Florida 300 tracking

What's going on?
No smack tack? No updates?

Speeds are all over the place!
Steve and Jay are going 36.7 knots wow! I'm guessing that's wrong.
Dutch Rockerz not working or are they really back at the Islander?

Guess there are now three threads: http://www.catsailor.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=282631#Post282631

Team MYC Youth appears to be floundering near the start.

Buoy 44 passing key sailing...buoy 44 is BHK-20'? What is that exactly? heard there was a Tornado with M20 mast, is that what is registered as the BHK-20?

Steve and Jay appear to have slowed to a more reasonable 17.8 kts. Wonder if they are kite up at the front? If it was really 13 kts and double wire jib reaching at the start, explains the N20 lead over the F18's, but arguably the best F18 team on the course doesn't have a tracker so...

I remember when you got really upset at me over a similar post I made a few years ago

Anyone have finish times? Interviews with the sailors who know better than us armchair sailors what the conditions actually were?

I believe both you and I were in hot water for that one :P

BHK-20 Is a Tornado with a M20 stick. Kirk got a great start Jay and Brian where a bit late and had to make up some ground. Talked to Tom and he said low 20's was pretty much average for them today and where semi foiling most of the day. Brian and Will did really well and are number 1 corrected followed by Steve and Jay.

The drone video looks pretty awesome hopefully that will be posted soon.

Dick hosed his phone and ended up turning it off without knowing so that's why we quit tracking. He got a strong talking to.

No trash talk today, too tired, this crewing thing is bullsh!t! :-)

Agree!!!

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

No one has finished, but it looks like 3 boats on the beach. From looking at the weather radar for the area, they're some ugly storms rolling across the course. I hope they're waiting on a better weather window, and not forced to the beach for repair...

OK, I'm confused. Why do we have a thread on tracking for this awesome event without, I don't know, MAYBE A LINK TO THE ACTUAL TRACKER?????

http://kws.kattack.com/GEPlayer/GMPlayer.aspx?FeedID=1546

Call me crazy...

Mike

We all get old Toddy, but I ask you this, who is in the basement with their dick in their hand and who is on the front of an F18 at the FL300? We had a delightful sail today thank you for asking.

As always, Want to compare mileage? How about who ever has the most gets one free drink from the other for every extra mile they have?
I was already tired of the pre race grind and organization before you did your first race.
And speaking of being in my basement (which is where I'd rather be instead of the FRONT of an F18), you need to post some more pics of you in your flowery spandex.I'm running out of viewing material.
p.s. Since you're so tired maybe you should have regaled us with a cool story instead of a "get off my lawn" post.

Get off my lawn crak-uh

To channel the Donald, you started it dickhead :-)

Donald would have had a cuter nickname.

You got me on the last rum bet, how 'bout it?
p.s. Where are the Flowery Spandex pics buttercup?

Thanks Todd for bringing some lively smack talk to this thread!

Jake, Tad, that was 2 years ago. Let it go. I will say I agree with you on the general lack of information available regarding the race, and lack of sailors reports. What I won't agree with is you bashing sailors reports with internet data from the wrong part of the course while sitting in your cozy office chairs sipping latte's and whatever other fruity drinks ya'll are drinking these days.

I talked to one of my buddies competing on a N20 this year (team My Dixie Wrecked), they had blast reaching conditions at the front of the fleet yesterday and were averaging 18-19kts down course. It was a fast day. The day before, they elected to beach and ride out the thunderstorms for 3 hours, then were becalmed for the rest of the day and didn't make it to the beach until 11pm. In retrospect, probably a wise choice given the carnage.

The F18 Infusion Mk. 2, Dutch Team (owner of big global Nacra onboard), apparently broke their rig when when a wave hit them while on the beach. Didn't get the full story there, but my buddy had his N20 flip while on the beach and they are lucky not to have broken the rig or do any damage to the sails. Team Tavernier is out as they don't have a spare F20C rig and I suspect couldn't source one or weren't going to pay what Kirk is asking for one. At least it appears they saved the parts, and carbon can be spliced together to good effect for at least a backup rig for next years race!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCB8kiOrwmOnzMNUKQfVDAw

Lol, let it go? let me find you a mirror!

