‘Racing Needs You…. and Maybe You Could Use Racing’
Not sure if you have noticed and read page 2 in the Roster. When this Club was set up, one of the cornerstones was “All-round yachting” one part of which is the racing program. Eleven years ago, when I first start attending the race course, we were getting 45-50 boats out every race night. Last year we were struggling to get 20. We need more of you to come on out.
What happened? We got older, some dropped out of sailing, some got tired of seeking crew. Some got tired of chasing a win. Some skippers banded together on one boat. The replacements did not come out. So this winter there was talk about dropping one night…. and other re-courses. We just had a Racing Town Hall and quite a few ideas came out of it. BUT we want more ideas … and we want more people coming out. So How do we get there? Why would you come out? Why will you not come out?
You will learn much more about your boat. You will acquire far more experience in a shorter time by attending the race programme. You will gain so much more in self confidence as a skipper and a sailor in coming out and racing and in the long run this all might help you enormously when you get out under bad conditions and you have to dig deep. If nothing else, it is fun and having fun in life is very important.
We talked about several things that we think might be a negative as you consider coming out. Seeking crew. The one item that seems to be making a difference in local racing around the world is the Short Hand Racing. In Lake Ontario, the LOSHRS is pulling in about 85 boats for every race out of about 125 registered. Single handed or double….but no more. Saves a lot of running after crew. And surely one can find one person to race with.
What else? The use of the VHF on the start line. So, even if flags and procedures mean nothing, a beginner can still know what is going on. LORC has done it for years, LSHRS does it for every race. Nothing wrong with it, except I am told not everyone has a VHF. At the prices of today, a small one is well worth while to have onboard just in case of trouble.
Mentor programmes are already in existence but equally there are some of those older retired skippers who would love to come out with you and share their knowledge… ask them out with you.
Wives and husbands sometimes make for difficult partnerships while racing. So separate onto different boats for the race and come back and share experiences with each other.
Mayhem at the start line…. so, hang back and pass over it about one minute after everyone else…. you are still in a race. We also have a pursuit race where the handicap dictates when the boat crosses. You will probably have the start line to your self.
Can not win… so, mark a target, another boat same model as yours , see how close you keep to him/her and slowly that gap will shrink. So you will know you are making improvements.
Too much upwind, down wind, wrong angles for your boat… We have talked about some changes in this area also. Even considering just around all of the buoys, the hexagon. Takes in every angle a couple of times. MCC have an annual Rum Race with the bottle of Rum waiting at the end. Every boat will have it’s strong angles and it’s worst angles tested.
Too much of a commitment…too much of the season…. so, pick a Series. Commit to one Series at a time…. 6 Races Series is EYC normal; 10 races Series with other Clubs involved. (MCC and LSYC and maybe the Boulevard Club and maybe the Sailing School, and lastly, the Frostbite Series, 4 Races. We also talked about the specialty races that we run over the season and grouping them to a Series, 4 races, the Pursuit, The Single Hand, The Double-Hand and the Night Race. Four races over the course of a season….not much out of your season there.
So, let’s look for a reason to come out, NOT excuses not to.
We have a new Rear Commodore this year in Mac McKenzie and a good Race Committee. Let them hear from you. Will you sign up for some of these. Will any of these ideas make a difference to you? Do you have other ideas that you would like considered? Do you need a mentor? Do you want to discuss it more face to face, give me or any other racers, a call and discuss it.
Let us target 10 more boats this year minimum…. Come on out!
Read more about Racing at EYC – HERE…
Sailing With Devious, 2014 