Mary,

The club in on an inland lake.

I was wrong, only 102 boats at last years event, but preceeding years went (no stats for 2003),
2002 - 154,
2001 - 120,
2000 - 128 !


Linky to Grafham Water Sailing Club

After Dan Lawrence (past CABB Commodore) moved from the area, I started running the Tradewinds. The first year we ran it CABB made profit.
John McKnight, the new Commodore told me we did not want to make any money on the regatta as we already plenty of money in the club funds.
So, we kept the same entry fee and unlike most other regattas offered a t-shirt for each sailor (two for 2-up boats, and 1 for solo sailors).
That did it.., no more profit.
Same for this year.., we ended up just about even Steven.

When I first started sailing we did not use beaches and sailed out of sailing clubs and yacht clubs. Each would have a designated and agreed upon time and date to host a regatta. One would do theirs in June, another in August, etc. The idea was to get all the club sailors to travel to another club to race, meet, have fun, find more competition than the same old locals, etc.
It worked just fine.
And the nomad beach stuff was very similar. Mary and I sailed in Division 10 and our club hosted an annual regatta, as did Toledo, Columbus, bunches of places in Michigan, etc.
It was pretty cool in that we could travel less than 200 miles every weekend and be racing against as many as 60 TheMightyHobie18 in our class.

By reciprocating like that it really builds fleets and makes the idea of hosting a regatta worthwhile. Nothing worse than planning a big gala and no one shows. It is costly and defeating to the future of sailing.

I only wish I could get to more events. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Rick

Hi Mary:

This may be a little late for your review, but our Fleet went through this same kind of analysis through the last few years. From 1976 to about 1992, we had one of the largest Hobie regattas in Division 16 in the Northeast. Then, we lost our format when a new DEMOCRATIC Park Commissioner came in and caved into an attorney who owned property next to our County Park and insisted that we be refused access to the water and remove the ability to host an event. He rationalized it by saying we were dangerous (We have never had an accident or created problems and always payed our own way). The real reason was that he wanted to limit the use of the county beach next to his property; over time maybe he could even buy it by saying it was unused anyway.

Well, the years went by and we sort of struggled along. The racers in our Fleet continued to race, but you could see participation drop down year after year. The people that were on the road to the races always were made to feel comfortable, but they never really felt part of the scene; sort of like always being invited to your friends house for a barbeque, but you were never able to reciprocate.

A few years ago, because of a fresh vision from one dedicated racer (Don Wilke), The Fleet fashioned a no-frills regatta using a private beach bar as the main format. Since then the local town, campgrounds, and businesses have helped, and we're up to fifty boats. We even added a pre-race cruise/race to show area boaters the neat venue we have (sailing from beach bar to beach bar within fifteen miles).

Our Fleet feels good about itself again. Five new Tigers have been purchased in the last two years; Many upgraded sixteens; and probably the largest collection of Hobie 18s, 18 Magnums, and 18-SX in the Northeast (They are the perfect boat for cruising on Lake Erie and running up on the beach). Since then, the Democratic Park Commissioner is gone and more rational and supportive leaders are back in office; life is good.

All of this because sailing and racing are back.

Wyatt
Fleet 119, Angola New York, Lake Erie

What a great story! I love a happy ending.

Mary, its a great question. After 25 years at the helm, the most pure cat sailing is 10 to 15 boats coming off the beach, crashing through the surf, and racing north and south down and back to some distant bar. Its as simple and as complicated as that.

Not to be flippant, but why are there parties? There's all that work involved, and expense, and the mess to clean-up afterward! The answer is that it is fun. Otherwise nobody would do it. It is also why people who never throw parties tend not to be invited to many.

