How to create a new regatta?

Like the cliche made famous by Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."

Often the problem is finding a place in the schedule to fit in a new event. And maybe the turnout will be small the first time. But if everyone has a good time, the word will spread, and it will grow each year.

You need an interesting name for it and maybe a theme of some kind that makes it identifiable and different from the other regattas in your area.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help through Catamaran Sailor.

As with any business venture, the first step is to truely analyze the costs invovled in order to price your product.

You're right, regatta's can be an expensive endeavor. The largest of which would be insurance. I would imagine that most regatta's are sponsored either by yacht clubs or Hobie Fleets, both of which have insurance in place already to cover an event. Call your insurance agent and find out some costs. Worst case, talk with the local yacht clubs in your area, maybe you can go in together.

You mentioned the cost of food and lodging. Inevitable costs in a sailors life. Many I know camp. Others hotel. Either eay, speak with various campgrounds and hotels about the possibilty of "blocking" sites or rooms. They will generally give you a better rate per room for guarenteed occupancy. Start with a small black and promote your race well in advance. You'd hate to be in the hook for sites/rooms that go unrented. When advertising these spots, do not sound desperate to unload them, turn it around and talk about how fast they are going. Remember the saying: "Nobody wants to eat at an empty restaurant."

For food, you might be able to try the same thing with local restaurants - work a deal with the restaurant to get discount vouchers to hand out at the regatta. This would be revenue for them that they ordinarily wouldn't get since the potential patrons are from out of town. A 15% off coupon would be a small price to pay for a customer that you would never have gotten otherwise. Or if a yacht club is involved, mayber you can use their facilities for a catered dinner. Do not offer the sale of this seperately. Raise the price of the regatta to cover the cost of this as well. Otherwise only a handfull of folks will come in the door and you may be holding the bag for the price difference.

Just a couple of thoughts. The way I see it, the keys are knowing your costs and PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE.

Good luck.

John.

Hi,
I am doing just this right now... see http://www.westlakesailingclub.com/sandbanksopen

I think the crucial part is to get it listed as part of the local schedule, and then market it like crazy..Make sure that the local circuit folks all come.

Also, make sure that you have more than enough food and entertainment. In my opinion 50% of a good regatta is the social aspect. I have been to big events where everyone disappeared at 6pm...not much fun.

Make it open...Any 6 boats of one type show up get their own class.

Dave

Flounder and Pitchpole Dave,

Where do you guys sail/go to events? I'm curious to know what clubs are still holding Hobie only events. (Not including National/Area Champs)
Sounds kinda silly.

Tracie

None are ever advertised that way... but I get the feeling like there is some sort of bridge that needs to be built.

I assume that the bridge you are talking about is the marketing...

I don't know about in your area, but catsailor numbers are WaY down here. I think that this is a very serious problem. We need new blood!

We have to get with the program and start marketing ourselves. We need to stop locking ourselves up in these yacht clubs for members only and start getting out to the public beaches and taking people for rides.

So, Anyone who comes to our event gets FREE admission if they "heard about it on the net" Just email me and tell me that you are coming.
Dave
http://www.westlakesailingclub.com/sandbanksopen

Numbers are dwindeling as far as racers are concerned. The idea that I came up with was that newbies do not like course racing. I think an off the beach start and a flat out one day distance race is the best way to be inclusive for all boats and levels of sailors. Some people are going to get out there to have fun, some will go out there to race... but atleast everyone is together representing the sport.

I also think there is a surge of sailors getting into the lifestyle with the new family oriented boats, specifically the Hobie Getaway and Wave. Three dealers I talk to can't keep Getaways in stock. Five years from now, the Hobie Class will have to get them included in some fashion in order to keep racing alive.

I love to see new sailors asking questions like "how do I start a new regatta?". Excellent! We need more folks that are willing to take the time to give back to our sport. Promoting and running a regatta is hard work and takes lots of volunteers.

Hans Meijer, the PRO of the CRAC Summer Sizzler which I help to promote, can attest to the amount of labor involved. I help out because I appreciate all of the work done by others to bring races to the water for us to enjoy. It is truely rewarding labor, when you see the smiles on the sailors faces!

