Newbie ?s for Racing 7.9s

[DougH]

I am considering racing the 7.9 I have had for one year. I keep it in the water at a marina just north of Port Huron Yacht Club, so the Sept 2022 race would be perhaps doable. I have no vehicle capable of towing (I do have a good trailer and rent a pickup twice a year for boat in/out task). My questions, after reading the S279ClassRules1-1-2020.pdf:

1. The boat is a Yanmar 1GM10 inboard and has never been weighed. Is that going to be a problem? I will be sailing it south to PHYC for the race.

2. Both of my mainsails have mast sail track slugs installed (the boat was only cruised by the PO and slugs make it easier to single-hand). Will I be OK using the slugs?

I guarantee that I will be finishing near to or at the back of the fleet. While I grew up racing Lightnings and scows, it has been several decades since I have raced any sailboat. I will need to read the racing rules because I know that things have changed since "back in the day" My crew will be very inexperienced. I plan to tiller the starts and windward legs, then hand over the tiller to my son while I oversee and execute the bulk of the spinnaker and pole work. There may only be three of us on the boat.

Thanks for any advice. I'm sure there are things I've not thought of. Buying a tow vehicle is likely not going to happen as that would really dent my sailing budget. I was a bit surprised to not see more 7.9 racing close to southern Lake Huron. Lake St Clair? Lake Erie? Anywhere else in Michigan or near Michigan?

-Doug

[BarryE]

Hi, I can't really answer all of your questions but I can offer an opinion.
1. You say that you are just north of Port Huron. That means either Lexington or Port Sanilac. Both are easy day sails to Port Huron. Leave the trailer at home and sail your boat down. If you need to get weighed, I'm sure there will be plenty of trailers on hand that could serve as a surrogate.
2. Your mainsail has slides/slugs. Several members have made the same choice, for the same reasons. As long as your sail falls within class spec it shouldn't be a problem.
3. Come have a good time.
4. I'm a Port Huron member and I'll be participating (if I can round up a crew) and I'm sure that Port Huron's Vice Commadore (Fun Uncle) will be too and we're all willing to do whatever we can to make it all go smoothly.
5. While I'm at it; Port Huron Yacht Club has a hoist and can lift boats on and off trailers with little fuss. There is plenty of room to store trailers, campers and such along our riverfront. There is an excellent boat ramp about a mile up from the club if you'd rather do that. Usually I use the ramp, motor the boat to the club and then use our gin pole to raise the mast since I can do all that with just two people. Actually, you should just join the club, then you could come down and play whenever you want.

[DougH]

Hi Barry,

My boat is at Port Sanilac. Yes, my plan was to sail it down to PHYC, which is a short trip as you know.

It would be great if someone allowed use of their trailer to weigh my boat. I get it that weighing and checking some other things to assure all entries are class legal is important. In fact it is the mark of a strong one design class and is likely an important part of what keeps the 7.9 popular.

Thanks for the info including the acceptance of sail slugs.

How many S2 7.9's are kept at PHYC and actively race there? Just curious.

Thanks again,

Doug Hoffman hull #541

[BarryE]

Hi Doug,
For what it's worth; my boat has never been weighed so I may have my trailer on hand as well. In fact, in the 20+ years that I've had the boat I've never been able to make to the nationals, this will be my first as well.

Barry Ethridge
S2 7.9 #11
"Aeolus"

[BarryE]

Hi Doug,
In answer to your other question; There are two 7.9's at PHYC, mine, "Aeolus" and "Fun Uncle". We both sail in a mixed fleet under PHRF rules. "Fun Uncle usually dominates the class. Whereas I'm a bit of a duffer and is usually end up somewhere mid fleet. There are a couple more boats at the Sarnia Yacht Club on the Canadian side and we all raced together until Covid closed the border and shut down our joint racing operations. As you probably know, Spike, Tac, and Brad Boston at Doyle/Boston Sails on the Canadian side are also active in the class. They have been racing and winning in 7.9's since the first ones popped out the mold in '82.