A lot of threads have discussed the apparent decline in sailing participation (mono and multi).

From feeling "unwelcome", being "intimidated", or not having the time/money, a lot of reasons were listed.

For those who race their boats, how often would you say you use it for casual cruising about the bay/lake/coast?

And would you trailer your boat somewhere to participate in a group cruise? Or do you only travel to race?

A few contacts have informally discussed adding non-racing events to regattas for those who have neither the equipment or inclination to participate in "cut-throat" racing, but would like to join in the social aspects of the events.

One suggestion that sounded fun was jokingly referred to as "Godzilla Floatilla" and was more like a classic road rally. A cruise/race over a set distance (maybe 15-20 miles)where participants had to specify arrival time as well as target average speed BEFORE the start. The PRO would then coordinate the start using this information so most would finish at the same time. The finisher closest to their estimate wins.

I think this might attract the cruising crowd, since you don't have to be the fastest (or even estimate your fastest) to win. And, it'd seem to take the pressure off of squeezing every last ounce of speed out of the boat, allowing a more relaxed atmosphere on the boat. By working the start right, more boats would be in proximity longer, possibly adding to some on-water camradere?

My question was if racers wouldn't do this type of thing then it could be run at the same time as whatever race they were doing. If everyone would want to do it, then it'd have to be tacked on either before or after the scheduled regatta (like a Friday afternoon/evening event)

I know this sort of thing has been out there before. What's your experience with this concept? What made it successful? (We all know what makes it UN-successful...)

Good topic



... once a month, have family or non sailing friends down, drink a few and do a little sailing.



No



By all means... STEP UP and get it organized... You might find some one in the race community who would like to help out.. but a cruiser has to do the work and get the crowd out. I think a good number of races would let you tag this on.

One piece of advice... these things take some time to build up a head of steam.... get some advertising out and while You might not get somebody the first year... but the second year will have some history to it.
Good luck

thanks for the input. I kind of figured the cruising group wouldn't really travel far to do that sort of thing.

With all of the established regattas around the area, it's silly to think of adding yet another to the calendar, but tacking on a cruise to an existing event would be the easier (and it's good to know some organizers would be okay with that).

I am a cruiser.

i would not drive 15 miles with my boat... heck i wont drive 10 (i live 3 miles from the gulf). I wouldn't want to participate in a convoy (prefer to simply island hop, and sail around the gulf with my pals (or girl).

I committed to 1 cat race (4th of july) and already want to back out (but wont as my 74 year old crew wants to do it).

I did agree to crew for him (on his day sailor) next year for his races. I went out with him 1 time last year (in 20mph) and we won 4 of 6 races... it was fun, and i want to learn more.

Used to race but now I belong to the dead boat society. I do "fun races & rallys". I would like to race again but can't afford the big $$ for the current one design boat that races in the area. The other option is to help with the race committee to stay involved.

The big monohulls on the Chesapeake have done something very similar to what you propose. Back in the day, they would see families doing the 20 to 30 mile point to point race... Then they raft up and party with what they brought over... They had good parities.. followed by a race/cruise back.

Over time, The hard core racers moved into One design and PHRF saw a huge shift to racing boats within PHRF... (We now have PHRF A0, A1, A2 and A3... while PHRF C ... the big fleet back in the day is now down to 4-5 boats.

The CBYRA decided to create a Corinthian fleet that YC's would support... The idea was to get the cruiser back into the sport of cruiser racers. Seems to be getting some interest... As always... people do this kind of thing to hang with a group...Getting that party group established is the key to success.

Once a month Fleet 20 does a fun sail. I attend when ever possible. Its about 6 hours on the road to get there for me. Pot luck dinner on sat and breakfast on sunday. Just alot of people hanging at the lake. A few events scheduled in to keep the weekend moving. Fun races games and trophys for the event. The 20th is the toilet paper regatta. I run run what ya brung race for the coveted Water bottle and roll of toilet paper.
I've also been known to do races that aren't F-18 or Hobie just to go out.

I'm hoping some of the yutes (Chaos, Adrenilin...) will start a new New England distance race around the islands here. Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound would be tough but great I think.