Veteran status at nationals

Surely the key is to ensure there's a mix of methods throughout your Class calendar, as;
a) It will allow events to have their own individual character, rather that being 'more of the same at a slightly different venue'
b) members will vote with their feet and attend the events that suit them
c) variety IS the spice of life.

In my Finn I LOVE Chichester Harbour Race Week (Fed Week), with 1 race a day (not sure the 2 races on Wednesday thing worked) and plenty of time to catch up with mates etc. I also LOVE doing the RYA Rankers at WPNSA when we have 10 races over 2 days, all controlled by a sh!t-hot PRO. Awesome!

As for Nationals, I detest the 3-day Nationals format, that discourages long distance travel and risks a potential 30% (or more) loss of races due to weather - even if I do recognise that it can make it easier for some people to attend.
Bring back the 5-day Nationals I say..... 2 races a day, a wider variety of venues, it makes it worth it for long-distance travellers, gives added security for race loss and is fairer for our less physical racers (age etc).

Originally posted by iGRF Kind of difficult to discriminate against vets when the entire demographic of the sport is 60+ isn't it?

It’s very nice hearing all these different views on number and length of races etc.  Just to put my position into perspective.  My very first Nationals was the 1972 Enterprise Nationals at Penzance with a fleet of 128 boats.  I think that was a 6 race series with 1 race per day, so really I have grown up with that format.  I guess it is only over the last 20 years or so that 3 day Nationals have become the norm for smaller fleets.  Shoehorning a Nationals over a weekend plus using either Friday or Monday as the 3^rd/4^th day can mean less time away from home and maybe less expenditure.  The host Club can also find that format beneficial by sometimes finding it easier to find the volunteers to run the racing.

In my case the shorter Nationals was fine several years ago, but with birthday No72 beckoning I just find the intensity too much hassle for the expense of travelling, entry and accommodation, knowing I am just going to be an also ran.  I noticed in the Tasar results this year; a gentleman not too much younger than me had previously won the Tasar nats 3 times but this time had a very modest finishing place.  I’m afraid time catches up with us all someday; maybe at different rates, but that clock is still ticking.

We sometimes have 3 or 4 races a day, but at Club level the competition is maybe not so intense and the courses are certainly smaller.  The races usually last about 45 minutes and that is no problem for me at Club level.

As an aside; In the recent Tasar Nationals the team lying 2^nd  at the start of the 3 race last day and could have won the event, broke their mast during the first race and that was that, no more racing for them and they plummeted down the results.  Bad luck I suppose as if the mast had broken in the last race then that would have been the discard and a top 3 result would have been guaranteed.

I love pursuit racing but throws up an interesting dichotomy, that the race duration is set by the slowest boat and the fastest may only be sailing for half that time. Since in many cases (mine being a notable exception) the fastest boats are sailed by the fittest sailors who could reasonably be expected to cope with the extra demands of their chosen steeds for the full duration. Maybe this is one of the reasons that pursuit racing is not more popular than it is?

I like pursuits, once in a while. Whole different set of tactics to think about.