GBAD Regatta: September 18 & 19, 2010

[Big John]

The last minute is NOW

[Big John]

The last minute is NOW

[MaryM]

Good question - one possible answer is that a number of the non-spin, cruising spin and classic canvas don't prefer to race around the buoys - hence the success of the club handicap and events that promote long reaching legs such as the Bay Cup series, rum and icicle races.  I know that this type of course does not really help you validate PHRF ratings.

For those that have chosen to sit this one out - it would be helpful if you could provide some feedback.

[Keith]

Maybe you should merge this with the NOOD regatta thread and then answer their complaints about why the NOOD is not in Texas anymore.

[Jonsey]

You guys should get all three major clubs together, pool resources and put on a few really high-quality events each year.   Maybe run some series races non-regatta weekends?   Those take less resources to put together.. and are typically free to participants.   Space the big events out.   I wonder how much it would cost in entry fee's alone to do every major regatta on Galveston Bay - between the three clubs?

Regattas, as it stands down there seem very diluted.  Does that make any sense?  If it were Newport, where sailing is a way of life and temps were in the 70s... totally different story... but those guys have a much shorter season.   

It also leaves no room for people to travel to other venues around the state.  There are some really fun events (wurstfest, AYC gov cup, Lakefest, FWBC annual etc).  Cool clubs, neat people and new faces.  I think we have at least 7 GBCA members coming up on sept 25th to race with us on Lake Travis for the Gov. Cup.   Everyone's excited to have new blood in the mix.

Take a stacked September.. ,  then a busy October with a major off-shore regatta..  jam in a last min. "One Manufacturer - exclusive event"   Tough deal.

When we were looking at the regatta schedule for our fleet of vipers, we decided we could either set 3 - 4 events and have almost 10% partipation or attend 5 or 6 regattas and be happy with 50%.   
 

[krafftm]

Participation is not looking good at all. With so few boats/classes, maybe the committee will just send us out on a rum-race style course and be done with it. Attached file shows how the classes may stack up.
Marty

[harris]

didn't someone once post a survey about preference for W-L vs distance racing etc
what did that conclude

[Bee]

I really would like to post some opinions on this subject  It is interesting,  but I am tired of the politics and lack of common sense.

Stinger will go out and do her best this weekend.  We will have a tremendous amount of beer on board.  I suspect we will start the day with some champagne and OJ.

Might even run the big stuff just for fun.

[Christopher]

It also leaves no room for people to travel to other venues around the state.  There are some really fun events (wurstfest, AYC gov cup, Lakefest, FWBC annual etc).  Cool clubs, neat people and new faces.

Yup, If we want to get other Texas clubs to come to ours, we have to (be able to) go to theirs.  This year had too many conflicts that I won't be able to make it out of town as many times as in the past.  Who else?

I do enjoy racing as many as possible, but they do seem to blur together after a while.  Maybe too much beer/rum    maybe they just don't stand out  .

I wouldn't mind fewer higher profile events of 3+ days of quality racing vs. lots of 1 or 2 day races.  Maybe more boats will register each time if there are fewer regattas from which to choose and leaving off weekends for home chores or out of town regattas.

my 2 cents

C

[marc]

I think Jeff Jones hit the nail solidly on the head. By my count there are three new regattas by three different clubs in a four week period. That has to make it extremely difficult to get any traction for any of these new events.

In my opinion the The GB racing calender could use a serious revision for next year with some coordinated decision making between the three clubs running most of the races. It would be easier to start new events if they were spaced farther apart and if some of the poorly attended older events were left off of next year's calender.

I would also like to see some of these bigger regattas scored together as a series. For example Compass Bank and Turkey Day could be scored together to name a Galveston Bay Fall Champion to be awarded at HYC after Turkey Day. Same thing for Shoe and GBCA Spring earlier in the year. This might encourage some boats to do both events and provide competition over a wider range of conditions.

To the original question, it has been a long hot summer (or so I hear...) with racing almost every weekend. I think you can have small fleets almost every weekend or larger fleets more infrequently. I don't see how you can have both.

