Feedback from Tradewinds?

2 courses, spin, non spin, How did you like it?

This event should have always been a three day event. My only complaint might be the 10am start on Saturday - that was cruel and unusual punishment and not typical of a three day event. ;-) ...and only getting one t-shirt per team (even though we preregistered). I say let the preregistered folks get their shirts for both members of the team.

Great! Loved it.

Two race courses a must for the two differnet fleets is a must. Offset mark, at least on "faster boat" course, can't sppeak for "not as faster boats" course. Like the throw a day idea for travelleing (averaging of the scores). I thought the beach crew did a great job. Courses were nice, marks really visable. Suggest coarse baord be hung on starboard side of committee boat rather than be held by an individual. This way it is up all the time. Had a great time for our first out of town beach cat regatta and will be ther again.

Jake, you were there? did you get a haircut or something?

Sorry I missed seeing you

I shaved my beard / gotee! But honestly, the orange boat is hard to miss! ;-)

I saw you a couple of times but got pulled away every time I started to head that way.

All around this was one of the best events i've been to in a while! Great job by all involved in organizing and running the event!.
2 courses & 3 day format were both perfect! It makes it much more doable to come from the north as we got a lot more racing in.
Agree with Jake on the 10AM start being a little early, though it was nice to be done early (but we were done REALLY early and F18s were last out).
The RC caught on as the weekend caught on, besides a couple slip ups they really did a great job and were very friendly and open to suggestions. They finally gave the F18s a course 2 in our last race on Saturday... when we had course 1 we were stuck waiting for quite a while as the 20's to finish their course 2.
They also displayed some compass bearings for the windward mark in the last few races... really nice.
Jake... you really were stealthy looking all clean shaven... kinda creepy. Now do you and Frank always race as hard as you are in that pic

hahah creepy!
i haven't heard (or thank god seen) any mankini comments or pics

[quote=andrewscott
i haven't heard (or thank god seen) any mankini comments or pics [/quote]

Mankini was not there but his brother Harry showed up on Saturday. Yuk!!!!!!!

The weekend was awesome. Seperating the fleets worked brilliantly. The three day format was great. I would also like to see a later start on Saturday (gotta sleep off Friday's party), and an offset mark would be great next year too.

Many thanks to Rick, Mary, Chip, Barb, and the rest that came and helped out!

If I could have gotten Frank to sit up every now and then, maybe we would have beaten Trey! (just kidding...obviously that was between races). Frank and I sailed pretty well together that weekend and got a lot better in the heavier air (not usually our strong point on buoy regattas). I think that's the first time we beat Mike and Holly. Trey sailed really well - Livingston helped bring his game up a little too. If I could have gotten off the start line worth a darn we might have had something for them.

Right, Jake. I watched you on one start and you were still in irons as the fleet took off. Ouch! Didn't hurt much, however, as you were third through the leeward gate. Great boat speed.

Chip, Barb, Mary, John and I took a 20/20 hindsight and thought these ideas might help:
*Start at 11AM on Saturday -- too long of a day, for them.., and for the RC. Friday and Sunday start times stay the same.
*Try not have all the boats come to the beach at the same time -- chaos
*Be sure the RULE for the Friday not sailing is spelled out.., if you are there on Friday, you can't use the weekend scoring rule. (this is how they do it at Spring Fever -- they are the creators of this idea after all)
*For the Spin boat have an offset mark
*Remove the swimming boundary rope during the event. A-Cats claim this as the reason they boycott the Tradewinds.., too hard for them to get past the rope. Will make it easier for all.
*More simple registration form (most of that stuff is for the Steeplechase where we might have to identify bodies and boat parts to the Coast Guard)
*Need to buy or repair spare marks and ground tackle. Luckily no one speared a mark.
*For pre-registration a place to put shirt sizes, and if you want additional shirts.

T-Shirts is still debatable. As a bit of history, the Tradewinds used to give one shirt per boat. Then one year we actually made money for CABB. So, CABB said they had enough money and didn't need to make more, so we gave two shirts.
However, now I personally have to finance the event, and last year I lost almost one thousand dollars.
The result is we went back to the one shirt per boat. Haven't got the it figured out yet, but might not have lost money this year.

