Club Racing Formats

   From the posh gits thread:

At my club's Autumn series in the A Handicap there were 21 entries and one qualifier, in the lasers there were 34 entires and 2 qualifiers and in the Solos there were 19 entries and 3 qualifiers. 

Whilst taking nothing away from those that put the time and effort in to win, it can't be the best or most efficient way to run things when so few are actually 'competing'. 

Ideas on how to improve things? 

Author	Message Share Topic Printable Version Delicious Digg Facebook Furl Google MySpace Newsvine reddit StumbleUpon Translate Twitter Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic
Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Topic: Club Racing Formats Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 12:29pm
	From the posh gits thread: At my club's Autumn series in the A Handicap there were 21 entries and one qualifier, in the lasers there were 34 entires and 2 qualifiers and in the Solos there were 19 entries and 3 qualifiers. Whilst taking nothing away from those that put the time and effort in to win, it can't be the best or most efficient way to run things when so few are actually 'competing'. Ideas on how to improve things?

gordon1277 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 Mar 10 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 665	Post Options Post Reply Quote gordon1277 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 12:39pm
	Hi Peaky we had a sailors forum to discuss many things and one we are going to try for next year is increasing the discards to approx 50% to give more chance of them winning series. Hopefully this will keep more people interested for longer even if they have to miss a few races. Gordon
	Gordon Lossc

Contender443 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 01 Oct 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1211	Post Options Post Reply Quote Contender443 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 12:45pm
	So many people at our club only sail when they want to depending on other comnmittments and the weather. They really do not care about winning trophies or qualifying for a series. I do agree that discards whould be set at 50% for series over more than weekend.
	Bonnie Lass Contender 1764

Blue One Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 09 Nov 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 317	Post Options Post Reply Quote Blue One Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 12:53pm
	peaky, how many races do you have to do to qualify? we have to do half the races plus one to qualify and that seems to work quite well. Edited by Blue One - 03 Dec 13 at 1:07pm

gordon1277 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 Mar 10 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 665	Post Options Post Reply Quote gordon1277 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 12:55pm
	Our series are generally 10 to 14 races over a number of weeks. Gordon
	Gordon Lossc

Blue One Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 09 Nov 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 317	Post Options Post Reply Quote Blue One Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 1:01pm
	gordon, i see your changing you discards, but how many races do you need to do to qualify at the moment? Edited by Blue One - 03 Dec 13 at 1:08pm

yellowwelly Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003	Post Options Post Reply Quote yellowwelly Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 1:14pm
	The fact that someone turns up for say 3 races out of a 12 race series, and then be told they 'don't qualify' is another example of just how ridiculous the sport can be. Sure, they'll accept that they didn't do well in the series (in truth, most won't care one jot as they take each race as it comes). But when the in-crowd / group of folks with nothing better to do than trudge around the same little puddle week in, week out, whatever the weather, tell the rest of the membership they 'don't qualify', well no wonder it leads to elitism, cronyism and cliqueyness.... 'Sorry Bob, you don't qualify'.... it's a leisure activity-come-sport ffs, not a mortgage application. Edited by yellowwelly - 03 Dec 13 at 1:16pm

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 1:14pm
	Wach series at Chew is a different length - the evening series is about 18 races, most of the Sunday ones are about 10-12. This year qualification was dropped to 50% of races, but as you can see it hasn't had much impact. For starters I don't understand why there needs to be qualifiaction in the first place. Why can't I just count a bunch of dns in my results? In 13 years at Chew I have never qualified for a single series. So, whilst I don't particularly care whether i win or lose, it is disheartening to turn up on a Sunday morning knowing that it counts for nothing in the scheme of things. So much so, that I can hardly be bothered to sail at the moment - every race I do just becomes yet another identikit race with no differentiation from one to the next. It seems aimless, unstructured and unmotivating. That may just be me, but I am one of the "lost generation" of 20-30 somethings. Maybe others felt the same and just gave up? Shorter series would be a start. Six races is enough to find a winner surely?

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 1:17pm
	^^ Exactly James ^^

yellowwelly Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003	Post Options Post Reply Quote yellowwelly Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 Dec 13 at 1:28pm
	FWIW- some of the best racing I have done this year has been when the Solo fleet have gone 'off script'- run some short courses, we even had a personal handicap day which was hilarious. I'm sure this Sunday's binning off of club racing in favour of race training with Charlie Cumbley (sp?) will be a great day on the water for the guys in Solos at our club. edit: I think this is one of the greatest, subtle strengths of a club fleet structure, over an above the obvious advantage in racing. Just look at Neptune- he's halved the learning curve on the MPS just moving to Datchet with some support on tap.... the rest of course is down to handwork, fitness etc, but being in a fleet sure helps deliver a more rounded club sailing experience. I only looked at the series points for Wednesday nights as I'd assumed I'd done enough to make something vaguely meaningful out of the list. But I agree you qualify by being in membership and paying for a boat park space surely? Your position is then generated by the results you post, and yes, unfortunately those of us with better things to do than slump around the puddle at sub 2 knots, aren't going to be in with a shot. Peaky- I think you make a mistake in feeling like each race doesn't 'count in the great scheme of things'. Work it out... if you had a hollow life and could turn up each weekend to the same bit of water, sailing the same boat in the same prevailing conditions, would posting a DNF rather than DNS really mean more to you? I doubt it... I doubt it big time. Sure it's better than going to church, or taking up ballroom dancing, or bowls, or golf... so maybe when I'm empty-nesting on a fixed income with a glum outlook, I'd be happy with the routine of going sailing every week in the monotonous fashion you describe. I don't know, I'm not at that stage in life thankfully. Take each race as it comes. Leave out the duff ones. As Russ says, go smash a pasty-- figuratively or literally... either will do, whilst you still can. Edited by yellowwelly - 03 Dec 13 at 1:40pm