There is of course a commercial dimension to a regatta, because space on water and the facilities required to feed everyone, and store boats cost money, as do crash boats and fuel. These are fixed costs that the club pays from member dues. Other costs like trophies and food and t-shirts and beer are paid out of the regatta fees, primarily. But at our club we are not required or even encouraged to make a specified profit on any event, and in the past I have aimed for breaking even. I generally have a small amount of money left over as a courtesy to the club, because there is a lot of volunteer labor going into the mix and I feel I should compensate the club for all that. But it is not a requirement and no one says anything about it.

There is definitely a tradition of reciprocation in sailing. This applies to sailors as well as clubs. Hence all the exchanges of burgees by visiting sailors, and writing your home club on the entry form. The notion is that as a sailor no matter where you are there is a certain ethic and you will be offered hospitality at other clubs, and that you will offer other sailors the same at yours. Perhaps this is a holdover from the blue blazer days, but it sure is a nice holdover, especially when you've been on the water in your dinghy all day getting the snot beat out of you and, looking like a drowned rat, you walk up to a foreign club that is about five stories tall with its own parking garage and they say "Come on in". The tradition is also very important in cruising, where boats put into new clubs all the time.

As to why people race, again I would say that it is fun, and regattas add to that fun by getting new sailors into the mix. As someone else in this thread said, getting beat by the same people over and over again makes for pretty stale racing.

>I only wish I could get to more events?

Perhaps this is a making of an online/internet C.S. Virtual Regatta?

What is a "virtual" regatta? Sounds interesting for a winter regatta up north. But I think somebody else will have to do that, because it would be beyond our limited computer abilities.

The reason Rick is not able to get to more regattas is because he is a little busy. He puts on at least three regattas every winter and helps out with a couple others, and he runs at least five of his seminars every year, plus he covers the entire Atlantic 1000 (as he did with the Worrell 1000 before) for my magazine and for his website.

And still, he/we manage to get to about six regattas a year to actually sail. And that is despite the fact that any regattas we go to range from a drive of 5 to 24 hours away from us. And we always lug two boats behind us, and sometimes three or four.

The reason he said he wishes he could get to more regattas is because we think it is important to go not just for our own fun, but to support the fleets and clubs that put those regattas on.

We are hoping that this year we can go, for the first time, to Spring Fever, because for once it is not happening during one of our seminars.

Our situation is not unique. A number of people have stories very similar to this.

This thread has been full of serendipity -- how much fun regattas are and how much we need them to hold the sport together.

But what we have not heard is the stories of all the fleets that no longer put on regattas because the same people (usually one or two people) always did all the work and finally got burned out and quit. And nobody stepped up to the plate to replace them.

A way to reciprocate. For the memories. Many people remember the regattas & parties that they attended or have run. Fleet members still recall the year end party at my place 18 years ago.

Mary,
Hobie Division 9 is an example of the attrition that occurs when Fleets die/burn out.
Some Fleets are down to a couple of active members, some are down to only a few willing to do the work.
Some also lost their regatta location.

Fleets 97(Raleigh, NC), 101(Carolina Beach, NC), 191(Greensboro, NC), and 170(Lake Waccamaw, NC) have recently ceased holding regattas.

The "paper" fleets(91, 101, 191) don't have other resources (staff, crash boats, facilities) to draw from.

Just a few years ago, we had so many regattas a year that we had to decide which ones we would attend.


All is not bad news though.

Hobie Fleet 100 in Oriental, NC has been revived by Kyle Harrison and holds a regatta on Hatteras Island in Rodanthe, NC.
Hobie Fleet 32 in Virginia Beach, VA, has added several distance races.

We have had some new regattas begun by independent groups.
Spring Fever, By Nigel Pitt and Mr. Ernie on Lake Hartwell Georgia.
The North-South Cat Dash, by Taylor & Darla Damonte and the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, a two-day distance race off the beach with cash prizes.
The Seacats, based at Columbia Sailing Club in Columbia, SC, has worked hard to get a large catamaran fleet at the Outback Cup(Outback steaks!!!).

Virtual regattas are races done with Virtual Skipper 3. (google it, I can't remember the website honestly)

The fellas over at SA have Tuesday night beercan races on the melges 24. I haven't joined in lately because playing the game makes me want to get on the water all the more worse.

