Racing participation

[STuma]

Well, Kevin does have a point... I don't think the WNR are to blame, but why spend an entire weekend racing when one can get tight one-design (mainly) racing each week with 45-60 of your closest friends?  look at the events that are getting the numbers, Wed. Night Races & Rum Races... We have yet to see the turnout this year, but I will suspect that the numbers will be much better than our weekend regattas...  We are seeing the same patterns that were around in the mid 90's... Many people are having to complete errands or work on the weekends... 

This is where is becomes tough.. I think we need to provide for the serious racers and the cruising boats that are just beginning...  Have moveable marks for the racers (I say movable only because I think triangles should be included) and fixed marks for the cruising boats... These two types need to be seperated and hopefully have no interaction on the water; their attitudes are completly different... If a beginner comes out with family and a racer comes across and yells at them for a rule infrigement, they will be frustrated and guaranteed not to come out again... we have lost many new sailors because they are initmidated around other boats.. Being racers, we are used to coming within 2-6" of each other and being fine, many people don't have that type of boat handling skills... Something we all need to keep in mind when we come across someone that may not "know what is going on"... Give them a break and talk to them later, off the water.. I also think the non-spinnaker classes need to have a A & B fleet... A beginner does not need to be racing against someone that has raced for 10-20 years... It will make two smaller classes at first, but I think the B fleet will grow because they will feel they have a chance of winning something...

I applaud the ones that are taking time from their racing program to help get other boats up to speed and work on their skills...

Either way, we need to expect less for trophies and event perks, increase entry fees or work on getting more boats out...

cheers....
Scott

[Hamburger]

Increase entry fees???

[hayesrigging]

Just to clarify.  I am not blaming Wed. nights for the lack of participation on the Bay.  I think the Wed. nights are great and Buddy and Scott do an excellent job of running them.  My point was that many boats and competitors sail on Wed. night to get there sailing fix and forgo the weekend regattas.  I had a long discussion with Buddy last night on this topic and I think he is exactly right on his point and what he is trying to do. 

[sailfastliveslow]

Well it is a HUGE problem getting crew for weekends.  I had NINE 9 rail riders on Wednesday here in Corpus.  That's for a B-25.  We took 7 and turned away 2.  When I contacted everyone for a dumb-simple white sail's only 2 hour pursuit race on Sat, the message was either: a) going outta town or 2) gotta work.  Good thing it can be done with two.

So you see the problem.  Everyone's available for Wed. and no one's available for weekend.  What's a boat owner to do???

[BoomerangJ]

This is a great thread and I don't think it reflects a problem unique to GB.  Scott Tuma's response about splitting up the racers from the new participants is on the right track.  Our sport has been distilled down to the hard core sailors.  Others have left (Or chose not to participate) because of the economy, time constraints, hurricane hangover, etc.  Our sport requires a large commitment of time and money-even to run a small boat program as compared to playing golf.  Our family obligations also compete for time as well-kids soccer, baseball, etc.  So why do we do it?  Like anything else in life you get out of it what you put into it.  Sailing requires that you put a lot into it versus other alternatives-but you get a lot out of it!  Those of us that know realize it's the greatest sport in the world.

We have to market the sport so others that have not yet had the epiphany can get to that point.  May have to back up and have nothing more then organized rallies.  Something to get the cruising sailors to untie to boat and get on the water. One club in Dallas offers the "One Day Regatta"  Five races in a day. Maybe start promoting more family incentives to motivate the families to race together-to make the sport the highest priority for the family, removing other alternatives. We all know that no matter what the skill level when there's two boats on the water they are racing.  We just have to pull more people into the racing aspect and as Scott states need to allow them a venue to grow their skill set and passion. 

[STuma]

Kevin, your point is taken well... Buddy does an awesome job on organizing and running the Wed. night races (coming up on 16th year, I think)... If anyone has done R/C with him, they quickly realize the passion he has for providing a perfect event...  Not to take away from the R/C work on the bay, I am just more exposed to WNR for now...