HI Pictues of todays finish line
http://www.surfguru.com/florida-surf-reports/cocoa-beach-pier

and set camera to Beach North

Yeah, the "media coverage" isn't close to what was promised. We've yet to be interviewed and have seen almost no pics of the first finishers each day (no pics of us or Kirk) finishing. If we're going to rip the gaskets off the bottom of my boat hitting the beach at Mach 5 with the kite up, at least get me a cool picture or video! ;-)

How many times did you have to replace the gaskets, and were they the "new" style?

The coverage was nil. Lisa Herendeen posted stuff on FB and that and the tracker (which I gave up on today,of course) was the only way I could follow anything. Still don't know the placing. Sad , considering this was supposed to be THE year for the Fl.300. I've got an idea, "Let's keep our race a secret."

Congrats to you and Brian wherever you ended up.

Ended up racing my boat (long story), but it has half gaskets. Didn't replace any during the race, but we'll see what the look like when I get it home.

Tracking today was an issue, don't know why.... I do know that there was almost no cell coverage for a lot of the race.

I inquired about the race coverage and was told to send people to Damon.

I'm not going to make excuses for anyone or hopefully criticize volunteers, but I'm just going to speak from experience - having been a competitor, a ground crew member, a "team leader" (whatever that meant) and a pseudo-media guy -

Media is tough for this race. It always has been. The nature of the beast is that your media subjects are basically unobservable for 99% of the time unless you have a high powered drone or helicopter. It's not easy.

Add on to that fact that if you're part of a team or the race committee and you're doing double duty, media falls by the wayside easily. I can tell you that after getting in from competing, the last thing I wanted to do was boot up the tablet or laptop and pen a story. When I was a ground crew member, after spending 2 hours under a boat in the sand gluing new gaskets into a dagger trunk, the last thing I wanted to do was boot up the laptop or tablet and tell everyone what was going on out there.

The only time I felt that I did an adequate job was when I live streamed the race from my cell phone back in the day when live streaming was just catching fire. These days its almost stupid not to do a periscope or youtube live stream with any number of connected devices. The Florida coast has SOME LTE deadzones but back in 2008 when I did my coverage from my OG Droid, I was getting solid signal at most Tybee checkpoints.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that to do media properly for this race, you need a dedicated resource whose JOB it is to do media. BK and JW did a great job in 2006, and I still go back and watch those videos with sentimental nostalgia. Hell, I have the DVD downstairs (I just tossed it into a moving box) However, with the tools available these days on social media, covering these races should be a lot easier than in years past. One guy with an iPhone and a few external battery packs (and a good data plan) could stream the whole race from start to finish.

They had that (x2) and this was supposed to be THE year.The fact that you never even realized that is telling of the coverage failure. Just regular updates w/ positions and unofficial finish positions on the FB page would have been fine. Just SOMETHING.
I think they focused on a post race sponsor seeking promo video, but that misses the point and is a waste of resources. The audience (us)for these type races care about it while it's happening.

Daily reports, photos and videos were posted on thebeachcats.com and the fl300 facebook page

Yes, that year was certainly "palpable"

I wouldn't take that as an indication of the media team's job. I'm not on fakebook so anything posted there is non-existent to me.

Real time: No stories ,No updates as boats finished, No interviews, Nothing of substance except reporting thunderstorms one day. I've followed plenty of these and sailed in more, and this is the worst I've seen. Sponsors will look to that kind of thing to see if there is any R.O.I. This does not bode well.

Tad summed it up pretty well. You guys are asking for professional PR coverage for the cost of hotel room and maybe a meal or two which is simply unrealistic. Even back in the day during the peak the coverage was only so so, in my opinion.

The race was well run and the organizers priority was the sailors and in my opinion that is exactly where it's supposed to be. At the end of the day it's those that sail the event that promote the event and get sailors to the beach. Those sitting at their computers constantly complaining about being under served are being counter productive. Yes proper coverage would be nice but its not even remotely a reason why I do this race and I think that goes for most if not all the teams. We are self funded so PR coverage isn't a priority for us and this thread didn't inspire much effort on my part to provide any kind of updates. Yes Todd I'm looking squarely at you!

Wait, I thought you just said "Just SOMETHING - Just regular updates w/ positions and unofficial finish positions on the FB page would have been fine. Just SOMETHING."

