GBCA Discussion Forum

This is an unscientific poll to answer a question I am curious about.

This appears to be a very interesting question...One day regatta starting @ 9am might work as a trial event. Inquiring minds want to know. I love this place!

9:00 am? What, 5 or 6 races? You trying to kill us all, Ed?

I think a case can be made for both.  Major regattas benefit from a multiday format since one fluky day doesn?t determine the outcome and more races tend to see the better sailors rise to the top.  A full weekend regatta is a bigger commitment though and sometimes it may be easier to justify a single day of full-on race and, if applicable, party, with a promise to fulfill family, home improvement or other obligations on Sunday.

Other factors can also come into play.  I am certain the Texans season-ticket-holding boat upon which I crewed as man servant last Saturday would be in the slip on Sunday, two-day regatta or not.

Quote from: Kevin Box on September 13, 2010, 10:16:55 PM

I am certain the Texans season-ticket-holding boat upon which I crewed as man servant last Saturday would be in the slip on Sunday, two-day regatta or not.

Do we have a crew finder forum for man servants???? That I need to look at.

I'm with Leigh Ann on this one -- can we get that added?

Reduce the number of regatta's, keep @ 2 days.    Add series races..  have all three clubs cooperate and take turns running the series races.   

OR if JJ's idea is just too radical (trying to imagine the three clubs agreeing), and the number of regattas stays the same, turn the lower turn out ones into a one dayer. See what happens, change is good in some things, not so much in others...

In the past few years we have added the Bay Cup I and II, lost NOOD, added GBAD, JFest and HYC one-design (NOR coming soon)?

I'm with Jeff K - there are too many things going on - even if some of these races are only one day, they are not going to get food participation.  Many of these regattas were added after the joint planning meeting last fall.

All of these regattas on top of Wednesday night and circuit stops for many adds up to burned out racers......and burned out organizing authorities.  For GBCA, since June we have put on 8 rum races, single/double hand, women's regatta, GBAD this weekend and Compass Bank Regatta coming up in a few weeks.  None of these parties or RCs just happen without planning and logistics.  There is a lot of work that happens behind the scenes that most people take for granted.  This volunteer work needs to take place whether we have 10 boats or 100 boats.

There just needs to be more open weekends in the sailing schedule for the Bay.  I have done some of these out of town regattas and used to do the J24 circuit.  I agree with Jeff J that it would be good for those that are interested to travel more without having to sacrifice supporting events at home.

Depending what we are trying to accomplish, depends on the answer... "Big" regattas, definatly 2 day... series stuff, I say 1 day event and if needed, seperate them by a week or two...


cheers...
Scott

Why don't we have "Rum Race" type regatta/race every Saturday when there are no other races in Bay area, with total scores on the end of each year? We can call it "Four Seasons Race". Regarding food for party every Saturday that can be changed to "Potluck Party". Everybody can bring food and drink. Those who have problem with this idea are welcome to stay those weekends home and watch TV.

Some good ideas here.

I think this idea of a series championship is something that would work really well!

Have the three major clubs  coordinate a series of regattas with a series winner.   Does five major regattas sound like a good number? These can be the focus regattas for the serious race prepped boats and those really just bitten by the bug.  I believe the focus of these should be W/L PHRF regattas.  However, I truly believe every effort should be made offer up alternatives if there seems to be a lot of interest from the rest of the fleet.  We might even be able to have an invitational regatta at the end of the series for the top performers... 

The rest of the weekends should be free for the respective clubs to host club regattas.  They don't need to be closed regattas necassarily  but simply not part of the series.  They can have a more open format.  ...distance, Club Handicap, SOS etc.  I also think while every best effort should be made to coordinate the schedule with the other clubs with these regattas perhaps the scheduling can take somewhat a back seat.  As I write that I am thinking that the clubs can get together and coodinate which of these open weekend regattas might be "major regattas"  ...but not part of the overall series.  For instance the Bay Cup is very popular so that the schedule of this series should get preference over one of the less popular regattas. 

This way there might be less pressure to make every single regatta BUT if we want to race almost every weekend we can.  If we all coordinate this going into the season it could make for an interesting season.

I have digressed away from the intent of the original poster so I apologize for that.  Truly my preference is for their to be a handful of one day regattas.  I also prefer the distance type courses.  ...once I get my boat back on the bay I also will prefer distance courses and/or triangle or olympic type course.  As I think Jeff said, it is a horse for a course thing and my old Full Keel CCA 19,900 lb boat just aint meant to sprint up and down the race course. 

Best,
JZ

And a fine man-servant you were/are, Kevin! ;)

As for the racing format, I think we currently offer a good mix of one-design as well as "other".  I'd like to see full (and early) participation in every race we gear up for, but the reality is that we all have some sort of weekend commitments outside of racing/cruising our boats, whether we want to or not.  And sometimes those pile up to a height that we can't neglect any longer - like this weekend for us.  I actually think it's a good thing if it's not always the same folks going home with the pickle dishes.  Pick your battles - and this weekend looks to be a good one!

And who says we couldn't offer an alternate class on the same weekend of a one-design/phrf race that might utilize the W/L marks for the first and last leg, along with several fixed marks thrown in for some distance, agility and scenery change in the middle, using a combined score of best course time and best grilled shrimp entry for an overall winner???  We could start with everyone else, finish with everyone else, and have the judging at the clubhouse after the racing.  That trophy could be AWESOME!

Quote from: beverly on September 17, 2010, 09:48:05 AM
And who says we couldn't offer an alternate class on the same weekend of a one-design/phrf race that might utilize the W/L marks for the first and last leg, along with several fixed marks thrown in for some distance, agility and scenery change in the middle, using a combined score of best course time and best grilled shrimp entry for an overall winner???  We could start with everyone else, finish with everyone else, and have the judging at the clubhouse after the racing.  That trophy could be AWESOME!

Do the shrimp have to be caught while racing? That might favor the spin boats.

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.!!!!!

Quote from: hayesrigging on September 17, 2010, 11:43:17 AM
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.

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

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

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.

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