Melbournian
Looks like you've got the right idea. Your club also seesm to be doing something right -- 28 boats in your division, that's a really good sized fleet.
I raced in the Annapolis Wednesday night series for 20 years and while there were lots of boats, I don't thing there ever was a class that big.
As everyone has pointed out, racing really makes you learn about your boat. I know it took as about three years of racing and practice before we could consistently place up at the top and we all had a lot of years of sailing experience but very little big boat (I had a C&C 40) racing. From what you've written it sounds like you're ahead of the curve. In any case, we raced against a lot of really good sailors and most of them were more than happy to discuss tactics after the races -- that and practioce was how we learned. After a while we were on the other side trying to help out newbies.
There will always be loudmouths no matter where you go or what you do but with that many boats in your group they should be easy to avoid. We found that mostly they talked a better game than they sailed .
I gave up the Wednesday night series mainly because I couldn't get there in time for the first race. (Work is a *****)
Anyway good luck and good sailing.

 

We found that a good way to keep people happy is to have a white sail (main & jib) division and a separate spinnaker division. The slower boats don't get as frustrated trying to keep up with the "hot shots", and the race committee can provide different courses and starts. If the RC does it right, everyone finishes at about the same time so they can share stories on the club porch afterwards. Another trick is to manipulate the ratings. We had about 60" added to our rating for Wednesday night club races after we won the club championship a few times. Others had theirs adjusted too, so that the race results became much more equitable. We had to sail our best every time if we wanted to keep first place. Others had a better chance to beat us if they came out. Participation increased to the point that we needed to create two divisions, and the story goes on with new tweaks each season, based on what we think will work.

 

Morning All,

Bloodhunter, our Twilight starts at 6pm, so there's plenty of time for us to get there. Its so popular becos its alot more relaxed then the usual Sat race and alot of friends come along who are not members of the club. Also we don't have to sail throughout the season. Anyone can just let the race committee know if they want to join the race the day before. We have 2 divisions. We usually get about over 40 boats as the weather is getting better. For wed nights, there's no spinnaker. Less stressful and more fun.
Yes our race committee has done a great job to encourage sailing. We had over 250 people coming into the club on our open day a couple of weeks ago.
Paulk, we use Topyacht program to do the handicap and everything else ..except to sail . I help out on Sat to keep time. Its a pretty good program. All the other sail clubs in the bay is using it so we have a uniform handicap system.
Happy Sailing everyone

 

Just curious, but what local SF Bay series or races are you schooling everyone there champ? There are such a number of ridiculously good sailors on the Bay in so many classes that your post just sounds silly. When you're winning the ocean series, on a winning ride during big Big Boats, crushing the Etchells fleet, or doing the 505 worlds, get back to us. It seems you're not at all familiar with where to find the appropriate venue for your talents, and believe me, if you are talented on the Bay, folks will know. Trolls like yours do very very little to encourage participation and not at all indicative of how most really great sailors on the Bay look at newer racers at all.

 

Hey Puddin - welcome to SN dude.

DChew's is a lament that I've seen a lot of on SA and elsewhere. What is the answer to ramping up participation?

 

Puddin, read the whole thread.

 

Yeah, he has had 7 years to improve. Maybe he IS crushing the Etchells by now.

 

I realize the original post has aged out,
but just to echo Pudding's comments,
I have to add that if you can not find
good competition somewhere on S.F. Bay
you are either the worlds best sailor in every
conceivable discipline and class or you have not yet
ventured far enough from your duck pond.
I often envy the 'bay' sailors when I see the level
of participation they have for many of their events.

 

Berkeley?

No wonder dude, its not about racing out there on the circle, its more about survival or boredom, depending on the wind. The marina is so nasty with moss and dirt you can't tell what color your lines are. (We just bought a Merit 25 that's been there for years, moss on dock lines, and all the running rigging is grey/black, not to mention the home port of our lady of perpetual mildew)


Figure out why some of the best BYC sailors bring their boats to the Estuary to race at OYC, Island, Encinal beer cans.

 

Club Racing

Interesting thread. Four years ago, I was a novice cruising sailors that signed on as crew on a Pearson Flyer. The skipper had one and a half seasons under his belt. We would have been one of those boats that dchew loves to hate.

There are two brick `n mortar yacht clubs in the greater Milwaukee area, Milwaukee (MYC) and South Shore (SSYC). Both run a Wednesday evening social racing series and the two combine to sponsor a Saturday PHRF regatta series. MYC has about 24 boats on the water for Wednesday racing; SSYC has about 70.

I'm with SSYC. We have two divisions with roughly 45 boats flying spinnakers and 25 in JAM. Spins are split in 3 sections and JAM in two. We manage to get in 15 Wednesday races in our short Lake Michigan season. The two race committees share ownership of the weekend PHRF series. The wide variety of conditions on Wednesday's helps us to grow individually and gel as a crew. The skipper has gained confidence handling his boat and the crew has become a team. We have become pretty successful.

I dug into the archives and found the social series has had about the same level of participation over the last decade. The Saturday regattas have suffered a significant decline, a decline that is starting to alarm our race committee and prompted a questionnaire being sent out to past racers asking why they don't participate on Saturdays any more. The two clubs routinely put 90-100 boats on the water every Wednesday evening yet they have trouble getting 20-24 boats to race one or two Saturdays a month.

What sort of trends, if any, do you guys see out in your area?

 

+1 on that Cool. The bay area has some of the best racers around. I don't think anyone would dispute that.

 

Bay sailors are good in wind and small waves.

Some of the Ocean racing division do well offshore, but the central bay is its own little world of strong afternoon winds across the tides.

Buzzard's bay can match it, with fresh SW stacking up a chop. Lake sailors
and LI Sound/Chesapeake bay have better light air skills.

 

Bay sailors are good in wind and small waves.

Some of the Ocean racing division do well offshore, but the central bay is its own little world of strong afternoon winds across the tides.

Buzzard's bay can match it, with fresh SW stacking up a chop. Lake sailors
and LI Sound/Chesapeake bay have better light air skills.

Shouldn't comment, but...

nh, this thread isn't about who's is bigger, or about Buzzard's Bay or anywhere else east of Stockton. It's about someone who couldn't seem to find 'good' competition on SF Bay. Sailing year round does help develop pretty good skill sets.

 

Were spending money already

Thursday, February 25th at 7:00Pm
Strategy and Tactics Around the Racecourse

Presented by: Paul-Jon Patin

followed up by

For a full day on Sunday Feb 28 OF NORTH U

And we will meet at least 6 more times before the boat even goes back in the water

On this coast we gotta go against the best even on Wednesday night which would be the current top J80 and J44s owners just for starters and the classes will be filled with people looking to get and edge

We went to a presentation at Stevens Institute on there Current model
http://hudson.dl.stevens-tech.edu/maritimeforecast/maincontrol.shtml
and had to fight old ladies for a seat