On the Chesapeake Bay, we have CRAC that holds the bulk of the area's top regattas. CRAC has a few very dedicated individuals-Mark Schneider, Jodie Perkins, and others. CRAC has insurance that we use for our regatta and they supplied the marks, flags and JODIE!!!! It really helps to have an umbrella organization to go to for a starting place. Look for one of these groups to contact.

Without Hans Meijer the event would not take place. You have got to have good volunteers-trust me! You cannot do it yourself.

I understand your frustration when it comes to the "isolationism" within our sport. For the CRAC Summer Sizzler 5 Regatta, I invited and talked the event up to many different class, including Hobie 20/Tiger/16s, Inter 20, and Formula 16/Formula 18. None of these classes showed, despite one of them asking for a class start and trophies (which I purchased) as recently as the Chesapeake 100 dates! Instead we sailed with two classes with 16 F-18HTs and 5 A-Cat. Everyone had a blast! I am sorry that the other classes chose to turn their back on our efforts and the regatta, but they lost the opportunity to party on PLAYSTATION and race in 8 great races (with great conditions)!!!

Anyway, if I can help you in anyway, please e-mail me. Like Mary said, "build it and they will come", if you keep plugging!

Regards,

W.F. Oliver

Can anyone give me examples of post race entertainment?

Sometimes just being out on the beach and sailing for recreation helps to get new blood. If your group does not do any fun day events I would highly suggest it. Also have outings that do not involve sailing, like have everyone get together and get something to eat then go play a mini-pool tournament with each other. Getting the kids and spouses invloved helps them see that this sport is fun and family orientated.

Tracie

Hi Flounder,

Good luck with planning your event. For what it’s worth, I would keep the post race entertainment as simple as possible. A gathering point sometimes is all that is needed to get the fun started… such as a camp fire, or open grill (cook your own meals..??).

Just in case you’re not aware of the following events in the area, you may want to consider them.

Buffalo Hobie Kenobie Open (7/19 – 7/20). Friday they have a very cool distance race. Saturday and Sunday they have a very casual racing schedule. It’s a fantastic beach/restaurant venue with hundreds of spectators.

Rochester Ontario Open Hosted by fleet 295 (8/1 – 8/2). It’s the 25th annual event and this year and the fleet is pulling out all the stops. Live music, great food and they have many many surprises in store for the entire family. There is a ton of work going into this event and it looks to be some party.

Great Sacandaga Open. East Albany NY (8/16 – 8/17). This is the most laidback regatta I’ve been to. Other than the occasional wind shift, it’s a no stress regatta…. Its hosted in a beautiful state park and it’s an excellent family event as well as inexpensive.

Canadaiqua Multihull Open (9/13 – 9/14), My wife and I usually end our sailing season with this event. It’s a very cool yacht club with a long history of Shark racing. This event is simply fun, they do a great job.

In 2 weeks, July 4th weekend is Kingston Multihull Regatta. If you’re looking for wind in July, you’ll probably find it in Kinston. In my opinion it offers the best sailing in our area… The ramp launching can be intimidating, but once you get use to it, it works.

All of these events are open to all catamarans and are well within 4hrs drive from Toronto (except Great Sacandaga = ~6hrs). The organizers would love for you to come and bring your fiends along. In return you may be able to persuade others to come to your event .

Hi flounder, Here are some thoughts based on my experience with CRAC

Venue
Great racing venues with a convenient launch, reliable breeze, experienced race committee and beach management are great starting points.

Schedule
Does your sailing region need another regatta? Is there a hole on the calendar where your event would fit and not cut into another regatta. These are two observations from our region.

This year, the Hobie Gunpowder and Va Beach Hobie regatta (4 hours distance) were scheduled on the same weekend and both suffered with low or catastrophic attendance.

WF noted our experience with this year’s Summer Sizzler. IMO, we created an aggressive schedule this season and the early returns point to a partial success. The C100, attracted a large I20 and Hobie 20 and Open fleet however, the overwhelming majority of these sailors did not make it to the Summer Sizzler two weeks later. Similarly, our Rehoboth and Gunpowder events which are also two weeks apart attracted two different groups of racers on top of the usual die hard racing group. I conclude that the pace of regattas was too much for great turnouts at both events.

