A couple of boats have expressed concern about using the Freeman Cup as the LD component of the 2012 North Americans. I have decided to open up this conversation to all interested boats.
The Freeman Cup, the premier long distance race at LYRA will sail approximately 74 nautical miles across Lake Ontario and back rounding buoys off of Ford’s Shoal on the south shore, Galloo Island Shoal, and the ODAS weather buoy near Prince Edward Point. Leaving Oswego late afternoon on August 1 the first leg will be along the shore to the Ford Shoal’s buoy affording spectators opportunities to watch the start of the race and the first mark rounding. Sailors will enjoy this edition of the Freeman Cup as it will be sailed under a full moon. The Steele Law Firm is sponsoring the Freeman Cup.
Competing in a Feeder Race on July 31, the Freeman Cup on Aug 1, and the day races are requirements for the overall LYRA Championship trophies. Each of these races are also considered their own events, with their own trophies. These trophies are all completely separate from the George Olson Memorial Trophy for the O30 NA Champion.
The concerns raised about the Freeman Cup are that 1) it is an overnighter and 2) the Race Management have indicated this is a OSR Category 3 race. and 3) it is longer than our traditional LD race.
Race management has indicated that they will grant a Category 3 Exemption for all Olsons that are in compliance with our class’ minimum equipment plus nav lights.
One option we MAY have available to us is to have LYRA Race Management organize a completely separate, Olson 30 LD race on Thursday, Aug 2. It is not known if they would be amenable to any request, but we could try if the consensus suggests we should. The primary issue seen is that there are no government marks that would make for a decent 30 mile course, unless you wanted to do multiple laps.
So with this in mind, please complete the following poll. Please, only one vote per boat.
