(apart from winning it, that is!)

All,

As you have seen we are to proceed with organising the '07 Global Challenge at Zandvoort. While the club itself and the organisers have experience of organising such events, we are very concious of the fact that it is run for the benefit of the competitors.

We want to know what you would be looking for that might sway you in favour of taking part.

Currently our idea, whilst acknowledging the importance of the racing, is to put a large emphasis on socialising as a class and getting to know our fellow F16 sailors.

What sort of entertainments do you want to see?
How much 'off-time' is enough?
Do you need something going on for your family ashore? Organised trip perhaps?

We also feel that with such a fledgling class, a gathering such as this is an opportunity to compare boats, discuss tuning and experiences. The organisers will try to organise one or two seminars with known 'names' from the catamaran world. Who (realistically) might you like to see?

We can't guarantee to include every wish or suggestion, but we'll promise to at least consider them - (the serious ones, anyway!) This is YOUR opportunity to shape this event.

We are early enough in the organisation stages to be open to your thoughts, concerns and ideas - so let's have them people!!!

Can the last race of the series be a "Medal Race" It was so much fun at our Nationals it really got my adrenalin pumping. It also kept everyboby guessing as to who would be the eventual winner as there could be various permutations. I would recommend the inclusion of Medal Races to anybody who helps organise regattas.
As for the social side a Happy Hour in the evenings post racing would go down well with me, and the occasional Disco but the women would have to out number the men by 2:1.

Hi John,

Great idea.

Firstly it would be very interesting to have an afternoon of no racing to compare boats, or go sailing with someone else on an other boat.

Secondly, I would be very interesting to have GPS-tracks on some (all) boats. It would be very useful for newbies to check on tactics ...

My boat should be ready by then, so I will be there !

Regards,
Gill

* BUMP *

This is undoubtably true. We've (I'm a club member at this club and are currently the race officer) have held many large events over the years. Each year there is a REM-race with about 100 participating boats. However having said all this, it is a question of budget; in the end you get what you pay for.

Having said this, I can tell that the club has all the hardware that is needed for such a F16 world championship. Bouys, boats, room and electronics. It will help enormously to offer the volunteers some compensation for their invested time. Afterall it is a week long event.

We can do it on the cheap which will mean we have to do alot ourselfs (probably me plus some helpers) using the hardware that is available or we spend some money on it and have it done for us.




Not that I need to be swayed but ...

I'm juts personally looking for alot of fun, that means that off-the-water the group is hanging together and organizing some impromptu BBQ and such. Maybe go to the casino on one night. Get the wifes and family members involved. One big socializing event. But not a schedule that forces everybody to do the same. Some nights maybe planned but others need to be left over to individual initiatives or individual plans.

I have no chance in winning this event. So I go there to be part of it, learn and enjoy myself. So some trim and tuning clinic will be very welcome to me. I would love to have another session with sailors of the skill like Daniel van Kerckhof. Another part of the attraction is the meeting of the other sailors.

I feel that a rest day is very wise, so part of the group can explore the Netherlands and the other part can join them or use this day do to some tuning/speed testing against others who decide to stay at the club.





Yes please !




I can't answer these questions as I don't bring a family. Personally I always find the cooking bit very enjoyable and very effective in molding the participants into one interacting group. When all have taken a shower and exchanged wetsuits for cloths they tend to crave a beer and are very willing to talk and help out in some preparation for cooking. An idea would be to rent some large burners and pans and have make our own meals while enjoying a drink and some talk. Probably not everynight but it could be some nights.

At the club we have a tent that we can put up on the elevated terras. We can even leave the sides off so we are dry or out of the sun but still have a good view of the beach and sea and even the sunset. I'm sure all these things can be arranged. And it will make us less dependent on the weather and on budget constraints.

To the guys coming from far; like the Americans, Australians, South Africans, Asians. It is a really good idea to extent your holliday here with a week of Valk sailing in the Northern part of the Netherlands. This is very enjoyable to both wife/kids and yourself. I never realized it as such, but when I took Phill Brander to do it in 2004 he expressed that he thought it was like nothing he ever imagined or experienced. He thought it so enjoyable that he'll consider it doing it again. Pretty much this Valk sailing means you navigate around in an area with lots of inland lakes and canals and pass through many smaller and old style towns. You can harbour at any town and enjoy the scenery and restaurants / bars. It is very much like wandering about as a backpacker but with a small boat and alot less spartan. The boats are very well fitted and cheap to rent and are actually quite good sailers. The trip itself is filled with sailing challenges like narrow winding canals and low bridges, but with these boats being designed for it, it is like doing an obstacle course with a well suited machine. You will be doing alot of sailing and sailing manouvres but the boat makes these very easy indeed. Never a dull moments and kid like it alot because things are happening and they can do it themselfs even. Maybe I should ask Phill to elaborate on this.





