Course Coards

   HI
Should all serious dinghy clubs offer course cards or maps of the sailing area which can be down-loaded and studied at the sailor's leisure before attending Open Events ?   It seems to becoming the norm and I welcome this as my eyes get weaker. Otherwise the first race at least is a gift to the homesailors if its a tad complicated.  I'm thinking of a situation where a sailor might have to pick out 7 or 8 marks amongst considerably more in poor visibility. Of course the OD must be free to move or introduce new marks on the day but a general gist of the sailing area is what I had in mind.    Nautical orienteering or what ?
djdhi

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djdhi Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Groupie Joined: 06 Oct 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 44	Post Options Post Reply Quote djdhi Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Course Coards Posted: 23 Sep 10 at 7:44pm
	HI Should all serious dinghy clubs offer course cards or maps of the sailing area which can be down-loaded and studied at the sailor's leisure before attending Open Events ? It seems to becoming the norm and I welcome this as my eyes get weaker. Otherwise the first race at least is a gift to the homesailors if its a tad complicated. I'm thinking of a situation where a sailor might have to pick out 7 or 8 marks amongst considerably more in poor visibility. Of course the OD must be free to move or introduce new marks on the day but a general gist of the sailing area is what I had in mind. Nautical orienteering or what ? djdhi

JimC Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6661	Post Options Post Reply Quote JimC Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Sep 10 at 8:48pm
	It depends... At my club we have a special set of inflatables we only use for open meetings. Club racing is done with fixed marks.

JohnW Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 17 Jul 07 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 552	Post Options Post Reply Quote JohnW Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Sep 10 at 9:51pm
	We make course cards available and we also have one of the powerboats act as a lead boat so there is no confusion for visitors. Its the home crews that often forget the course (but perhaps thats an age thing!).

bert Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 23 Apr 05 Location: norwich usually Online Status: Offline Posts: 584	Post Options Post Reply Quote bert Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Sep 10 at 10:13pm
	I did a quite famous open on the east coast about 5 years back & the problem was that the course was spead over about 3 or 4 miles & you might have 3 bhoys in the same area & no way to tell which was which untill you could read the names.The course was a good course it would have provided very good racing with great reachs & beats for 3/4 mile on one tack possable but poorly marked for the vistor. I was in a group of faster boats & I chucked it in so when I arrived at the bhoy`s I ended up having to take all 3 to stbd to be sure of the correct rounding. I mentioned this to the race control & was fobed off with no one else complained comment & the suggestion of placing a bucket or simular on the bhoy went down like a lead balloon so I don`t brother to go there anymore & also their dinghy racing has suffered over time. Maybe I was right maybe I was wrong & there were other reasons that the dinghy section has dropped off but that`s the reason I don`t go back. On the first day I lost the course completely in both races & the second day the home fleet sat on the end of the slip way decussing if it was worth going out completely blocking it So My suggestion is a lead boat ( thanks john w ) & mark clearly the bhoys to be used so you can see where the bloody course is.
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