I have just accepted the honor <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> of fleet captain of my sailing club's Portsmouth Fleet, and I need some suggestions of how I can re-energize it. My club is heavy into one-design monohull racing, and only rarely does anyone come out to race Portsmouth. We used to have a Hobie fleet, many years ago, and there are still 20 or so cats around the club, but most have weeds growing up through them now. There are about the same number of odd-lot monos around. Previous attempts at promoting it as "The Fun Fleet" have met with some minor success, but last year, it pretty much died from apathy. There are a dozen or more H16s, but only 2 or 3 ever see the water, and I have the only Wave on the lake. The lake is a reservoir, kind of narrow and winding, with a couple islands and eratic winds, which makes it challenging for monos, but frustrating for cat sailing. The club has a very active youth and adult sailing training program in the summer, and I plan to let them use my Wave, so they can try a catamaran. I'd like to promote both social and racing activities in the fleet.

Any suggestions or success stories will be appreciated!

I just got a suggestion from within my club: a beach start/beach finish race, like he did while on vacation in Turks & Caicos. I suppose we could do it around the islands, with the boardless boats taking the shallow short-cut between the islands. That might draw some cat sailors back out of the woodwork. What do you think?

Sounds like a good idea. Our Miami catamaran fleet has a race day once a month, and most of them are distance races, because they seem to be a lot more popular than the buoys racing.

Also, you need to get an e-mail list of all the people who have catamarans at the club and keep sending them information on a regular basis about events they can participate in. And ask them for suggestions about what it would take to get them out sailing their boats again.

Every fleet needs a catalyst, a leader, to get things going and to keep the ball rolling. Sounds like you're gonna be it. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I would suggest creating an event that focussed on the social aspect..A couple races on a Sat and then a bbq or something like that, perhaps once a month. I think for most recreational sailors the social aspect of cat sailing is the most important.

Organize anything that is fun for you. And if it winds up being you and one other person, so be it, that's still a successful event. That one other person will have a good time and tell their friends to come next time.

Don't know what your club and members are like, but if you're angling for more "fun" oriented sailing events then think up silly stuff/games you want to do.

Our club participates in Summer Sailstice by holding a Great Greased Watermelon Grab race. Teams start on the beach, we use Waves because they are plentiful, and the "committee" boat floats greased watermelons (Hawaiian Tropic). It's relay style, so we stay close to shore. One person drives, the other grabs the watermelon. Then whoever was the watermelon grabber moves to the helm and another teammate rotates in. Lots of fun!

There's another silly start you can do off the beach. Skippers do a shot (of whatever, our dockmaster/bartender decides what it is) on a traditional start count-down and run to their boats. We do it off a dock, but you can just as easily do it off the beach.

Rick and Mary started a fun event that we do based on gender on a couple different days, but the anchor for it is that everybody switches boats in rotation after a short 10-15 minute race. It works best 1-design with the Waves we use, but I bet you could come up with a variation.

Mary has lots of good suggestions in their Catamaran Racing book. One of my favorites we used is the one where we have a buoy course set up and ahead of time we've prepared balloons with instructions in them. We made a whole set of blue balloons with the same instruction in them, red, and white, enough for the entire expected fleet. The instructions were silly things like, "skip the next mark," "go back and sail around the last mark and then proceed," "do a 360," etc. They were instructed to pop a balloon when we blew a whistle. Made for lots of silly chaos that everybody enjoyed and mixed up the results so the best sailors don't just win like they do every race day. The fun is in picking the time(s) to blow the whistle and seeing which balloon people decide to pop. Thanks for that one Mary! That one takes considerable preparation, which itself makes a fun activity for a few people. Pop some beers and have fun making the balloons.

Let your creativity go wild and just have fun. I can't wait to read and try other people's stuff on this thread!

Canandaigua Yacht club started a GO fleet (Genoa only- no spinniker) 4 or 5 years ago. It is held on wednesday evening, and we billed it as recreational racing. It was all about having fun, lots of award certificates given each night, everyone gatherd for dinner afterwards. Our thought was that it would groom people for the sunday racing. Mostly monohulls, but a few cats play as well. Experienced racers run the course for practice. Kindness and rule explinations can be heard at each mark rounding.

The past two years we have begun the season with four wednesday nights of CYC institute while the water warmed up. Racing rules were taught, Sail trim, boat maintenance and Racing tactics were all covered by a variety of volunteers. It has been great for growing all fleets.
Last year we had 17 boats start on the first race of the season- and it was still cold out!

Also, I like the fun sails that peple organize. My personal favorite was the full moon sail that we had a while back. Unfortunately, the organizer didn't realize the moon was not scheduled to rise until 3AM! Still had fun, though.

Rob Turbett
Canandaigua Yacht Club

1. Cut down the number of race days, its sounds strange but in this case fewer days mean more poeple. If people are struggling to commit then 1 or 2 weekends a month is much easier than every week. At least this way when everyone turns up its on the same day and you therefor get good racing.

2. get sponsors. No not cash, you're after sausages, bread rolls and beer. Talk to whatever company supplies beer to the club and explain that you are trying to get more people to turn up to the club which in the long run will increase turnover. Your entry fee now includes a free BBQ and a drink.

Take one of the H16s on a regular basis and "conquer" your challenging course. If I can tack in, out and around mangrove creeks and oyster bars with the H16, so can you! It's fun, just in itself, and it will help dispel the myth that cats can't tack.

"The course that's hard still steers."- J. Buffett

I'm loving all your suggestions! Keep them coming! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I really like the Great Greased Watermelon Grab, because most of the odd-lot monos are smaller, low to the water boats: Laser-II, Capri 14, MC Scow, Sunfish, etc... so going for a watermelon would be good for them too! And getting sponsors, that'll help with our fleet's limited budget. Thanks to all! You're all invited to join in! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I started talking up these activities at our club's Spring workday yesterday. Everyone, including the Commodore, loved the ideas, especially the Greased Watermelon Grab. Now the race-only monohulls want to join in, maybe make it a part of a summer regatta. Should I let them in on it?

Make them beg. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
No, seriously, that is a no-brainer to bring everybody together. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />