Once upon a time, in a small country far far north there was almost no fun dinghys racing. Some guys (naive idiots perhaps) tought they should do something about this and considered how to beat enough bush to make an event a lasting success. Plan was to piggyback on one of the countrys largest sailboat races The Færder race have over 1000 boats racing. Mostly monohulls racing under our local handicap system, LYS,which is quite a lot like portsmouth.
Idea is to piggyback on this event, set up a distance race and take advantage of the number of boats and media on the water to get some exposure. Dinghys (which should be faster monohull and multihull dinghys) will sail a shorther course but share parts of the course with the larger boats at the time they pass trough there. Start to be timed so that the dinghys arrive at the party tent well before the majority of monohulls. Dinghys to be parked at the party.. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
We are well enough connected to pull off the organizational and political issues so we can do this.
The question is how to lure all the members of the "dead, but fast, boat society" out of the bushes? Ideas? Anything from free beer to recieving a royal audience (the king usually participates in the event with one of his older IMS racers)? What have worked earlier? How do you get owners not usually racing to attend, and how do you make the event prestigious enough to attracts sailors?

Rolf,

IMO 4 things determine an event attendance

1, Where is it ? - No-one likes sailing in a craphole
2, The boats, who will be there etc - No point going if no-one else is
3, The cost.

4, the forecast...

there is stuff all that can be done about 4, so best is to focus on 1, 2 and 3

To attract people you need an angle. Some races sell them selves - Texel, ECPR, RTIOW, and generally Nats, Euro's and Worlds. Other events less so unless they are known. Can you get emails sent to anyone weho might want to go? Can you get all the clubs in the area to put up flyers ? Class associations ?

Is the event on a exceptional bit of water, will the partying be fantastic - will the beer be cheap ? Also, getting "good people" to attend is sometimes not a problem as they sail all over the place all summer, maybe offering spot prizes in the fleet (so 10th gets a case of beer, 20 gets 2 cases etc). Will there be a chance to "sail past all the expensive boats" etc....

I think a Miss Wet-Tshirt contest with a BBQ.

(sorry Mary)

You're gonna barbeque Miss Wet-Tshirt? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> That should be a crowd pleaser. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

limit the numbers who can attend and have a sign up date.


And the barbeque the wet T shirt chick thing.......would you drink red or white with that??

You would be drinking scotch, straight up and lots of it.

"...in a small country far, far north...," how many catamaran and fast monohull dinghy sailors are there?

The BBQ is already there, but I dunno about the wet T shirt contest <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> How do you make the girls go for that and what would the female sailors say about it?

To answer Mary first. There are quite a lot of cats and fast dinghys in fact, but dispersed over most of the coast and very rarely gathered together. I think the owners are either not interested in racing, dont think the are "good enough", think they have too poor sails or dont have any events to go to.




Nice list, thank you. I guess what we are looking for is the angle.. Unfortunately free beer either at the party or as prizes are not possible. Very political uncorrect and we might have participants under 18, which is the legal age. Prize money is a possibility, but I dont think that would attract those who know they will not win.
You will get to blast past multi-million boats by the score, and maybe even the king on one of his IMS racers <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Other suggestions?

Firstly pay my airfare and accommodation from Australia and i will be there.

+1
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Sorry guys, no airfare. Too much pollution and the budget would never allow it unless you are a rock-star we could "sell" here. But accomodations can be fixed if you sail your boats here. Besides, if you did sail your beachcats up here, you would be rock-stars and environmental friendly <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Is the Faerder Race just a one-day event?

It is an overnight race, so two days usually. Starting on friday and finishing saturday. We would run the dinghy-cat event on saturday.

Well, then, I would think that in order to get a lot of small-boat sailors, it would be best to figure out a way to make it a two-day event for them. People don't want to pack up their boat and trailer it any significant distance just for a one-day event.

Make it a mini vacation getaway weekend with their boats and families. Promote it as a "rally" or some word that would convey a gathering of sailors to have fun on the water (and on land).

