Tradewinds Story and Pix Up

We should incorporate a small distance race from the Islander around the lighthouse ... once or twice around depending on wind.

if Friday's not a huge issue, then why not a 4 day event? 1/2 day sailing on Friday (pm) and Monday (am)?

Then, you could have some additional flexibility if any of the days have bad weather (heavy or nonexistent wind). And throw in that

average score

thing for those who can't make the early (Friday) or late (Monday) session.

But it does add more logistics costs... So maybe fun races or a distance thing on Friday?

I think a lot of Florida people might have to work Friday, and drive down after work, so...

But Monday is a Holiday, so most are off.

so you'd only need one day off (Friday) if you were within a 12 hour drive of the place, right?

Who gets MLK holiday off? I'm pretty sure it's limited to banks and gov't employees.

Rick thanks again for organizing this, great venue and great regatta overall. I think I'm on at least 6 or 7 years in a row and it's big commitment from up here!
Jake, I get MLK day off and I'm in the marine industry. I think it's just more common in the North... hmm.
As I mentioned, great job by everyone but I'd like to point out a few issues I had heard numerous others mention but didn't say anything on here.
1) Entry fee spike - Last year was what, $65? A $40 increase? I was really surprised by that.
2) RC seemed to lack confidence, I couldn't believe it was the same RC as last year. For instance,
-starting a race with a extremely unsquare line in numerous races and not postponing to restart. There were at least 3 starts you couldn't cross the line on starboard.
-not calling a race where the windwark mark and the leeward mark were basically one tack fetches.
-sailing us in extremely light air to a point it was unfair racing
-Waiting for all boats to finish before starting the sequence, we wasted lots of time watching boats finish in other fleets while our fleet had been finished for a long time. The whole point of a separate finish line is so you can start before all boats have finished isn't it?
-Upwind offset, most of the regatta we had to sail upwind and some even had to tack to make the offset. This is pointless and also requires us to raise our chute while still going upwind and can easily tear the spinnaker.
-Moving the pin after prep flag up. We watched the pin being moved to 3:30 prior to the start on one occasion. Start should have been re-done.
-One complaint I heard but I disagree with is starting on time on Monday with less than half the fleet. I don't have a problem with the RC starting without everyone there on Monday, it was our fault and I actually think it was a good move on their part for starting on time.

Overall, we come a long way for fair races, no one (except maybe whoever is in the lead) will complain by calling off an unfair race even well after the start. It needs to be done!
Again, I apologize for highlighting the negatives but there were certainly a ton of positives. I know it was shifty and light but I'd certainly like to see a more proactive and confident race committee in the future.

hah...yeah, having MLK day off became a huge ordeal for our city workers a few years ago. Jesse Jackson even made some noise in town.

Reply on the entry fee.
Last year was $85, so a $20 increase as a result of a $1k loss of my personal funds to run the regatta. Love the regatta, but don't think I should have to pay for it from my Roth IRA.

Was there a shortage of T-shirts this year?

And the 47%...

So let's call it

47% day

?

I thought the 47% got every day off, right?

;^)

I think that's 41%.

That's not what Mitt said.

Just to parrot others, it needs to be a three day event. It's 1800 miles for me one way, and a two day just isn't worth blowing two grand on fuel, and burning up a pickup that I can't replace to do it.

I wish I could've made it this year, stupid work, it ruins everything fun.

Rick, fair point on the entry fee. Maybe I was thinking Steeplechase for the lower entry fee. Sorry it's been a financial struggle for you, I hope this year was better.

Small note: 100 bucks for a three day regatta is normal and very acceptable, I would argue add another 20 bucks and include the second t-shirt for the crew. Until Rick starts rolling up in a fancy car with lots of bling, I trust he isn't trying to make a dime 🙂

I'll +1 all that wildtsail7 said, but emphasize that a lot was done right as well.

Thanks Rick and company, see you all next winter.

I've struggled through a few buoy races (T-winds / Eustis) where the shifts were huge, and we ended up reaching to A mark more than once.

But yes, it's hard to score those as official results when it wasn't really a W/L course

We all can't be winners, Ricky

When bad shifts happen, the RC has four basic options (all valid, this shows up on NRO exams, and you are expected to list the pros and cons of each):

Abandon

Shorten

Change

Do Nothing

The last one often eludes people, partly because it isn't in the rule book, and partly because sometimes it's tempting to do whatever you can to try to fix everything.

However, sometimes, trying to fix a bad situation only makes it worse. This is especially true with multiple fleets, handicap races, unprepared mark boats (

We don't need all of those flags on every boat

), etc.

Mike

I'm just happy there's a PRO/ RC out there in the first place...

I'll let you rock stars go sit through protest committees and second-guess the RC.

It is difficult to adjust a course for shifts during the race when there are 4 classes on the course and all overlapped. Easily done with one class.
Donita did a great job in general. The offset was controlled by a volunteer from CABB, who is not a big time racer, and I believe we got his offset corrected to be slightly deep reach.
On the start mark being moved, Donita asked for the adjustment after the warning and before the Prep. Should have been done before the warning. My fault.., I would not have touched it had I seen she was already in sequence.
Just let you suffer. ha ha
Rick

Looks like we will keep it a three day, for sure, and be able to preseleect your missing day, should you not be able to be there the entire regatta.
Remains MLK weekend Sat thru Sun, until or unless the A Class no longer ends on Friday
Rick

Rick, did you mean; Sat thru Monday? Or are you considering Friday-Sunday if the A cats are done by Friday?

How about Friday (afternoon) thru Monday .... we can leave the course in place from the last A regatta and get a couple of races in on Friday afternoon ... since they A guys will not start a race after 1 PM so as to pack up and depart. we could easily get off 2 races in the nice afternoon breeze!

More racing for Brogger <img src="<>/mad.gif" alt="mad" title="mad" height="15" width="15" />

Why the mad face Terry? <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

I'm thinking out loud before my brain really processes here...but what about a shortish distance race(ing) friday?

Thought it was an evil grin .... no disrespect intended ... now go back to building cabinets.

A run around molasses reef tower and back would be fun.

Maybe twice depending on the wind.

uh, there's no reason you COULDN'T do that.... are you proposing to make something like than an 'official' race?

I can't imagine you couldn't arrange an impromptu distance thing among the early-arrivers...?

As part of the three day event.