Buy the way, you guys are good around the tap.., extinguished two kegs of beer. You are Captain Noah Tall's heroes.

Rick: Its simple. Only give out Tshirts to those who pre-registered - therefore, only buy tshirts for that amount of people.

Rick.. the preregistering system you have is great, it's a great way to see who might be coming.
However, I think it would be a good move to have people preregister and pay at that time.
It would be easier for your planning purposes, plus you would have money ahead of time to finance the event.
If you had a late fee cut off date it would make it simple for you to order the right number and sizes of shirts and etc.
In addition, you wouldn't get as many people registering and not showing up.
We're considering using The Regatta Network for all our regattas in the NE this upcoming summer. It takes a couple dollars per entry but well worth it to make it easier for everyone.

The regatta network that the A Cats use is a little cumbersome and allows for you to pay at the event. There may be a way to change that to prepay, not sure. You dont want it to be too hard or scare off would-be sailors who cant or dont like to put thier credit info out there.

Regatta Networks is a great choice!

You can use the service as a stand alone regatta site just like the A cats do with the compete-at product or you can integrate it into your club web site like Rock Hall YC does.
http://www.rockhallyachtclub.org/regatta.htm
as the season goes... each box will be filled in with the link and allow you to link to regatta networks for the entry form that you can design.

There are about 6 companies that provide regatta services.

We have almost 10 years of experience in using online registration and our policy evolved to publish the regatta price and then add on the service charge for the service when you go to pay. People have no problems paying the surcharge for ticketmaster ... and no problem with the regatta fee.

Just like the ball game... If you have bought the ticket... you show up at the ball game... no matter what the weather... unless it's canceled you won't get a refund.

Also.. you have no problem paying more at the door for the privilege of deciding to race at the last minute. 20 bucks seems to be about the right amount to encourage people to sign up by Thursday night of a Saturday regatta.

Unfortunately, this deadline does not help much with T shirts.... the printers really need more time to not charge you a rush fee. Cascading deadlines... with the No T shirt for you after xx date are easily set up in any of the systems.

Food order deadlines vary... a YC needs to usually order food by Tuesday at Noon for delivery on Friday. Burgers and Beer on the other hand can be purchased on Friday with the info collected by Thursday night.

My Yacht Club, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, has been using RegattaNetwork for a couple of years and it has been working well. There was a hesitancy implementing it for fear of sailors not wanting to use it and not coming. That never happened. On the plus side there is always an attending page for potential competitors to look at enticing more to show up if they see the group is going to be there.

You could make:
pre pre registration which includes t-shirts
pre registration no t-shirt but no late fees
late registration add on late fees (or no food included)

Later,
Dan

Rick,

Thanks for putting on the event and going to three days - I think it was a really great three days of sailing and your list above sounds great. We'll certainly be back again after focusing for a year on starting! ;-)

I didn't even think of the swim rope - it's not too bad with a double handed boat but would be tricky for a single handed boat (and for people particularly sensitive about their hull bottoms). I hope to see more a-cats next year.

Jake

What? Not enuf T-shirts? I can see it now- Muggings everywhere in the dark out behind the beer tent-rip-offs of Oh-so-rare T-shirts, leaving only Mankinis or less!

It will be like Haitx...Ooop that was not politically correct. Damn that rum. We are lucky/privileged and ought to be grateful to be living here, sailing for fun, not scrabbling the ocean bottom or alleys for food.

I agree. I always preregister. Quick and simple.

Let the slackers go topless.

Liked the three day, never experienced a two day tradewinds, so that's a pretty much worthless opinion. It does make the justification for driving 1600 miles a bit easier to swallow. (Beyond the obvious exodus from the frozen hell I'm back in) Actually the weather has been pretty decent, I'll take sleet and close to freazing temps over negative numbers any day.

Offset for spin boats is must in my opinion. We didn't have any close calls, but it is a nice piece of mind during a busy time on the boat.


It was really awesome to put faces to names of people that I've known on here for 4+ years!

Hoping to do it again next year.

Awesome regatta this year. The three day format definately helped, and two race courses made the turnover quicker. I agree with all the points the race commitee/ organizers discussed and appreciate the attention to improvement. We are already looking forward to next years event.
One point to add, is that the order of starting classes does not need to be announced ahead of time, as the next start is indicated by the class flags the RC flys. By predetermining the starting order, the RC is limited in options to manage the race course.
Karl, it was quite a pleasent surprise to discover how nice of a guy you are.

Chris

Unless you run into his brand new boat during a practice race! haha sorry Karl! It was great to meet you

Ummm, thanks? Do I really come across as that much of a butthole online?

Not in the "on topic" threads. ;-)

Major butthole :P

A bunch of people have also posted feedback on a sailing anarchy forum:

SailingAnarchy Multihull Forum

I generally agree with all that has been said (if you get rid of the swim rope, consider adding a couple of small marks to indicate when you are in the 'shallow' water area, kind of nice to know when to pull the boards up).

As for the Friday count/not count rule, I agree, you need to better define when to use this. I would suggest as 'there on Friday' being a boat that has either left the beach with the intent to race on Friday or checked in with RC on Friday (preferred). Don't just define it as they were here on Friday, as that leave some room for interpretation.

Simply you could require people at registration to declare if they are racing on Friday are not, no matter what they end up doing, hold them to that decision.

Offset mark, 'nough said, it needs to be there (on the spin fleet at least).

Fun event, more beer, more red cups, and more heat (less dead fish) !!!!

This what is used at Spring Fever (with one addition) and what we've adopted for the KPRR

An average of all the races (including the throw-out if there is to be one,) scored for the two days, whether it is the Friday and Saturday races for those who let us know in advance that they will not be racing on Sunday or those who don't arrive until Saturday and then race Saturday and Sunday. That average is then inserted into all of the race scores for the day that was missed. After that, the throw-out is taken off of the final score.
There are a couple of rules that we do not deviate from:
• If the skipper is here on Friday and chooses not to race, for whatever reason, his Friday scores are entered as DNSs. If he arrives late and cannot possibly start the first race(s), if he notifies the RC that he is racing, his Friday scores will count and the missed race may be used as his throwout or be averaged at the discretion of the scoring committee.
• If someone needs to be home with the family and can only race on Friday and Saturday, and, provided they tell us at time of registration, we will score the same way for the missed Sunday races. Should they change their mind and decide to race on Sunday, they will be welcome to do so but their actual scores for Sunday will not be counted, only the averaged scores will be used.
• If a fleet only has 30% or less of its fleet on Friday or Sunday then an average will be created for all the members of the fleet on those days.
• This information will be posted along with the SSIs on the bulletin board prior to the start of racing.

"...his Friday scores will count and the missed race may be used as his throwout or be averaged at the discretion of the scoring committee."

Why is this left to the scoring committee to decide after the fact? Seems like you'd be setting them up for potential redress hearings.

Mike

Easy fix, anything else?

The situation you want to avoid is one where the wind is high on Friday or Sunday and a team decides to not go out so they can average their other scores. The two to three day conversion is intended to permit a reasonable scoring opportunity for those who can't make all three days of racing fit their schedule without penalizing anyone. If you show up on Friday and are able to sail but choose not to (for whatever reason) then you don't fall into this "special needs" category...i.e., no soup for you.

Hadn't thought of that, but Jake is right. Occasionally, people like to take advantage of rules to help their cause.

Especially now that I'm a parent (just a more convenient excuse of course), I rarely set the boat up if it's blowing 20 anymore. But, I would take my DNS over using a rule to get better points.

Mike

Just make the skipper / team check of which days they will be racing at registration, problem solved. This could be done during online pre-registration or during any registration period. Anything that is 'open to interpretation' can get tricky / political.

As for what days, I see the point of having either the first or the last as 'optional', that is up to the PRO to decide.

I'll use my boat this year as an example, my skipper was suffering from food poisoning (or something with similar symptoms) and was unable to walk let alone sail on the Friday. He came to the beach to see if he was up to it, and after we registered we decided it was unsafe to sail (he nearly passed out stepping the mast). Our Friday scores were then given our average over the weekend.

We definitely benefited from the 'Friday is optional rule', but the reason we opted out of Friday was done without any 'sneaky' intent, simply due to safety concerns (trust me, flying down from Canada for a three day regatta, you want to race all days). That said, if we had had a bad race, or any breakage, the average score would easily have been way higher and not worked in our favor, so it is still a risk to miss a day (tip once, get a last place, ouch, up goes the average).

