Weekend Races vs WNR

[STuma]

The increase of WNR and decrease of weekend participation has become more prominent across the country...

Some questions for us to answer and ponder:
1. Why the decrease in weekend participation?
2. What is the draw of a WNR?
3. What are some of the reasons (you) won't sail a weekend event?
4. Would (you) be more willing to race a 1 day event instead of 2 days?
5. Do the weekend races start too early? Too late? Should we start at 3 pm?
6. Do we cater the weekend races to the party too much? Does the racing become compromised?
7. Do people want a course different than a W/L? Triangle W/L? Star? Combo?
8. Are 3 day races too inconvenient?
9. Should we make some big regattas Thursday-Saturday? Leave Sunday for family?
10. Should we give rating credits for having kids/new people on board?

These are some questions that have been floating around and I hope people can answer honestly. I would love if people would respond here, but PM me if you'd like to quietly give your opinion. Getting honest answers is the only way any of us can improve the racing. I constantly hear people complaining the racing is dying - help do something!!!

[George E Cushing]

#4- 1 day event

For those of us with children at home sailing time can be a problem. I also run into crew feedback that they would rather not come out on Sunday as this is an "at home day" for a variety of reasons.

[Bee]

The increase of WNR and decrease of weekend participation has become more prominent across the country...

Some questions for us to answer and ponder:
1. Why the decrease in weekend participation?
     I have always thought that there were four reasons for this:
     a.   A change is technology --- Sprit vs non-Sprit, different hull
           designs, carbon hulls and masts, ... 
     b.   The decline of the middle class.  Big boats are expensive.
           I just got some quotes for a full set of sails for a J111 --- $80,000!
     c.   iPads, iPhones, Androids --- Games, games, and more games.
          My grandsons don't want to be bothered about sailing when
          they can stick their noses into one of those electronic games.
     d.  Finding crew.  People have other priorities at various times.
2. What is the draw of a WNR?
     a.  Small relatively inexpensive boats.
     b.  Need for a lot less crew.
     c.  Single day/evening racing.
     d.  Competing against friends.
3. What are some of the reasons (you) won't sail a weekend event?
     Don't have any.  Its nice to be a retired old phart.  
     Ok the old is not necessarily much fun.
4. Would (you) be more willing to race a 1 day event instead of 2 days?
     Makes no difference to me as long as the 2 day is on a weekend. Crew
     frequently has jobs that they have to consider.
5. Do the weekend races start too early? Too late? Should we start at 3 pm?
     a. Waiting until the sea-breeze fills in in the summer makes starting later worthwhile
     b. Probably OK after CDT kicks in.
     c. As long as one does not have to travel too far to get to the race area, early is fine.
        Another advantage of old age --- waking early for reasons one cannot understand.
6. Do we cater the weekend races to the party too much? Does the racing become compromised?
     Parties are good, but this is not an issue for me. I usually get blasted either way.
7. Do people want a course different than a W/L? Triangle W/L? Star? Combo?
    For a while I thought this to be the case but participation does not seem to support it.
    I always expect the distance classes to have a lot of entries, but so far, except for the
    Icicle and Rum races, this does not seem to be the case.
8. Are 3 day races too inconvenient?
    Yes.  Half of my crew has to work during the week.  Makes it difficult to find crew.
    Another advantage of being an old phart.
9. Should we make some big regattas Thursday-Saturday? Leave Sunday for family?
    See #8
10. Should we give rating credits for having kids/new people on board?
     The San Diego J105 North Americans was won by a boat
     that sailed with the 11 year old son of the owner.  They got no special
     treats for that, but he was given a gift for being the youngest crew on
     any boat.  I guess I would answer no but if, after testing, it got more
     youngsters out it could have a great benefit to the sailing community.

In general, I don't have a clue as to how to fix this. 

It would be nice if the business community got back to supporting us the way they used to. For example, the old Bank and a full blown Sperry Shoe.  How does one get them to do it?

