For those who missed it, this Saturday there will be an F18 Team Race Event which will be streamed Live to the Internet (Front page of SA!).
More details here: F18 Team Race: Muiderzand, April 16
and here: Team Racing F18's 16th april 11 am Eastern Time live on SA

Time: 17:00 Local Time (UTC+1) / 11 AM US Eastern time.

They've got RC helicopters, onboard cameras etc, so it should be a good show.
Commentary is done by Macca and Wouter Samama.

This looks great!!!

Certainly not your everyday team race (normally 3-minute sequence, 3 boats per team, shorter races than 15 minutes). Not to mention slower boats...

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Mike

Promo video just out, gives a good idea of the types of coverage you can expect on saturday:

I actually prefer 2v2 team racing... but I think for this event 3v3 would be more exciting. Either way this will be awesome.
Are they using digital N courses? Long windward and leeward offsets would be awesome!

"Sailing has always been better to do than it has been to watch. So how do we fix that?"

You can't, so please don't!!!

Making it more fun to watch is a great idea, but it will never be as fun to watch as it is to do. Otherwise, what would be the point? Wow...

Theoretically, 3v3 racing gives more complexities with scoring, and makes for a better game. Also theoretically, boats that have roughly the same speed upwind, downwind and on reaches are best for team racing so it doesn't turn into a drag race.

Again, who cares what the monohulls do, let's see how the cats make this work!

Mike

Sailing needs to be more exciting to watch for the general public who will spend hours watching football but couldn't play it for ****! thats the point.

2 boat teams is for sure the best for spectators. its pretty simple: the team that does not finish last, wins!

True I see your point, to the spectators 2v2 will be easier to understand. It absolutely makes sense. Just to the actual sailor spectators 3v3 would likely be more exciting and interesting. It just would have been cool to see some high speed pass backs, kind of hard in 2v2. Also, the more plays that come in with 3v3 would be create more actual team racing.
The arguement from monohull sailors is that cats arent maneuverable enough to really team race, it's a bit easier to win a 2v2 with raw speed than a 3v3 which would give all the skeptics more to support their arguement.
Just food for thought. I absolutely agree on simplifying it to appeal to non-sailors.

Fort Walton Yacht Club included Team Racing as a tune up event for the US Sunfish Midwinters in March. We had three four - man teams. Each team flew a different color ribbon from the masthead - team blue, white, and green. Legs were .2 nm..W-L-W-Finish in flat water @ 12 knts. Having only three teams simplified the elimination process.

How many F 18s will slow down at the weather mark in order to defend the mark against a sailor from the other team so a pass can occur?

The coolest part was listening to the play calling and rules debates. It was LouD!

If 'Team' Racing in cats turns into a drag 'match' race format, the real essence of "TEAM" Racing may be lost, and the concept, short lived.

On the other hand, the spectacle may be very entertaining, but will it be applicable to widespread popularity (A Cats, F 16s, Hobie 16s)?

We are making plans to stage Team Racing for the Weta Southeast Championship during the Margaritaville Trimaran Rendezvous, May 1 - 5. There will not be any SA coverage, but the new sailors will sure learn alot from the champion sailors, and that's what team racing is all about.

I may have taken the video quote too literally. So long as you're not dumbing it down too far for Joe Sixpack, that's fine; and we'll all watch.

BTW, love the outside-the-box thinking with the RC heli cameras!

Mike

Finals start in 2min

http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/04/f18-team-race-racing-broadcast-at-its.html

How did the coverage turn out? Can you view a playback now?

http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/

for part of the play back

Direct link to the replay: http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2011/04/f18-team-race-broadcast-replay.html

Watching the whole thing from the shore was great, the course was very small and close to shore which made the whole thing very easy to follow.
What surprised me a little where the constant lead changes during the race.
I think that team racing is better then match racing in that respect because speed doesn't necessarily mean anything unless you are clearly in the lead,
which is unlikely on such a short course with equally skilled teams.