I vote for Daniel van Kerckhof/Annaliese Byrne. Very nice guy and he explains what needs to be done very well, Annaliese is much the same but much better looking from my perspective ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
They understand the superwing mast very well and are inmensely fast with it.

John Pierce of course. You don't have many ex-olympic squad sailors with related huge amount of experience giving these clinics.

I believe Hans Klok and his dad can really work on our upwind speed when sailing singlehandedly. They can immediately tell what is wrong with your mainsail by looking at it.

Additionally I would love to have to see one of the better Spitfire crews do a clinic. Some of these teams are really fast. There must be heaps to learn from them.

I think it to be a good idea to seperate doublehanded sailing from singlehanded sailing trim clinics.

I would love to have a discussion about on board systems with the chaps. To see which are most simple and most effective. It is surprising how much you can learn from these talks/analysis especially when you can go down and look at the actual systems.

I really want to do a photo session that shows off our boats. Additionally it will be great material for website and future leaflets / magazine articles.


Also personally I would love to see the spitfire crews coming over. The more souls the more fun I say, besides we can learn heaps of them and they will keep our good sailors sharp.

I don't mind really if a Spitfire wins the first F16 Cup. I know it is always the skill of the crew that does so and not really the boat design. Besides the two design are soooo comparable in specs that it is rediculous to believe all is the result of these minute differences instead of sailor skills. And I still believe that Spitfire crews and F16 crews should stand together in the larger catamaran scene and showcase the light and small racing catamarans.


Personally I value a seperate long distance race during such an event with its own price, but I think you guys have this already covered with the REM-race in the concluding weekend (100 boats !). Maybe we should just arrange for a seperate F16 price ?

This is all for now

Wouter

All interesting stuff Wouter. Thanks.

Anyone else with suggestions/comments?

Personally, I enjoy having plenty of races in the programme. The current programme suggests 2 (or just 1) race a day. I'd prefer to see 3 a day, and if we want "off-time" let's take a full day off mid-week. Getting on and off the water takes a good couple of hours, so once on the water I like to get my money's worth, so to speak.

The medal race worked really well at Mumbles, and I think one of the reasons it was so good was that it was the 4th race of the day; we were all in the groove and knew how we were doing against the others in the conditions.

I always learn lots at these events, and a lot of that comes from the number of races. Mumbles had 12 starts against similar boats in 3 days. That's worth months of club racing in terms of what you learn.

I 2nd Wouter's suggestion that this should be a good photo opportunity for the class, and we should try to get a pro to come and do some.

In terms of what we do when off the water. I like to have a mix: some nights where arrange to eat and drink together, and others where we're free to do our own thing and go off and explore. That way we get a really good turnout on the days that we're doing stuff together.

Seminars from the experts sound like a great idea. I'd also be interested in some non-racing time on the water. Some of the days when I've learnt the most is when I've been out with a group of similar boats and we've sailed together - sailing as fast as we can, and then re-grouping as we spread out.

Paul

Wouter,
Sailing the Valks would be on my agenda, no question.

Not sure that any description that I could give would do the experience justice.

Before going to the Netherlands we toured around the UK, France,Switzerland Germany, Belgium and Italy. Touring in the Valks visiting ancient towns and cities that have not been ruined by comercialisation may not be for everyone, but for me, it was the highlight of the holiday.
Getting from one city to the next was a real experience with something new to see around every turn.
A case of the journey being equally as enjoyable as the unique destinations.

Regards,
Phill

What type of craft do you sail on the Valks? Enclosed **** or open like a cat'?

A Valk is not a waterway or a region/area. It/They is/are a type of craft:

Chaps; looking at John's post:



Given the fact we may loose days if the wind is in the wrong direction/strength to get thru the surf, I think it would be better to schedule 3 races per day of around an hour each. Maybe first at 12:00 (so early Lunch) and then 2 others back to back, thus hopefully off the water by 16:00 - 17:00

Thanks John. Looks fun.

Do you pack a light knapsack for clothes and such for the week?

I would also favour (at least) 3 races per day and having them last for about 45 min each.

It is a whole lot work putting the boat and bouys out (and retrieve them) for only 2 races per day.

Wouter

Crafts like this :




But the picture doesn't really do it justice. You need to hear the whole story.

I will type that up later tonight or tomorrow morning.

I think this is truly one of the unique things you can only do in the Netherlands and it truly is a activity the whole family can do very well. It is definately a significant part of Dutch common culture.

More later.