[Sailchick]

OH, how I hate to agree with Marc but having 7 GBCA racing events in a row with one weekend off before the VERY popular Bank Regatta seems like overkill and it's very tough on a wary, and worn out committee.  Last year, Bank was a few weeks after Harvest Moon and seemed perfect to get everyone out on the water for a late fall regatta.  I appreciate the idea of joining with other clubs for an overall champion to encourage more participation.

[Jonsey]

As a quick added note, I support what the gbca with jody in the lead is doing wither the "all design regatta"   I think there's a place for a single make and model regatta like the 22 or 24 stops as well...  but for big mixed racing of any kind " bring me your poor, your huddled masses...  your Caralima 22s, your hunters, your one design 35s"

Best of luck with event.  Regardless of entries I'm sure the party will held in typical gbca fashion.  I regret we can't make it down.

Go the jody

[Jeff K]

+1 with Marc and Jody.

Our boat has been out on the bay every weekend or so it seems. We just have some people that are going to be out of town and the rest wanted a break. We support the GBAD idea but it's just a timing issue with us. Count us in for the Bank.

[ChrisK]

The All Design concept was PHRF-GB idea. They approached us to host the regatta this past spring.  

J-Boats approached us early on to do the JFest, but our schedule was full and GBCA doesn't have facilites LYC does to host a promotional type event (ie. a place to moor/sell big boats)...so they went to LYC to do this manufactures only event.

HYC and the J24 guys scheduled a regatta Sept 25-26.  HYC has the best facilites on Galveston Bay to host a OD with cranes, and immediate access to the bay.  HYC has an idea to merge the J24 fall circuit stop/with an over-under 30 foot boat race.   It was unclear what this event is about, but all of the clubs agreed last November to give HYC that weekend to do their thing and run with it.  

The Bank is in its usual spot, two weeks before Harvest Moon.  Prior experience, scheduling the bank week after the HMR, boats are still coming home from Port A.  Schedule it the week before, people are busy prepping boats. The HMR moves around every year so given those factors, the Bank date can vary.  Last year HMR was very early Oct. so the Bank went afterwards.

All the clubs meet in early November to work out next years schedule.  GBCA takes a very active roll in this, sending out preliminary schedule to the clubs involved as early as possible to minimze conflicts.  GBCA also insists the meeting date continue to be in early November before the holiday season when the important folks become unavailable.  
I can tell you from experience, the schedule process/meeting is never an easy one and you're not going to make everyone happy.

We're open to all of your schedule ideas!! If you would like to send along a proposed 2011 schedule, zap it too me! Use the 2010 schedule as your template.  There are a couple of legacy events you need to keep in mind, sacred holidays, and attempt to keep two weeks spacing between events....

The most frustrating part is despite the effort and having the preliminary Galveston Bay racing schedule up in January, skippers still sign up for events the day before.  It was the reason why HYC cancelled their offshore...and (I theorize) one of the reasons the NOOD folks thought there was much less interest here than there actually was.

Ah-ha! Quick check on the web, sure enough, weather looks good.....
3 more have sign up for GBAD in the last 24 hours....and it's only Wednesday

See you out there!

[STuma]

As it has been stated, all the clubs need work together, we are all suffering; regatta participation is way down... I think we need to make each regatta different from the others on the calendar... We have some of the best sailors in the world in our area.. There is no reason to have a great fleet.. I think we need to continue to reach out (as it's being done) to the Cat. 27's, 30's, Beneteaus, etc... What benefit does a family get by coming out sailing for an entire day and not getting the house chores done?  Many families won't get into the serious end where they spend every other weekend racing, but we can give them a single event where they can come out and play... If we focus on only the racing, we will have a small participation compared to the population of boats... I think many people cannot, do not want to, invest the time and money into racing...

One thing I have thought about, what makes each regatta different from the next regatta... GBAD gives the option to be different... I have always believed one-design should be W-L course, while PHRF classes need to sail triangle W-L, as they are rated... This has been a long time debate but it has some merit... Some questions that come to mine: type of course?  W-L, triangle, triangle W-L?  Are the boats raced how they are rated?

I think we need to have each regatta specialize in a particular format...

Just some thoughts... great that we are looking outside the box!

cheers...
Scott