Hi Mary, I have not seen these reasons posted yet, so my response will add some more perspectives. I started the 'Round The Bay Race over ten years ago as a way to demonstrate different ways to run an event that I wanted others to emulate. Here are some of our guiding principles (some of which have since been copied by others):

Most important: Every competitor gets recognition, not just the top performers, because the time, effort, and expense to attend from top to bottom is usually pretty close. This encourages everyone to come back as it might be the only event that acts like it appreciates their attendance. Without the people who do not "trophy", the events will be pretty small and less worthwhile. That is the number one issue we need to reverse!!!

I wanted to have a race to encourage the use of headsails - I did this by allowing any head sail to be carried and applying the Portsmouth correction only for a headsail that was actually used in the race. So you can take anything out that you want, including multiple headsails, and only "pay" for what you use. Since the race began, headsails have become common, and I like to think we helped that happen. My perspective on this was probably influence by many years of big boat sailing where we carried many sails on the boat and used only what was best for the conditions during the race, as did every other boat, yet each boat's rating stayed the same. So that seemed natural to me along with the realization that just carrying a headsail and not using it put that particular boat at a disadvantage to the same type of boat w/o the gear on it.


We try to get something different and useful for recognition each year instead of the usual trophy items. People seem to like that, too.

We organize and run the event to serve the competitors, not vice-versa. It is disappointing how many events seem to not care about, or even display disdain for, the competitors. (Spring Fever seems to get this focus right also.)

In ten years I think we made money once or twice. I know last year we lost several hundred dollars. We don't care. We have decided to use our group's bank account until it expires.

Another reason that I started the race is just because I thought it would be an interesting race to sail. It also fit the more recent trend of increasing popularity for distance races and for one day events. We get good feedback on both issues.

We do see it as a chance to "give back" to the sport. It is nice to hear the heart-felt "Thank-yous" from the sailors we serve. It is a big effort even for a small event but we know we are good at it and approach our volunteerism the same as we would for a race; competitively! We want to perform well and get better results each year. We want more people to be happy they came and to plan to come back when they leave. We want them to try some of the same things we do in their events. Then we achieve more "reach" and our efforts have more value and the sport is improved a little.

As a final note, the regattas in OCRA for the last several years either are free or cheap and most, if not all, lose money. There are only four or five and if the organizers did not make these happen then there would be no OCRA, fewer people would sail cats, fewer people would be exposed to cats, and when you and Rick came back to Ohio you would go nuts! ;-)

Mike

Hi, Mike,
Great post -- inspirational and thought-provoking. But I have some questions, as I always do.



So do you ask them after the race what (if any) headsail(s) they used during the race and then apply the rating and then figure the results after everybody has finished?



Can you give some examples of the "recognition" things you give to the competitors? I assume you do that at the trophies presentation? Do you also give them T-shirts when they register? (I think most regatta organizers consider the T-shirts the "recognition" thing for attending.)Do you give them T-shirts AND a recognition item? Or do you eliminate the T-shirts (which would be fine with me)? Also, do you give these recognition items to EVERY person on every boat, or just to the skippers, or what?



When the account expires, then what?



Who foots the bills for those regattas that lose money? It does not make sense to me that they would make them very cheap or free. I don't think sailors mind paying a reasonable entry fee. As a participant, I would feel guilty if I didn't pay, because I know what goes into it, and I want the organizers to make money on it so they can continue doing it.:p

Mary, Even though I haven't raced yet,I always register for regattas I attend as a fun sailor. I have some sense of what goes into puttting on the events, and want to support them. As you said I'd feel guilty otherwise. While we are on the subject of guilt, I finally subscribed to Catamaran Sailor, and after receiving my first copy, am kicking myself for not doing it sooner! Nice work Mary! Thank you!