I guess my point is just make it clear on the registration sheet if someone is sailing or not on any decided optional days, and stick to it. Asking people why they are not sailing, or defining 'here' or 'not here' leeds to a lot of gray area.

Just my two cents, had a great time, was glad it heated up a bit and more red cups, more beer and offset marks ;-)

Bigger marks please.

I hope you are kidding.
Your course marks were 5' and extremely bright Orange, and the Yellow course were those big West Marine Marks.
Besides, Jamie can sense where the marks are.
Rick

Actually - he's serious. I'm of the same opinion. The marks we use in EMSA are the huge tetrahedrons. You can see them 2 miles away. Even my blind eyes can see them. With the glare off the water it was nigh impossible to see the marks Rick.

Are you offering to bring them down next year???

Since they are not mine - I cannot extend that offer unfortunately.

Mark, when you make your null-brained "suggestions" are you in fact "offering" to fix all regatta OA's ills?

Holy crap, where's my popcorn???!!!

Look... you moron.. when you complain about a 5 foot tetra... You have proven that you are clueless.... (Why should I miss a chance to point that out about you?) He's not using a hippity hop for chris sakes. ... They ran the Melges 24 Worlds with 5 foot tetras this year in Annapolis..

If its slightly overcast .. do they need lights and bells?

What you STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND is that the solution is simply to ask for a compass heading to the mark.... duh!

Perhaps you don't understand how to use a compass?

Suggestions like 5 foot tetras are a problem that needs fixing with bigger marks should be matched with the moron who thought that an offset was a bad idea and deep sixed!

Hmm.... Were you the one saying that the offset mark was a bad idea and not wanted?

What do I know... maybe you plan to write him a check for several grand for the larger marks..... do you expect 8 foot seas on the bay to warrant the big marks?

But, giving you the benefit of the doubt. I suggested that you bring them down.

Just sayin!

Me too. I love these family feuds.

Trey and Tad...it is a sign of aging out.

Just deal with it.

As much as I hate to say it... Mark has a point! Tad and Trey need to stop being the premaddonas and look over their shoulder every once and a while! We took a bearing of the mark a couple times at the start (until they provided it for us the last few races)
Brendon sailed 10 out of 12 races without glasses and he is extremely nearsighted. He had no problem finding it most of the time and when he did I just looked over my shoulder.
And Mark... i've said this before... were you at the regatta? Pick your battles my friend.

Wow... A cross between Kentucky Blue Grass an Sensimilla, a little harsh....

I am going to have to agree with Undecided on this one.If we are talking about things that could have been better (and there wasn't many things) those marks may have been 5' tall but if you look at the pictures on racebook you will see they were laying on there sides which made them about 2' tall.The weather mark really wasn't the problem has you say get a bearing before the start.The problem was coming downwind to the gate there were four 2' tall orange marks all in close quarters two pins and two gate marks that all looked exactly the same coming in on a layline it was hard to tell what was what especially if you didn't have anyone to follow.Normally I am used to the finish marks being a diffrent color or obvious diffrent shape than the gate.No big deal just something to think about.An offset mark would have been really nice.I love it when someone pipes up about a situation when they were not even there and have no idea.Anyway thank you Rick and Mary this was are first Tradewinds and it was a near perfect regatta we hope to come back.
Thanks,
John

Again, as Tomko said, the event was terrific and I don't want to detract from the incredible amount of racing and fun we had...do it all again just like last year with no changes and I'm definitely coming back regardless!

These are small issues...but those marks were smaller than I'm accustomed to. Frank and I won the first race largely because the fleet lost track of A-mark and overstood. We were looking and looking for it and I just decided to tack because I was nervous we were going to miss it...turned out to be a good move as we were right on the layline.

It was definitely difficult to make out what was start line pin, finish line pin, or gate because they were almost the same colors. I missed a few laylines coming into the gate because I had targeted a start or finish line pin. The non-spin course had the larger yellow marks that we are most accustomed to.

