Newport Bucket - 2009 Notice of Race (NOR)
Announcement of RegattaRegatta Rules
View latest 2009 Newport Bucket Regatta Schedule of Events
The Bucket Rating Rule Has Gone Global!
Other Important Details
Announcement of Regatta
The Seventh Annual Newport Bucket Regatta
July 17th – 19th 2009
The Newport Bucket is an invitational regatta set in the Corinthian spirit. The regatta is open to yachts over 90’ (27M) L.O.A., unless invited under the Grandfather Clause. The venue will be based at Newport Shipyard, alongside the marquee.
Yachts participating will do so at their own risk. This is a fun regatta and safety is the primary concern of the Race Committee. Therefore, we extend an invitation to the owners, captains, crews and guests who participate to make this a fun and safe event.
Finally, and again of primary importance is for all contestants to understand the spirit of the Bucket Regattas. This is an opportunity to sail your yacht to peak potential in a fleet of the most magnificent sailing yachts on the planet, with full focus on performance as well as safe seamanship.
This year in St. Barths, the Bucket Rating Rule exceeded everyone’s expectations by large margins, serving up the racing that was at times, even a bit too close! Also new for this year is a more exacting set of safety rules, outlined in the “Superyacht Racing Protocol” below. This set of safety guidelines is built around the fact that the yachts we are racing do not have the same maneuverability potential as normal racing yachts which are legislated by ISAF. The Superyacht Protocol is based instead, upon the COLREGS. See below.
REGATTA RULES
The Superyacht Racing Protocol
It is important for all Bucket participants, owners, captains and tacticians to remain fully aware that due to the size of the yachts and their relative lack of maneuverability in close quarters, Bucket Regattas cannot be sailed under the conventional ISAF sailing rules. All participants must understand that this is a congenial regatta. The primary focus is seamanship and sailing in the safest possible manner in all situations. Yachts handled in an overly aggressive manner WILL be excused from racing in all Bucket Events. Please read the following rules carefully!
Bucket Regattas are sailed under the COLREGS, International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea, with the following exceptions:
- This is a pursuit race. Each yacht will be assigned her own starting time, slower yachts starting first. The first yacht to cross the Finish, wins. With proper handicaps, the fleet should finish in close proximity. Ratings may be adjusted after each day’s race, at the discretion of the handicap committee, in order to optimize the ratings the for the next day’s race.
- Yachts are allowed to run their engines and thrusters up to their start for safety reasons only! Each yacht’s engine must be out of gear two minutes prior to her start, so that she crosses the line under sail power alone.
- There will be no recalls; any yacht crossing the starting line early will have FIVE minutes added to her elapsed time. However, any yacht starting more than FIVE minutes prior to their assigned time will not be scored.
- ***The prescriptions of this paragraph may be replaced prior to the Newport Bucket with a simple requirement that all overtaking yachts at all turning marks have no rights and therefore MUST pass outside all yachts being overtaken.
At Mark roundings and obstructions, the ISAF Rules of Sailing, Section C, Rules #18-20 “When Boats Meet at Marks and Obstructions”, will serve as a general guide as to safe conduct in close quarters, with the “zone” defined as 100 meters. Interpretation of these rules must consider the size and maneuverability limitations of the yachts involved. If there is any question as to risk of collision, bridge-to-bridge communication on VHF 15 is encouraged to confirm collision avoidance maneuvers. Unless there is clear thoroughfare at the mark, overtaking and/or less maneuverable yachts are strongly encouraged to take the “passing lane”, outside. Yachts are encouraged to run their engines in neutral when approaching congested roundings, so they may be engaged if necessary for collision avoidance.
- All participants take note; within the COLREGS, no provision is made for “luffing rights”, for overlapped yachts being overtaken to windward. These rights are excluded from Bucket Regatta races.
- The COLREGS and the ISAF Rounding Rules will be superseded in all situations by the General Prudential Rule: Collisions are to be avoided by all and every means.
Communications
VHF Channel 73 will be used as the official Race Committee Channel unless otherwise stated at the daily skipper’s meeting. All competing yachts should monitor VHF Channel 73 at all times while racing. All yachts also will be required to maintain an active radio watch on VHF Channel 15 from the time the Yacht enters the Starting Area until she departs the Finish Area after the race. The purpose of the radio watch is to maintain an active, bridge-to-bridge communication capability among the fleet, such that when in close quarters any yacht may request any other yacht to “state their intentions” and resolve the best course for collision avoidance. If it is determined that one of the yachts will alter course, the Race Committee encourages first consideration be given to course changes that conform with COLREGS prescriptions. For example, port tack and overtaking yachts should be treated as the burdened vessel.