I see dozens of on the fly updates, pics, stories, videos and unofficial (and official) results on the sail series facebook page and dozens more on the Beachcats fb page and more on the beachcats website ....
geesh

Not at all. All I'm asking for is real time Facebook posts of who is crossing the finish line. Cheap , easy, and low tech.That's a minimum if you expect to grow as an event. Lisa Herendeen came pretty close and she was just having fun.
I am glad to see the R.O. are making it about the sailors.That's how it should be. There isn't a fortune to be made in it. I've done my own website updating and sponsor seeking, and to make it work for teams who aren't self funded a little bit of effort has to be exerted by the R.O. If not then they need to express that.Nobody expects the teams to do it. If distance racing is to survive much less thrive, these events can't be word of mouth and in a news vaccuum. I'm sure that's a little too big picture for you, Ding. When those MYC youth try to come back on their own and need some sponsor help,or anyone for that matter, what do you tell the potential sponsors,"Pay for my race". When teams like Dixie and others who are stoked to do their first big distance race don't see anything about a race like this ,how can they get turned on to it?
I think this year reinforces how much work Craig Van Eaton did in the past.

+1 to both Todd and Tad here.

One of the issues the Florida 300 faces is the checkpoints are close. I think this is good for the teams in some ways, and helps bring new people in (I think the first leg is what the Tybee 500 first leg should have been, not the second longest leg of the entire race), but it makes the ground crew and media coverage work difficult at best. Most days I didn't have time to grab lunch while ground crewing for the inaugural Florida 300.

I'm glad the race committee is focused on the sailors, that is what they should be focused on. I think budget needs to be put aside for a dedicated media guy in future editions, that is what the A-cat fleet is doing and they are probably the largest growing fleet of high performance "beach" cats in the U.S at present.

Couple corrections to this:

1) Turns out the dutch team beached, then the boat sailed itself off the beach, flipped into the surf and that is where the mast failed. Also, it was the Nacra Holland parts dude onboard, not the owner of Nacra.

2)Team Tavernier had been sourced a replacement rig but had enough other issues to call it quits.

Quite the year of weather, really sounds like if you made it before the thunder hit you did well, otherwise you were hours behind.

From my observations, the A-class can spend as much $2,500 (may be sponsored) on a drone and media coverage for a weekend of racing. I find different feeling among competitors on wether that cost is worthwhile in entry fees.

I can see the FL 300 coverage as being pretty pricey to do it right. If its an event for the competitors, it may not be worthwhile.

The Race 2 Alaska did a really good job with trackers, updates, etc but the best was the "stories" put up about each team before the start. A blend of who's who and smack talk all rolled into a paragraph or two.

Everglades Challenge was another well documented event.

Wonder who paid for all that?

Distance races can't use drones (except for checkpoints), but plenty of background can be developed prior to the event itself (history, course, obstacles, tech, boats, etc) and be plopped in the real-time "narrative" of start/finish positions, live coverage, etc.

Where the sponsors can see ROI is product/name placement in these "fill" pieces which can be produced/edited by the media team (and even used to pitch sponsorships) at their leisure.

Couple of suggestions:
- now that some of the blisters have healed, get all the stories you can from each competitor and add to the "history" section of next year's event.

- Special focus on what made this year's event challenging (the weather) and how each team reacted and/or dealt with it. Nothing wrong with some sit-down interview type video clips from the sailors.

- any onboard video needs to be collected for a "montage" type clip or two. Combine with voiceovers of teams on how they prepare for this event, secrets of success with this type of distance race, teamwork, etc. (stuff to attract non-adventure sailors and make it less scary to try...)

- teams can build/submit their own stock footage during this year (with their own sponsor focus) to be included in next year's event. I'd say 60 second clips should work well... Sailing, boat handling, etc.

- of course, any gaffs or bloopers always make it fun

- for PR ROI, someone get 'stock' footage of the host hotels at each venue and a brief interview with the hotel official on their property and impression of the race.

+1
Somebody gets it.

those that can't do.... have plenty of suggestions

I see where Todd is coming from on this. This has been done well before, with minimal technology and cost. It isn't rocket surgery. It just needs to be a priority.

