Homeport Regatta Welcome

Welcome Aboard!

Greetings Sailors! Thank you for your interest in the 2019 Homeport Regatta.  

We at Homeport Regatta Sailing are very pleased to announce that the 2018 Homeport Regatta hosted over 30 entrants and their families and friends for a challenging race and an over the top after-race party.  Thanks to our many wonderful sponsors, there was a raffle, live music, and excellent food. Hundreds of people enjoyed the event and, when it was all said and done, the proceeds of the event were donated to the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute (CIMWI). As a result of the outstanding success of the event, last year Homeport Regatta Sailing donated $2000 to CIMWI which it used to acquire their new whale disentanglement and rapid assist boat, which will be on display this year at the after-race party and awards ceremony.  The 2019 Homeport Regatta will be bigger and better. Our theme this year is, “It’s Ohana”; meaning, “It’s all about family”.  So, break out your Polynesian gear, and plan to hula with us on May 4, 2019.

This year, the event shall be open to cruising boats and live-aboards, not only from Vintage and Channel Islands Marinas, but from all of Ventura County.  We anticipate that we will have many more participants which means more opportunities for great prizes, great food, great music, camaraderie, and community benefit. The Homeport Regatta is a rare, one of a kind opportunity for cruising sailors and live-aboard sailors to go out, with little or no racing experience, and to compete in a fun race.  And, no yacht club affiliation is required for entry.

The Homeport Regatta was an idea born on the docks between friends Larry Golkin and Gareth Jones. To cut a long yarn short, one day whilst working away on their adjacent cruising boats, one man said to another “hey, fancy a friendly race around Anacapa?” The gauntlet was thrown, and after a bit of excited chatter the other man said “heck, why don’t we invite a couple of other friends’ boats to the party?”  Then, they decided to approach Vintage Marina Partners for sponsorship.  Vintage jumped on board with both feet and the event took shape from there.

How do we get a bunch of cruising boats and live-aboard boats to go out and race competitively against one another?  Easy. The Homeport Regatta is a pursuit race.  This means that the slowest boat in the fleet starts first followed by successively faster boats.  You are probably wondering how this works.  Simple.   Upon entering the race, your boat will receive a Homeport Regatta Handicap based on the characteristics of your boat.  Your handicap will determine your start time vis a vis that of the slowest boat in the fleet.  Ideally, if done correctly, all boats should finish at or near the same time to make for a fabulous spectacle at the finish line.  You will receive more details of how the start times are calculated at a later date.

Following the race, all competitors, their family and friends are invited to the huge awards ceremony and after-race party where all may enjoy great food, music, raffle prizes, and camaraderie.

To enter, fill out the entry form, and deliver it to the Vintage Marina Partners office located upstairs at 3150 Harbor Blvd, Oxnard, along with your $30 entry fee. You can either print out the attached entry form, or go to the Vintage office and fill one out there.  Along with your application and entry form, all entrants must produce and attach proof of current insurance coverage for their vessels. The Vintage office is open 7 days a week, 8am - 5pm. It is strongly recommended to do so as early as possible. No application for entry will be accepted after April 30, 2019.  Moreover, if you are coming from Ventura Harbor, please take notice that Vintage Marina partners will be offering a limited number of free slips for the duration of the race weekend (Friday and Saturday night). However the word here is limited, and they will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis to paid entrants only.

For any questions you may have please send a message to Homeport Regatta Sailing at HomeportRegatta@yahoo.com.  Also be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

And a huge thanks to our partners at Vintage Marina Partners without whom Homeport Regatta would not be a reality.

March 29 - Homeport Regatta News

Good Morning, Sailors:

Now that we are approaching the end of March, it seems appropriate to point out that, though many of us may not realize it, March in America is recognized as Woman's History Month.  It grew out of a  small-town school event in Northern California, a week-long celebration of women’s contributions to culture, history and society organized by the Sonoma County School District in 1978. A few years later, the idea garnered nationwide attention, and in 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week.  Congress followed suit the next year, passing a resolution establishing a national celebration. Six years later, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.  

It is in this historical vein that I segue into the story of why boats are referred to as "she".  History has all but completely blurred the exact reason why boats are called she, although explanations abound of a mostly folk variety, assumed or invented after the fact as a way of making sense of the phenomenon. Boats are a truly interesting case in English, as they are among the only inanimate objects that take a gendered pronoun, whereas most others are called it.  

Notwithstanding the folksy cloud under which the historical derivation of the practice resides, there exist at least two plausible theories as to why we refer to our boats as she.  First, boats  traditionally received female names and were often christened with  the name of an important woman in the life of the owner, such as his mother or daughter, or sometimes a hyphenated version including both, i.e., S/V Betty-Sue. 

