Sailfest......

In general I think they seem to have a different setup. Not sailing clubs as we do putting on racing week in week out but sailing centres that offer teaching, boat storage and free sailing. They then appear to travel to regattas every few weeks as takes their fancy to get their racing. 

Why do you presume I am 'trying to beat the organisers'. I am trying to have a constructive discussion!

Sure things went wrong but life is like that. I still maintain that Sailfest is a good idea.

Good morning Simon. That is a hard question to answer of course. The problems of low turnout in the Byte class is more complicated than that. This is a personal opinion of course but I believe that minor classes need all the help they can get. Classes like Solo have critical mass and a wide range of competitor types so no problems there. As I have said before I like the idea of bringing smaller classes together and making a better event out of it. In order to get small class competitors to travel it has to be easy for them. Remember there are loads of sailors out there happily racing their mates on a Sunday afternoon at home clubs (I am one of them), why should they travel? My son had to take Friday off work, load up two boats, drive 150 miles, spend £85.00 on B&B, £69.00 on entry, pay for fuel etc. It was worth it for him as defending champion and for Rick who won but other competitors need all the encouragement they can get. Cheap fees may just be part of this encouragement.

I would add however that sailing politics in this country seem to discourage youth from the Byte class which limits its participants. However with the involvement of Hartley we hope for better things in the future.

Sailfest is a great idea, last year was better, more boats and WPNSA. It can give a big racing atmosphere for small classes. I am the first to acknowledge how difficult it all is.