When any cat event gets good PR, we all benefit. Let's figure out how to help one another pull this off more consistently.

Mike

Why not a detailed bio from each team when they register? Bio of the skipper, crew, boat, sponsors, and other equipment?

From what I've seen on other websites
ex http://mobileyachtclub.org
look at lower right...

One can write or get code that will clone the falsebook feed to the regular website, so "you only have to say this once" to quote Michelle Of The Resistance and then everyone gets the news and you don't even have to copy and paste

I'm working on a short list of things that from my perspective need to be improved (constructive criticism) and will send it to the RO. That said, although the race wasn't perfect, the effort of the ROs is the difference between having and event and not having an event.

I'm thankful for their contribution and instead of complaining about what was wrong, will be offering my input and assistance to make next year's race better.

I'm happy they pulled off the race! So hard to do these days.

And SAILORS don't forget, if you're thinking of doing the 2017 version, why not start building your media / PR now? Get stock footage of your team sailing, crew members (sailing, support, etc), cut some sharp interviews, show off your sponsors, etc.

Then when you enter the event, it's just a matter of a few clicks to send lots of footage to whomever is the media coordinator for the 2017 Florida 300 Magnum race.

See, the race is so cool, it even has it's own caliber !!! (3rd from left):

Good luck with that Will. I stopped trying years ago. I'm not sure the RO knows what social media is...

Taking cues from the R2AK is heavily advised IMO, their race is highly publicized, has a long entry list, and they appear to be successful.Their tracker is also much improved IMO, no issues on phones or PC's. Getting their input and how-to's would make a lot of sense for the RO. Not holding my breath however.

I don't think you can compare the budgets of the everglades challenge or the R2AK to the FL300.

From some quick numbers online

Evergaldes Challenge $395 a person, 119 entries = $47,500
R2AK $620 team + $20 a person, 40 teams = > $24,800
FL 300 $395 a team, 15 teams =$5,295

I also ready plenty of feedback online that the fee shouls be lower still....

That says it all right there.

And I disagree that the WaterTribe challenges do better PR...most of that is generated from the sheer number of participants that post stuff. A couple dedicated volunteers keep the Facebook page updated as the race progresses but there's not some big push by race management to drive a huge PR campaign.

yeah, what jake said

bacho,

That's not the total race budget for any of those races, but it does give a pretty stark contrast in the budgets. From a RO standpoint, I bet the Florida 300 is more expensive to run than the other races, as it involves more checkpoints, hence more hotels, with about the same number of people managing the race.

There are a lot of areas of improvement that would benefit this race. Most of the hotels were pretty rough with the exception of one or two, and the hotel on the last night might be one of nastiest places I've ever stayed. We don't need anything fancy but I would think with 20+ rooms on a block rate at each stop we could find better accommodations.

RC needs to get in sync. Questions regarding scoring, redress, and other things seemed to all be answered off the cuff, and no one seemed to know who the right person was to answer. We got beached for 3 hours during a big lightning storm and have video of lightning hitting so close that Jacob felt the shock go up his arm (the same strike that sent the Dutch running and consequently their boat sailing off). Out of curiosity we asked about redress and two days later found out that RC took Tavernier's time (who was towed in with a broken mast), added two hours onto it, and then used that as our time.

Two days later another F18 beached for an hour because a storm brought some big winds. For them RC subtracted the time they said they were beached for from their elapsed time. Redress is a difficult subject in these types of races and I think an electrical storm is different than a windy storm, but either way, if you're going to give it then you should at least have some consistency instead of making stuff up as you go.

I also have a new-found interest for increased safety after this race. I'm not sure what the right solution is, but anything that is better than what we had would be great thing. We had three straight days where we sailed directly into some very nasty weather. Lightning, hail, 30-35knt winds with cloud rotation (we thought a tornado was forming on top of us). It wasn't just a one-off, rouge weather incident--it was three days in a row and there were more moments than I'm comfortable with where I thought we seriously might be in trouble. It made me wonder what happens if the next storm is even bigger. I would just like to see some way where RC can notify sailors to get to shore if they see a massive storm cell coming that is about to wipe everyone out. I remember coming into the beach Friday just after genuine survival mode and hail whipping me across the face for thirty minutes and Chuck jokingly saying "hehaheha just trying keep things interesting for ya!" The Florida 300 race nearly lost Chuck in that moment. The Dutch team also said that after some of the stuff that went down guys from the Netherlands would have been ready to kick Chuck's butt.

