64 One-Design Class Sailboat Handbook 



area operate only once a week, usually on Sunday afternoons, and in the 

 period of three hours the race committee will jam in a half dozen or 

 more races around short courses. 



The seasons can be long ones, beginning in October and carrying into 

 April. With 24 weekend dates and an average of 6 races an afternoon, 

 this means a skipper can enrich his experience 144 times a winter. Unless 

 he is an avid traveler, he will never get to that many starting lines in 

 summer. 



Most frostbiting is done in little one-design dinghies such as Penguins, 

 Interclubs, Dyer Dinks, Turnabouts, El Toros, Tech Dinghies, Dyer 

 Dhows and Sabots. They can easily be "dry sailed," meaning hauled out 

 of the water on trailers or carried on top of an auto or in the back of a 

 station wagon, to and from the races. This solves the problem of winter 

 dockage and permits the boat to escape the ravages of ice. Also their size 

 and simplicity (cat rigged) make them inexpensive. 



The frostbiting racing course is generally no longer than three fourths 

 of a mile, averaging half a mile, windward-leeward-windward, or triangu- 

 lar in shape. The start is signaled by a series of blasts from a horn, whistle 

 or cannon. (One club uses a prerecorded phonograph record that calls 

 out the number of seconds to go before each signal.) Because of wholesale 

 barging, or premature starting, the racing committee is generally em- 

 powered to call the whole thing off and demand a new start. No regattas 

 should be held in winds blowing over 15 knots. In conditions of 10 to 15 

 knots, courses should be set which require no jibing. Most dinghies will 

 capsize long before they will jibe in a good breeze. The regatta should 

 end at the discretion of the race committee or most certainly one to two 

 hours before sunset. 



Certain ground rules and precautions are generally observed in order 

 to promote safety. It's bitter cold, of course, when a boat capsizes— as they 

 frequently do— but a frostbiting rule requires any boat in the vicinity 

 of a capsized one to go to the latter's aid immediately. It's the universal 

 rule of never sailing without a "crash boat" to fish out those who do go 

 over that has kept the frostbiters' safety record intact— there has never 

 been a fatality in over thirty years of this type of racing. 



One stays amazingly warm because the physical exertion in sailing a 

 small boat is sufficient to keep skipper and crew warm, except— of course— 



