Great thread guys. I am really hoping to do the race in the next couple of years (on a 20...us fatties don't do 18's). We don't currently have a boat, but hopefully that will change by spring in time for the race.

What sort of coin do the sponsors actually pony up? I realize that it depends on you, your presentation abilities, who you know and what the company wants, but what sort of average sponsorship aid do most teams see? Does anyone know if any of the companies involved with Tybee boats have done a post-op analysis of cost/return? Are they doing it just to be nice to us, or do they see a quantifiable return? I am guessing that Castrol must be happy, having three boats covered.

I realize people and sponsors might not be comfortable divulging this information, but an idea would be nice. So lets rephrase the question...what percentage of individual team costs are recouped through sponsors?

Also, what percentage of the hull/sails must be retained for Tybee event sponsor stickers?

The reason I am asking this is so that I can learn what to expect once I start hitting the sponsor trail, and if it looks good, I may include some of the info in my presentation (everything generic, of course).

Can,

You'll find that sponsorship through gear and discounted prices is easy to find. In my first two years, all our sponsorship was in gear, discounted gear and equipment, and/or labor on the boat. It doesn't sound like much at first but it really is a lot to a team that is just getting started. We also held fund raisers at our sailing clubs - setup the boat on the lawn, cooked a spagetti dinner, and bought some booze...we raised nearly $1500 that way in one year.

Finding a cash sponsor is tricky and the event management can go a long way to help the teams find it by making sure the event marketing is active throughout the year. In the current state of things for this race, most everyone that I know that has a cash sponsor either works for that sponsor or has family that does.

Sponsorship for gear is the way to go. We outfitting out boat with a completely new set of sails through sponsorships. You'll have a hard time finding sponsors willing to pony up cash your first couple years to be honest.

Which brings me to another point. Our BIGGEST sponsors were our FAMILIES AND FRIENDS. Don't leave them out when you go looking for money. Burn a copy of BK's promo to a CD, send it to them, show them what the race is all about and why its so special. I promise that you'll rake in a fair amount of expenses doing that.

Hi CanI20,

Where in Kingston are you? We have a F/C 31 in the area and have not ran into you yet. Did you build your F-boat?

My wife did the Worrell on an I20 in 2000. She can probably give you lots of ideas for fund raising and prep.

We used to sail the I20 around the Sackets area and have made the trip to Kingston on it.

Hope to cach up with you next season on Ontario!!!

Tom Korz
Roxy Volvemous F/C 31

How about getting back to basics and doing it the way they did when men were men.
Let's do the full 1000 old school non-stop tag team on a Hobie 16.

call in the coasties, Robi!

I'd consider backup rudders essential, as they fail more often in distance racing. If your rudders fail, it will be at the start, and there will be noone available to help you (and receiving outside assistance while racing will disqualify you).

Backup sails can be an old set. I wouldn't consider them to be a distance racing cost per-se. You can surely survive without them, buying an old set after a leg from another team if you must. This way, the "cost" drops to the "insurance cost" for replacing sails. In other words, if there's a 10% chance you must spend $1000 buying a used main from another team, the expected cost is $1000*10% = $100.

You're more likely to need backup centerboards than sails, IMHO. These will also probably be harder to obtain. (Racers often upgrade sails, but not CBs.) Since there is almost no tacking in the Tybee, keep 1 centerboard up to protect it.

Does anyone actually race in a type I PFD???

I don't consider Drysuit+GPS+LifeVest+flares to be budget items, because I regularly sail with these.

I've never heard of control lines failing, unless they are really neglected and you shouldn't have been sailing with them in the first place. (Hand-held lines tend to be way over strength for the loads, so the lines are big enough to hand hold.) However, you should have relatively new standing rigging for a distance race, you should seal the swages of new rigging with bee's wax or epoxy (before the first sail) to keep out the salt, and you should have at least one spare trapeeze wire + fittings. Bungees fail for all sorts of reasons, so have spares.

Chicken lines are a must. Backup chicken lines are a good idea because you can break them in a capsize. (I did.) Fortunately, these are cheap small diameter lines. (Such as 1/4" chicken lines and 1/8" Prussicking knots.)

If you have a snuffer, a spare spinnaker sock is a good idea. (We blew out ours in a Great Texas 300 bow stuffing incident.)

I believe the Tybee requires lifelines, which are a 'beener, some bungee, some tube nylon webbing, and a snap shackle, so you can stay attached to the boat at all times. That's about $40 per person.

In the Tybee, you can have help from your ground crew during any leg without being disqualified. If you break a rudder, they can bring you a new one and help install it on the beach. If anyone out there decides they want to do it, I've got many spare spares for I20 that could be bought pretty cheaply. The best spares are:
spinnaker
dagger
rudder
spin pole <---just ask JC!
all rudder parts (gudgeons,castings, springs, everything!)
tiller stick
crew <--always have spare crew
Corona
Limes
Mexican food

<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

We still love ya Tad. Even if we have to turn around to pick you up at a private beach access in Flagler Beach. At least Robi didn't have to save you.

when is the next race? is it every year?

It's typically the 2nd week of May each year.

Still waiting on the "official" announcement for 2007.

-Mike