We're ready to go for next year, but after the car ride home there was a unanimous agreement that the race needs to focus on overall quality.

Everyone knows this race is under your own decisions, any body who races can decide to come ashore but will fall behind in the race. Your decision! And another thing, everybody had plenty of warning and time to to have their boats measured, but chose to have it done on the Monday before the race.i say it is no fault of the RC. Now they have a year notice to get a certificate. Wonder how many will show up on Monday the day before.
As for the race, a lot of people went home with a lot of stuff! There were more sponsors than we have ever had, and this is all the comments?
Boy , like I said , if you want to add to the race, bring it and come help us make it better, but don't complain. And by the way, wait till you see the video that was captured, it is being edited now, but we don't have the budget to have a team of editors working all the way through the race. Maybe if the entry fee was $1500 we might be able to suit your every whim! Let's see how many meals were covered ? What do you think every cent was spent on? I Think the sailors received more in this race than any race in recent history. Or would you rather have an empty wine bottle with a sticker.!!
Dennis

I agree 100% with your first sentence. Those conditions have been raced through before and will again.
It's great that you guys are focusing on the racers, that's how it should be,but with no usable info during the race you lose any potential racers interest as well as any followers. Post race videos are great when they're a re-cap, but when that's all there is ,you missed the boat. The hype is over ,the viewers/potential racers/entry fees are gone. If it's a promo to get race sponsors, I hope it's not in vain.
" bring it and come help us make it better, but don't complain. " How does that make it any better?
Dennis, feel free to give me a call if you want to discuss this stuff.

This isn't a meant to be a complaint. These are some of the things I think the race would benefit from with improvements. Sunday morning there talks about extending it and going further and further, but I think for now you should focus on building what you have before trying to make this another 500 mile race.

Glad no one was hurt... sad to see that carbon mast snapped....
this is pretty typical late-May weather for us here in fl.... any reason why this even cant be done in april to greatly reduce the risk of extreme weather ???

It is, as many have said before, and adventure race. Like R2K and EC, I don't see a particular reason to grant redress for anything not directly under the PRO's control (like a screw up). The only thing a PRO could do is cancel or postpone a leg if conditions are (1) known with 90% accuracy or better (2) to cause significant attrition or injury.. Like a tropical storm approach or something.

Afternoon T-storms are hit/miss. Yes, some can be severe. It would be awesome to have some sort of warning system so that all sailors would be updated on an impending approach. Weather VHS, some sort of signal sent to Spot trackers...something (not sure what technology is out there) but ultimately it is up to the teams to read conditions and plan accordingly. It ain't all about going fast.

"To finish first, first you must finish" (don't know who to attribute that saying to....). If that means pulling ashore and waiting vs. sailing through in the hopes you don't end up snapping a mast (or worse), I'd wager on the former strategy paying off rather than the latter.

What was the "secret sauce" for the winners? I believe they all had to deal with the same conditions (weather, equipment failures, routing, etc). Was it only that those teams had higher boatspeed? I would doubt that.

But now is the opportunity for both RO and sailors individually to reflect "what would I do next time to make it better (race, team performance, logistics, etc)"?

Put all those thoughts together, weed out the typical whining (unfortunately, not everyone gets a trophy in life) and ideas that aren't feasible (like 24 hour drone coverage), select the top concerns of those that are left and focus on that for improving next edition.

You won't get to all the issues, but continual improvement will go quite far in increasing popularity & participation.

I'd like to offer my very limited abilities if you think it would help... On the other hand, too many chefs spoil the soup...

may be an adventure race but IF it could be run a few weeks earlier it Could be a safer race.

View from the water…

Understandably it does swck to be in the dark about something you have a passion for. And it does seem like a simple thing just to get some basic information out. This bar will always be higher than the resources available. Damon did a great job of getting information out considering everything that goes on during the race. As many of you know the whole week gets to be a continuous event where getting food, sleep and being ready are the priorities. Sometimes it can be even more difficult for the ground crews than the sailors.

