breakwaters.orgBreakwater Irregulars | 2020 — Our 54th Summer of Sailboat Racing on Long Island Sound

Breakwater Irregulars 2020 — Our 54th Summer of Sailboat Racing on Long Island Sound Menu Skip to content Tuesday – Best Night of the Week! Safety RC Duty Sailors & Officers Tracking Forecasts History Past & Present Participants Banquet Boat of the Year Sportsmanship Award Sockol Memorial Photos 50th Anniversary Photos Race Videos Kickoff 2018 Archives Links Forms Gathering Spots Apparel Search for: Tuesday – Best Night of the Week! Tuesday Night Sailboat Racing near Stamford CT. All are WELCOME to join us. We’re having a great time, and that’s largely because we’re keeping it safe and healthy. Click here for our Yachtscoring Pages. Update for August 4, 2020: 1. No race tonight. Isaiah related wind is predicted to exceed 50 knots at our start time, so the RC decided to pass. We’ve been very lucky with the weather so far. We may have as many official races in 2020, despite our pandemic-delayed start, as we had in 2018 and 2019. 2. Our 2020 banquet will be an on-line event on TUESDAY, November 24, starting at 7 PM. Save the date. Invitations will be distributed via skippers. BYOB. (We have already reserved SYC for a real banquet in 2021.) 3. Please observe all marina and club health and safety rules while going to and from boats. Be considerate of staff. Measures in excess of legal compliance should be observed on every boat. The right standard for your boat is one that satisfies your most concerned crew member. Let’s enjoy our Tuesday evenings without compromising anyone’s health…or health concerns. 4. There is only one Series in 2020, with 12 Tuesday nights scheduled, including the first Tuesday of September, which falls before Labor Day Weekend this year. Our fee was reduced to $150. 5. Racing crews are NOT serving on Race Committee or providing dinner for the RC. This year, more than ever: “Thank you, RC!” Remember that, as always, the decision to sail is YOURS. The RC being on station is no assurance that conditions are safe for your boat and crew. We quickly edited the balance of this page to reflect changes we made in response to the pandemic. To the extent that any of it disagrees with the special provisions above, it is superseded for 2020. In normal times, we invite anyone and everyone to jump on our boats to try racing. We can’t do that in 2020. Do contact us if you’re interested, and we’ll TRY to find a safe ride for you. Check our “ crew/boat wanted ” page. One way for new and prospective participants to learn more about our program is to peruse the Scratch Sheets, Sailing Instructions, and Race Results for past seasons. See the links below. We race sloops* of all sizes on Long Island Sound, south of Stamford, CT. Races are usually scheduled on 16 consecutive Tuesday evenings every summer, ending on the last Tuesday before Labor Day Weekend. (The first 8 are called the Spring Series; the second 8 are called the Summer Series. One registration covers both series, but they are scored separately to give everyone a second chance.) The Breakwater Irregulars have been doing this since 1967 . That’s a lot of Tuesday evenings on the water, but every one is unique. We usually have three spinnaker classes and two non-spinnaker classes, so there is a race for every level of experience, every manner of sloop, every size crew. Following is a mix of recent news and basic information about who we are, what we do, and, most importantly, how YOU can sail with us . *We are open to multi-hulls and other rigs, but they would have to join in sufficient numbers to form new classes. Sail numbers must CONTRAST with sail material in order to be “clearly legible,” as required by Appendix G of the Racing Rules. This is especially true for evening races. The number of boats recording their races with the FREE RaceQs app seems to be rising as of mid-July 2020, so we will continue to make playbacks available and hope its use regains popularity. Replays of recordings made in 2020 can be viewed at http://raceqs.com/regattas/75513 . For more information, visit our Tracking page. Belated thanks to Mike Ryan and Chris Noe for the photos displayed at our last Awards Banquet. Thanks, also, to Steve Campana, who composed and produced the slide show. List of past and present boats/skippers . Are you on this long list? If not, sign up today! Marketing BI. We have to keep growing, just to keep even. In order to open lines of communication with those local sailors who do not yet race with us, we’re posting a flyer at all local clubs and marinas. Don’t see one on your bulletin board? Print and post this one . Thanks to a special initiative by Alex Henkin, we are also staging simulated race events to help dispel concerns for sailors who are apprehensive about racing. Sailboat racing is all about good sailing, and what sailor doesn’t want to sail well? We have enjoyed a general growth trend in recent years, while that has not been true of our sport overall. If you’re not already sailing with us, tell us WHY, so we can do a better job. A spinnaker class rounds Gong 1 on its way to Nun 34. A larger fleet allows each of us to race against more similar boats, so that winning depends on performance, rather than design. Be part of BI’s continued fun and excitement…JOIN and convince your friends to JOIN. They will thank you! See the results of past series at these links: SPRING 2019 Tracking SUMMER 2019 Tracking SPRING 2018 Tracking (both) SUMMER 2018 SPRING 2017 SUMMER 2017 More results and tracking can be found through our Links page. Drone on. Now that drones have reliable homing systems, their use over the water is more practical. And they take great pictures. Here’s an example from one of our past races . We welcome this, but keep your distance. If you have any trouble with registration or want to learn more about BI, contact us at racing@breakwaters.org . We mean it when we say: NEW MEMBERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME! Scoring: We count our scores for a majority of the races and drop the rest, so missing (or sailing too slowly in) some races is okay. Of course, being there for most of the races improves your chances. (Cumulative Results on Yachtscoring provides a good record of our results, but it does not reflect throw-outs and other scoring exceptions. Therefore, it should not be relied upon for placement information until it is adjusted by the RC at the end of each series.) HOW TO JOIN US. There is one registration for the entire year. Registration opens by late November for the following spring/summer at yachtscoring.com. The specific link for the upcoming season is posted at the top of this page. Each participating boat is also required to obtain a current PHRF rating from the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound (instructions below). No need to send it to us; the Race Committee will find it on the YRALIS site. OUR FEE . The annual fee per boat (which includes five memberships) usually exceeds our actual expenses, so we set aside enough cash to start the next season and apply most of the surplus to the annual awards dinner, as a “use it or lose it” discount against each boat’s ticket purchases, for allocation by the skipper who paid the fee. The fee serves two purposes. One, it ensures that we have enough money to pay our necessary expenses. Two, the surplus policy encourages representation of all participating boats at the dinner. And that kind of socializing is important, because it’s much more fun to race against friends than against strangers. The sailors on the management committee use your fee responsibly and transparently to make the program successful. Any questions? The Breakwater Irregulars have for many years supported Halloween Yacht Club’s Mayor’s Cup Race (tentatively Sunday, June 13 in 2021), Stamford Yacht Club’s Weekend Series (schedule on our Links page ), and other open races. We routinely include this information to facilitate participation by our members and other sailing friends in these local weekend races. Thanks to Barbara Bentley of Chasseur. S...