Jake really summarized it best and you can BET we will be back next year. The changes made for 2010 were huge and really enhanced the experience for us. All I ask is please don't solve the visibility of the gate issue by moving the start finish line to the middle of the course, I'd rather deal with sorting out the marks at the bottom.

Dave

why not have beautiful girls handing out beers (much like the water cups for marathon-ers) while sitting on top of the gate? no one would ever miss a gate again?

Its no secret that my eyes suck. Bailey's eyes aren't the best either but NEVER has Bailey not been able to sight the A-mark from the starting line. You couldn't ask me to see a barn from 200 feet away. I regularly think that there are islands in front of me. Ask Bailey what happens during the T500 when I thought that the jetty that was a mile away suddenly appeared in front me.

BUT I'm not the only one that expressed issues with the marks! Its not an unreasonable request to have marks that are visible from a reasonable distance away. Like Jake said - we majorly overstood the first upwind leg, along with half of the N20 fleet because we couldn't see it. Fact.

And as for the "sign of aging", here's what Sam over on SA had to say about it. Note: He's not even out of college yet so if you want to bag on my age - go for it. Bag on him too.



As for you Schneider - your continuing insistence to butt into conversations that revolve around events that you don't have the sack to show up for really shows that you are truly a peanut gallery master. Your comments are loathe, trite and petty. You bring NOTHING of value to any topic where you have no skin in the game. While my opinions might not be shared by my fellow competitors (as if I really compete with them, I'm just there for the comraderie) but at least I was there. I paid my entry fee. You're just a pathetic man who feels that he's so much smarter than the rest of us SOB's out there and that you can do it so much better.


So if you show up at Spring Fever you can try to make me think otherwise - which I seriously doubt because you don't have the cajones.

The seperate start/finish lines was confusing as hell. Especially when a gal on the bow of the comittee boat is pointing to the start line and you think you need to finish there. Then you rip a chunk out of your daggerboard because you snagged the anchor line on your way past because you made a last minute decision to go the wrong way.



BTW- Nobody here is barking orders to Rick or anyone else. The topic is "Feedback from Tradewinds?" One would expect suggestions on what they'd like to see changed.

OK, I will use the Yellow Marks next year on the Spin course. I always used the Neon Orange because they ARE easier to spot. But, what do I know. Bigger. Again, you have to be kidding! Have you priced marks lately? One gigantic mark, as you are suggesting costs almost more than what the regatta's total income came to.
Rick

Karl, you own the confusion about the seperate start finish line. It was clearly spelled out in the SI's that the finish line was on the starboard side of the committee boat and there was even a picture. Complaing about a seperate start finish line is like complaining about missing the offset. As for the gal on the committe boat pointing at something... she could have been poiniting at a sea monster for all you knew. And some how it's the RC's fault you caught the anchor line?

We all might be getting a little too prissy for this game.

I have bad eyes and didn't have too much trouble seeing A mark from about 1/3 of the way up the course (even with Bailey driving) which gave us plenty of time and opportunty to tack short on the right and overstand on the left

The gates and finish marks all being the same relative size (coming downhill) and color did make for the occasional double take when trying to bang the corners, but that's easily fixed by using orange for the gate and yellow for the line.

It was pretty flat / protected water, so I don't know if those giant offshore tetrahedrons are necessary, especially if they would drag their anchor in higher winds.

Now, if my prescription lenses were overboard, I would not have been able to see the marks. But I would have had trouble seeing land from there as well...

Compass headings? Jeeze, do you expect us to be all "nautical" and stuff? Can't you just paint white lines and arrows along the bottom for me?

If nothing changed from this event to next year, I'd still have a great time. But I'm not there for the pickle dishes (or the Sasquatch/Mankini episode). It's a fun event with plenty of people I like to visit with. That it's in the tropics during the dead of winter makes it that much more enjoyable.

To keep Rick and the organizers from going broke, I'd be in favor of the pre-register/pre-pay thing with a late fee strapped to on-site registrations.

I mean, for people who spend thousands on this hobby (boat, fuel/lodging, etc) $50 for a 3 day regatta in the Keys ain't bad.

Even if I didn't end up sailing it, it would be a 'donation' to a good cause (next year's event) right?

