SI's

Lake Erie Challenge 2023 Sailing Instructions
1 RULES
1.1 All races organized by the Lake Erie Challenge (LEC) will be governed by the rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), the Notice of Race (NoR), and these Sailing Instructions (SI).
1.2 RRS 63.7 shall be replaced by: “If there is a conflict between a rule in the Notice of Race and a rule in the Sailing Instructions , the Sailing Instructions shall apply”
2 NOTICES TO COMPETITORS
2.1 Notices will be posted in the Official Notice Board located at https://yachtscoring.com/notice_board.cfm?eid=13046
3 CHANGES TO SAILING INSTRUCTIONS
3.1 Any on-shore changes to these SI’s will be posted on the Official Notice Board.
3.2 On the water oral changes to these SI’s will also be announced on VHF channel 79.
4 SIGNALS MADE ASHORE
4.1 Signals made ashore shall be posted on the LEC Facebook Page located at https://www.facebook.com/Lake-Erie-Challenge-245419515852476.
5 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
5.1 All boats shall have a minimum of two (2) persons onboard. 5.2 All boats shall be equipped with a VHF Radio capable of two-way communication on channels 16 and 79.
5.3 All boats shall monitor VHF channel 79 while racing.
5.4 When passing or rounding a mark of the course, all boats shall capture an image of that mark complete with timestamp. Images shall be produced when demanded by the organizing authority.
5.5 It is suggested that all competitors carry appropriate border crossing documents for all races.
6 RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
6.1 VHF Channel 79 is to be used for communications between competitors and the organizing authority while racing.
6.2 When rounding a mark of the course, all boats shall announce on VHF Channel 79 which mark they are rounding and the current time. Example: “This is Sock Monkey rounding S Mark. Current time is 3:02:37 PM”
6.3 Except in an emergency, competitors shall neither make voice or data transmissions while racing nor receive voice or data communications not available to all competitors. This restriction also applies to mobile telephones and computers.
7 SCHEDULE OF RACES
7.1 See the Notice of Race for the schedule of races located on the LEC Yacht Scoring Page: ( https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=13046)
7.2 Schedule of Warning Signals:
Race #1 - The Distillery Cup 11:00
Race #2 11:00
Race #3 - FULL MOON #1 19:00
Race #4 - CANCELED FOR SAILL FOR ROSWELL
Race #5 - FULL MOON #2 19:00
Race #6 - 4TH ANNUAL HARRIS MEMORIAL 11:00
Race #7 - RACE TO BUFFALO 11:00
Race #8 - THE ULLMAN CUP 11:00
8 CLASS FLAGS
8.1 No class flags will be assigned.
9 THE COURSES
9.1 The course designation will be a letter string designating individual marks posted on the Official Notice Board for a specific Race no later than twelve (12) hours before the warning signal of that Race. The letters represent the marks in the order and direction in which they are to be passed or rounded. Letters listed without parenthesis are to be left to port. Letters listed and enclosed by parenthesis are to be left to starboard.
9.2 The course for a specific Race can be changed at any time prior to the warning signal. Communication of any change will be in accordance with SI 3.
10 MARKS
10.1 For the list of marks to be used, see SI Attachment M located at:. ( https://yachtscoring.com/event_documents.cfm?eid=13046)
11 THE START
11.1 All races will be started in accordance with the sound signal schedule in RRS 26 WITHOUT visual signals. No visual signals will be used. This changes RRS 26.
11.2 The starting line shall be between Mark “A” and Mark “BHL”
12 CHANGE OF COURSE AFTER THE START
12.1 If a course change is required, it will be done in accordance with RRS 33.
12.2 For descriptions of any change marks see SI Attachment M.
13 THE FINISH
13.1 When finishing, all boats shall report the timestamp on the image captured for the last mark of the course to the Organizing Authority via text (SMS) message to 716-570-2291 no later than 20:00 on the day of finish. Failure to report a timestamp before the deadline may result in being scored “DNF” (SI 15).
14 PROTESTS
14.1 A protesting boat shall report its intent to protest to the Organizing Authority via VHF channel 79. The protesting boat shall inform the Organizing Authority of their sail number and the sail number of the boat they intend to protest. If a boat fails to report her intent to protest, the protest shall be deemed invalid.
14.2 The protest time limit will be 20:30 on the day of finish for each individual race. Information regarding protests will be posted for competitors no later than 21:00 on the day of finish. Competitors are directed to the Yacht Scoring page for protest information.
15 SCORING
15.1 The low-point scoring system, RRS A4 shall apply and is modified so that each boat's series score will be the total of her race scores with no discards.
15.2 All scores will use PHRF-LE corrected “time on time” scoring to determine the finish positions for all races. All calculations used in scoring will be rounded to two decimal places and whole seconds.
15.3 One race is required to be completed to constitute a series.
16 SAFETY
16.1 A boat that withdraws or retires from a race shall notify the Organizing Authority immediately. A boat failing to report their withdrawal may be scored DNE without a hearing.
16.2 All boats shall keep clear of any commercial vessel. Failure to keep clear of any commercial vessel shall result in a DNE penalty with no hearing.
17 AWARDS
17.1 All boats will compete for the Fleet Race Award for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of each individual race. The lowest total score for each race will receive the Fleet Race Award. Ties will be broken according to RRS Appendix A8. If fewer than 5 boats participate in a race there will be an award given only for 1st place.
17.2 All boats will compete for the Series Championship Award for 1st place. The lowest total score will receive the Series Championship Award. Ties will be broken according to RRS Appendix A8.
18 DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
18.1 Competitors participate in this event entirely at their own risk. See RRS 4, Decision to Race. The organizing authority will not accept any liability for material damage, or personal injury or death sustained in conjunction with or prior to, during or after the event.
19 INSURANCE
19.1 The organizing authority recommends that each competitor shall be insured with valid third-party liability insurance.