It's rare anymore that one would feel unwelcome at a regatta.
One thing I've noticed. Our local Monohull fleet has a Leukemia Cup every year. Our participation started to dwindle in the bouy racing. So they started a long distance course on Saturday for folks that wanted to do that. Participation has soared. They had 27 boats in the distance race and only 4 in the spinnaker division of the bouy racing. Which is a complete turn around.
They do a reverse start like the mug race. So no big starting line problems.
Maybe we should try this as part of our regular regatta's? Might draw more people just to come out and cruise the course and see how they do. If you think it will take away from your bouy racing, it doesn't. The serious racers still seem to choose the bouy racing.
PS. The "distance" is pretty short. For Cat's I'd recommend under 20 miles total depending on wind and direction.
