1 day vs. 2 day regattas

[STuma]

I like both the one day and two day events.  I think the winter series regattas should be one day, the fun regattas (single, mixed doubles, ladies day, etc) should be one day events and the larger regattas two day events. 

The problem I am having now is two day events when the Texans are playing good football!!!!  This is the first time in 9 years but you wont see me on the bay this Sunday!!!  Hopefully this trend continues through Jan.!!!!!

Kevin, you have a very good point.  I'm sure you can install a waterproof HD screen on that sled! 

Everyone has made some great points.  I cannot dedicate the time to sail every event and feel the fleet is spread out over too many regattas.  For what I remember, a big problem with scheduling is that the other clubs have some date specific events, Harvest Moon Regatta, Turkey Day, etc.  This makes it tough to present a consistent schedule.  It also seems that many of our sailors are sailing in other parts of the country/world.  With Dallas and Austin having some strong one-design classes, and the J circuit races, we have a pretty tough scheduling dilemma. 

Maybe, as it has been mentioned, continue the Rum races, year round even.  I think we should implement a ?rule? that the weekly winner ?hosts? the party for the next week.  There have been enough lead changes where this responsibility can be shared.  With the multiple classes, have it where the winner of each class works together to get everything together.  This can work two-fold; it allows the more cruising boats to continue sailing and gaining confidence and experience on the water, and it can provide the base for a pretty good party Saturday evening.  The Rum Race format is working very well with an average of about 45+ boats and I think we need to work off that. 

Personally, I?m kind of bummed the Rum Races are done for the year; the weather is just getting nice for night sailing.

[Scoundrel]

Just think we need to keep in mind that shrimp grilled on charcoal are worth far more points than those grilled on propane!

[Bee]

I have a giant shrimp catcher on my boat, but I'm afraid to light up a charcoal grill.

[Burns]

Maybe we should cut back on some of the fall 2 day events and go for a series of Saturday only races with cumulative scoring for those races.  September through December racing is a bit hit and miss anyway due to the weather a series of one day races might level that out a bit.

After racing every Wednesday for 6 months I get a little burned out, I would think I am not alone on that.  A single day series seems appealing. The football fans might be more inclined to come out as well.

[STuma]

I have had some discussions with some people, mainly from the "old days", about this topic the last month.  Of course my first question is why they think people are not coming out as much.  We both think time commitments is the main issue, regattas take up a lot of time.  It short, it was suggested to me; one big regatta in the spring, one big regatta in the fall, no weekend races between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  There was also a comment about the number of different classes out.  I think it is great to provide a wide range of classes for anybody to fit into, but this makes it very difficult for a race committee to group boats together.  To help with this, we need everyone in the class to make phone calls to help support others coming out.  It could be that they are so busy; they have not been able to look at the schedule.  A simple reminder doesn't hurt.  You may have boats that rate close together, but their performance is dramatically different, which makes no fun for any of them during the regatta.  The low turnout makes it tough on all of us.  To more boats we have out there, the better grouped the classes will be.

An idea that was also suggested, the Saturday Night races would run almost year round, but maybe run every other week.  The earlier start time was praised and appreciated.  I suggested that the top 3 winners of one week, organizes the social for the next week, and so on.  These races are pulling the largest turn-out on the Bay.  I don't think we need to focus fully on these races, but maybe expand the series a bit and offer some "tips & tricks" for beginning sailors/racers.  Maybe at the social after the race, some of our more experienced (or the winners) can give a 15-20 minute example or tactics strategy; this could even be a recap of that night on what they did. 

But to the point of 1 or 2 day events, I think if we par down the number of events, 2-day events are fine.  But with the current schedule, we need to go to 1-day events.

Just a thought

Cheers...
Scott