Back to Practice

Though the college teams have been on the water since late January or early February, most high school teams are just getting started. As you prepare for the new season, a few things to keep in mind.

1. Registration & Dues - make sure that all of your paperwork has been filed correctly with NESSA
2. Schedule - if you plan on competing in the O'Day, you need to have completed at least three meets before the qualifiers begin. Given the weather of these past few weeks - and what is forecast for this week - that may be easier said than done.
3. Gear - the water is cold. Is your team fully dressed? At St. George's, we still have some new sailors looking for lifejackets and dry suits. Our first day on the water, yesterday, proved that many of our sailors are not layering properly under their drysuits. While this sounds simple, it's worth reviewing.

If you are a new team or coach this season, and have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sail Fast and Good Luck!

O'Day Host School Info

This year, the qualifiers for the O'Day will be held at Barnstable, Brewster, Fan Pier, Greenwich, and St. George's. Sail Maine is hosting the championship round on Sunday for the O'Day Trophy.

To ensure the most equal racing, all sites will use the same Sailing Instructions (SIs) and will conduct the same type of racing. Here is what you can expect at all sites. (This information was provided by Doug Heil.)

1) REGATTA NOTICE BOARD - A place at each facility will serve as the "Official Regatta Notice Board". The following will be available there:

• Record of Participation forms (make sure that these are accurate and signed)
  

• Protest Forms

• Breakdown Form (the ISSA protest form also serves as a Breakdown and redress form-please make a mention at the sailors meeting)

• Rotation sheets

• Sailing instructions

• Updated scores

2) REGATTA TOOLS: all sites will adhere to the following

• NESSA PROCEDURAL RULES. http://nessa-sailing.org/about.htm

• ISSA PROCEDURAL RULES http://highschoolsailingusa.org/PRs/printro.htm

• RECORD OF PARTICIPATION FORM http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org/Forms/regattaOrganizer/regattaOrganizerInfo.htm

  • You may also use the college sailing RP FORM found at http://www.collegesailing.org/forms/ICSA-RP-AB.pdf

• PROTEST FORMS http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org/Forms/regattaOrganizer/regattaOrganizerInfo.htm

• NAVY SCORING PROGRAM http://www.collegesailing.org/docs/scoring_notes.asp

3) JUDGES.
Each site will try to have a judge available. However, ff a judge cannot be found, the coaches will be notified at the sailors meeting that they may be called on to serve as a judge in a protest. Coaches will be used in the following manner:

• Each person in the protest finds a coach, who is not their own, to hear the case. A coach must respond if asked. No coach can be asked a second time unless all the other available coaches have served.

• The two coaches hear the testimony and determine the facts. Then they apply the appropriate rule. All this should be written down and handed over to the event chair, who, will hold it along with the rest of the race documents until June 1.
  
  

4) ARTICLE L and NO SHOWS

NESSA By Law Article L- Penalty For Failure to Compete is in effect for this regatta. If “A school which fails to attend a NESSA regatta for which it has been scheduled, attends with less than a full team, or departs before the conclusion of the regatta without the consent of the Event Chair, shall be placed on probation…”

To avoid the penalty, schools must notify NESSA VP or the Event Chair at least 48hrs prior to the report time of the regatta or in this case, Thursday April 23, 2009 at 0900.

A list of schools that have withdrawn without penalty will be provided by 1100 Thursday April 23, 2009.

5) ARTCILE K

NESSA By Law Article K (c ) is in effect. It states... “Schools must sail at least 3 scheduled meets or regattas prior to the championship between 2 or more schools in the season that the championship is being held. Results of those meets must be presented at the championship”. This is to ensure a fair and safe regatta.

Andrew has sent out an email on April 17th, reminding schools of this requirement. Please be aware of which schools are at your site and enforce it if necessary. Remember this is a NESSA by-law and no one has the power to overrule it.

6) CONTACTING SCHOOLS RACING AT YOUR SITE

In order to contact schools who will be racing at each site, use the NESSA directory.

http://highschoolsailingusa.org/directory/district.asp?ID=NESSA

7) ROTATIONS/NUMBER OF RACES

Quick rotations are controllable factor to getting races off and a key to a successful regatta, and each facility will be set up so rotations can be done quickly. The goal will be to run a full rotation by 1600.

According to ISSA PR 8a “Coaching”, at least 1 coach from each team should have equal access to the rotation area to meet with their sailors between races. However, the goal will be quick rotations. Make sure that your sailors are aware of the rotation schedule and quickly get back on the water.

Their may or may not be a dock master with a VHF who can communicate with the start line. This person may also be the official to whome breakdowns are reported. This will be clarified at the sailor’s meeting.

Ideally, boats will rotate after every 2 races. This helps to get more races in, and each school will sail each boat at least once between their A & B division. For example; “A” sails “boat 1” for two races, then “B” sails boat “2” for 2 races, “A” sail boat “3” for 2 races, ect.

Most likely, racing will not stop for lunch. Teams will be encouraged to eat lunch in between races.

