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    Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:27pm
Originally posted by Gbr440


Was a great weekend and is a really good series.

Given how many different classes there are now and how small some open turnouts are. Who thinks a similar summer series on sea venues would be a good idea??

I’m not sure I’d advocate an SJ summer series (I like the fact that it is a particularly winter thing to do) but I do think that the smaller classes should group together for multiclass events in the summer. Not just sharing a venue, but racing each other. So Lightnings, Streakers, Bytes and Europes could race in a fleet of 50. Or on the not so small scale, Scorpions, 200s and Albacores could get 300+ if they held an umbrella Nationals. It would even allow designers to introduce new designs without fragmenting fleets, but I’m getting off topic there...
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Posts: 2003 		Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:26pm
Originally posted by Simon Lovesey

Originally posted by 2547

What is the point of live tracking an event of this level? Is there really an audience for that?

Over 2,500 unique visitors following the event online over the weekend,  lots of interest 

including search bots and more sinister data mining tools?

Some articles to put that figure into perspective:


A longer one:



Edited by yellowwelly - 16 Dec 13 at 12:33pm
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Posts: 349 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Simon Lovesey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:24pm
Originally posted by 2547

What is the point of live tracking an event of this level? Is there really an audience for that?

Over 2,500 unique visitors following the event online over the weekend,  lots of interest 
www.sailracer.org
Online Sailing Results, GPS Tracking & Event Management
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Posts: 2003 		Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:20pm
Originally posted by 2547

What is the point of live tracking an event of this level? Is there really an audience for that?

exactly... tracking technology is a plague on our civil liberties.  Now even the third beat of a winter sailing event gets tracked and uploaded, whether we want it to or not.

The Wachowski brothers got it wrong... it appears we want to live in The Matrix and there's nothing sacred and exempt from our digital footprint; even our sodding club results get uploaded to the web for public dissemination without even the courtesy of removing personal data.  Why?  Does anyone ask anyone's permission to do this?  Does it actually help attract new members?  Does having a GPS attached to a mast improve the regatta?  Doubt it, given Mk 1 eyeball and a bit of paper was used for years to get handicap results correct before publishing.    


Edited by yellowwelly - 16 Dec 13 at 12:25pm
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Posts: 1151 		Post Options Post Options   Quote 2547 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:13pm
What is the point of live tracking an event of this level? Is there really an audience for that?
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Posts: 2003 		Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 12:05pm
I said 'all about' quite deliberately... it's a gut feel, opinion based.  Years gone by regional sailors would group together for winter memberships at certain clubs.  That seems to happen less now - or that's a vibe I pick up.  Maybe with the top flight of dinghy sailors leaving their boats on their driveways, rather than at a regional inland club over the winter, has an effect on participation.  Maybe it doesn't.  I dunno... it's just a vibe.  

But in answer to GBR's question, no, I don't think it would be a great idea to run a summer SJ type series out of pre-existing regattas around the country.  Those events typically have their own individual vibe and it would be a shame for that to be lost, or at least diluted under the banner of an internet regatta programme with stupid feckin' GPS devices strapped to the mast for 'instant playback'.... odd how there's all that technology, yet the results still go live across the web with a seemingly glaring mistake Confused   

If someone wants to set up a handicap series of new events, then fine, whatever, good luck I guess.   


Edited by yellowwelly - 16 Dec 13 at 12:07pm
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Posts: 1314 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Neptune Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 11:55am
Originally posted by yellowwelly

you'd have to question what value there is in club membership if you are prepared to travel for your sailing.
Make the pinnacle of a weekend hobby sport all about travelling, either for competition or conditions, then don't be surprised if the numbers dry up... as it has in windsurfing.  


As a fraction of boats racing these events are hardly scratching the surface in terms of participation.

Why shouldn't travelling event be the pinnacle, it always has been surely.
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Posts: 2003 		Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 11:52am
It's the knock on effect though... how many club winter series are suffering as the weekends all get taken up with travelling events?  I've no idea how many winter members we've got this year, my feel is it's probably less than in the past.

What with class racing in the spring, summer and autumn, plus this series now in the winter, you'd have to question what value there is in club membership if you are prepared to travel for your sailing.

Make the pinnacle of a weekend hobby sport all about travelling, either for competition or conditions, then don't be surprised if the numbers dry up... as it has in windsurfing.  
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Posts: 705 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve411 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 11:43am
I don't think they've been soured, except perhaps for a handful of individuals on this forum. If anything, the opposite is the case with entries buoyant and 100 boats at both the Dash and the Flyer (in it's first year) + the entry limit for the Brass Monkey already reached.
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 13 at 11:38am
Summer events would be very unpopular with the CAs.

You'd think that small classes might be keen, but I suspect the demise of the TASA thing suggests they wouldn't be.
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