I would love to see a lot of young kids (13 and less) out sailing on the big boats.  I know that both LYC and HYC have big training programs for youngsters.  Where do they go when they finish training? Should we figure out how to get them on some of the big boats? The guys that run Sirly (The only one I know for sure is Rob Freas, but I have also seen Keith Gray helping out)  do an absolutely outstanding job with the Sea Scouts.  Matter of fact, Stinger would be happy to take learners out for some training and fun.  Maybe we should try to get more boats to do this.

These are some questions that have been floating around and I hope people can answer honestly. I would love if people would respond here, but PM me if you'd like to quietly give your opinion. Getting honest answers is the only way any of us can improve the racing. I constantly hear people complaining the racing is dying - help do something!!!

[Deckhand]

Very well said Bee! I agree with you completely.

WNR and Rum/Icicles draw a good crowd because of the laid back racing and mostly the low cost involved. I do believe one day regattas seem to work better for most people. I also believe some two day regatta are warranted. This allows out of town competitors to join our fun and to help Galveston Bay racing a better venue for all the clubs.

I personally don't race regattas too much. Being the slowest boat tends to hold up the action. That is where a distance race works best for me. But.. I must say, being on a start line with 10 other boats is exciting and fun to watch.

Scotty

[BrianL]

My only problem with weekend races is that I usually have to work Saturdays. perhaps a Sunday afternoon event occasionally?

[ditlihi]

The weekend races ( more specifically, Rum races ) have been starting earlier and earlier over the years. It's not possible to participate in races that start in the afternoon when one has to work on Saturday.

[Osprey]

The increase of WNR and decrease of weekend participation has become more prominent across the country...

Some questions for us to answer and ponder:

2. What is the draw of a WNR?
- it only requires the investment of an evening after work rather than entire day
- besides, leaving work a little early is fun

3. What are some of the reasons (you) won't sail a weekend event?
- I do but it can be hard to find crew; especially for races that start mid-day, since this will end up costing them the whole day and evening
- Multi-day races make it extremely difficult to find crew

4. Would (you) be more willing to race a 1 day event instead of 2 days?
- Yes

5. Do the weekend races start too early? Too late? Should we start at 3 pm?
- In the warmer weather, it would be nice to start either earlier or later
    - morning races allow for evening family time and vice versa

6. Do we cater the weekend races to the party too much? Does the racing become compromised?
- Parties are great:  nobody is obligated to attend, or stay very long

7. Do people want a course different than a W/L? Triangle W/L? Star? Combo?
- The W/L-Triangle and Combo sound interesting
- Straight W/L's can be a drag for non-spin boats


8. Are 3 day races too inconvenient?
- Yes; although once-a-year might be doable

9. Should we make some big regattas Thursday-Saturday? Leave Sunday for family?
- Hmmm... it's hard enough to get people to race all day, much less take two days off from work
- for multi-days, Friday/Saturday might work best:  one day off from work and still have Sunday at home

10. Should we give rating credits for having kids/new people on board?
- It's hard to imagine how "new" would be managed
- The Cruising Club seems to be a good way to deal with this, in addition to the Juniors Regatta

These are some questions that have been floating around and I hope people can answer honestly. I would love if people would respond here, but PM me if you'd like to quietly give your opinion. Getting honest answers is the only way any of us can improve the racing. I constantly hear people complaining the racing is dying - help do something!!!

I would like to see a few more daylight or short overnight coastal sailing opportunities - Freeport or Sabine, for instance.  Last year, we had 18 boats sign up for the offshore to Spring Fling.  The winds didn't cooperate but there seemed to be decent interest and the weekend was fun, even if we did end up motoring both ways.

[Lobo2sail]

Osprey gave very good responses and I agree.  Now that I am able to travel and race again (evenings and weekends), I had to look at it from a working person's point of view since I'm retired also.