Hey Guys

I sail with a bit of an old school sailing club, the courses sailed are typically triangles with windward returns, two of each. Unfortunately the triangles really don't suit the f-18 and spinnaker boats at all well. I knew this full well when
I brought the boat and I do love sailing it.

I guess a lot of other clubs have gone through this before and I was wondering how long it took and any tips for making a transition to windward/leeward courses smoother/faster.

we have a feet of nacra 5.8's taipan 4.9's and some a-cat's. Yeah I know if any of them bothered to attend a nationals they would be sailing wind/lee courses.

I recommend having a Triangle & W/L in the same race...perhaps throwing in more W/L's (or even another Tri) to extend it.

I've grown to miss the old days of screaming reaches...nothing like it anymore in today's races. Ya, I know...nothing tactical happens, but it's the one place you get to put the hammer down and be braver than the other guy!

Mike.

Hey dazz,

I feel your pain, it took us years to convince our club that we only want loops. Catch is now i often lose count "is this lap 3 or 4?"

Our club's problem is we are trying to cater for sabres and spinnaker cats on the same course and all the catamarans (arafura cadet to f18) in the same division. the AC might do 1 or 2 laps with the f16/f18's will do 5. they then find you average lap time and apply the handicap to that. I hate it but without more boats to compete against what else can we do?

Anyone else seen this handicapping system?

My old club suffered the same problem. We solved it by offering a triangle course and windward leeward course. Cats racing a windward leeward course would just ignore the wing mark and sail a few extra laps.

Div 1 - 14 footers - Triangles
Div 2 - boats above 14 feet without spinnaker - Triangles
Div 3 - Spinnaker cats (or those wishing to race WL) - Windward / Leeward

Boats such as A Class and some Taipan 4.9s would join Div 3 for the WL course. N5.8s whilst they are reaching machines are also very good WL boats.

We offered 2 x Club championship series consisting off Div 1 and 2 in the 'Classic Div' and Div 3 in the 'HP Div'. Boats such as A Class, N5.8, T4.9 would have to decide weather they wish to compete the season in Div 2 or 3.

This kept both groups happy, however it was important to advise all boats of the dangers when and DIV 1/2 boat is rounding the top mark under a boat racing WL who plans to bear away to head down the course.

That is really good advice TA! thank you.

I too miss the 'screaming reach'. My last two boats were N6.0na, and P18-2. Both of which were excellent on a reach, huge jib and all.

OK, so you don't have to tack or jibe (usually) on the reach. So what? It still makes it more fun IMHO.

In fact, since the B can can offset of A, or C, why not offset it off of A, so then a chute boat could possibly sail one tack to C? Yes, this does take the tactics of jibing out, but still a good suggestion.

I would like to see a triangle added to races. WL,T,WL something like that.

Had the same problem as this.
We just went out and missed the gybe mark each time and did windward-leeward. Rtd each time, but the club soon got the message that they were a bit out of date and needed to change to get newer classes in.
this is assuming that you are doing club racing to get practice for bigger events.

Since converting to the new rig Tornado, I find the boat more specialized with the shorter-footed jib...she doesn't got a nicely on reachs like the old days. Throwing a reach leg back in official events might see a return to more powerful jibs, more versatile rigs. A better all-round sail boat.

Hmmmm

The Hobie 16 One Design Fleet mostly runs windward leeward courses...on perfect days... they might add one reach race (even though they have the big jib to go reaching with) it's the oldest of the big OD classes racing.

The A class one design Fleet only runs windward leeward courses.. (no jib... so reaching is a bit of a waste) it's the oldest class but the boats are being continuously designed so it's a bit different then the Hobie 16.

The racing spinnaker boats (n20, F18 F16) have a high aspect jib for upwind... not reaching AND they would not get to carry the third sail on the close reach so they would not want to go back to a reach leg course.

These racers are serious about how to play the game and prove it by spending their time and money traveling to races.... Moreover, they do the work to put the event on so they should get what they want.... they follow the C.R.A.P philosophy and invite the rec sailor to give it a try on the WL race course.

Seems to me that the guy who is a "casual racer" wants the reaching legs and more emphasis on the party/social aspect of the weekend. Certainly, nothing wrong with adding those events to the schedule. They want the C.P.A.R philosophy and I hope they put them on.


A compromise might be that if you had a group of sailors who wanted to race ABC in a special class for a couple of hours you could get the racers RC to run the race. (What would you call such a class?)

Mike:

Wouldn't that be the old dreaded course "7" we use to sail in the 80's on our Hobie 16's. It was a bitch and would wear you out, if I remember (as Denny Crane says - "Mad Cow Disease ) LOL LOL

Doug