8) MAINTENANACE/BOATS

Each site has no more than 12 schools, so at least 12 boats will be available to have 1 division on the water at a time. In some locations, if there are enough boats, both divisions may be on the water at the same time, but with separate starts. There may also be at least 1 extra boat rigged and ready to go in case of a breakdown.

Before Saturday, the host schools will take the time with to check over all of their boats and make them as equal as possible. However, it is the competitors' responsibility to make sure to pay attention to common breakdown areas (ie tiller universals) and do preventative maintenance prior to each race. While a proper tool kit and spare parts will most likely be on hand, and someone on site during the regatta will handle repairs, competitors should have their own bailers and emergency spare parts.

Schools with a mixed vintage fleet, and sails of different ages, will try not to load up the new boat with the best sails. Instead, they will try to even out the fleet - put the worst sails on the newest boat. Vice versa

9) REGATTA REPORT: At the completion of the regatta, each host will file a complete Regatta Report with the NESSA VP and the NESSA Secretary/Treasurer. They will follow the ISSA guidelines for Regatta Reports, found on page 19 of the ISSA Procedural Rules (ISSA PR 13). This report must contain:

• the regatta name and date

• a tally sheet showing total scores for each school. The winning competitors and crews, and the skippers and crews of at least the first three schools in each division

• a report showing the points scored by each school in each race

• all signed Record or Participation Forms as required by ISSA PR 4.3

• a synopsis of the race conditions.
  
  

10)NAVY SCORING PROGRAM

All sites MUST use the Navy Scoring Program to score the O’DAY QUALIFIERS. It may seem complicated to use the first time, but once you become comfortable with it, it makes scoring a High School Regatta very easy by doing all of the calculations for you.

It also creates an emailable text report that can be sent to the NESSA e-mail list, and it creates a great looking regatta report.If you are not comfortable with it yet, please have your scorer download it from the ISSA website and get comfortable with it. http://www.collegesailing.org/docs/scoring_notes.asp

11) AT THE END OF THE REGATTA: At the end of sailing for the day, each site will do the following:

• POST THE RESULTS- at the site on the regatta notice board. This will allow everyone to double-check for possible errors before the results are published.

• RP FORMS- make sure that all of the Race Participation forms are filled out correctly and signed. *******There is a penalty for teams that fail to complete and/or sign the RP form. See ISSA PR 4.3(a). *******

• POST THE SCORES ONLINE- Once the visiting teams have left, hosts will post at least the scores online (with sailing conditions) at the NESSA e-mail list (nessa@topica.com) or take the time to do the full regatta report using the Navy Scoring program.

  • Hosts will try to spend a little extra time to do the full report (including competitors names). The names are VITAL to successfully reporting scores and it helps coaches plan for the Championship regatta.

• POST THE REGATTA REPORT ONLINE- Use the NAVY SCORING PROGRAM to create a complete regatta report.

  • Enter the competitor names into the Navy Scoring Program. Spend the time to enter the names correctly.

  • Once done, an updated report will be sent to the NESSA e-mail list and send to NESSA Secretary , Evan Olmstead, evan_olmstead@greenwich.k12.ct.us and NESSA President Doug Heil, dougheil22@otmail.com . This will count as filing the regatta report with NESSA. Results are not final until they are certified by NESSA.

• CONTACT Sarah Helming- Each qualifying site shall contact Sarah at sarah@sailmaine.org .

  • This will inform Sarah of the schools that have qualified for the O’Day finals. She has to turn around her site to prepare for 15 unknown schools. The sooner she knows the identity of those schools, the easier it is for her.

  • Keep hard copies of all documents (scoring sheets, protest forms, race results, RP forms, etc) on file until June 1, 2009. After that date, hosts may throw them out.

Understanding the Mark

The Mark Trophy, held this year the weekend of May 16-17, serves as NESSA's team racing championship. This two-day, 8-team round robin is not only the New England championship, but also the qualifier for the team racing nationals - the Baker Trophy.

So, how does it get narrowed from 83 teams down to 8? There are several factors that come into play. Qualification for the Mark is a process that has been under review for the last few years. Originally, the top 8 was determined by a computer ranking system, resume, and a panel of judges. However, in 2005, a Wild Card Weekend was added to the system so as to expand the number of teams involved in the championship from 8 to 16.

General Qualification Requirements
According to Section 2.d of the NESSA By-Laws, in order to qualify for consideration to the Mark, a school must sail at least 7 team scheduled meets or regattas, during the championship season, prior to the championship, and be a member in good standing. These schools must then submit their resume to the NESSA Vice President by the due date as specified in the NOR (notice of race).

The Selection Process and Ranking System
The selection process for teams to compete in the Mark is based upon a ranking system that has been developed and improved upon over several years. The current version combines a computer ranking with a coaches’ poll. This is the computer ranking system that comes into play when determining the official top 12 teams to be considered for the Mark, and calculates (1) overall winning percentage, (2) strength of schedule, as well as (3) the winning percentage against top 20 teams.

