100% agree, we may be chasing something that simply may not be feasible. If we made the sport appealing to the masses we would completely kill off the sport as we now know it in exchange for a dumbed down NASCAR type event. I'll pass.

Dave - Not sure I agree. When I was racing intercollegiate, the races were short, very short, and bunches of them were done each day. The shortness of the course made for very agressive starts and mark roundings. Add to this mix the speed of cats, and the addition of spinnakers, and you end up with fast pased, physical, and exciting races that place a premium on boat handling and crew work. Often time is the muti-lap windward leeward races we do, the pecking order has been established after the first lap and it becomes a follow the leader (not allways, but often), the fleet then gets strung out over a longer distance increasing the waitiing period between races. Why not end the race after one lap, and start another? Keep the boats closer together for more "intense" racing.

Karl, the non-sailors I've watched races with were lost well before the first mark rounding so shortening the course isn't the entire solution. Plus the courses would have be deliberately set up maximize the probability of horrific crash (close to shore of course) otherwise you’re going to lose your audience.

I also wouldn’t want short courses to be the standard just to please a non-sailing audience too much of the strategy and tactics are sacrificed in a short course. I’m not totally against short courses clearly they do a great job as part of drill regiment but as a regatta format…?

I think that would put way too much emphasis on winning the starts, because cats don't tack on shifts as much as dinghys going upwind and are more interested in straight line speed to pass, which would lead to lots of impact damage at the starts, or at least a whole bunch of shouting. And one bad set at A mark and you are screwed, no doubt.

For training I think one lap is a great idea, but for a real regatta, too short, I think. But then I think 3 laps is too long, so I like 2 laps, 5 (or more) short races per day.

Races are about getting to the finish line faster.

Slowing down the other boat, forcing it into a mistake or penalty is part of it, but this is "negative" sailing, not really fun. Unfortunately, this is the main focus of match racing.

Many people consider "negative" sailing even more important than sailing fast. I agree that it plays a role in sailing, but in my opinion this should not be the main focus of sailing races.

Regards,

I agree with the thread starter. Coverage of the sailing I wanted to watch from this "most important sailing event on the planet" have been worse than anything the last 4 years. Got to pirate the medal race coverage as I could not even buy it! Tornado Worlds this year set the standard.

One thing we could do is run the event like in the 100m and 200m. Qualifying heats and a final heat. First man to the finish wins. That would be exciting and leave no doubt about scoring etc. It has it's drawbacks, but as long as we are sailing for TV..

Sailing slow boats like the Star, Snipe, Laser etc. is a pain for me. I get really bored both watching and sailing boats like that. A gust hits, you ease, hike and trim, and bloody nothing happens. What makes sailing cats exciting is the feedback from the boat and small differences between sailing really fast and going over. While talking about TV and sailing. The producers of "Wind" really made those I14s look exciting! Both the sailing and the on-water comments between boats made sailing look like a lot of fun, as it should be.

Not to get off topic, but I can't find "Wind" anywhere and I've never seen it. I would like to buy the DVD, but I even looked on Amazon, nothing there. Anyone know where I can buy one? Thanks.

How great it would have been to have event highlights, and summaries each night during the broadcast at the start of the show. just a few minutes of each sport would go a great deal to "expose the masses" highlight the sport, and inform the interested

Ebay has a few copies listed. Search for "Wind DVD 1992"

Mike

Thanks Mike.

If you get a chance, watch a model yacht world or national regatta. We had one recently and it was amazing. Short races, extremely tactical, while still being speed oriented. Finding the right balance between being conservative and aggressive was very important, too conservative and you'd be out the back door, too aggressive and you were quickly taught a lesson in boat speed.

I wouldn't advocate short races exclusively. A regatta format could be a short race or two followed by a standard race per day.

Short races for cats could easily be windward returns, finishing downwind on a standard length leg. It'd be over in about 10-15 mins.

I agree, Timbo. 2 laps sounds right. I can't count higher than 3 anymore....

The regattas where they switch the course for every race (Course 2, then 6, then 1...) always are fun since someone (usually me) always runs the course wrong and has to crash tack to finish or something...

Dude, you need to be on a boat to do laps around a course, and no your kids rubber ducky in the bath tub doesn't count.

We do short course buoy racing on Sunday afternoons. The positives are it only takes a couple of hours and we get a lot of starting and mark rounding’s practice. One negative is it can wear crew out pretty quickly. Our short courses are a windward/leeward course with usually a downwind finish; with 3 - 4 laps taking between 20 - 24 minutes.

Man, why you keep coming up with new rules? Pretty soon you'll say I have to be on a real boat or something....