That shot belongs in
photo fun.
Great pic.
You could wrap yourself on bubblewrap
I'm not a distance racer,Closest i get is a 20 mile hike across monterey bay. But if the I-20 is putting 10 boats on the line its nuts to get rid of it. Allow the f-18 as it already is and if the f-18's show with enough boats offer them their own class awards. I can't see excluding the boats that keep the event alive because someone wants to make a different class the favorite. Hopefully I'll be competent enough on the water and can afford to do this race some day. Till then Everyone else enjoy.
Jake's oringal post of the thread was in reference to whether the race was going to happen again.
The main reason the race is stagnant is lack of participation and barely being able to even break even on the running of the race. This is the point of the discussion, each year it is questionable if the race will happen again.
It is very clear that leaving it the way it is has not, and will not increase participation.
The offering of new ideas assumes we want to build the race beyond minimal levels of operation.
I guess that's another big topic too. Is it the format of the race that is keeping people away or the lack of marketing that keeps people from coming?
It's a tricky thing to commit to for the first time. After that, coming back is much easier. I don't know how to do it but there needs to be some sort of marketing that gives folks that extra little motivation for doing such a race.
I remember the conversation David Mosley had with me when we did it the first year. I wanted to plan for the event 1.5 years away. David wanted to do the event coming up in 6 months. He really pushed me pretty hard and I was (am) very glad he did. Undoubtedly something else would have come up the next year that would have given me reason to hesitate again. If you are considering a race like this, you just have to stand up, pound your chest, and proclaim
I'M GOING TO DO IT!
and make it happen.
On the race organization end, I think there are some things that can be done to make the race easier for new teams. Pre-packaged hotel rooms for a set fee (for instance, maybe $1400 gets you two rooms at each stop), aluminum-pan/tub dinners catered from local eateries at each stop to make dinner a less time consuming and less costly ordeal for teams (again, for an additional fee but cheaper than feeding an entire team eating out every night), consideration for RV's to help teams that have RV's keep costs down....While I think these are good ideas, I'm also realistic that you've got one guy trying to put all this together while holding down a full time job (Chuck). Just getting the local permits together at each stop is one hell of an ordeal. Anyone wanna volunteer? <img src=
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Kudo's to Chuck.... the most difficult thing is to follow up a succesful year with the same basic event next year and then the next year. It is a lot of work and discouraging when you see that growth is essentially limited.
The orginal notion for the race was to give sailors a less rigorous training event for the full on 1000 mile race. Now.. the Tybee 500 is the full on event.
Perhaps what is needed is a new challenge... less extreme then Brian's Kayak/sail event .. but perhaps
Tybee to Va Beach?
Va Beach to Tybee!
A strategic plan which says in two years the race will be on Open class boats repeated every 4 years so that boat inovation drives interest is one idea.
Equally important would be some organization on the part of distance racers.... Notice that one design classes get organized to get their sailors to nationals. The traditional distance race moto of build it they will come philosphy leaves organizers with too few boats to make it worth while. Looks like the Tybee 500 may suffer the same fate as the Chesapeake Bay Distance Races. The 100 plus mile point to point races are replaced by 35 mile or less YC sponsored races. The Point to Point New England 100 is replaced by a 50 mile a day great circle race...
Lack of interest has driven the changes. Organization of some sort by the distance racers could refocus the fleet and get them to make some choices to scratch their distance race itch.
Given the time and money it takes to do the race... ANY noise that the race would fall through at the last minute is a big problem. Focus by a Distance Race Organization supported by a commitment to race the schedule agreed on could go along way to growing that portion of the sport.
The archipelago raid boats dont have a support team following them (getting the support team into RIBs or similar would really be expensive). They borrow schools or sleep under a bush somewhere. The event company organizes a meal at stopovers. Often in a local school, daycare center or whatever. the raid is organized by a company, and they look at all angles on how to make money from it. They have even made TV shows about the raid and many channels have bought it.
I am not saying this is the way to go for the Tybee 500, but perhaps there are some ideas to borrow to cut costs and make it more attractive.
the solution to
a lack of interest
seems very obvious to me... The Swedish Bikini Team cheering you on at evert stop!
I need to chime in on this one. Not too many things could be further from the truth about the F18. They do it on each leg of the GT300 with no problems.
As far as the F18 vs N20 in these races, when the conditions are fast and reachy, the F18 is as fast as the N20! When the N20 gets overpowered (as any of us who sail one knows it will), the F18 is still in efficient sail trim. The Tybee generally has conditions better suited to the N20 (deeper chute running) and the GT generally has conditions better suited to the F18 (higher chute reaching). This year was totally nuking, so there was a trade off between smaller sail plan vs. longer wateline. Me, I preffered longer water line but the bluntness of the N20 bows kept slowing us when we would stuff it. But on the other hand, it was saving us from having the sterns out running the bows. I keep re-hashing the whole race in my head and still not sure wich boat I would have rather been on in those conditions. Run an F18 to it's potential, and you'll be competetive in those races, just look at Tomko/Billings on the Infusion. For most of the race, I was looking at their sterns. Infact, the only reason I got past them was due to a broken pintle on day three.
