Hi, Mike,
Great post -- inspirational and thought-provoking. But I have some questions, as I always do.
I wanted to have a race to encourage the use of headsails - I did this by allowing any head sail(s) to be carried and applying the Portsmouth correction only for a headsail that was actually used in the race.
So do you ask them after the race what (if any) headsail(s) they used during the race and then apply the rating and then figure the results after everybody has finished?
We try to get something different and useful for recognition each year instead of the usual trophy items.
Can you give some examples of the "recognition" things you give to the competitors? I assume you do that at the trophies presentation? Do you also give them T-shirts when they register? (I think most regatta organizers consider the T-shirts the "recognition" thing for attending.)Do you give them T-shirts AND a recognition item? Or do you eliminate the T-shirts (which would be fine with me)? Also, do you give these recognition items to EVERY person on every boat, or just to the skippers, or what?
In ten years I think we made money once or twice. I know last year we lost several hundred dollars. We don't care. We have decided to use our group's bank account until it expires.
When the account expires, then what?
As a final note, the regattas in OCRA for the last several years either are free or cheap and most, if not all, lose money. There are only four or five and if the organizers did not make these happen then there would be no OCRA, fewer people would sail cats, fewer people would be exposed to cats, and when you and Rick came back to Ohio you would go nuts! ;-)
Who foots the bills for those regattas that lose money? It does not make sense to me that they would make them very cheap or free. I don't think sailors mind paying a reasonable entry fee. As a participant, I would feel guilty if I didn't pay, because I know what goes into it, and I want the organizers to make money on it so they can continue doing it.:p
