To get people back on the water (and to get tuned up for this year's RYC midwinters), we're having a Byte get-together on Saturday, November 13th. Please wipe the dust off your boat and join us! 10:00 a.m. at Richmond YC.

We're hoping to have another presence this year at the High Sierra Regatta at Huntington Lake.  Fortunately we're included among the invited fleets again, but we have to meet the 5-boat quota to get a start.  We've got 2 commitments so far; get in touch with Trish if you want to go.  Event info. here at the Fresno YC site.

Byte CII racing this year at CORK has been scheduled as part of the CORK International Regatta, August 16-19.  PS2000 has again offered $1 charters for the earliest registrants; this year they have sweetened the deal and included a sail with the boat charter, so it will no longer be necessary to lug a sail with you to Kingston.  More info. at www.cork.org.

Confirmation has just come in that CIIs will be racing during the second week of CORK this year, in the “CORK OCR” (Olympic Classes Regatta) event, August 23-27.  This will also serve as the 2009 Worlds. The CORK OCR will follow the next week, and that will be the main CII event for anyone arriving from out of town. Here's how the CORK organizers envision the OCR:

“The Olympic Classes Event will mainly focus on Olympic Classes, but will include development classes, such as Laser Radial men, 29er and CII. This High Performance event will be geared towards the more experienced sailors, providing racing in an international setting and in a race format commonly used at comparable events internationally. The goal is to qualify high level ISAF Grading for more classes. This event will allow for training and mentoring of officials striving to achieve or maintain International level certification, and will attract International level officials from other countries.”

REMINDER:  North U. will offer one '09 rules seminar this year in northern California on January 10 at Corinthian YC.  Taught by rules guru Brad Dallenbaugh.  Cost varies; seminar lasts 9-5.  See here for more seminar info.  Click here to register for the CYC event.

2008 Worlds winner Jon Emmett will be leading a CII clinic in the Cayman Islands this spring.  The dates are March 14-18.  Limited charter boats available; first come, first served.  See Class site announcement for further details.

Our annual fleet meeting is scheduled for January 4 at Richmond YC following the second Midwinters race (see below). Come—and think about what regattas and other events you want to attend in 2009.

The next RYC Midwinters regatta is Sunday, January 4.  Register now through the links on this page.  Note:  You need to (A) register—and pay the fee—for each weekend you race, and (B) register separately (for free) for the entire Midwinters series.  If you forget to do (B), you won't get placed in the final series standings.