<!-- DIV {margin:0px;} -->body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}Cruising Fleet Members, Fleet Friends, and all other NBC Members (potential 2020 skippers **and** potential 2020 crew):>

(Skippers -- feel free to forward this note to your crew, or potential crew, if they're not members).

We're looking forward to the 2020 season, with our first race scheduled for Wednesday, May 6th (6:30 start), just before Opening Day on May 10th.

(And Cruising Fleet members, don't forget: our Cruising Fleet Racing organization meetings are scheduled for a) Wednesday, April 1, and b) Wednesday, April 22, both at 7:30 p.m.)

Racing's most fun when we have a good number of boats at the starting line -- whether it's Wednesday nights, regattas, Sunday afternoons, etc. We're considering a few changes to the Cruising Fleet Series for 2020, and we'd like to get feedback from potential 2020 racers (boat owners, skippers, and crew -- both from curious novices and weathered veterans).  If you have any interest in participating in big-boat, PHRF racing at NBC this season, please read this note and link to our feedback form at the bottom. (And,if you have no interest in 2020 PHRF racing, please DO NOT respond.)

(If you plan to race your boat this season, remember to get a 2020 handicap (PHRF rating) for your boat from Hudson River Yacht Racing Association.)

A quick summary of what we're thinking about for 2020:

• Wednesday Night races will have only two divisional starts for PHRF racers -- Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker. -- open to all NBC members and guests who have a valid 2020 Hudson River YRA PHRF.
  (Low scoring.)
• An abbreviated Cruising Fleet Sunday Series, either:
• A) Five (5) consecutive Sundays in the summer (late-July to mid-August), or
• B) Twice a month on Sundays in June, July and August.

If there's interest, we'd like to have a skippers' meeting before each Sunday Series start to discuss conditions, tactics, rules, etc., for both new racers and veterans. Similarly, if there's interest, on two Sundays in May/June have informal PHRF races (with skippers' meeting before) to help get new racers (or veterans) up to speed for the season. These informal races will NOT count for any series.

(Low scoring.)

(Note, we expect the NBC Race Committee will continue to be prepared to have a start for PHRF racers on all Sundays, but races outside the Sunday Series would not count for any Cruising Fleet-sponsored series.)

• Encourage skippers to participate in regattas at NBC plus nearby racing events at Shattemuc, Haverstraw, and Minisceongo. If there's interest, we would schedule an NBC skippers meeting sometime the week before a regatta to discuss the Sailing Instructions and what skippers can expect.
  (The Cruising Fleet Champ will continue to count Nyack regattas, Wednesday Series, and Sunday Series races, as well as these "away" events, using a Cox-Sprague variant for scoring.)

The last couple of years we've had a turnout of 10 to 15 boats most Wednesdays, about 3 to 5 NBC boats at the line for weekend regattas at Nyack, at most a couple NBC boats for Sunday racing (plus one or two fleet friends from Shattemuc), and 2 to 3 NBC boats at "away" Hudson River YRA regattas. We've heard the following regarding obstacles to having more boats on the line:

• For new racers, it can be intimidating to get started -- especially at regattas and Wednesday nights; also that it may tough recruiting and training crew.
• For weekend racing (Sundays and regattas at NBC) we've heard three obstacles

1. Crew. Even if a skipper has a Wednesday night crew, they're not all available on Sundays.
2. Committing the entire day (weekend). Many skippers (and crew) want that time for cruising, family sailing, entertaining, etc. Sunday racing is usually a commitment from about noon to 5 or 6 p.m., if we have two races
3. Lot of Sundays. The Sunday series is long -- from early May to the end of October. That's a lot weekends committed.

• For Hudson River YRA regattas nearby (Haverstraw, Minisceongo, Shattemuc), the obstacles are the time commitment, getting crew, and (for novice racers especially) negotiating an unfamiliar situation. For more distant Hudson River YRA events (Kingston and Chelsea), it's the same, but also the further issue of time to move the boat there and back.

Please have a look at the proposed 2020 racing schedule (shows both of our proposed Sunday Series alternative schedules),which includes all NBC events and any other events that count for the Cruising Fleet Champ Series.

There are many series and regattas where NBC Cruising Fleet racers can compete for an award, and most require only a one-weekend or one-day commitment.

• 2020 Cruising Fleet Champ Series (we count all your races)
• 2020 NBC Wednesday Night Series (21 Wednesday nights: May 6 - Sept 23)
• 2020 Cruising Fleet Summer Sunday Series (schedule TBD -- either 6 Sundays in Jun, July, Aug; OR 5 consecutive Sundays: July 26 - Aug 23)
• Shattemuc Pedlow Cup Series (3 Sunday mornings, Mem'l Day, Independence Day, Labor Day)
• NBC Memorial Day Regatta * (one day May 23)
• Maritime Cup -- Kingston HRYRA * (May 30-31)
• Chelsea Open -- Chelsea HRYRA * (June 6-7)
• Hudson Cove -- Haverstraw HRYRA * (June 27-28)
• NBC Guy Moulton Regatta * (July 11-12)
• 134th Annual Shattemuc -- Shattemuc HRYRA * (Sept 12-13)
• NBC Fall Regatta * (Sept 12-13)
• Sutherland Cup -- Minisceongo HRYRA * (Sept 26-27)
• Last Chance Regatta -- Nyack HRYRA * (Oct 3-4)
• Hudson River Race -- Nyack HRYRA * (one day Oct 10)
• Hudson River YRA 2020 Series (count all your HRYRA event races)

• Event registration and fee required.

Finally, we would really like your feedback on the proposed 2020 season, and on obstacles to having you participate in more racing at NBC and nearby. Please respond via this survey form (about 5 minutes, tops) or just send a reply email with your comments.

Thanks -- NBC Cruising Fleet Racing -- Carol Marsh (Captain) and Tony Martin (Scoring)