If some of you that cannot make it to the race can offer some tech services from home or office I’m sure it would only make things better. For example, during my cold beer reflection period after landing I was able to answer texts from friends. I would be happy to text a short report from our team to someone who could then post it. That would not work for everyone but it’s something. I would also need to be reminded to do that because my next beer and some food are my priority.

Something that needs to be understood, and you guys may not like this, but, the people on this board are not the target audience. You are not potential sponsors and most of you will never enter this race. Don’t get butt hurt, it’s the truth.

Dennis is a businessman, a successful one. His plans involve other business people with resources and an international target audience that will indeed expect more than what we are currently doing. The bar is being raised at a rate to which the resources and personal abilities can tolerate. There are conversations and plans going on behind the scenes that will bear fruit and because he is actually putting forth the effort, he needs your support. The hours and hours of drone video footage is a powerful tool and must be properly edited and presented for full impact. That opportunity is not lost, it’s being focused. So far, many of the comments from this board would damage the event’s reputation rather than foster and promote good will.

If catamaran sailors are to be known and respected as a community of sportsman, start acting like it and get behind those who are trying to create something. It may not be perfect but apparently it’s more than you’ve done lately. Again, don’t get butt hurt, think of this objectively and focus on the bigger picture.

If sponsors do peak at this thread, they need to see people saying, “great race how can I help”. No one will ever be interested in what you did five or ten years ago, but bringing that experience to the table to help other sailors and the event, you’d be a freaking hero.

My heroes are the people who gave their time all week so I could steer my boat for 350 miles through beautiful waters. The crews who did this race for the first time not knowing if they would finish, getting back on the boat after being pummeled by thunderstorms. The Mom who stood on the beach waiting for her husband and thirteen year old son to come in. These people have courage and commitment.

Comments have been made about safety and what the RC should be doing. They did exactly what they should do, set a course and lines to cross. The skipper and his crew are the only ones to decide when to sail based on their experience and skills. The safety gets increased by the sailors sharing their skills with each other. There was not one person on any team that would not be more then happy to explain how they deal with situations on the water. Especially dangerous situations like weather, or shallow water, or equipment failure. The wealth of knowledge on that beach cannot be bought or bargained for, but if you step up and join the fleet they will help you.

It was a great honor for me to have 2 teams tell me that things I said to them in the past helped them decide to enter the race. Before and during the race our team offered assistance, advise and support whenever it was asked for or needed. As a result we made new friends, friends made under those circumstances are high value.

The Florida 300 will run again next year, it will be bigger and better and the teams will be faster. The 3 MYC youth teams will probably return, they seemed to get bit with the bug and they’re very good at it. There will be more European teams that may need some ground crew help and local knowledge. Get involved, put your hard earned experience to use and help create something for our sport. It won’t be easy and it won’t be perfect, but it will be ours.

“Do something, lead, follow, or get out of the way”.

Dick Macdonald
Cirrus F18
Turtle Mojo

Well said.

+1

That's my skipper b!tches! Who apparently is a fan of Patton, which explain a lot. That is all.

Dennis you, your dad, Chuck, Lisa, Chucks wife (I was never introduced) worked their butts off for us and I for one am grateful, thank you! And thank you for having the backbone to use SCHRS in my opinion the pros clearly out weighed the cons!

That would be Judy, the half that makes Chuck tolerable.
Lets hear some more about the SCHRS pros and cons. I'm glad to see this start happening. Your buddy Mark Schneider tried using it a few years back in the Cheaapeake , and IIRC it worked well.

Dick,
You're right, Sorry I bothered.It's obvious you and Ding, with your dearth of experience, have got it covered.What was I thinking.
Won't waste my time again.
Adios.

Todd Hart
Team Cat Fever

As with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

A good event focuses on racing.

A great event has great racing and parties.

An amazing event also has great PR, leading to better sposors and overall interest and future participants.

These things aren't mutually exclusive. Future success depends on all of these things.

I've heard the excuse before, from lots of people about lots of regattas: "We were focused on the sailors." Of course that's important, but if you truly believe that's all that matters, there's little hope for you.

And if you're so self-centered that you won't listen to input from people who have done this before, just because they aren't currently able to be at every event, you're not allowing yourself to learn.