Wouter

I'd suggest slightly longer races; aim for first finisher within the hour so all are finished (hopefully) within 75 mins and then re-start within another 15 mins or so (hopefully again).

The boat can actually carry quite alot of bagage.

These boats have been continiously developped and improved over 50 years. It is the backbone of a favorite Dutch pasttime. Alot of us Ducth people. Go out sailing these boats for a long weekend or week. The boat becomes our home and transport that takes from town to town. The area you are sailing is an area with many small lakes and waterways, most of them are interconnected. The area is fully enclosed by land and so there is no tide, surf or even significant waves. You can continue sailing these craft comfortably till very high winds. The lakes themselfs are only between 1 meter and 2.5 meters deep. You can stand in most places. Picture it as a old reed marsh land that has been colonized and cultivated for centuries. Some of it became low laying pastures and some became the lakes and waterways. The two seperated by miles and miles of small dykes and raised towns. The water was the main artery between the different towns and pastures for centuries. Then in the 17th century the rich dutch merchants invented the sport of yachting. This English word was derived from the Dutch word "jacht" which means nothing more then a boat (yacht) that is not owned for commercial sailing but for pleasure sailing. Yachting (or jachten) is the activity linked to enjoying a jacht.

For centuries the commercial vessels (working boats) and a select number of jachts shared the waterways. Later the water transport was replaced by big motorized vessels and even transport by road(truck) and track (trains, streetcars). This coincided with the rise of disposable income of the common man. He then took to the sport of yachting and many bought these old working boats and converted them into pleasure craft. This became so succesful that a whole scene developped around this activity and more specialized yachts were designed. The English took over the sport of Yachting from the Dutch and pretty much introduced it world wide. But in modern times the more common man took to this activity as well and they still do. It is a major activity in the netherlands and several different forms were developped. Valk sailing is the more accissible form of it.

Valk sailing requires pretty much only basic sailing skills. It is done on well protected shallow waters (enclosed lakes etc). Of these area's the area of Friesland is by far the most pretty. The area was left behind by modern times and therefor is largely untouched by modern buildings like factories and such. The towns themselfs are maintain their old centres and buildings. Some town are still fully composed of renovated old quarters. The Second world war this area was left undamaged, that sort of helps.

... continuing later. ...



...Continueing ...

Most of our events are 2 day events. We find that most races are decided in about 45 mins. That means in a 2 day event we get 3 races on the 1st day and 2 on the 2nd, with plenty of time for prizegiving and packing up on the 2nd day. Because we always have a good social calendar <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, Racing on the 1st day (usually Saturday)starts at miday and racing on the Sunday starts an hour earlier.
You can see by the attached photo taken on the Saturday night at our recent "Inlands", that the atmosphere was great. Unfortunately the guy with the camera was pis--d.

That is my analysis too. Most is won or lost ont he start and first lag then some can be retrieved on the downwind leg and second lap. After that it is pretty much fixed. Even tacticat shows something like this.

Personally I do rather 3 races of about 45 min per day then two 70 min ones. Time spend on the water is the same with both (including 5 min starts) !

3 races per day also allows a rest day without cutting too much in the total number of races over the event. For an event like this I think we should aim for at least 7 races before the event has ended, taking into account losing an additional day to weather or something (no wind for example).

Wouter

Don't actually agree; one large gust coming in as the tail enders round the windward mark can carry them down right up behind the learders (sufferend with this one before <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> ).

One hour - 70 mins gives people a chance to recover from a bad start.

If you are not carefull and make the races too short, people will push the start too hard which might not be a good idea in big seas !

I must admit that I'm a fan of more shorter races for the following reasons. Longer races (50mins +)do ultimately become precessions and towards the end of these races I personally give up attacking and start defending. During longer races the fleet can get pretty drawn out which isn't advantageous for anybody, the closer the competition is the more you learn. Being a tail end Charlie is no fun in long races not only is there a humilating chance of being lapped, but a feeling of guilt of holding up the preceedings as you are trying to get over the finish line, whilst the majority of the competitors are itching to be racing again. Shorter races should lead to more races which I beleive leads to more accurate results (don't forget that I don't beleive in discards but thats another issue). Shorter races keeps all the competitors much closer together which is better for the individuals and Class. I also find doing more races more rewarding. Shorter races on a shorter course is a true test of boat handling and strategies (less room for errors). I'm not aware of competitors pushing the line more or for that matter hanging back from the line depending on the duration of the race but thats only me. More races at present equals more discards!!! I also like to feel that I'm getting value for money, at this years Nations Cup the entry fee was £35.00 for twelve races other events I've been to were £25.00 for six. As competitors travelling to these events I think you do get more overall value if the races are kept short and sweet with plenty of them.