I understood it, right up until the last second when like I said, the gal on the bow of the committee boat was pointing at the other side, and it was obvious because she was not looking in another direction, she was looking dead at us and motioning to her left. She was either trying to kiss with a total stranger, or I don't know what. It is my fault, and I'm not saying otherwise I guess. Just not a setup that I'm accustomed to and that was the only issue I had with it. And no, its not the RC fault I caught the anchor line, its also mine. If I were to take a phsyco-babble guess at it, it would be the combination of being in a strange area, with even stranger people , while on a new boat, with a fucked up thumb that hurt like a (censored), that probably drove my confidence into the crapper and not stick with what I thought was right at the time. It was a fuckup plain and simple.

So, easy killer.

Stick man is my hero.

Understood.

Ding doesn't do Fups

At a regatta I attend up here on Lake Lanier, they put the multihulls on the same course as the lasers, thistles, and optis.

The thing is that the optis were the last start - we were the first. We did our two laps and by the time we were finishing, the optis were in their start sequence. The finish line was like how it was during TW and so the 40 or so optis were lined up like ducks across the finish line while I'm doing 20 knots to the finish. Scary stuff.

The RC didn't even notice us finishing.

Oh come on... is that really what you think about me?

A sick-o would have noticed how big the eyes were on the little Opti guys. Don't ask me how. . .

I'm not sure how your example applies to the Tradewinds having a seperate start finish line, or am I missing another point you are trying to make?

The example you've sited also sounds like a long standing dingy regatta that a few multi's got an invite for. We've all attended one of these and we all pretty much know what to expect. It's rare that a dingy PRO will fully understand the issues of putting multi's on the dingy course straight out of the box.

Mark, You gonna put up with that?
The funny thing is , you two are so alike it's scary.

Dude, you're the Area D rep. you're my hero!

I understand about the leeward mark... seeing it wasn't a problem, it was differentiating it so don't think biggeer marks are the solution, simply having the gate a different color or clearly different from the pin and finish buoy would be sufficient.
John I guess next year you just shouldn't be out in front so much!
One thing we did was use the 20 fleet rounding the windward mark to judge where it was. It's a lot easier to see boats putting up their chutes than the small mark... I guess the 20's don't have that option the first beat but by the 2nd you probably should have some F16s or other 20's.
Pretty obvious that Optis and Lasers should not be on the same course as cats... Lasers I could deal with but Optis NO WAY!
I think asking Rick to go out and buy new marks is crazy but it's great to offer advice like this to switch to the yellow marks the other course was using or etc.

Overall I would say this is by far the best tradewinds i've ever been to and one of the best regattas I attended all year (and I sailed about 15).. great job by all involved and kudos for accepting constructive critiscim!

Just relating my own experiences with the start/finish line setup that we had at TW. Thats all.

No ball kicking necessary.

It's like oil and oil. hahaha too funny.

I was thinking the exact same thing... and that is what is really scary.

I'd also like to say a big thanks to all the folks who help to put the race on. Really nice job.

I thought everything went really well.

My crew had a hard time seeing the marks but what's new? I just knew to go out to that group of three crab pots on the left and tack. If you go right and start getting in skinny water you went too far.

The offset mark would really be nice. It's hard to set well so please talk to your race committee about it. Should be 90 degrees and about 5 boat lengths = 100 ft.

One time when finishing it was really tough to finish and miss the mark and not hit the anchor line on the committee boat. Like threading a needle where the eye of the needle keeps moving. I asked Warren to widen it and it was better after that. So thanks to Warren for listening.

When coming down from A mark it was hard to figure out which mark was what. It got really hard when other boats got down there around the committee boat. It's hard to figure out which boat and which mark make the finish from a distance. A different color finish mark would have been nice.

People complaining about the swim rope need to get a life. I coasted over that no problem and landed perfectly everytime. I always went out in reverse and that made it easy. If I tried to turn downwind in there without rudders and that much wind I'd have been in a lot of trouble quick. A-catters might have trouble doing reverse... I don't know?

It's a great venue and a great regatta. I thought everyone was really respectful on the beach pulling the boats up as far as possible. That was nice.

I thought the trophies were cool too. Thanks Mary.

Mike Hill
N20 #1005

I'm not responding to anybody in particular -- just about the marks in general. To me it is funny that we have all gotten so spoiled about having BIG marks.

