Rude Dog
Member
Greetings Fellow Sailors! I am introducing an idea to all sailboat race organizers in the San Francisco Bay. I would like to share a letter I just sent to a popular local sailing magazine- it lays out the concept. I hope others in the wider racing community embrace and propel the idea forward, as I believe it will seriously increase waning participation in regattas. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Sailing Anarchy for everything you do for our sport!
If it pleases you, I would like to submit an idea to the readership for discussion and, it is my hope, rapid adoption by the local yacht racing community.
The "think globally, act locally" premise of my idea is to help resuscitate yacht racing, including socializing around yacht racing, on the SF Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones. My goal is to help halt the depressing and undeniable contraction of our sport and to reinvigorate racing in our yachting community in the hopes of growing participation again and- dare I say it?- attract newer (and younger) sailors?
I don't have answers to "the big picture" issue of shrinking participation in sailing, but there is a really easy way to attract more boats to the existing catalog of sailboat races currently in place.
About 15 years ago, I started becoming a fan of the French and European shorthanded offshore racing circuit, and the amazing boats that have been (and are being) developed. I have been considerably influenced by it and have adapted it exclusively for the way I race my boat. Of course I get routinely throttled on the race course as we cannot keep up with fully crewed boats. So in full disclosure- yeah- there is some self-interest here as well, but I digress.
My proposal is simple and straightforward so all race committees- take heed: introduce and offer a Shorthanded Division in every single regatta on the Bay and Gulf of the Farallones.
Why Shorthanded?
Shorthanded sailing is easier on the skipper, the boat, the budget and the logistics. It is challenging for the participants, and yet in many ways, is a much simpler equation to solve. Smaller crews, smaller sails, easier loads....the advantages are many. Any boat can be set up for shorthanded sailing and once this is done, sailors enjoy the extra room in the cockpit and down below, handling smaller sails, fewer crew politics, etc.
Shorthanded Classes Defined
It's very simple. There are 3 classes of a Shorthanded Sailing Division. Each would start either individually- if there are 5 or more boats in the class- or all together, immediately after its equivalent Fully Crewed division boats start. The Shorthanded classes are:
Solo (singlehanded)
Doublehanded (2 crew)
Shorthanded (per table below)
Shorthanded Crew Size - To Be Determined By LOA
LOA (in feet) Max. Crew
21-27 3
28-32 4
33-38 5
39 and above 6
Offering Shorthanded Divisions in every race will attract a larger pool of potential participants, and can be done with minimal change or additional administrative fuss or protocols other than requiring marginally longer starting sequences and some additional recordkeeping. Before the naysayers and "nattering nabobs of negativism" (thank you, Spiro T. Agnew) start squealing that "it can't be done".....why not at least try it? Otherwise, what bright ideas do you have that will attract more boats back to racing?
When I first got into racing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the level of participation in all venues was off the charts compared to today. On any given race weekend, the OYRA, MORC and MORA would have huge fleets, with most races going significantly longer distances. The Midget Offshore Racing Association ("MORA") routinely attracted as many as 50 or more boats for every race, and in those days, a day race wasn't some quick trip around the Lightship and in. Day races could go 40, 50 or 60 miles; the overnighters were epic, with the Memorial Day weekend going as follows: Day 1- SF to Drake's Bay, spend night. Day 2.- Drake's Bay to Half Moon Bay leaving SE Farallone to port; Day 3- Half Moon Bay to SF. The raft ups at Drake's Bay with scores of boats everywhere, were a blast; the parties at the Half Moon YC were the stuff of lore, and seeing all the hungover sailors at the breakfast spots before the Day 3 start was always a hoot. Best of all, it was through all this socializing that I was able to expand my social circles and meet tons of wonderful people I would never had otherwise ever met. This is, to me, the most rewarding aspect of yacht racing- but it seems to be going away. Hell- nowadays for the Half Moon Bay race, more than half the boats turn around at the finish and head back to the Bay. There is no more race back to SF any longer. Know what all this tells me? A bunch of old fogies on board- or pussies. Or party poopers. Or all 3.
Let's get more boatowners out on the water racing, and the crews socializing after racing. As I looked around at the half-empty Richmond Yacht Club a few weeks ago at the peek of their wonderful and always fun Great Pumpkin party Saturday night, the mostly middle-aged+ crowd told me this party would die out by 10, as these folks will need to be in bed. Where are all the 20 and 30-somethings? Twenty five years ago, this party was a barn-burner that stayed alive to the wee hours. If we don't find a way to get more young people involved now, our sport and our social lives will continue to shrink.