Take a look at the last few years of race results in your area. How frequently do the "racers" actually go racing. I looked at the mid Atlantic, Div 11 Hobie racers and Open Class racers participation over the last couple of years. I noted that about 2/3 of the 150 racing boats manage to make just 3 regattas or less a year. Consequently, it is pointless to add another event to the schedule for the majority of racing sailors because it simply gives these sailors an additional choice of sailing dates. If the event is successful and doesn’t draw additional new sailors then you will probably dilute the turnout at the traditional events. I believe that your new regatta will indirectly compete with one of the existing regattas because racers won’t commit to keeping their schedule clear for a racing weekend if an alternative and more convenient date is available. They will opt for the expedient and easiest solution of one or the other regatta. My conclusion is that adding events to the CRAC schedule may not be warranted. I would look at the schedule that Bob O just mentioned and see if there is such a hole in your region.

The remaining 1/3 of the fleet who are "campaigning their boat" are the ones that could participate in an additional event and so for them, the calendar becomes critical. Racing every other weekend is still an aggressive schedule and you won’t get a great turnout at both events if you have small fixed numbers of racing sailors. Perhaps every three weekends is a sustainable schedule.

Focus
Is your event targeted to the recreational catsailors who don’t consider themselves racers? Are you targeting the local cat sailors who won't travel and don’t usually consider racing and this regatta is a way to hook them into the sport? A hybrid event such as you proposed is neither fish nor fowl. The 1/3 of the fleet who are serious buoys racers probably aren’t going to choose a distance race to spend their time and money on. These serious campaigners are not motivated by racing against a group of new sailors. Perhaps the remaining group 2/3 of division racers may be looking for a distance race to compete in and your regatta will work well for them. A quick survey of racing participation around the country suggests that you are correct about beginning racers and distance races. The Statue of Liberty race will draw 70+ boats, the Round the Bay , Slip to Ship, Miami to Key Largo, and several others are drawing large fleets of recreational catsailors in addition to the die hard distance racing crowd of sailors. It looks like these turnouts are greater then buoys regattas in those regions. Perhaps a one day event will match people’s needs a bit better. IMO, the beginning racer has had plenty of fun after one day on the water and the commitment of the second day could be too much.

Size
Is bigger always better? Should we worry?
From the point of view of the host club, The amount of effort expended running the regatta does not scale directly with turnout. The differences between running a race for 20 boats and then for 50 boats are not that great . So from the club perspective, bigger is certainly better because you don’t have to do much more work for a huge payoff in terms of entry fees and energy on the beach. The racing sailors may have a different point of view. Big turnouts could equate to lots of time consuming starts and waiting time and your class/ friends are scattered down the beach which inhibits the class camaraderie that is key to building a class. The dinghy classes in the Chesapeake region have waxed and waned for over 50 years. (The Admiral Byrd series for Hamptons is running for the 54th year in a row at Cambridge Yacht club) Several classes appear to remain strong after many years and they are members of Yacht clubs and attend Yacht club regattas which are hosting one or two other classes for the weekend. Mega regattas like Cambridge with lots of classes are giving way to smaller events. IMO, 50 to 75 boat regattas are quite manageable and allow fleets to cover their costs. The Summer Sizzler was a great success… (we just won’t talk about the finances) A 75 boat regatta would be a huge turnout these days. Budgeting your event carefully can taylor your costs to the turnout.

Expectations must be met

One of the lessons that OCRA learned and shared with the US fleets was to acknowledge that class racing turnouts were low and dying in their area and to reinvent the regatta weekend by promising to deliver an event where no matter what your class turnout that weekend… you would be racing a comparable boat on Portsmouth. Over time they have shifted peoples expectations by delivering quality fun events where everyone is racing somebody and one design trophies are also awarded. OCRA has revitalized cat racing in Ohio by creating a realistic expectation and delivering on this promise. I did not sail in the day when Hobie actually had points and non points sanctioned regattas. But the concept of a hobie points regatta created an expectation on which the fleets could deliver high turnouts for one design class racing. How well this notion fits with reality in a given sailing region today is another argument. The point is that the expectation delivered by the term “points regatta” matches (or does not match ) the racing sailors objectives. IMO, the open class turnout at the Sizzler suffered (kind words for zero turnout) because we gambled that several classes would be able to muster a turnout of boats (two weeks after the C100) and when that expectation was clearly not being met… the turnout of boats spiraled down the crapper… My late phone calls to the fence sitters often went this way…

MS are you going? Not sure if I am going or not. .. well talk me into it.. who else is going?… will we be racing anyone if I do go? … MS… Yes we will have an open class … but who will be in it?…. Will we race against the HT’s?… .. MS not sure its up to the Race committee … Nah… not worth the time and money. I am sure it will be a great event… but just not for me this year.”

