Saving Sailing v2023

[Pokey uh da LBC]

Hey guys,
Been thinking about ways to get more boats out racing. Seems to me that there are plenty of boat owners that might be interested, but:
1. Don't know where to start or how to get involved
2. Think their boat is too slow
3. Worry about getting crew, and
4. Are intimidated by the whole process
So, we're putting on a three to four hour seminar spread over three Saturdays that will hopefully provide boat owners a pathway to participate in the sport of sailboat racing.
The catch phrase is, "Sailor to Sailboat Racer in Just Three Hours."
What do ya think?

Course overview and poster below:

 

[sunseeker]

Whatever you do will be helpful. Great start. See how the audience responds and adjust.

 

[dfw_sailor]

Ask the attendees at the conclusion about whether they would have preferred one session every second Saturday rather than 3 in a row. A suggestion, not a criticism.

 

[Alaris]

Please film this and put it on YouTube when you’re done. I’d like my college sailors to watch it.

 

[BrightAyes]

Kudos to you mate!

 

[LB 15]

Yes good for you for having a go. Having been involved in growing participation in racing for over 30 years, I can offer these thoughts. There is a misconception that most people who are involved in the recreation of sailing, want to get involved in racing. The reality is that while a few do the vast majority do not. Racing is but a tiny sub section of the activity of sailing. It aint for everybody.
The future is social beer can racing, not 'serious' racing. Look at any club now and you will find the beer can races are attracting the biggest fleets.
But good luck with the program - I am sure you will hook a few in.

 

[TJSoCal]

I've been thinking something like this would be valuable for a while now, so good for you guys for putting it together.

I think you may need to do a little more than just make it available. Ideally it would be great if folks in each club could reach out individually and personally to people in the club who you know have "raceable" boats and see if they're at all curious.

Ping me if you need help. I've got a presentation almost in the can that covers what I believe to be the essential essentials of the racing rules and can probably be done in 15 minutes and could be put on a laminate 3x5 card to hand out.

 

[PaulK]

Sounds like a good idea and looks like a good outline. Wonder if scheduling midday on Saturdays would cut into attendance. (Soccer... tennis... golf...groceries...) Might evenings be better? Hard to tell until you find out one way or another.

 

[TJSoCal]

I'd also suggest that the "what's it gonna cost?" and boat prep sessions should try to be as unintimidating as possible. Get the cruisiest PHRF skipper you can find to do a "look, just run what ya brung" discussion.

 

[Howler]

This may be a heavy lift, but could you find a couple of skippers who would agree to take people who had completed the course on board for a race or two?

 

['Bacco]

Great idea!

In my opinion, the best way to get more boats out there is to run a main and jib night. Make it fun, encourage the Clorox bottles to participate, and bring your wives/kids/grandkids. Simple fun triangles, beers downwind, and make sure to have a food or bar special after to encourage camaraderie. Protests are discouraged on these nights and treated as teachable moments over a beer between friends.

Encourage nonsailors to come out. Have them bring a friend. My bow guy started out this way and fell in love with it. My wife has gone from Tuesday night cooler jockey, to trimming the main, to driving Tuesdays and now doing mast on a 111 on Wednesdays. Her friends now sail.

We now get around 30-40 boats on our Tuesday Main and Jib nights and many of them have crossed over to Wednesday nights after a year or two.

As an example, this is the first thing in our Tuesday night SI's:
"Preamble – The Tuesday Night Series is intended to be a competitive but more relaxed form of racing. We hope to encourage new racers, families, cruising sailors, and potential new crew to enjoy, and/or be introduced to the sport. This is not to say that the racing rules (particularly those addressing good manners and sportsmanship) are to be ignored; indeed the series offers an opportunity to learn the rules from the more experienced skippers and crew members. Tuesday racing is meant to strike a balance of enjoyment, learning and competition across all participating fleets. The race committee requests everyone’s cooperation in the spirit of what is intended."

 

[TJSoCal]

My club (which, Pokey, is in your vicinity) runs a regular Tuesday afternoon “race” that’s very informal. Pursuit start (No RC, just start & finish specified marks), jib & main, random leg courses, handicaps are adjusted weekly based on performance. Coordinator gives each boat her start time over the radio before the start.

Skippers & anyone who wants to crew can show up at the club around 1130 and everyone gets allocated to a boat.

We usually get anywhere from 6 to 12 boats on the line (as long as the weather is decent) and have gotten at least a couple of new boats racing.

 

[sunseeker]

My club (which, Pokey, is in your vicinity) runs a regular Tuesday afternoon “race” that’s very informal. Pursuit start (No RC, just start & finish specified marks), jib & main, random leg courses, handicaps are adjusted weekly based on performance. Coordinator gives each boat her start time over the radio before the start.

Skippers & anyone who wants to crew can show up at the club around 1130 and everyone gets allocated to a boat.

We usually get anywhere from 6 to 12 boats on the line (as long as the weather is decent) and have gotten at least a couple of new boats racing.

This is a really good idea. Easy to run and participate, low key fun.

 

[TJSoCal]

This is a really good idea. Easy to run and participate, low key fun.

Yep, that’s the idea. Only drawback is the weekday afternoon schedule that makes it difficult for us working folk…

 

[bluelaser2]

Now that I'm an old crank, like Herzog, I send letters...

I sent one last week to our fleet managers at the largest local club still racing- they basically consolidated many of the racers in the area.

I started with a modest proposal: Wednesday nights should be about participation, weekends should be about competition. The benefits, in my view, of that approach?

