Tartan Ten Ratty Montrose Harbor Chicago, Illinois

Ratty is berthed in Montrose Harbor, Chicago, Illinois. Our first year we planned to race in Wednesday club night races, Jib and Main. After the crew was used to the boat, we raced club races in the Tartan 10 class. Having won some races, we are looking forward to a more advanced Tartan 10 racing program. We sail out of CCYC's Montrose Harbor (4400 North).

Racing at Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club (CCYC)

Sailboat racing tradition has Yacht Clubs both having their own racing programs and sponsoring races for boats from all over. Chicago has an active city-wide racing schedule. We have a lot to fit in to only half of the year.

Club Races

• Wednesday Night racing at CCYC is very competitive, although it is only boats from our club. There can be forty to sixty or so boats, with separate starts for Rhodes 19, Jib and Main, two spinnaker sections, sport boats, T-10s and "Turbo" boats. On Wednesday nights, we get together hopefully about 17:15 - 17:30 and leaving about 17:40 - 18:00 or so for a 19:10 start. The course is a permanent "Olympic Circle" and the race committee boat is always staffed by one boat's crew, we take turns to make racing happen.

• Weekend club races have a single start, with all the boats competing under the Performance Handicap Rating Fleet system -- corrected times enable boats of different designs to be scored competitively. Weekend club races have us getting together around 11:30 and leaving around noon for a 13:05 start.
• Moonlight series races are once a month, the Friday closest to the full moon.
• Wednesday Night Pursuit races are in the fall. We dispense with the committee boat as it gets to be time to gets boats put away for the season. We don't stop racing, though. Pursuit races have a staggered start, each boat being assigned a start time based on their PHRF rating. In a perfect world, boats with perfect ratings, that are sailed perfectly, would all finish at the same time. In the real world, the first to finish boat then takes down finish times for the rest. CCYC's Pursuit Race Start Times are posted for the Offshore Fleet.

Inter-Club, City-wide, Area III, National Races

Of course racing is all about competition. More boats are more competition.

• Regattas

  Chicago has two big regattas for offshore boats, one, the NOOD (National Offshore One Design) early in the season in June, the other, the Verve, in August. The T-10 fleet has an annual North American championship that is held at geographically "rotating" locations -- Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Huron. CCYC hosted it in 2008. In 2014 it was held as a component of the Verve. Having thirty T-10s provides highly competitive racing. Having only twenty would be a disappointment.

• Area III Races

  The most competitive weekend racing is provided by races/regattas hosted by different clubs, open to everyone. Area III is the geographical division of the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation (LMSRF) covering south Lake Michigan. Area III schedules races/regattas for nearly every weekend. Chicago racing includes starts several miles offshore, sometimes near downtown, sometimes farther north, and typically runs two or three windward -- leeward races on a race day. T-10s are proud to say that there are usually so many of us, and we are so competitive, that they often give us a special, longer start line. Eight to ten T-10s can typically be counted on, twenty wouldn't be that big a surprise. To get in two or three races, starts are typicall 11:00. Since the starts are offshore, sometimes downtown, boat call needs to enable motoring to the start. 08:30 is usually good, leaving the harbor 09:00.

• Port to Port Races
  • T-10 Fleet Races
  • Chicago - Waukegan
  • Waukegan - Chicago
  • Chicag-Michigan City-Chicago
  • Mac Race
  • Chicago-St Joe
  • St Joe - Chicago
• Others We don't usually do the others. If they don't have T-10 One Design fleets, we get frustrated not knowing who won, when we finish.

  Queen's Cup

  The other Michigan City Race

  Hook

  Port of PHRF

RATTY is a Tartan 10. Basically, the Tartan 10 was the first big "one design" boat, ignoring rating rules for handicapping different boats -- intended to compete with similar boats. While there are other boats meeting this description, the Tartan 10 today remains an economical and easy to handle boat.

In Chicago there is a large one design fleet, so the possibility for very competitive racing exists.

If you are interested in finding out more about the boat, the National Class Association has information, and there is an article about the boat, in the sailing hall of fame. The Chicago class has a web page. There is a Sailing Magazine Article. Specifications can be found on Sailboatdata. Wikipedia will give you some information and also link you back here!

In her first race, RATTY took a first place. In the second season we collected a trophy for club racing.

We started out not approaching racing at a super intense level, although we like to try to win. But the Tartan 10 class tends to bring out the competitor in everyone. With adequate crew and preparation we look forward to racing in the very competitive one design races.

In 2010 we raced our first Mackinac race and were happy with our placement -- better than most of our rivals, ahead of some very fast boats -- but the T-10 class front runners are quite good. Consistent crew work, three pretty good helms, and good judgment about conditions and trends were advantageous, and we see room for improvement.

In 2012 we set a goal to place well in the Chicago Tartan 10 fleet's Port to Port standings. With several good races, including seventh place out of 25 T-10s in the Mac, we were third in the Boat of the Year, Port to Port results.

The following year, Dave and Dan placed second in the double handed There and Back race.

2015 brought the Leukemia Cup as a personal goal and we finished first n the T-10 section. We also took another first in a CCYC Wednesday Evening series.

What's it like to crew on Ratty? You have the ability. We've raced with everyone from experienced sailors, who race their own boats, to one person who had never been on a boat before. Some great things about sailboat racing in a competitive fleet are:

• Teamwork on the boat creates a bond between shipmates -- we're not just out doing the same activity, everyone pitches in, helps each other and works to a common goal
• Everyone, from the pointy end on back, is always learning, every time
• Once the basics are learned, there is always refinement skills and techniques
• Nature is part of the competition -- you can't win unless you understand weather and waves, as well as the skills of the sport
• The T-10 fleet is both highly competitive -- whether you are at the front, the middle or the back of an eight, or twenty, boat fleet, there are always boats nearby to challenge you == and friendly and supportive of each competing boat and team.

  The first valuable thing a crewmember can do is to show up regularly. As we work together as a team, the crew is also increasing their own knowledge about sailing and the boat, which is invaluable in improving our performance.

  In the competitive T-10 class, we are continuing to refine our skills and teamwork. More distance race? More weekend races? It takes a team.

  So, we look forward to improving our preparation and sailing skills.

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dbrezina@ladas.net

Updated 9-2-2015

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