So, I conclude that we did not do a good job of creating the expectation that no matter what your class turnout… you will be racing in a high quality competitive race and so it is worth your time to attend this event. We were unable to assure the racers of a competitive racing weekend which would encourage them to arrange life so that they simply had go racing every other weekend in this case.

Well… something to work on for next season…. A great example of clearly explaining what kind of event you are running is the CRAM CatFight. Sailors know that if you show up on any kind of boat you will be able to go racing against a decent number of similar boats for three days. There is no chance that you will be partitioned off into a left over bin of mismatched boats or a small one design fleet. The regatta is now attracting a decent group of Hobie 16’s for the first time and other small groups of sailors throughout the region.

Bottom line, I am not a big fan of the “build it… they will come “philosophy. I would carefully look at your local calendar, who the target sailor is, will they participate and do you have a venue which makes it worth the effort for a fence sitter. One other possibility is that you may join forces with an established regatta and reinvent it in a way that meets everyone’s goals. With twice the manpower and energy for such an old but new regatta you could transform your region’s racing and move forward in new directions.

Good Luck
Mark

Wow, some of you guys make it sound awfully complicated to put on a regatta. You've sure got me discouraged.

Especially that Mark guy - geesh! He's a wordy one alright.

Tracie

I'd just like to say that this is a great disccusion for me. I need and want to hear both sides of the coin. I have been sailing and helping with regattas for 12-14yrs and have tried get a list of pro's and cons I see at every race.

Big problems I see are:

Setting a date
What to do if there is no wind
Logistics... a central meeting place, camping rez, etc
Man/Woman power
*** Insurance; how much will it be.
My vision is that it will be a 2004 event, so I have plenty of time to plan. I do have a friend that works as a fundraiser/sponsorship loby. She has signed on so I am confident that there will be sponsors to foot part of the bill.

Please keep the info. comming.

If theres no wind, you take the entrance fees and go buy beer with it.

I was just busting on Mark - I know him.
There is not much you can do about the weather conditions. You can try to choose a month that you feel is liekly to have the best wind and air tempertaures but when it comes down to it you just have to take what you get. *Most* sailors understand that there is nothing you can do about the weather and they don't hold it against you or your event.
I know I don't.

We get our insurance through US sailing -- about $800 for the year.
As far as setting a date. You really need to be aware of other schedules in the area and out of the area. IE: Nationals etc. Talk to area clubs let them know what you are planning on doing. Ask to have your event placed on their schedule or website. You'd be surprised on the good response.
You can never have too much man/women power - if they are willing to help out - get 'em. Things happen and you will always find yourself looking for an extra hand the week of the event because someone else had to cancel with an emergency.

Hope that helps some.

Tracie

Tracie,
Our fleet gets the regatta insurance through US Sailing, too, but it is $400 a year. I wonder why the difference?

I don't know why. I have never purchased the insurance myself, our Treasurer does it. Maybe we have a different level of coverage? I'm curious now because paying that monster each year hurts us big time.

Tracie

Attracting new members:
What about trying to interest the junior laser (or whatever) sailors? Last summer I took a few out and they were really blown away by cat sailing

How about inviting the local dinghy sailing schools out for rides?

Dave

That is a great idea Dave, and we did that years and years ago. Believe it or not, there is only one dingy sailor left, everyone else bought a Hobie 14 or 16... ha ha ha.

I'd really like to get those Wave and Getaway owners involved.

Hi Tracie
Your insurance is exactly like CRAC's. It consists of 2 seperate parts... on the water insurance for your race committe for about 400 and the second part is beach or property insurance. Virginia and Maryland counties require you to list them as insured before you can run an event and that's what the beach insurance provides.

If you run one event a year for 40 boats then your entry fee starts at 20 bucks.

The harder problem is convincing the recreational sailors to put their boat on a trailer and go racing! I have no idea how you pull that one off.