Downplay the "racing" part and make it a FUN event on both days. Distance race on Saturday, with the normal trophies for the "serious" racers, but also fun prizes (inexpensive) for last place, oldest team, youngest team, youngest sailor, oldest sailor, oldest boat, all female team, all youth team, heaviest team, etc.

Maybe some other type of fun "races" on Sunday that will appeal to both serious racers and recreational sailors.

And on land have prizes/trophies (inexpensive) for every conceivable thing -- you can have prizes for team that traveled the farthest, club or fleet or town or whatever that has the most boats at the "rally" (excluding the home club).

If there is camping at the site, prizes for best tent, biggest tent, smallest tent, most unique tent, etc.

You can have prizes for most unique method of transporting the boat to the site, and/or most impressive trailer rig (like four stacked boats), whatever you can think of.

In North America, most regattas provide T-shirts or hats or something to all the competitors or at least to the skippers of the boats, included in the entry fee.

Maybe beer is not important to sailors in Norway, but in the U.S. there would be a major rebellion if there were not free beer. Soft drinks are usually provided for the kids (and over here they can't drink beer until they are 21). I don't think it has ever been a problem providing beer for the adults just because kids are present. That seems strange to me.

You said there is going to be a barbecue (included in the entry fee?) But is that on Saturday or Sunday, because you said it is a two-day distance race for the big boats.

You have to make this a "HAPPENING," that will make people, and more and more people, want to come back every year.

Before you know it, it will be the Norwegian version of Texel. No pressure on the organizers, of course. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Now, aren't you sorry you asked for suggestions? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the ideas Mary.
I am not sorry at all but grateful, this is just what I asked for and what we need to consider to pull it off. Suggestions for day two? Most teams would want to pack up and go home early on sunday, but if something spectacular was to happen..

The party and BBQ is on saturday as that is when most boat finish. The Faerder racers start on friday morning, sail most of the night and finish saturday morning. Here is a map of the course: http://kns.no/kns.no/Norsk/REGATTA/Farderseilasen/Kart/filestore/BANKARTA.gif
What we consider is having a distance race from Son (marked as "Start skøyter Son" on the map) and finish in Horten with the rest of the boats. This is the same course the old traditional Colin Archer designs sail.

Beer is very important to the sailors of course, but providing free beer would be very, very, politically incorrect upwards in the system. With norwegian drinking habits beeing what they are, I wonder how much sailing would be done next day unless there was a limit. I have never been to an event where the beer was free here in Norway. In Germany on the other hand, we paid for the mug while the beer was free. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Now, what would be spectacular and draw sailors to day #2?

100% make it a 2 day event.

If free beer is impossible, can you get free kit / T shirt / Spot prizes.

Jimmy Buffet sails and he's got his own plane. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Well, since you think most of the sailors in the region do not seem particularly interested in serious racing, I think you need to come up with fun "contests" they can do on the water. The possibilities are many.

If there is decent wind and they can sail close to shore for the benefit of spectators, hull-flying contests are always popular for the catamarans. Make sure you have a good photographer taking pictures, too.

If there is not much wind, you can have a "Greased Watermelon Grab" contest or race or whatever you want to call it. They just did that in Key Largo recently, and it was a big hit. The watermelons were small, round ones. Or you could probably use any kind of fruit or melon that floats.

And there are drag races and timed sprints for individual boats over a fixed straight course, and slalom events.

Relay races are always a lot of fun! And, of course, there are scavenger hunts and treasure hunts.

Capsize contests -- who can right their boat the fastest.

I could go on, but I know there have been threads on this forum about fun events other groups have done.

If you get people to come to this event, the important thing is to get good contact information for everybody, especially e-mail addresses, so you can keep in touch for future events and send them a followup report about this event and pictures of it. VERY important.

On the other hand, if a lot of people are into racing, you could have the distance race on Saturday and buoys races on Sunday morning, which is a format used at some events.