoyable evening.

In addition to discovering that I like evening/night sailing with a bunch of other boats I made a few other observations:

1. Most captains don't turn on their running lights at dusk.

2. When they do, they also turn on their steaming and/or anchor light. (to see the vane I guess?)

3. I need spotlight that is waterproof and floats (the one I had apparently did neither).

This much fun should be illegal.

Be aware that overboard discharge of spotlights is banned by the Environmental protection Agency under the Dark Water Act, along with pretty much everything else for that matter.

Alan · May 12, 2011

DIDO!! The learning curve is very steep along with the fun factor. Never use a spotlight, a small flashlight will do the trick to check telltales and switch it off as quickly as possible. The spot will cause night blindness and give away too much to the competition. I use the steaming light to illuminate the genoa telltales and the anchor light to read the windex.

LuzSD · May 12, 2011

Gosh, never thought about the fact that some don't know about BCR, they have made ALL the difference for us!! From being comfortable at the starting line with lots of boats, all varying degrees of ability, to working as a crew together, thickening my own skin when either I screw up or someone thinks I screwed up

We don't usually race in the dark for BCR because the race is called at sundown, but when we are out racing at night we use Petzel headlamps
http://www.night-gear.com/elite-with-whistle-by-petzl-683

There are lots of choices out there but it is a cool one because of the many choices of light configurations possible and it is very light weight. Look up and you lightup the windex for your own view. Or, it can be lashed on somewhere to spotlight a particular spot.

Hope this is helpful, I think your post was very smart so if there are those out there who are not doing BCR (we do 2 and sometimes 3 a week!) they should look into them; no better way to learn fast and get comfortable under many different circumstances. Great Post!

Winkfish · May 12, 2011

Dude, they are a blast. Haven't done them for a while, but they are great, especially the way the weather's been.

Did you sail your own boat or crew with another? Who's sponsoring this series/where do y'all party after?

Floating Dental Student · May 12, 2011

Man that sounds like fun! I can't wait to get my boat to NOLA (South Shore). Keep an eye out for the White Pearl sometime in mid June.

PrincessoftheLake · May 12, 2011

I'm with Tim. Every sailor should try racing because it does make you a better sailor. I still race when I can with the local keelboat racing club that I have been racing with since 1998. Since I am on OPB (other peoples boats) I can have fun and feel competitive without a loss ruining my night. I also get to sail a variety of smaller boats (21-23 ft) and fly a chute.
Regarding the lights I thought all vessels were required to display running lights after dusk and that the purpose of the steaming light is to make it clear it is a sailing vessel under power and not to see tell tales in the dark. Same goes for the anchor light. I don't believe it's purpose is to light the wind vanes but again to make it clear to other vessels that it is a vessel at anchor.
But hey, I'm just a girl so what do I know.

Forrest15112 · May 13, 2011

They've been doing this WNR since the early 90's at least. I've been told that it's a loose race that usually ends at the yacht club bar. Evening sailing in the summer is great. The heat of summer combined with mild breezes will cook you during the day. When I lived in Metairie, we would go out around 6pm and stay out for hours. Sometimes we would anchor near Bayou St John or 17th St Canal and grill something for dinner, or tie up at one of several restaurants/bars for meals and drinks. West End had places that were water accessible as well as the area by the old CG lighthouse. I think there's a Landry's seafood there now.
My wife and I were just talkin' the other day about Wednesday nights down there. I wasn't sure the practice had been picked up after Katrina. I had lots of great times there.
Speaking of navigation lights and such. I attended a CG boating safety class in the early 90's. There was a segment dedicated to sailing and the instructor was talking about how he loved sailing at night. He said that most people don't know the rules and to stress it, he said "There's nothing like being out on the lake at night. It's peaceful and quiet, then you hear what sounds like Al Copeland's boat at full throttle and there isn't a light in sight." That is so true and some do know the rules and just ignore them like 50% of those with their anchor lights on. ( the other 50% think it's supposed to be on). Oh, just in case, Al Copeland was a local entrepreneur ( Popeye's Chicken) who raced boats professionally. One was jet powered and would shoot flames out.

Katrina sure changed things there but it's good to know some things remain the same.

Winkfish · May 13, 2011

It is a hoot. The 3 local yacht clubs (Southern, New Orleans, and Corinthians) usually rotate the running and sponsorship of each series of WNR. Depending on who does will generally determine where the after race party is and the results posted.

As to lights, this is from the La. Dept of Wildlife & Fisheries, which also regulates boating:
Every motorboat or vessel of Class A (less than 16’) and 1 (16’ to < 26’) shall carry the following lights:
- A bright white light aft to show all around the horizon.
- A combined lantern in the fore part of the vessel and lower than the white aft showing green to starboard and red to port so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on their respective sides.
Every motorboat or vessel of Classes 2 (26’ to < 40’) and 3 (40’ to < 65’) shall carry the following lights:
- A bright white light in the fore part of the vessel as near the stern as practicable so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twenty points of the compass and so fixed as to throw the light ten points on each side of the vessel, namely from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on either side.
- A bright white light aft to show all around the horizon and higher than the white light forward.
On the starboard side, a green light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten points of the compass and so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the starboard side. On the port side, a red light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten points of the compass so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the port side. The side lights shall be fitted with inboard screens of sufficient height so set as to prevent these lights from being seen across the bow.
Motorboats and vessels of Classes A and 1 when propelled by sail alone shall carry the combined lanterns but not the white light aft prescribed by this Section. Motorboats and vessels of Classes 2 and 3 when so propelled shall carry the suitably screened colored side lights, but not the white light prescribed by this Section. Motorboats and vessels of all classes when underway shall carry ready at hand a lantern or flashlight showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to avert collision.

MrBill_FLL · May 13, 2011

One thing I found when crossing the bahamas banks, was A anchor light is VERY useful, to judge distance of other boats. pretty hard to judge how far they are away with just the red/green or stern ligth.

-on another note: we would play tricks on race boats at night... taking a piece of cardboard and covering part of the stern light, then 20 min later cover some more, then 20 min later cover some more...

competition thinks we are checking out, and goes crazy changing sails and trim...

YMMV.