Take Care
Mark

I am wondering -- when you have a two-day event with one day a distance race and the other day course racing, do you think it is best to state in advance which day will be which or wait until the weekend arrives to make that decision based upon weather conditions?
Also, if people know in advance which day is which, you might get some people coming one day and some people the other, and it would take away from the two-day event aspect of it. If they don't know in advance, maybe more will plan to come for the whole weekend.

I wonder why they are turned off by buoys racing -- probably because it seems so much more complicated, and the need to understand the rules, etc. That's why the Hobie system of starting the newbies in C class and providing pre-regatta clinics for novice sailors worked so well. How many fleets still do that?

How many non-Hobie boats do you think there are in your area? And, do the Hobie fleets in your area NOT include at least an open class for non-Hobies?

Seems like if Hobies are predominant in your area, the ideal solution would be to get the Hobie fleets to include the non-Hobies, rather than swimming upstream by starting a new regatta for the non-Hobies and also including the Hobie classes.

UNLESS you call it something completely undiscriminatory and generic like the Great Corny Cat Open. Don't you grow a lot of corn in Nebraska? Have it when there's lots of fresh corn on the cob available and have a corn theme for the food for a big Saturday night cookout dinner -- everybody brings some kind of corn side dish -- corn relish, corn bread, cornmeal muffins, corn fritters, corn souffle, corn pone (whatever that is), corn salad, tamales......wow, I'm salivating (and gaining weight) just thinking about it. You could even have prizes for the best corn dish.

There would be other food besides all the corny stuff, of course.

Yup, that sounds right. I recall the on the water off the water insurance parts now.

I don't think the true recreational sailors in Va Beach even *have* trailers. Their boats are forever bound to the sandy dunes, only dragging them out during the summer months.

I used to get really frustrated on trying to figure out how to attract them. Now I just accept that fact that people are people. I just plan for the event and hope for the best.
No telling what makes people want to go to an event or not.

Tracie

I don't know why fleets don't have C fleet intro's anymore? To me an "ACAC F" race seems like anyone could do it but it doesn't happen. In a distance race, there is a lot of time to goof off if you want too. It's a big area so there isn't that pressure of all the boats being crammed together. ???

On a side note, it will prob. be held in SD rather than NE. Iowa has more corn I believe... I don't know why they named UNL's football team the Huskers. I am a transplant.

We hold a Raven Rookie Race each year to get new sailors on the race course. It gives them a chance to sail around the course without hanving someone yell at them bacsue they are in their way etc.
www.hobiefleet32.org/

BEER !

David Mosley
www.seacats.org

no joke, alot of people helping you, and ALOT of PR !!! Im talking 6 mos to a year in advance is needed.

Hi Flounder. Is that your real name? I belong to Hobie Fleet 192 that sails at Branched Oak Lake near Lincoln, NE. I raced at our Bent Mast Regatta this June 7th and 8th. We had many boats of all sizes and manufacturers.
The weather was rainy, cold, and windy. Only the the serious racers went out the first day and they had a blast. I find that people new to our sport are not turned off by racing if they are mentored and encouraged. Our fleet does a great job of this. I own 2 Nacras, at 5.2 and a 5.5, which I sail as unirigs. I have also helped to build a Nacra 5.2 fleet in this club and in another. I have belonged to the fleet since 1996. I have not sailed a Hobie Cat since joining the fleet, and do not have anything against them, I just like Nacras. I have always been welcomed to race and socialize with fleet 192.

If there is any problem with our fleet, in my opinion, it is with those former members that bought other brand boats and bad-mouthed Hobies. These sailors have all the answers but do not join, compete, or do anything positive for our fleet. This is a good part of why we have seen a decline in our fleet. Also our lake water level is at a 30 year low, making access difficult.

If you want to start your own regatta, feel free. It makes more sense to me to participate in ones that are already going and helping to make them better. Why don't you join us and participate? Mark Scherer

I like the two day events, and really like Mary's idea of having one a distance race, and the other around the buoys. I still haven't raced, though I have registered because I like to support my fleet, the events, and I'm still hoping to get out onto the course sometime! As far as the different brands of boats goes, I have friends with all different makes, and I like the idea of being more open and inclusive. My boat is modified so I can't race in my class, but I don't care. I'd just as soon race open class! I just want to learn to get the most out of my boat, and enjoy the comraderie.