Safety Tactician
Each yacht shall assign a Safety Tactician and submit his or her name and local contact information to the Race Committee before 1800 on Friday, July17th. This individual will be responsible for the Channel 15, bridge-to-bridge communications, along with other duties requested by the Race Committee, such as recording mark rounding times on a Course Log Sheet.
Course Log sheet
A Course Log Sheet will be given out at the daily skipper’s meeting to the Safety Tactician, requesting rounding times and other information the Race Committee may deem necessary for optimizing the on-water performance analysis for each yacht’s rating. It should be handed to the Race Committee at the reception desk on the quay before 1800 each evening. At this time the Race Committee will appreciate an informal debriefing of the day’s racing.
Protests
Because of the size and lack of maneuverability of the participating yachts, the Bucket Regattas cannot be sailed under the auspices of the traditional Racing Rules of Sailing. Therefore, the Bucket Race Committee cannot, and will not convene a Protest Hearing or render a third party opinion as to “fault” in any collision situation.
In 23 years of Bucket Regattas, not a single protest has been filed. This is a tremendous tribute to the sportsmanship of the participants. We fully expect the present and all future Bucket Events to achieve the same level of seamanship and mutual respect.
Superyacht Racing Protocol
The rules outlined above constitute what we hope will evolve into a comprehensive set of guidelines that will create the Superyacht Racing Protocol, that will be used in all Bucket Regattas. The purpose of the rules is to encourage good competition, good sportsmanship and absolute collision avoidance.
None of the above guidelines should affect the spirit of Bucket Racing from years past, which is first and foremost:
SAIL SAFELY FIRST, THEN FAST. WIN THE PARTY!
2009 Preliminary Schedule of Events
Go to the schedule page to view the latest Schedule of Events.Bucket Rating Rule
The Bucket Rating Rule Has Gone Global!!!
After six years of development and refinement, Jim Teeters’ VPP based Bucket Rating Rule has been adopted by the Superyacht Regattas in Antigua and Palma, Mallorca as the standard for all pursuit racing. Beginning with the 2008 Antigua Superyacht Regatta this December, all Bucket and Superyacht Regattas will be rated by the same Rule, and by the same team, managed by Jim Teeters of US Sailing.
The net result to the participants should streamline the application process and bring parity to the Regatta results. With nearly a hundred yachts already in the system, the Bucket Rule has truly hit its stride.
With this globalization in mind, we encourage all Owners and Captains to review your application information. These are the inputs from which we create your yacht’s individual Velocity Prediction Program, which is further refined by on-water observation of actual results. If your yacht is observed to be well sailed, but the results fail to provide the earned rewards, we will use the observed results to modify your original design inputs, i.e. adding or subtracting effective sail area, modifying displacement, center of gravity, or other inputs, to bring the calculated performance in line with the actual on water performance. Basically, we are replacing an exhaustive measurement process - in and out of water - which would be extremely costly with regard to time and labor, with performance observation applied in VPP analysis terms.
The Bucket Rule will be updated on an annual basis. An original Velocity Prediction Program and rating will cost €400. After the first year, there will be an annual rating fee of €100, for any year in which the yacht will participate in a Bucket or Superyacht Regatta. Any changes to the yacht which affect performance (new sails, propellers, spars, etc.) will call for a VPP review and modification at €250. For yachts sailing only in the Newport Bucket, the fees will be charged in US$, not Euros €.
In sum, we are implementing a rating rule for Superyachts of widely dissimilar design, which thoroughly considers each yacht’s potential for sailing upwind, reaching and running in all wind conditions. The unique capability of the VPP format is that for every change in windspeed or wind angle, the ratings are automatically adjusted. We have had remarkable success over the past several years in bringing the most disparate designs, from 25 knot reaching sleds to comfortable displacement cruising designs, all to the finish line within seconds. We are excited to make the Bucket Rule available to the Superyacht Regattas and hope it will become the standard for all pursuit format Superyacht Racing.
Details, Details, Details
For inquiries about the Newport Bucket Regatta, contact:
| Holly Paterson | Holly@bucketregattas.com | C (401)743-4726 |
| Lisa O’Connell | Lisa@bucketregattas.com | C (401) 225-0330 |
For General regatta information and inquiries you may also contact:
| Hank Halsted, Director | Hank@bucketregattas.com | C (401) 965-3256 |
| Ian Craddock, Treasurer/Director | Ian@bucketregattas.com | C 39 349 381 2675 |
| Tim Laughridge, Director | Tim@bucketregattas.com | Cl (401) 965 2784 |
