You Don’t SAY(RA)? Well, You Should

Bill Jarvis and I attended the SAYRA Annual Meeting the weekend of February 4-6, 2004 as representatives of NYRA. It was a real enlightening event held at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Columbia, South Carolina. You can be assured that Bill and I represented NYRA well attending many panel discussions on sailboat racing rules to demonstrations on match racing rules, as well as a seemingly endless supply of hospitality suites. Here is a belated report on the weekend.

First, a little background. SAYRA (which stands for South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association) is a confederation of the member yacht clubs in this south Atlantic region and it is through our SAYRA membership that NYRA is represented to US Sailing. As a NYRA dues paying member, you are already a member of SAYRA. You should check out their website (Sarah has a link on the front of the NYRA page) or you can go to www.sayra-sailing.org to see all of the things they offer. For one thing, they have links to all member clubs websites and a calendar for racing throughout the region. SAYRA, through its volunteers and member clubs, provides training in youth sailing programs, race committee work, and sailing instructor courses.

Bill and I arrived on Friday afternoon and attended the misnamed Annual Barstool Regatta. Unfortunately, there was no bar and there were no barstools. However, it was a very interesting test of sailboat racing rules. The participants were split into “boats” (groups of 4 or 5 at a table) and had various questions or race scenarios flashed on a Powerpoint screen. If we answered correctly our “boat” would advance in the Regatta. Bill was very good at this and I think the only “boats” that beat ours had trained US Sailing Judges on their team. Despite the lack of a handicapping system, I think we did very well (along with the Floyds who were representing Blackbeard Sailing Club). We networked with a number of other seasoned North and South Carolina sailors and compared notes on everything from making regattas successful to PHRF ratings to yacht club dues.

The following day we attended a number of seminars and discussions on yacht club website management, one-design racing, match racing strategies, generating more regional interest and participation in PHRF racing, and Principal Race Officer strategies for a error free regatta. On Saturday night SAYRA held its Commodore’s Ball and gave out its annual awards. Over the entire weekend, it was great to see so many people who love sailboat racing and who labor to make racing better for us all. If you want any more information on SAYRA or its training programs (for racing officials or instructors or youth sailing programs) get in touch with me or Bill and we’ll steer you in the right direction. Next year’s SAYRA meeting will be closer to home in Wrightsville Beach the first weekend in February. Anyone who is interested in attending should let Bill or I know, it’ll be a good time.

Mike Afflerbach

Oriental Dingy Club

Pamlico Sailing Club

Blackbeard Sailing Club