When my family was racing back in the 1940's and 1950's and 1960's, the marks were just little, skinny poles with a little tiny flag at the top. You had to be REALLY farsighted to see a mark. And that was on Lake Erie, that sometimes had big waves. And we didn't go by compass headings, either. Just spotting the mark was one of the difficult parts of the game.

I'm not saying we should do that again -- just that we are lucky to have such relatively big marks now. Most of today's sailors don't know what it was like back then.

HA Ha Mary. That is so true. In Toledo they used peach baskets on sticks when I started sailing. They weren't even orange. I remember when International Orange became available as a paint color. They painted the baskets and everyone thought that was so cool.

as far as the swim area rope is concerned, I can't see how it would damage a boat hull. It was pretty slimy to start with.

That, and the water was about chest deep there, so if you were really paranoid (or tangled up), you could step on the swim rope and pull the boat across. Don't ask me how I know this....

Hey Ricky, I'll say it again, great job all in all. I see you posted here that you will change the colors of the marks next year, can I interject and say DON'T change all the marks, just change the colors of the GATES?

You should already have a compass bearing to the windward mark (how else do you tell the mark boat to be where they are?), just post it on a board for us to see.

Thanks for listening, I think we should all take a moment to realize the RC for this event is actually looking for feedback, something that is VERY rare and should be very much appreciated.

Absolutely! You ask this question at most other regattas and you'll get lamb-basted.

Granted, the marks were 5' long, but they're only 2' in diameter. If a heavier weight were to be put directly below the mark (not the anchor), they'd stand more upright, even in a blow. I'm not saying you should run out and buy new marks.

Why couldn't we keep this positive?

Otherwise, this TW was the best I've been to, and will def. be back.

Are we supposed to get any help from anyone one on the committee boat? No offense intended, but the course is the course is the course regardless of what the chic on the bow of the committee boat (with the frothy cold mugs of sweet, sweet beer and big boobs)is pointing at.

Maybe I am wrong but the committee boat cannot offer any info while racing.(?)

Amen

Aso, I gotta tell ya, when Rick sets a course, he sets it according to the wind. He doesn't even know what the compass heading is.

And I also gotta tell ya that in all the years I have raced in small boats, I have never had a compass on the boat. And if the RC gave a compass heading, I wouldn't have a clue what it meant.

Why do you guys have to make racing more complicated than it already is?!!!

Complication = Highly competitive.
You should win or lose on skill not a crapshoot of guessing where the mark is.Compass headings take care of that.If you don't want to carry a compass,it doesn't matter anyway.
I wasn't there(wished I had been) so flame me.
Tawd

Compass heading to the mark only helps me find it if it's really difficult to see off the start line...but if the race committee is giving it to us throughout the series, or if they're moving the course mid-race, It will be one piece of information about the trend in the wind angle.

I don't always race with a compass on lakes and closed bodies of water - but I'm starting too. It's nice to have a number for each starboard and port tack to work out the wind patterns as the racing progresses.

+1. I think I may pick up that little hand held bearing compass for just that purpose

Bearings? Compasses? Angles?


Outta my skill set. I can feel my A.D.D. burning just thinking about concentrating that hard going to weather.

I'm pretty much with you there Karl. I was wondering the same thing. Maybe I have some new stuff to focus on.

On last sat i did races (small mono's) and the skipper had a very nice compass mounted. We (he) started to work out the wind angles/mark settings before the race...

we never once used the compass during the 2 heats we ran (1st and 2nd) before we broke the boat! I think it would have been a distraction, but if we couldnt see the marks i bet it would have been great!

ever since we had a fog fest in Dunedin during the Hangover Regatta 2 years ago (and we had about 15 boats without the ability to see, or even really guess where land was..) i carry a small $2.00 compass with me..

I thought I saw a picture in here of a mark laying on it side. This is what we do...

Your bearing always changes to the mark as you go up the course...so knowing it at the start really only helps you identify where it will be within a narrower field. If the RC moves A-mark during the race, and holds up a new bearing to A-mark, it allows you to know for sure if it moved to the left or to the right. It really doesn't help you find it when you're half way up the beat.