It's difficult to monetize interest from fellow sailors on forums like these. But, every time you lose a rabid fan, exactly how does that help your event?

Mike

This kinda Rabid fan?
[img]http://www.thebeachcats.com/gallery...p;g2_itemId=122400&g2_serialNumber=3[/img]

[/quote]

Dick,
You're right, Sorry I bothered.It's obvious you and Ding, with your dearth of experience, have got it covered.What was I thinking.
Won't waste my time again.
Adios.

Todd Hart
Team Cat Fever [/quote]

You and Mike need to stop looking down your nose and acting like you have all the answers, the RO knows exactly what boxes need to be checked and if you (Todd) ever actually ran or organized an event you'd understand the compromises that have to be made let alone managing the personalities involved. Quite honestly there is nothing you can tell the RO that they don't already know.

And another thing STOP telling us about all your damn miles, we all have miles and at the end of the day you're an "also ran" just like the rest of us.

Fans!? Really! That's your concern? What about losing the folks that donate their time year in and year out to put on these types of events. Do you really think they don't have anything better to do and than to to listen to people like you and Todd tell them why they are doing it wrong. You were an active participant in turning the Alter Cup into just another weekend regatta so I really don't think that makes you an authority on how to make a regatta successful.

Well, at least you're consistent...

Sorry that you're unable to appreciate the big picture, but stop hiding behind that line, and attacking folks who are engaged in more than you know.

Mike

"My heroes are the people who gave their time all week so I could steer my boat for 350 miles through beautiful waters. The crews who did this race for the first time not knowing if they would finish, getting back on the boat after being pummeled by thunderstorms. The Mom who stood on the beach waiting for her husband and thirteen year old son to come in. These people have courage and commitment."

And THAT is the human interest side that needs to be presented to the overall public outside of this event. It doesn't even need to be sent out in real-time either... Leave the website open and post this stuff as the participants/crews get around to it. It's almost like free advertising for the 2017 edition.

What made R2K so interesting for me to follow (besides the novelty)? All the human interest/struggle/success/failure stories.

The finish list and trackers were great, but the stories are what compels us to consider trying our hand(s) at something like that.

I'd be happy to help using what little abilities I have if it were to take some of the burden off the RO so they can focus on what makes the event "amazing".

And to the other point, you are certainly correct that this site is more of a side-bar conversation that people were nice enough to contribute to (event narratives, random info, etc) when they had the opportunity.

Props to everyone who muscled through the event, on boats, on beaches, on computers...

my 2 cents;

1 - The people that put on this race are really overtasked. It's a lot of work and there aren't many people to do it. Seriously. I just PRO'd a Flying Scot District Championship and I would have been sunk if I was limited to the number of people that the Florida 300 has pitching in. Factor in that arrangements have to be made at each stop with local municipalities and hotels well AHEAD of time AND the relative low attendance (and budget) of a race like this and you should start to really appreciate the dedication and significant no-charge dedication that the organizers put into it.

2 - That said, publication of the event is important. It is important to the sponsors and it's important to people that might potentially do the race in the future that aren't sailing in it now. I really didn't sniff around much during the event but I suspect that there was more information over at the Beachcats site, and Facebook, that most of us here weren't aware of. I come here for my information on this race and it wasn't here (we should have probably just shared links here ourselves)



A lot of people clearly care about this race and the real question is how to get more contributing hands into the mix that can improve it in the right areas. Bickering and getting feathers ruffled isn't going to fix anything.

There was some talk at Cocoa beach that a company was interested in interviewing a few teams at the finish about a potential sponsorship and creating a documentary-ish film next year. Not sure if that ever happened but I think it's a cool idea, with or without a "sponsorship."

If a couple of teams came together and kept up with some of the fun stuff from the week on their GoPros both on and off the water and threw in some narratives along the way you could easily make a mashup of the week's experience from the view of a couple different teams. I don't think that would take much effort--just a few GoPros and teams talking to the camera here and there. That would give potential prospects a great look at what the week is like and hopefully stir more interest.

Cocoa Beach? Hey, why not go all in and create something new, like the Ron Jon 1000, run it all the way to NJ. You could stop at all the Ron Jon locations on the way up the coast...

Mike