Matt wrote:
A lot of events have digressed to be purely about the racing as the more hard core racers are whats left in a lot of fleets and the fleets are the only ones putting on events. There is not much incentive for a new person to go to an event that is totaly if not mostly race oriented when they have to compete against people with 20+ years of racing under their belt. And it does not matter if they are on Waves or the latest carbon 20, they are going to be way at the back.
ChrisW wrote
The sentiment of events that are not designed only for hard core racers is the stance I am taking with the HCA during my tenure as Chair. My predeccesor is one of the top guys in our group, and a 'hard core' racer. His views differ from mine in that respect hense the reason I am doing whatever possible to align the HCA with the IWCA. I feel that racing is the reason we go, but the fact we're going to new and diffent places, eating different food, meeting interesting people and camping/hoteling with our friends and family is THE most important thing. The Wave, the 16, the getaway.....whatever. Widget
Hmm... How do you harmonize the two mindsets in the same event? I don't think you should waste a lot of energy on this.
When CRAC was formed... a choice had to be made and when we looked around and could not find an individual willing to run the social/casual racing agenda... we thought we better be clear on the mission... thus catamaran RACING association of the chesapeake... We followed the lead of CRAM, CRAB, CRAW, OCRA. The R is for racing and all are still working on their core mission of creating racing events.
I don't know of many low key catamaran SAILING clubs.
On the Chesapeake Bay, The Tuesday Night Club WRCRA started out as a classic open class low key fleet of old boats... but now it's a fleet of A cats, F16's and Nacra 20's. A recreational sailor with an old boat attempting to race these guys has a tough time now. The Hobie Classes in Division 11 are run by racers who have no interest in running a beach party at the expense of their racing. They are not scheduling two short races and the rest of the day is scheduled for a beach party! The B and C fleet racing groups are very very small and the event they attend is their one event a year.
The weekend regatta circuit is fueled by racers who go one design racing and if they need a bit more... join a portsmouth race on the next weekend.. A recreational sailor dipping their toe in the water just doesn't fit the scene. Designing an event that is not focused on the hard core racer won't do it for the recreational sailor and the racer always likes a great party anyway.
My mast up storage MARINA has mostly recreational sailors and they have NO interest in organizing a beach party among themselves... If the breeze is good and several families happen to show up... we share the beer and fire in the barbeque grills. Organized club events are just not needed.
I think trying to manipulate things that put the two groups of people together at a single event is the wrong focus. Rather I think you need to build a club with mast up storage that can find a balance for racing and recreation. You need to get the old race boat out from the weeds in the back yard to the club. The guys with old boats who used to race would enjoy a club race now and again. The recreational sailors would like to see the more experienced sailors and go sailing with them when the wind is up and so on. Sandy Hook Bay seems to do a good job with 150 boats, of mostly recreational sailors and a racing program that runs the Statue, a Hobie Points Regatta and a club racing series for 20 or so racers.
I think it's great that Chris is working on harmonizing the Wave racers and the HCA schedule... But that is not going to shift the emphasis of the HCA away from serious OD racing. My hope springs eternal that next he will harmonize the Tiger and Wildcat OD fleets.... Followed up by including the rest of the F18's.... then.... the rest of the catamaran racing world...
