Hi Simon
Glad to see you are keen and hope Rebbecca gave you a good discount. I have also furnished the A Class Association with the same info in this respect so there should be a good buzz in the Hotel with a good mix of Cat sailors.
The tides will be perfect on the Wed/Thurs leading up to the event (Neaps of approx 8m, high tide 11.00hrs to 12.00hrs)
Don't worry about Boat parking as we've never had a problem. However, the boat park is a pedestrian area so bits have gone missing!! During the event itself Night Security will be employed as last year some personal belongings were stolen.
I will probably post the NOR and Pre-entry form on the MYC website sometime in February.

That was going to be my next question re security (I do have what was the number one stolen car in the UK !).

I don't have a trailer box and so sails / rudders etc will be in the car - is this sensible or should I be building a lockable and secure box ?

Hi Simon
There hasn't been a significant amount of Car Crime in Mumbles but thats not to say it has never happened. Without a trailer box I would suggest leaving your equipment in the car just to be on the safe side.

I wouldn't worry about unduly. The problems we had were with leaving wetsuits, harnesses and buoyancy aids on and under the boats on the water front on a Saturday night. I was told by the lady in the chandlery (as we bought a replacement harness) that it was down to kids visiting Mumbles for a big night out. As ever - opportunist crime. Stuff with a relatively easy market left unlocked and in the open.

I'd be really very surprised if anyone broke into a car to steal a set of sails (although, I know that Alan and Jan had a set nicked off their roof rack - not at Mumbles), but there's room for at least the long stuff in my box, and the rest you can probably get out of sight in the car.

My biggest concern is with drunken idiots climbing over and damaging the boats, but it sounds like this'll be taken care of with the additional security.

Paul

Maybe the F16UKA & 'A' Class Association would like to foot the bill for the Security <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I'd assumed it'd come from the entry fees. I certainly don't have a problem with paying a few quid extra if it keeps the boats and kit safe.

Paul

I've updated http://www.formula16.org/content/view/35/53/lang,en/ with the details we've got so far. I've emailed Alan to see if he's interested in putting on an event. What's the plan for the Weymouth event? Is there a cat open there, or someone who can organise something for us?

Paul

Ditto.

This was my original intention I just mentioned the Associations as it is normal in the UK for the Club hosting a National event to charge the relevant Class so the costs would be spread across all their members. The 'A'Class association had already discussed this with me but this year the MYC wont be charging, but it is well worth remembering this point for the future.

Mark, what will the entry fee's be ? And when will the NOR be out ?

How many races do you want? the more races = more fuel. Last year we held 12 races over three days. I would prefer to keep to this format and discussed it at the 'A' Class AGM along with a Medal Race and no Discards. They were in favour of the Medal Race but no decision was made in respect to discards.
As for the entry fee last year we charged £35/f16 which in comparison to the Open Events I travelled to works out to be extremely good value for money £2.92/race as compared to Eastbourne £3.33/race and Grafham was even more!! This year I would imagine that at least 12 'A's and 12 F16's should enter so we will probably require 3 RIBS and a Committee boat on the water, one of the RIBS will be primarily designated for Mark laying unless we have an incident. Added to that the costs of the security we could be looking at between £38 to £40/Cat. Again this is still good value for money and should leave some money in the pot for Prizes.
As for the NOR I will be posting them on the MYC website in February along with a Pre-entry Form.
If you have any valid views in respect to Entry Fees, Number of races, Medal Race and Discards I'm sure we would all like to hear them.

12 races, (IMO) Should be 2 discards(thinks happen / break, would be a real shame to trash someones series for a breakdown etc), medal race adds a dimension that sounds good.

Cost sounds (as you say) very good value!

Bring it on !

As for Grafham, was entry not £20 for 6 races ? (or £3.33 per race) ??

(I cannot remember, I just paid it and forgot).

No, it was something silly like £23.50
As for breakdowns why is Sailing the only sport where if something breaks or you make a mistake you can discard it. It is totally unfair on the competitors who don't make serious mistakes and their boat maintenance prevents breakages. Have a look at last years Nations Cup Results, take away the discards and only one place would change. Paul Warren would have been 2nd and John Pierce 3rd. John only completed 9 Races, I don't think that is fair on Paul or the other competitors. Like I said why does sailing allow discards?

Now this is a good one for the bar <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm in favour of discards. It is the case that John P beat me in very single race in which we both raced, and I'm sure that if he'd have made the rest of the races he'd have beaten me there as well. And none of John's no-shows were down to mechanical problems etc. In fact 9 out of 12 is a pretty good show for someone who turned up without a boat <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

At the end of the day, I'd rather have the results reflect how people sailed on the day. There are plenty of sports where you discard all but your best result (long/high jumping, throwing stuff etc.), and many tournament systems that allow you to recover from a bad first race, so it's not totally unique. I think the more fundamental question that you should be asking is why do we take a sample of 12 identical races rather than just one big one?

At the end of the day, it comes down to what makes people feel that the results are fair. If you score 11 1sts and a DNF due to a kit failure, the 2nd placer who steals the day is going to feel it's a bit of a hollow victory. But if you can't get your act together for at least 10 of the 12 races then you should start to lose out.

Paul

Hollow Victory!!<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
Did you know that at the 2008 Olympics the ISAF are proposing 1 Discard in 15 races for the 49ers and 1:10 for the remaining fleets as opposed too 1:5. Also, despite a little bit of searching I couldn't find any guidlines as to the number of discards allowed per series. It is all dependant on the person/committee who draft the Sailing Instructions.
Maybe using John's results at the Nations Cup wasn't the best example but don't forget he had technical difficulties with his kite in race 3, fell off the boat in race 8 and was late for the start in race 9. I had one trap line snap on me in race 4 which gave me a 5th and this was purely down to my lazyness of not replacing the fraying item beforehand.
I appreciate what you're saying about 11 firsts and a breakage etc and I hope you understand where I'm coming from so as a compromise how about 12 races and 1 Discard, last race or the series is a Medal race which is non discardable.

Chaps,

make it 12 races, 10 to count, last medal race double value and un-discardable. That would be fair IMO. Gives room for people to feck up / make mistakes / fall off, but will still ensure it goes down to the wire.

Nay still won't help me, I'm destined for last place again I'm afraid ( or as a good friend once said, 1st place from last isn't that bad )

You've more time on the boat than me, I'm expecting to be last !

Yes but you go sailing more times in 3 months as I do in a year. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Are you sure about that !