Mary,

I can answer some of your questions about the Around the Bay. About half my folding chair collection (which is pretty substantial) comes from that event. Mouse pads. Knife sets (kinda strange in my book, but what the hey - I'd never gotten a knife set for being DNF before). Sailcloth duffel bags - enough to store all my family's sailing gear. Keep the non-traditional stuff coming, Mike.

T-shirts are passe. I've got more event t-shirts than I could ever possibly wear. My wife turns regatta t-shirts into cleaning rags. Thank-you, Mike, for not giving out t-shirts.

Thank-you Mike (and Carol) for having this event. It's the only distance race on my calendar and it is on again this year. We'll see you in June (and this time, I think I'll have a better handle on the Tiger).

Hi Mary, I will try to answer your questions if you promise not to ask questions about those answers!

Yes, we ask competitors if they used their headsails. This works fine because sailing is a Corinthian sport and people agree to sail fairly (see part one of the RRS, rules 2 and 3). Carol has the ratings all set in the computer and quickly computes the results as the boats finish. People pack up the boats and enjoy the provided "lunch" (sometimes it is pretty late) and keg as the rest finish and the results are completed. Then we give out the awards which includes every competitor and, yes, EACH participant gets an award. Why shouldn't they? They EACH had something to do to make the event successful. BTW, we also give EACH volunteer something for helping for the same reason.

Besides what Matt mentioned we also have had cloth frisbees that fold up in your pocket and can be used indoors yet fly surprisingly well and we have had drink Koozies; both items have had some sort of RTB logo on them. The knife sets that Matt mentioned came in wooden boxes that were laser engraved with the RTB logo also. People were shocked to each get a set. That's the best way to shock people at a race event!

We have always charged a modest fee even when OCRA encouraged all the organizers to make the events free one year. Like you, I disagree with the free idea - If people will attend only if the event is free then they are probably not the people we want at the event. We have to be sure people take this seriously because there is always the possibility that someone could get into serious trouble out on Lake Erie. We have had some really serious wind blowing offshore and the Canadian shoreline is a long way off! As for what we will do when the money runs out - Don't know, don't care. We will address that when the time comes. For now, we concentrate on doing better with what we have to work with. Carol keeps very detailed notes on every aspect of the event and we review what went right and what went wrong after each one and document that. We know that memories get pretty selective and you can quickly forget important details, especially unhappy ones.

Our old Fleet 400 foots the bills for losses. We do not refer to it that way anymore because of the Hobie class's edicts. There are so few key people left running these events in all of Ohio that (just my opinion) we probably are close to the end of the regatta era. Division Ten fizzled out years ago and that trend continues - without OCRA there would have been little or no cat racing in OHIO for many years now; So we don't worry about when the money runs out. But that trend is a different thread.

BTW, I appreciate Matt's comments about T shirts - I have drawers full of the things and cannot give them away fast enough (I have several just from giving blood). The last thing a sailor needs is another T-shirt. I do not know why so few regatta organizers understand that which is why we try to give them other ideas. Just keep an eye on bargains that that come along all year long and think to yourself, "Hey, now that would make a neat regatta award" and then act on it! Also, find out what fleet members can do and start early. Too bad Rick did not come over last year - then you could see for yourself what he could have had - I'll bet you would have thought the multi-colored wood handled knives were pretty cool not to mention the box they came in. The women could give the knives away if they wanted to and keep the box for jewelry or such.

O.K., enough on this. What is cool is that we get all these different kinds of boats on the same course at the same time, almost like an in the water boat show where you get a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses in the bargain. Then you come in and talk, eat, drink, brag, commiserate, encourage, congratulate, and celebrate another fun (and exhausting) sailing adventure. Come try it this year!

Mike

To drink beer and talk smack(ed). We get boats from the extended area together, and have fun doing what we like to do, sail and drink beer or jello shots. We visit, laugh, catch up on who is crewing or driving for who on what boat, even our clubs dogs get to play and be merry together. (unless some unsporting heavy handed individual prohibits them from attending).