Not seeing how the offset would help. You'd still have the fleet crossing the course to finish from B, and worse, it's a one-way parade down the whole length of the course. B-F (at the starting boat) simply does not work for trapezoids.

Rick, most of the traps I've seen used are essentially inside-outside loops, with all boats finishing on the left side of the course somewhere (like John W's posted SIs). That is not what you want with Waves and spinnaker cats, so we have to think outside the box a bit.

I think you're basically there. There are going to be limitations, because your primary focus is to separate fleets for safety. Finishing the orange boats at their gate and the yellow boats at the starboard side of the signal boat is probably the best plan, because that will also allow you to have starts as fleets are finished (without waiting for everyone).

But of course, it's a balance. If you push to start the spin cats while waiting for the yellow boats to finish, you will have mixed boats on the same side of the course again...

Mike

For the Havamega, which will have Hobie 17s, 18s and Waves on the Bravo course, I'm planning to use a course similar to what was used at the youth championships (that John posted), except that I'll have a separate finish line for the Waves set about 200 yds to leeward of the starting line.

That way, the Waves will have their reaches and will be clear of the bigger boats.

This is also presuming I'll have the number of Waves there to justify using 5 extra marks and at least 4 mark boats to manage the course.

Put the waves on a reaching "figure 8" on the right hand side of the course, and everyone else on a w/l course off to the left...

Just so everyone is talking about the same thing, here's John's trapezoid link (was in another post):

http://www.abyc.org/upload/2009YouthWorldQualifierSIs.pdf

I've seen a finish line set up at Mark 5 at some Opti and Laser events (including Olympic Trials). This works well when the boats are of somewhat comparable speed, you send the first fleet(s) around the "other loop" and the later ones around the "inner loop." They all finish at the Mark 5 finish line, and this keeps the starting line clear and ready.

Not sure that this would work with spins and Waves, because I think eventually, the spinnakers are going to catch the Waves, but I suppose with some practice, we could get it to work.

If I'm understanding Matt correctly, he plans to send the Waves off first, over to the "outer loop" and eventually down to a finish line at Mark 5. The 17s and 18s would stay on the "inner loop" and do standard W/L courses, finishing at the signal boat. Or, are you thinking of another arrangement Matt?

Mike

That's basically it, Mike.

If I've got enough playground, I'm going to try to give the Waves an upwind finish after they round Mark 5. The mark boat assigned to that part of the course would set a line a couple hundred yards upwind of Mark 5, but still far enough below the main S/F line so they wouldn't interefere with the 18 and 17 finishers.

The Waves would go either S-1-2-3G-5-F or S-1-2-3G-2-3G-5-F, depending on the wind velocity. I can stage it so that everybody finishes about the same time.

The only "dangerous crossing" is when the Waves are reaching to Mark 2, since they'll be crossing the port layline to the 17s weather mark (further to weather of Wave's Mark 1). Waves will be on stbd.; 17s on port. Could get interesting.

BTW, these are the racing circles for the HAVAMEGA:


Alpha Course:
Tiger, H-20, FX-One

Bravo Course
H-18, H-17, Hobie Wave

Charlie Course:
H-14, H-16, H-16 TrapSeat, any other non-championship classes

Hi Matt,
Curious why the Wave would not be on the same course as the H14 as they are of similar speed -- 14s being a bit faster.
Rick

Charlie course (where the 14s are) is for the non-North American Championships (with the exception of the 16 Trapseat). The area's a lot more restricted than Bravo Course.

We're trying to give all the classes with NA championships cleaner wind and fewer chances for inter-class interference by putting them on the northern side of the island and restricting the circles to a maximum of 3 classes.

Of course, this could all fall apart if we don't get the number of mark boats (estimated between 9 and 15) and volunteers (as many as 55 each day) to pull this off.

I'll know a lot more when I get back from the test event next weekend.

Matt,

I think your modification of the trapezoid course is an improvement compared to the youth championships. I observed a few problems with the the youth champs course. For one, I don't think it is good to have a giant committee boat at the port end of the starting line. This can get messy. Also, it was difficult to run a new start while the other fleet was still on the 1-4 course. The gate was right in front of the start line (above the RC boat and not as shown in the SI's) so you can have the situation where boats are coming into the gate while the new fleet is starting. And this did happen. Also, the boats finishing upwind can get pushed into the starting area. The best modification I saw was at the Youth Worlds in Kingston. They had one start finish line (RC boat on stbd end) and finished boats sailing the outer windward leeward course (2-3)at mark 5. That way the S/F area was clear for starters or finishing boats on the 1-4 windward leeward course. With the waves starting first, I would think you would have the problem of the 17's catching them on the first weather leg.

Greg

This will not be a North Americans for the Waves. That is scheduled for Melbourne, FL
Rick

These courses are not going to make the Waves very happy.., way too much downwind sailing. The official course of IWCA is a triangle, windward and leeward finish. The reason is they all hate downwind sailing (very boring) and tacking downwind simply does not pay off. Thus, the official course offers two upwinds, two reaches and one downwind.

I know the class is open to all kinds of ideas, as long as it doesn't make for MORE downwind legs.., less preferrably.

Rick

HAVAMEGA is the HCA Wave North Americans.

Your event in FL is the IWCA North Americans.

It's kinda like the WBA and WBC in boxing.
Maybe we'll come up with some kick-butt belts for the champs to wear . .


. . . or not.

Great Idea

The first course has 3 upwind legs, 2 reaches and 1 downwind leg.
The second one has 4 upwind legs, 2 reaches and 2 downwind legs.

The Hobie 14 goes dead downwind, too - those legs are incredibly tactical (in a slow, painful death sort of way) as the fleet jockeys to maintain clear air from behind.

Matt's suggestions should work perfectly. The only thing I would add is to add a buffer between the start of the Waves and the warning for the following class (5 minutes should do it), to give enough time for the Waves to be out of the way before the 17s start running after them.

Mike