Many naval historians surmise that all ships were once dedicated to goddesses, and later to important mortal women when belief in goddesses waned.  Ironically, although male captains and sailors historically attributed the spirit of a benevolent female figure to their ships, actual women were once considered very bad luck at sea.

A second plausible theory, though not nearly as romantic as the first, points to the existence of grammatical gender in  Indo-European languages, including English. Modern English has hardly any grammatical gender, but, in the annals of linguistic history, it appears that  English once had a more extensive system of grammatical gender, similar to that in languages such as German and French. It turns out that. in most Indo-European languages with grammatical gender, the word for "ship" is feminine.

I expect that you are all completely confused and wondering what I put in my coffee this morning.  Well, here's the final segue:  March is not only Women's History Month, it is also, for many of us, the beginning of our boating season here in the Santa Barbara Channel.  As we manly men believe we must care for our women, and March is Women's History Month, and March is the beginning of our boating season...….here it comes...….the segue of the week, it is also a great time to start giving our boats the TLC they deserve so that our vessels may grant us a full spring and summer of carefree and safe boating.  Wow! There it is! 

For many us, annual preparation and cleaning projects are necessary rites of spring that help prevent problems that could keep us off the water once the season is underway.  Here's a checklist of a variety of items to pay attention to (your own check list may be longer or shorter.  Just make sure you have one and go for it):  

1.    Inspect the fuel system for leaks or damage and be sure to pay special attention to fuel hoses, connections and tank surfaces.

2.    Check belts, cables and hoses because they can become brittle and may crack during winter storage.

3.    Ensure the engine, exhaust and ventilation systems are all functioning properly.

4.    Inspect all electrical connections for clean, tight, corrosion free connections.

5.    Charge your battery and have it tested to ensure it can hold a charge.

6.    Check your safety gear, especially life jackets to ensure they are in good condition and that there are enough on board for all potential passengers.

7.    Make sure your bilge pumps work.

8.    Check sea strainers.

9.    Inspect your standing and running rigging.

10.    Make sure the vessel is good and clean inside and out.

Most important of all, however, is to make sure you sign up for Homeport Regatta.  We will not take any entries after April 30.  If you have friends in Ventura Harbor who will be joining us, we can have a slip for them for the weekend available, but these slips are limited so it is important to act now.

Have a great weekend!  As always, if you have any questions or need any information about Homeport Regatta, or if you need an entry packet, please do not hesitate to contact me here at Homeportregatta@yahoo.com.

Best,

Larry Golkin, Homeport Regatta Sailing

A big thanks to our premier sponsors:

March 21 Announcement - Establishing Start Times

Good Afternoon Sailors:

In this week’s edition of Home Port Regatta Sailing, I thought I would take a moment to discuss the Pursuit Race format. 

The Pursuit Race format is not new.  Sailing organizations have enjoyed using it for years as a great way to encourage sailors to get out on the water and have fun racing with friends under rules and guidelines that make it competitive for fast and slow boats alike.  The concept is simple:  first, the turtles take off, and then the rabbits are unleashed.  The goal is for the rabbits to overtake the turtles before the finish line.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes all boats finish very close together.  And sometimes, the turtles win.  The first boat across the line is declared the winner.

The modern Pursuit Race depends on the Race Committee’s ability to properly apply handicaps to all vessels which in turn are used to determine the time each vessel will start in succession. 

First, you must understand “handicap.” In North America, there is a system of handicapping known as Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF).  The purpose of PHRF handicapping is to essentially cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages of different classes of boats allowing such dissimilar classes of boats to race against one another.  By and large, most handicaps are assigned by PHRF or similar body, upon application by a boat owner.  The application includes a variety of factors relating to the design of the boat.  Although it seems like it could be arbitrary, over many years of analysis, PHRF and similar entities have nearly perfected their methods and the handicap applied to a vessel works out.  At that point, boats “speed up” as a result of quality seamanship and crew work. 

Using PHRF handicapping, it is entirely possible that a 105 year old wooden yawl could race against a modern sled.  The old yawl might have a PHRF handicap of 300, while the racing boat has a handicap of -100.  As such, there is a chasm of 400 between handicaps.  This number represents time in seconds to be multiplied by the length of the course resulting in a chasm of seconds per mile.  So, in application, if the course is 25 miles, and both boats start at the same time, applying the time per mile handicap to these two boats, for the sled to beat the yawl, it must do so by more than 10,000 seconds (400 seconds multiplied by 25 nm) or approximately 166.66 minutes, or 2.77 hours.  While it is likely that the sled will already be back in the barn and her crew well lubricated by the time the yawl finishes, if the yawl finishes at any time less than 2.77 hours after the sled, the yawl wins! 

