Susan-Hood-2010-BurgeeThe Susan Hood Trophy Race is run by the Port Credit Yacht Club and is scheduled to run on Friday, June 4th at PCYC. Boats typically are back at PCYC mid day or during the afternoon of the following day.

The first great race of the season

Since 1955, fully crewed yachts have been taking the challenge of a spring offshore race.
The Susan Hood is a great race to shake down your boat and crew for the 2010 season.

Why race the Susan Hood Trophy Race?

• Excellent warm up race for the LO300
• Experience the weather challenges offered in spring
• Convenient overnight racing will not tie up the weekend
• Great pre-race and post- race camaraderie

To ensure it is a proper tune up race, a Double Handed Division is being added this year, which will provide a new challenge for the experienced double handed racers.

Also in preparation for the Lake Ontario 300 race, the race organizing committee will have Kattack transponders on five different yachts; you can replay the race and follow these yachts at the Susan Hood trophy Race Kattack Tracker (note that you need to register with the Kattack website to view the tracker and data will be live starting at approximately 6:00pm on race day).

Devil’s Dance C&C 99 Ric Doedens PCYC
Kat’s Paw C&C 27 Kathleen Timmis RCYC
Shock Therapy Schock 40 Gary Benner RCYC
Afterburn Dash 34 Darren Gornall PCYC
Folichon C&C 34 Ian McAllister PCYC

Shore Activities

Friday, June 4th

4:00 pm   Pre-race BBQ on the PCYC Patio, come and experience the new outdoor Dockside bar

Two choices:
Surf and Turf ( Steak and Jumbo Shrimp in shell) with side and dessert $24 +++
Basic BBQ - Burger Sausage or Kabob with side and dessert $18 +++

Chart room menu also available

6:00 pm   Information Session on the Patio (not mandatory)
6:30 pm    Weather Briefing with Ron Bianchi, including a free draw for attending skippers for a S.A.M.E. weather radio and three one-year PredictWind.com weather forecast website subscriptions (valued at $500 each)
7:00 pm   Rafts break-up
7:55 pm   First gun for race start

Live music on the patio following the information session and weather briefing.

Saturday, June 5th


8:00am-3:00pm   All Day Breakfast Special available in the chartroom $8 +++
4:00 pm   Free beer in BBQ area – provided by Old Credit Brewery
4:30 pm   Race Results Announcements on the Patio

The Chart Room and Dining Room will be open with regular menus for dinner.

Visiting racers should contact the Harbor Staff to ensure they are docked or rafted in an appropriate location. You can contact the Communications Centre (905-278-7911 ext. 0) to have the Harbour Staff paged, or call Harbour Staff directly at (416) 994-1430 or VHF Channel 68.

Official Documents

The low water levels on Lake Ontario has prompted the organizing committee to review and modify the finish line configuration to ensure a safer finish for all participants. See SI Amendment #3 below.

Registration

 

Mark this event on your calendar, get your boat and crew ready, and we will see you on the water!

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUSAN HOOD TROPHY RACE

by John Weakley

A long time ago (back in the 50’s), the vast majority of what we now call Racer/Cruiser yachts were custom built, usually of wood, and at the west end of Lake Ontario the only measurement handicap system was the Cruising Club of America (CCA) Rule. There were two major drawbacks to this rule: you had to have your yacht weighed, and in almost all cases you had to have a set of plans. There were several other performance rules in which your handicap changed each time you raced (just like your golf handicap) but as Doug Hood said “That was fine if you were a golfer, but the losers kept winning.”

In the spring of 1955, Doug Hood, a member of Port Credit Yacht Club, approached George Cuthbertson (the big George of C&C) and offered to put up a trophy if someone would produce a simple measurement system for handicapping custom built yachts. Big George told Doug of the “Gruthbertson” Rule that he and Colonel Grant had designed and that had been tried in Kingston. (Col. Grant was a professor at RMC and very active in sailing). Under this Rule, the yacht was measured in the water and not weighed. They decided to try it out with Doug donating the trophy named after his brand new bouncing baby daughter Susan. Approximately 25 boats were measured and the first race was held in early June. The course was Port Credit to Oakville to Port Dalhousie and back to Port Credit. In spite of a fire on one yacht, very little wind, and Doug winning his own trophy (in a Cruising 6 Metre “Junge”), the race was a great success.

The rule became known as the Lake Ontario Rule and an organization was formed to issue rating certificates. For the next 35 years LOR was the most popular handicap system on the lake until it was replaced by PHRF, a handicap system that in most cases only requires the measurement of sails.

Today, the Susan Hood Trophy is presented to the yacht winning PHRF overall, with other trophies for the division winners. It is believed that this is the only case where the title trophy is not awarded to the winner of the “Grand Prix” class (CCA, IOR, and now IMS), although there are trophies for those divisions as well.

“Excerpted from an article entitled “Susan Hood Has A Birthday Coming” which appeared in the May 1994 edition of the PCYC Newsletter “Credit Notes”. That article was based on a conversation with Doug Hood.”