As far as doing it on a TheMightyHobie18, bring a flashlight. It's doable and the boat is tough but you may be out there for a while.
Lee Wicklund/ Team Chums
When talking about getting attention; this may be a dumb idea, but what about a celebrity on each boat for just one leg of the race. T.V. people will be there to cover it. You would get exposure because of the celebrities. Just a thought.
Shooot....I'm already on a boat for the entire race - what more could you ask for? <img src=
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lol - hard to believe there isnt more media coverage...
Teach that smokin chimp to sail... and i bet there will be more attention on the race!
Perhaps what is needed is a new challenge... less extreme then Brian's Kayak/sail event .. but perhaps
Tybee to Va Beach?
Va Beach to Tybee!
How about the Outer Banks 500, oh wait we tried that.Lack of participants killed that one too. The one was a blast, but almost all of the Fla. boys seem to be scared of REAL capes.
Does everyone really have that short of a memory?
not in addition to the tybee 500.... its a REPLACE of the Tybee 500. Same time, same organizers .. different race.
I had looked at doing the Worrel and by the time I got the courage up and the Tornado rigged for it they changed to one design boats. I would look at the Tybee on a Tornado but didn't think that was an option. One solution is to handicap the race and another is to break it into 20's and 18's. That might help create interest from some of the F18's.
Tom,
Why don't you bring the Tornado and do the Great Texas? The rules were ammended to allow the Tornados to come and none of them showed. Every year one or two of them call and complain about not being allowed.
Lee
Maybe 09 is the year that the race starts to turn the corner and start growing again. In 08 there were 9 I-20's on the line and 1 f-18. For 09:
Marleys 1, 2, 3
Seacats
Velocity
Cat Fever
Cat in the Hat
Accelerated Chaos
Undecided - You know you want to!!
Team Trey's Room mate
DIYC (me)
Chums
That's 12 I-20 teams there. Add a couple teams that I missed and some f-18's and 15+ boats is definately doable!
Undecided = Velocity 2
and I'm working on number 4...
Supposing someone wanted to enter the race and they already had the boat.
What would it cost them?
Let me check in to the GT dates and see if they work with my schedule. Thanks.
What would it cost them?
The first year we did it, we operated the race on a $2400 budget (boat maintenance and entry fee aside). We had one hotel room at each stop and a motorhome. I believe a marginal but comfortable budget, where the ground crew is adequately cared for enough to want to come back, will fall around $5,000. Some spend more.
I would be interested to know what makes the venture
profitable
for the organizer. I would presume costs include arranging permits, the PRO expenses (room/board), media / advertising expenses, merchandizing, anything else?
Would it be out of the question to allow boats/teams to race only certain legs of the T-500? Would this encourage more boats on the line at each stop, and possibly offset the expenses of the organizers? For instance, for $500 could I race leg one?
Could there be a
retro
class at one of the legs? That might be good for some media... But would add to the burden of the measurers/safety inspectors.
Would the winners of each leg wear bright yellow rashers the next leg (a la cycling)? Would help newbies figure out who is the scratch boat.
I guess the W1000 and T500 have always seemed to be elite level to me, which explains any hesitance. Chalk up a lot of money, fret over difficult logistics, and hope you don't get lost at sea in some freak weather event.
I'm already committed.
I wouldn't be forking over so much money for a personal trainer if I wasn't committed 😛
I'm paying the dude's car payment it seems like.
Personal trainer??? Would be fun to hear what your goals are and where you are today.
I just started.
I told him what the race involved and what I'd like to do. He then asked to go ahead and go sailing on a windy day so he could do the same activities that I needed to do.
I did the next best thing and showed him some on board video. I'll write down the workout regimen and the diet he has me on (lotsa chicken!)
Monday I get my body fat measured. I shudder to think of it.
This is worthy its own thread or even a blog! Please go and start a new thread as this is very interesting and even related to beachcat sailing.
I am on a new exercise regime myself and have recently changed my diet.
Hey Tad,
That's awesome.
I agree with Rolf. Start a new thread and keep us updated. I'd like to know what kinda program he's got you on.If you don't wanna post it shoot me an E-mail or PM. I assume it takes the diabetes into account. I need to do something myself, I know y'all probably don't think so but I'm always up for improvement(although it's tough to improve on my Foghorn physique).
Todd
p.s. Got the rings. Thanks.
Todd,
Start here:
DD = bad
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I guess my glove ain't tall enough, what's DD?
And your not allowed to bust on me until you give me some more airtime! <img src=
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I allways thought DD = GOOD!! Maybe we're talking about two very different things! <img src=
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