I would like to start a discussion on the race format of our National Titles. I want to start now so that maybe some ideas can be implemented at the next nationals. A few topics have been tossed around at and after the last nationals and I'll try to summarizes them here. Please let me know if I have forgotten any.


1. At the Paynesville nationals in 2000 we had a 10 race series with relatively short races (about 1 hr). At the AGM this was discussed and it was agreed that the 10 race series worked well and that we should do this in future. In fact since then we have had 7, 7, 10, 10, 7, 9 and 7 race series in that order. It seems we are roughly alternating between long and short series, so the 2008 nationals should be a long series.

2. I have seen other classes state in their program that "up to 4 races will be sailed on a race day" and then they leave it up to the race crew to run as many as they think appropriate for the conditions, and no set total number of races is specified. This seems sensible as it's very rare that scheduled races are run as per the schedule.

3. This year many races at Christies Beach had a short tight reach first followed by a broad reach (almost a run) to the bottom mark. It was not far off a windward-leeward course. Nobody seemed to mind, so why don't we formalize this next year and mix the races. Some genuine windward-leeward races and some with proper reaches (60 degree or more). How about alternating the race format with the days, so we have a windward-leeward course day followed by a reaching course day, etc.

4. This year we only had 3 days of actual racing (not counting the invitation race). This may be necessary to keep the costs down, but if we are going to spend a week at the venue I would prefer to see 4 or even 5 days of real racing. Otherwise we may as well just hold the nationals over a long weekend (which would save on accomodation costs at least).

5. With only a grand total of 30 boats on the water, why do we need to start the cats and sloops separately? The start photos would look a lot more impressive in the magazines afterwards. It will also be more obvious on the water how well the cats and sloops are going against each other (some may not want to go there !!!)


Any other suggestions?