- Encouragement of sailboat owners to bring their boats out. Some of those will- in time- want to up their game and race on the Weekends for real, but they won’t without a toe in the water. The seminar idea in this post is fine, but it requires existing motivation.

- Lessen stress on owners to put together a whole crew – or not include people who may slow the boat.

- Encourages owners to bring along non-racers- allows for some joyful sailing without a ton of maneuvers or taxing physical and equipment requirements

- Bring more people to the club midweek with ample opportunity for increased food & beverage sales

- conserve resources of all concerned for better Weekend racing – less wear/tear and gas for committee, less time commitment for committee and volunteers, clear focus on accurate, detailed and documented scoring. Meaningful competition makes the Weekend races more meaningful by definition.

Less burnout = more fun, especially as the season winds down – ironically when the sailing conditions become more exciting and demanding.

What steps might be taken?

-Use a fixed course, the same every single time. Waikiki Yacht Club does this on Friday nights- from the harbor to Diamond Head Light, and back. It works very, very well. It’s fun and interesting because the focus is on the conditions, not the course.

-8 miles is a good average race for most boats in most conditions for a Weds evening. No need for a course card. No chance of marks being missed or missing. No decision making by the committee, no wasted time motoring to and from the start, completely predictable start time so people can arrive reasonably late and still race.

-One start time, one race for all classes. No need to track time, listen for horns/watch for flags, get caught up with non-starting boats, etc. etc. etc. Simple and easy for every skipper and crew. Big long line means nice and safe for everyone. The hot shots can fight for the favored end, but since its fun racing anyway, the point is to get off to any start and go sailing. If a starter is available, change it up some nights with a pursuit start- or simple pre-schedule alternating pursuit and fixed starts each week.

-No PHRF certificate needed. That means people don’t have to pay the money or deal with the hassle if they race once or twice a year, or if the notion comes over them to do so out of the blue, or if they want to take friends for a scenic sail with a bit of excitement. The Race chair issues a Wednesday night rating, no appeals, and not worth an argument, about anything because its basically practice racing anyway. This will end up selling MORE PHRF certificates in time, and if local PHRF objects…well….fight it out with them. It’s for their own good.

-No committee needed- score via online finish form, or if someone is available, use a starter or finisher ashore to call mark when a boat finishes or call over-early starters. Total emphasis on Corinthian racing on Wednesdays. If you foul, simply don’t file a finish form. Stripped down protest procedure: basically race chair listens and makes a decision, no appeals, no formality.

-Boats can use a spinnaker if they want to, or race JAM if they want to. No need to lock boats into a class- this totally relieves skippers from having to staff the boat to make coming out worthwhile, lets people learn spinnaker handling in suitable conditions when they feel like it. Encourages them to play- because that’s the point of Wednesday nights. Accomplish this with a simple checkbox on finish form if spinnaker was used: 15% rating bump if it was not used. This is a fair, arbitrary number that will allow cruisers and Jammers to have some fun. All of it easy to calculate and score with one course, one start time, and a club–issued rating.

-Two sets of series flags: for number of starts/finishes (ties allowed) and for scored results.

In other words, for Wednesday nights, remove all possible barriers to participating, remove all possible variables in human decision making, remove all possible use of club resources, remove all possible competitive advantage for serious racers, add in reasons to use the boat, add in reasons to bring people along, add in reasons to play with the spinnaker, add in time and inclination to enjoy the club afterward.

There still would be plenty of exiting racing anyway for the people keen on racing- If you get any set of boats together on the same water at the same time….a gripping race will probably develop….

To their credit, they listened respectfully. Will any of this happen? Not a chance in hell.

 

[The Dark Knight]

Combine the first two sessions into one and skip the third. “Sailing faster and building a team” will intimidate the cruisers thinking of giving it a go.

Skip the “sailor to sailboat racer” for the same reason.

As a club you should offer to put onboard an experienced racer to hold their hands on the first race.

Focus on the social aspect of the racing and that it gives them a purpose to take their boat out of the marina.

 

[stealingisacrime]

#1 way to grow the sailing?
Remind people to not be dicks.
No need for the Zhikified dock walk before a beer can race.
Noses down and helping hands out.
Share the love, without the attitude.

 

[Howler]

Protests are discouraged on these nights and treated as teachable moments over a beer between friends.

I once heard a coach say that in races that are intended as learning experiences (i.e. a lot of junior racing and informal club racing) we ought to protest a lot more often, and take it a lot less seriously when we do. Kind of, "For an hour after the race committee boat docks, we'll be sitting at table 17 in the bar area, with the little model boats and a copy of the rules out on the table, and anyone who encountered a rules situation, irrespective of whether or not they want to formally protest, is encouraged to drop by and discuss it. "

 

[Steam Flyer]

I once heard a coach say that in races that are intended as learning experiences (i.e. a lot of junior racing and informal club racing) we ought to protest a lot more often, and take it a lot less seriously when we do. Kind of, "For an hour after the race committee boat docks, we'll be sitting at table 17 in the bar area, with the little model boats and a copy of the rules out on the table, and anyone who encountered a rules situation, irrespective of whether or not they want to formally protest, is encouraged to drop by and discuss it. "

This is a GREAT idea, have gone thru something very much like this with club races for years, on and off. Always lively discussion and always a step up in rules understanding for all who participate.

 

[TJSoCal]

#1 way to grow the sailing?
Remind people to not be dicks.

That's almost literally in my 15 minute essential racing rules brief.