Adding Shorthanded sailing classes to every regatta is a simple and surefire way to stimulate larger fleets and participation. So race organizers and yacht clubs: What say ye?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OK Anarchists: Please comment!
If it pleases you, I would like to submit an idea to the readership for discussion and, it is my hope, rapid adoption by the local yacht racing community.
The "think globally, act locally" premise of my idea is to help resuscitate yacht racing, including socializing around yacht racing, on the SF Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones. My goal is to help halt the depressing and undeniable contraction of our sport and to reinvigorate racing in our yachting community in the hopes of growing participation again and- dare I say it?- attract newer (and younger) sailors?
I don't have answers to "the big picture" issue of shrinking participation in sailing, but there is a really easy way to attract more boats to the existing catalog of sailboat races currently in place.
About 15 years ago, I started becoming a fan of the French and European shorthanded offshore racing circuit, and the amazing boats that have been (and are being) developed. I have been considerably influenced by it and have adapted it exclusively for the way I race my boat. Of course I get routinely throttled on the race course as we cannot keep up with fully crewed boats. So in full disclosure- yeah- there is some self-interest here as well, but I digress.
My proposal is simple and straightforward so all race committees- take heed: introduce and offer a Shorthanded Division in every single regatta on the Bay and Gulf of the Farallones.
Why Shorthanded?
Shorthanded sailing is easier on the skipper, the boat, the budget and the logistics. It is challenging for the participants, and yet in many ways, is a much simpler equation to solve. Smaller crews, smaller sails, easier loads....the advantages are many. Any boat can be set up for shorthanded sailing and once this is done, sailors enjoy the extra room in the cockpit and down below, handling smaller sails, fewer crew politics, etc.
Shorthanded Classes Defined
It's very simple. There are 3 classes of a Shorthanded Sailing Division. Each would start either individually- if there are 5 or more boats in the class- or all together, immediately after its equivalent Fully Crewed division boats start. The Shorthanded classes are:
Solo (singlehanded)
Doublehanded (2 crew)
Shorthanded (per table below)
Shorthanded Crew Size - To Be Determined By LOA
LOA (in feet) Max. Crew
21-27 3
28-32 4
33-38 5
39 and above 6
Offering Shorthanded Divisions in every race will attract a larger pool of potential participants, and can be done with minimal change or additional administrative fuss or protocols other than requiring marginally longer starting sequences and some additional recordkeeping. Before the naysayers and "nattering nabobs of negativism" (thank you, Spiro T. Agnew) start squealing that "it can't be done".....why not at least try it? Otherwise, what bright ideas do you have that will attract more boats back to racing?
When I first got into racing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the level of participation in all venues was off the charts compared to today. On any given race weekend, the OYRA, MORC and MORA would have huge fleets, with most races going significantly longer distances. The Midget Offshore Racing Association ("MORA") routinely attracted as many as 50 or more boats for every race, and in those days, a day race wasn't some quick trip around the Lightship and in. Day races could go 40, 50 or 60 miles; the overnighters were epic, with the Memorial Day weekend going as follows: Day 1- SF to Drake's Bay, spend night. Day 2.- Drake's Bay to Half Moon Bay leaving SE Farallone to port; Day 3- Half Moon Bay to SF. The raft ups at Drake's Bay with scores of boats everywhere, were a blast; the parties at the Half Moon YC were the stuff of lore, and seeing all the hungover sailors at the breakfast spots before the Day 3 start was always a hoot. Best of all, it was through all this socializing that I was able to expand my social circles and meet tons of wonderful people I would never had otherwise ever met. This is, to me, the most rewarding aspect of yacht racing- but it seems to be going away. Hell- nowadays for the Half Moon Bay race, more than half the boats turn around at the finish and head back to the Bay. There is no more race back to SF any longer. Know what all this tells me? A bunch of old fogies on board- or pussies. Or party poopers. Or all 3.
Let's get more boatowners out on the water racing, and the crews socializing after racing. As I looked around at the half-empty Richmond Yacht Club a few weeks ago at the peek of their wonderful and always fun Great Pumpkin party Saturday night, the mostly middle-aged+ crowd told me this party would die out by 10, as these folks will need to be in bed. Where are all the 20 and 30-somethings? Twenty five years ago, this party was a barn-burner that stayed alive to the wee hours. If we don't find a way to get more young people involved now, our sport and our social lives will continue to shrink.
Adding Shorthanded sailing classes to every regatta is a simple and surefire way to stimulate larger fleets and participation. So race organizers and yacht clubs: What say ye?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OK Anarchists: Please comment!
