The weekend immediately past, we hosted the Midwest District Championships for both the Lightning and the Thistle classes at Sheboygan Yacht Club. It was a great opportunity for our volunteers on the RC and measurement teams to become more familiar with their tasks. More than 30 turned out to 'practice' their volunteer assignment. People who have hosted big regattas will understand what an amazing place Sheboygan is.
Chief Measurer Clausen flew in from PA to supervise Lightning measurement and provide us with instruction on how to properly use the measurement jigs and the right techniques to employ when the boats are up on the saw horses. It should be noted that our facilities/site planning team lead by Mark Wessel had previously built the required massive saw horses to the Clausen-recommended design.
As you will note from the photos, our weather was absolutely perfect...for measuring. No excessive sunlight to make reading the scale challenging, or annoying breaths of wind to impact a fair weight. A relative humidity of 100% at all times. 53-55 degrees...textbook measuring conditions. 20 Lightnings were successfully and accurately measured which removes a chunk of traffic from the measurement line when you arrive. You're welcome.
In addition to the technical measuring techniques, we learned the following:
• Once the process is up and running, it takes less than 10 minutes to complete a boat measurement.
• It's good to have two scales available, both calibrated and pre-approved by the measurer for in the event that one needs new batteries or is impacted by excessive moisture.
• The chief measurer has requested we measure the length of all safety lines.
• We need a platform from which to more safely raise and lower the centerboard while it is on the saw horses. Moving a ladder takes too long.
• Owners and crews learn a lot from watching measurement. They leave with their measurement certificates updated and signed by the Chief Measurer.
Our measurement team observed:
• Most boats have significantly more room than required between the rudder and the skeg.
• Only a few boats have centerboard slots anywhere close to the minimum allowance.
• All the spinnaker poles we measured were within the tolerances.
• Even the oldest boats passed the arc measurements. Nobody was too flat aft or too round forward.
• Many competitors forgot to bring their measurement certificates and/or didn't have class stickers in place. They will have to have these initialed by Mr. Clausen prior to being measurement-complete.
For your reference, the image following is a copy of the measurement control sheet that has been approved and was in use this weekend.
You will note that it remains our plan to spot-check a few sails. This saves an astounding amount of time and makes the whole experience much more tolerable...could we say even enjoyable?! As you can tell from the form above, we will check all sails for royalty stickers. It remains your responsibility to sail with legal sails. Should you fail a spot measurement you will be scored DSQ in every race during which you used that sail.
Bring your measurement certificate. Pay your dues in advance and put your sticker in place. Sort out your safety gear in advance and we will fly through measurement and get into the serious fun.
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