News Beat

Week of January 7-14, 2013

Jratings Come to Jibeset

No, Jratings isn't a system for ranking romantic choices on JDate, rather it's a simpler – we hope – way for PHRF racers to submit their ratings certificates to race committees. Jibeset creator Ray Irvine explains: "In partnership with the Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay, we are pleased to announce another step in reducing the effort in processing registrations by simplifying the processing of rating certificates and validating ratings.

"When YRA issues a certificate, the certificate year, the normal PHRF rating, the Downwind PHRF rating, and the date issued is sent to Jibeset. This data can only be updated by YRA and therefore always agrees with the latest certificate. Within Jibeset, this data is know as a Jrating.

"When a racer is required to provide his rating certificate, the Race Committee can allow the use of the J-rating instead of a PDF of the certificate. This removes the need for the racer to find and upload a PDF of their certificate. The J-rating validates the date the NCPHRF certificate was issued and the rating."

NorCal Kids Named to Jobson All-Stars

Gary Jobson named eight promising youth sailors "Jobson Junior All-Stars," including two from Marin County. Jack Barton, 17, sails out of San Francisco YC. He’s captain of the Sir Francis Drake High School Sailing Team, and his favorite boats to sail are the Laser and the 29er. Last summer Barton, along with younger brother Sam Barton, Corey Lynch, and Sammy Shea, won the U.S. Junior Triplehanded Championship for the Sears Cup. Barton, who also races on a Santa Cruz 37, says he’s considering attending the California Maritime Academy.

Scott Buckstaff, who recently turned 18, hails from Belvedere. He won the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship in the 29er class with crew James Moody. During the school year he races with the Redwood High School Sailing Team. He’s also active in local keelboat racing, usually trimming the main or running the bow on various boats. This summer, he stepped into the afterguard of the J/90 Ragtime, and, as tactician, helped the team win the YRA Champion of Champions. Scott and James hope to compete for an Olympic berth in the 49er class.

For the complete list of All-Stars and their bios, see www.sailingworld.com/news/jobson-junior-all-stars.

America's Cup Pitchpoles AC World Series

On January 8, America's Cup Event Authority announced that the April 16 - 21 AC World Series regatta in Naples, Italy, would be the final installment in the series on AC45s, and that their attention will then shift to the upcoming summer in San Francisco. (ACEA CEO Stephen Barclay affirmed that Naples remains on the calendar, since they've already made two of the four venue hosting payments.) This announcement followed a statement at the end of December from New Zealand Team Emirates CEO Grant Dalton that their team members would not sail in the ACWS, preferring to focus their resources on the AC72. Dalton called the ACWS "a distraction."

“Our number one priority has to be the events scheduled for San Francisco this summer,” ACEA's Barclay said. Those events begin with the Louis Vuitton Cup starting July 4, and wrap up with America's Cup 34 in September. The next event on the AC calendar is the Red Bull Youth America's Cup Selection Trials February 9-24 on San Francisco Bay. See www.americascup.com.