Veteran status at nationals

Best racing at our club is sprints. 15 minute races. 5-15 boats, never gets spread out too far. But, you do have to turn around quick; 3-2-1-go starts, straight in to sequence after the last boat finishes, don't move marks unless completely necessary, no recalls. A one day mini series of 6 races with no discard to discourage people from pushing the line.  

Above 15 boats and you can start extending the race time out, as even as though the fleet spreads everyone will have someone near enough to feel like they're still engaged in a race. In championship fleet of 50+ boats then one 1.5 hour race a day would be fine. 

The trend, in some locations and with some RO's, is for 'more' races of shorter duration.  This can make 'back to back' a right pain.  You can frequently spend more time getting to the race area, returning later and in between 'faffing' around in between races for almost as long as the races themselves.  A general recall .. or two ..and the balance of racing time verses 'faffing' time is damaged even further... Further if the RO gets too precious on course alterations in between the (many) races things can start to get hopeless !  

At club level .. 'proper' one hour races and a break ashore in between (so two races per day) is a good balance.  Championships ?   Two races of 75 minute duration for the leader if in reasonable weather would be my preferred format per day... Many of us however do three or more of course but the tendency is for RO's  to  shrink them  as each year passes "to ensure the full programme is delivered"...   and the consequence is that often you spend more time 'faffing' for the reasons already given.   As an 'oldie' myself I'm not arguing for 'less' racing (in terns of time spent racing) but I would prefer far less 'faffing' - the more individual races run the higher the potential for general or even RO induced buggering about (yes I know they do a great job and give us their time etc - BUT please oh please focus on the quality of racing more than the number of races !).  One observation is that shorter duration races put even more emphasis on getting that optimum start.  All well and good but 'line pushing' and OCS's seem to be increasing and the inevitable general recalls  that result contributes to yet more 'faffing'.

Sailing weeks ?  a single race per day but of LONG duration is so much more civilised.  Fewer 'push the line' and the obvious absence of  'back to back' related faffing makes life a damn sight better ! 

At my coastal clubs coming in is a faff. Tidal range makes launching and recovering a little more difficult in every way. We do lose boats between races though waiting around. 

As for championships, it's a difficult balance to strike. Too long on the water and it kills the social, too short and people feel short changed. Too long races and it gets boring and processional, too short and you spend more time setting up for starts and waiting for finishers that actually racing. 

I think most championships end up with too many races. You can understand why. People are paying to go sailing, so when asked if they want to do more sailing, they say YES! Often the AGM deciding such matters is near the beginning of the event, sailors are hungry for sailing. Like children offered all you can eat sweets they want more, more, more. But anyone who has gorged themselves into a bloated sickly stupor knows otherwise. 

Perhaps ask people how busy the race programme should be on the last day, as the fleet is putting on wet sailing kit with blistered hands and aching backs. Like a kid throwing up on their 10th Easter Egg, they may just opt for less next year. 

Yes I tend to agree with that, but I suppose it does vary from class to class. When I was a young Laser hot shot (and that was a LONG time ago) I used to begrudge any time when we weren't on the water, 3 or 4 races a day didn't seem unreasonable. I'm guessing many classes that attract the keener racing types are still much the same. Fast forward 20 years and I sailed a few nats with my young daughters in a more family friendly class and nats week had crews races, prizes for first lady, first junior, first senior, days off, on the water treasure hunts, and a great social programme that worked alongside a couple of races most days. It made for a great family holiday for all involved.  Can't say I like the idea of 9 races in 3 days, and am I the only one who dislikes all this back to back stuff ?    I can sort of "get it" for clubs with big sailing areas, but some of the racers at the puddle I sail on have picked up the back to back bug at their nats and insist on doing it in club racing too, although one can launch and be in the sailing area in 5 minutes so seems a bit pointless.