Someone has asked me about setting a 1/2 mile (or shorter) mark on the bay courses for the smaller boats... This could give the option of a shorter course for the smaller one-design fleets... We have done this in the past and it makes it tough to reset courses, but that comes down to a chase boat being on the ball with the wind; and how intense we want to get with courses...

I think we are getting to a point where the efforts of the race organizers may out-weigh the rewards, but we have to keep pushing through.. If we do, we can come out of this funk on top and the country will follow Texas' lead, again... :-)   

An idea to consider; small one design fleets get short (< 1/2 mile) legs, larger boats may get a movable marks or fixed marks (depends on turnout) where the "Cruising Canvas" fleet get fixed marks...

Where I was leading at first is that many new comers are intimidated with tight courses and large group of boats... I think many get intimidated with the fleet on the Lake, and that is understandable... I feel we need to focus on getting some new boats out on the Rum Races; I'm going to be taking Bondi out with my kids... If anyone wants to come along, shoot me a message and come along...

[Bobby Mac]

I just want to reiterate one point Buddy made earlier.  Every chance you can, bring friends, or people you know, out to do some sailing, any sailing; and from my point of view if they are female . . .  way mo' better . . . .

[Grind4Beer]

I'd agree that the Wed Nite races can be sort of a mixed blessing with regard to bringing newbies into racing. If they're pretty much gung-ho on sailing already, or into other highly competitive sports, then the pre-start melee, the mark-roundings, and the inter-fleet downwind-upwind-crossings make for an exciting experience. If they're more of a cruiser-curious-relaxed approach, then starting them out with a fixed-marks or rum-race might be a better idea, and with that comes the potential for their first ride or few to be either howlers or drifters.

Argh. As always, you might need to make a long- or short-term call on whether to hoist the genoa, jib, spin, etc, and even when to fire up the motor and crack the rum bottle, etc.

If they want to sail and/or race again, then you made a good call ...

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From a more personal viewpoint, though, racing small (sub-30ft) boats on the Galveston Bay can have a rather narrow split of, for lack of better words, what newbies might consider *fun* conditions. At 4-6 knots the ride is drearily slow, at 12-14 the chop kicks up enough to make the ride wet, but the cruisers dig the 8-10 and the type-A love the 18+... Depending on their expectations, 3-4 hrs of drifting or 1-2 hrs of flogging can make-or-break their enthusiasm for the next race ...

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Maybe that parallels Scott's take on the range of attitudes and experience in racers and potential racers? The hard-core racers take the results in stride; missed shifts, wind & course foibles, etc. Newer folk might see crossing the line within shouting distance encouraging. Ii adds a lot to building the Wed-Nite fleets, that most of them berth near each other ...

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[Chris P]

I had a thought about this topic as I stood on my boat at HYc yesterday morning, gazing around at all the boats that never seem to leave their slips. And I wondered if this topic is better addressed a bit earlier up the sailing/boating activity food chain as it were...... Here's my point:

I have been on, in, or near the water my entire life. Been a licensed mariner for a very long time, and I feel pretty confident (most of the time, but not all the time) horsing our 36' sailboat around in and out of the slip and marina. But, is everyone out there that we are trying to encourage to get on the water that comfortable with the whole boat handling aspect of it all? I mean, lots of folks buy some nice boats, or rather, they buy the dream that a boat represents; but don't they then realize," Man, getting this thing in and outta here is a real pain. This is frightening! This is not as much fun as I thought it would be......I'd love to go out more except for this part of it..."

So to the question: Could we get more sailors on the water by actually helping them "get" on the water (by getting out of the slip)? Might an hour of intense entering/leaving the slip drills with an experienced person aboard to pilot them be a good start to getting them and keeping them on the water?

Just a thought.

[STuma]

good idea Chris... This was kind of where my question a while back was; what are the things that are keeping people from coming out?  I have offered a service kind of like this... I would take people out on their boat and learn the systems they are using... Maybe the main issue is docking and basic handling skills... I think we need to evaluate all ideas and keep trying new ideas... The entire sport is suffering this time.. it is up to us to carry it along for when it comes back, there is sailboat racing to do...

cheers...
Scott