In pursuit racing, handicaps are used differently.  We use handicaps to determine start times.  Obviously, the slowest boat in the fleet will start first and then each boat with a lower handicap will start thereafter.  It is simple math:  First, you compare the handicaps of the slowest boat with each successively faster boat.  For sake of ease, in our example, let us assume there are only two boats in the race, one with a handicap of 220 and the other with a handicap of 120.  Let us further appreciate an 1100 start time, and a course length of 20 nm.  We know that the slowest boat (the 220) will start at 1100.  The issue is at what time will the 120 boat start?  First, subtract 120 from 220 to get the handicap differential of 100.  Then, we multiply this differential by the course distance (20 nm) to get the number 2000.  Because we are comparing handicaps which are a function of time, this number represents 2000 seconds between the start time for the 220 and the 120 boat.  2000 seconds is then converted by dividing by 60 to 33.3 minutes or 33 minutes and 18 seconds.  Thus, in application, if the 220  boat starts at 1100, the 120  boat starts at 11:33:18.  The goal is to finish first and the excitement lies in the chase: will that 120 slip past in time to finish first, or will the 220 manage to hold him off and glide across the line first to victory.

Obviously, in an event with 30-40+ vessels, all of which have varying handicaps, calculating the start time for each of the vessels entered is a significantly more onerous undertaking. Last year, we had 33 boats start the race with handicaps ranging from 220 all the way to 50 and thus start times ranging from 1100 to 11:51. Thank goodness for Excel spreadsheets with inaugurated formulae that make the math automatic.

The 2019 Homeport Regatta is only weeks away.  If you haven’t already entered, please do so.  You can pick up an entry package at the Vintage Marina Office or at the Channel Islands Marina Office. You can also request a package be emailed to you by contacting us at Homeportregatta@yahoo.com. Remember, we will be cutting off entries on April 30. 

Please,  if you have friends who wish to join us who keep their boats in Ventura Harbor, Vintage and Channel Islands Marinas are making slips available for free for the weekend (Friday through Sunday) for these visiting entrants on a first come first served basis with paid entry.  These spaces are limited.  So let them know. 

As always, should you have any questions or desire any additional information, please do not hesitate to call or email me.

Larry Golkin

Homeport Regatta Sailing

March 19 Announcement

3/13/2019

Good Morning, Sailors!

I'm pleased to report that the event is moving along quite well.  We have responded to numerous requests for entry packets so far and hope to receive many more.   If you are concerned about the weather at the after-race party, let me tell you at this time that you have no need for concern. Also, we have done up a completely new course chart for the event with more options should the conditions on the water be less than ideal.  It is our most sincere hope to have all the boats that enter actually finish the course.  But keep in mind, we do not want a "boat parade" either.  We plan to challenge you and your crew with a fun and interesting race, the completion of which you can be proud of.

Many of you are familiar with the culinary beauty and elegance that is Waterside in Channel Islands Harbor.  Some of you have probably dined there before, whether for lunch, dinner, happy hour, or their exceptional Sunday Brunch.  On behalf of Homeport Regatta Sailing, I am pleased to announce that, this year, our After-Race Gala will be held at Waterside in Channel Islands Harbor! Owner, Tony, and his executive chef, have put together a delectable Polynesian menu presented open buffet style that will have your taste buds screaming for more.  And, no paper plates or plastic cups  this year.  Waterside is pulling out all the stops.  There will be all the wonderful service many of you who have dined at Waterside have come to expect on real plates with real silverware and everything.  And, just in case you were wondering, the restaurant will be closed to the public for the duration of our event.  Yes, we will have the place all to ourselves for great food, an outrageous raffle, fun and danceable live music, and Polynesian style "Ohana".  The after-race party will open at 5:00 p.m. on race day, May 4, 2019.  Awards will be presented at around 6:00 p.m.  This year again, the prizes will be well worth sailing for. 

The beauty of sponsorship is that it helps us keep the costs down.  As such, each paid entrant will receive two meal tickets for the after race party.  Meal tickets will thereafter cost $10.00 per person and will be available after April 30, at the Skippers Meeting at 8:30 on race day, and at the door. (We will make them available for advance purchase as well, and I will fill you in on that later).  One can barely hit the happy hour menu for that.  The restaurant bar will be open and available on a no-host basis.  So, please, if you have not already done so, get your entry packets and fees in so we can expect to see you at the Skippers Meeting, on the race course, and at the After-Race Gala event.

At some point in the not too distant future, I will be asking each entrant to give me the number of crew for which they would like to request wrist bands and meal tickets.  The wristbands will be in your skippers bag when you register at the Skippers Meeting along with 2 meal tickets.  Additional meal tickets will be available for purchase at that time.  Make sure to give yourself plenty of time.  And, don't worry: If your husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, son or daughter,  does not sail but will be joining you at the after-race party, there will be wristbands and meal tickets available.  After all, this year is all about "Ohana".  Like last year, this is NOT a party open to the public.  It is a celebration of our entrants.  Without an authorized wristband, you don't get in.  We will be ironing out all the details and letting you know in short order.