A few weeks prior to the NESSA Team Racing Championship, a panel of coaches selected by the NESSA President ranks the teams that have applied for consideration to a berth in the NESSA Team Racing Championship. The average ranking of the coaches’ panel is then averaged with the computer ranking so that the computer ranking and human polling have equal weight. This combined ranking is used to determine which teams are invited to compete in the preliminary Wild Card Weekend sail-off and then the Team Racing Championship.

Wild Card Weekend
The idea of having the Wild Card weekend evolved from discussion amongst coaches in 2004. This came from the desire to include more teams in the championship process. Essentially, the top 4 teams, as determined by the ranking system, automatically receive berths to the Mark. Teams 5-8 who have already qualified for the Mallory (fleet racing nationals), also receive automatic berths. The remaining teams ranked 5-12, sail off against each other in a Wild Card Weekend. This mini-championship determines teams 5-8 to compete the following weekend at the Mark against the pre-determined top 4.

For complete details, read the Wild Card Weekend NOR. (This will open a Word Document)

The Computer Rating System
The current computer rating system, in use since 2006 with one update, is based upon the following three factors: overall winning percentage, strength of schedule, and winning percentage against Top 20 teams, each expressed as 1000 times the decimal fraction. Once the computer rating is determined for all the teams in NESSA, they are given an ordinal computer ranking. The foundation of this system is that there are no preconceived or a priori assumptions and that all the computations are based on actual on-the-water results for the current season. (Information provided by Carl Zimba)

Click here for complete details about the Computer Rating System (again, thanks to Carl).

Specific Information for the 2009 Mark Trophy

• Scores from scheduled meets need to be reported to NESSA and posted on the NESSA website at http://www.taboracademy.net/nessa/all_results.asp. You can get full directions about how to properly post results at http://nessa-sailing.org/results/how_to_post_TR_results.doc
  
• Standings by winning percentage, with links to results by individual teams, are posted at http://www.taboracademy.net/nessa/standings.asp.
• The NOR for the Mark Trophy, with the due date to register for consideration, is posted to the NESSA website at http://nessa-sailing.org/nors/09mark.doc.
• Full details about Wild Card Weekend are also posted to the NESSA website at http://nessa-sailing.org/nors/09wildCard.doc.

Knowing Your Team's Limits

We've had a windy spring in Newport, RI. For the first few weeks, we may have spent as much time in the classroom as on the water. While the urge to just get on the water is huge, it's not always the best idea.

The question then becomes: how do you know when to say when? As coaches, it's our job to make the judgment call. We not only need to determine what is best for the safety of our team, but also our competitors. Here are a few questions to ask yourself that may help you to know your team's limits.

1. Can your team safely get on and off the water? For us, it is extremely difficult for even our top boats to get off the dock in a strong northerly. We had to cancel a meet earlier this week not necessarily because of the gusts, but because of the fact that we didn't think everyone could get sailing without risking damage.
2. Can your weakest boat stay upright? Sometimes, we are confident that our top boats, with heavy air crews, can sail the conditions. However, are we creating safety risks by letting our JV boats out? If you have enough support, don't hesitate to tell some kids that they should just watch for a day while you sail the top boats. It's better for them to learn something rather than just go swimming.
3. Would you want to sail the conditions? Honestly, do you think that you would enjoy the practice? If you are looking at the breeze and thinking, glad I'm not out there, then the kids probably are too.
4. Is it your equipment? A few weeks ago, we had a varsity meet against another school while using a third school's boats. It was gusting to 25, and blowing onto a lee shore. After the first race, we all agreed to call it a day before something got broken. If you are using some one else's boats, they will appreciate your judgment call.
5. Are you going to gain anything from sailing the conditions? Not all conditions are conducive to a good practice. If the goal is to speed-test with heavy-air crews, then 20+ is ok. However, if your team is still learning to boat handle, then a day of chalk-talks may be a better use of you and your team's time.

Finally, know that opposing coaches will always appreciate your good judgment. With both fleet racing and team racing events, it is often up to the coach to determine whether or not their sailors can compete in the given conditions. A hosting coach would rather have you pull out of a race before some one, or something, is put in harm's way.

Understanding the O'Day

On the weekend of April 25-26, NESSA holds the O'Day Trophy. This is the New England fleet racing championship as well as the qualifying event for the Mallory - the national fleet racing championship.

So, you may ask, how does this all work? Well, first off, understand that this is a two-day event. On day one, all schools who (1) are NESSA members in good standing, and (2) have sailed at least three scheduled meets or regattas prior during the season, are eligible to sail. During day one, twelve teams sail at 5 different locations. The top three schools from each location then move on to Sunday's event. (See Section 2.c of the bylaws for more information.)

ISSA (the Interscholastic Schools Sailing Association) determines the number of berths to the nationals for each district. This can vary annually, depending on membership numbers. Usually, the top 4 teams from the O'Day qualify for the Mallory.

More Information for 2009

• Notice of Race (NOR) for the O'Day (this will download a Word document to your computer)
• O'day Qualifying Site Assignments (another Word document that will show who is sailing at which location)
• ISSA Championship Regattas (this page has links to all national NORs)