I'm up for some winter sailing again this year. Thinking about doing the Steeplechase and Tradewinds races in the Keys. I did this last year and it was great.
With gas prices what they are. I did a little math unfortunately. I'm going to spend about $660 in gas round trip with the trailer to the Keys and back. That's a lot of dough not to mention all of the other expenses.
It just seems like a waste for a 1 and 1/2 day regatta for Tradewinds. Often we end up getting a bad day of weather anyway which can totally make it a waste.
I would propose making it a 3 day regatta. This way if we get a bad day of weather we can still get a good regatta in.
The park is a great locations. We really enjoyed the perfect place where we have it now.
We also need to figure out a way to not have so much time wasted between races. Last year I think we sat out there for 45 minutes in 25 knots waiting for the next race. That is really painful. I know they had the short mark for the waves. Could we have a short mark for the 16's so that we can all finish close to the same time?
I'm not complaining. I really appreciate the time and energy it takes to put these races on. I just would like to see this event grow and become a "must do" regatta for everyone.
They could make it 3 days extended over to Monday (Martin Luther King Day). Or just start it on Friday?
What say you all?
Mike Hill
Nacra 20 #1005
I gotta tell you , that double line thing Hank came up with at Spring Fever is the BOMB for getting races rolling fast in a large mixed regatta! A start line at the bottom of the course sets you sailing up the course. A separate finish line above A records finish times. Once you finish, you make your way back to the starting area by sailing on the outside of the course back and once the RC has the next fleet waiting, they start a sequence completely irrespective of who's finishing or at what position on the course. With this system, we don't queue for more than 5 or 10 minutes between races and get an incredible number of heats in.
Granted, this assumes that there is enough race committee to pull this off and that the course won't need to be changed...it would be impossible to make any kind of course change under this system since you have boats racing at all times.