In the mean time, thanks to all of you who have committed to joining us this year, and a huge thanks to our sponsors  We are looking forward to seeing you again!  In the interim, should you have any questions or desire any additional information, please do not hesitate to post your question here at homeportregatta@yahoo.com and I will respond as close to immediately as I can.

Regards,

Larry Golkin, Principal

Homeport Regatta Sailing

A Letter to Our Sponsors and Benefactors

A LETTER TO OUR SPONSORS AND BENEFACTORS:

To Whom It May Concern:

Homeport Regatta Sailing is a California unincorporated association formed for the sole purpose of producing the Homeport Regatta.  The Homeport Regatta is a sailboat race presently open exclusively to cruising boats and live aboards in Ventura County, California. Our Race Committee shall set a course that is as challenging as it is interesting. The race will follow a “pursuit” format whereby slower boats will start earlier than faster boats ensuring that all of the boats will finish at or about the same time. The first boat to finish will be declared the winner.  Powerboats are also invited to participate as observation platforms and to photograph the sailboats.  Following the race, there will be a private awards gala featuring both food and entertainment supplied by local vendors.  There will be prizes for the sailors and a raffle for skippers and crew. 

Our event aims to positively impact and unite our local community, in and around Channel Islands Harbor, for both residents and businesses alike. We hope you will join us in making this event a success through your gift or paid sponsorship.  By supporting the Homeport Regatta you will benefit from numerous publicity and marketing opportunities associated with this exciting community organized local event.  We strive to provide a successful event not only for our participants, but also for our local sponsors and donors.

Please note that our application for tax exempt status is presently pending with the IRS and we fully expect to receive tax exempt status and be able to receive tax deductible donations just as if we were a charitable organization and thus you should expect to claim a tax benefit as a consequence of your gift or paid sponsorship. All proceeds raised and all prizes donated will benefit the event and the participants and their families.  Any proceeds remaining after all costs and expenses have been accounted for will be donated to the Channel Islands Marine Wildlife Institute, a 501(c)(3) entity dedicated to research and education, and to the rescue and treatment of sick and injured marine mammals.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

Larry Golkin, Organizer

Homeport Regatta Sailing

Tax ID No.: 82-4782276

March 2 Homeport Regatta Announcement

Good day Sailors!

Homeport Regatta 2019 is off and running.   There are some big things happening this year.  First, due to the success of the event last year, the organizing committee has decided to open the event to cruising boats and live-aboard sailors county wide.  This means, we will welcome boats from all the marinas in Ventura County.  We anticipate increasing our numbers substantially.  This also means that our after-race party will be bigger than ever.  In an effort to accommodate everyone and to make sure we have sufficient resources for all, we are cutting off entries on April 30.  So, please get in as soon as possible to make sure you get a spot.

Attached, please find the Notice of Race and the Event Flyers.  The main difference between the Ventura Harbor Flyer and the Channel Islands Harbor flyer is that we are announcing to sailors from Ventura Harbor that slips will be available for them for the weekend, for free, on a first come, first served basis for paid entrants. 

Our theme this year is "It's Ohana" (Family) set against a Polynesian backdrop, so break out your hula gear and prepare to party.  Live music and exceptionally prepared Polynesian style food will be the rule.  As always, the event will be run like a real race, so make sure you attend the mandatory  skippers meeting on May 4, 2019.  I will make sure you all get the sailing instructions in advance.  The course, however, will be announced at the Skippers Meeting. 

If you were with us last year and harbor some concern about the cold, don’t fret it.  Our after race party location will take care of that and we will do our best to make sure everyone is warm and comfortable.  As for the sailing conditions, well, we will do our best to make a request to the weather gods in advance, but no promises.  Nevertheless, the Race Committee will be weary of the sea conditions and it is our goal to have ALL boats finish this year.

We have a variety of additional irons in the fire that promise to make this event even more incredible.  I'll be letting you know about these things in follow up correspondence coming soon.

In the interim, if you want to get in right away, please do so by clicking the reply button and requesting an entry package.  The entry package will contain a welcome letter, an application, and  the liability waiver and release.  The entry fee is $30 this year.  No entries will be accepted after April 30, 2019 for the May 4 event.  Also, if you know of vessels coming from Ventura Harbor, please let them know that Vintage Marina Partners will make slips available for free for Friday and Saturday night on a first come first served basis for paid entrants.  Those slips will go fast, so get signed up.

When completing the Entry Form, please be sure to let us know all about your vessel so we can make sure your handicap is rated as fair as possible.

As always, please do not hesitate to send questions or comments to me at homeportregatta@yahoo.com.

Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Regards,

Larry Golkin,

Homeport Regatta Sailing