Midweek Racing.
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12559
Printed Date: 08 Jul 25 at 1:44am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Midweek Racing.
Posted By: Wrighty
Subject: Midweek Racing.
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 12:17pm
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Its took a long time coming but we now have a very good midweek racing at Carsington, We have had a Wednesday afternoon race this year then when the evening racing stopped they put on two races in the afternoon, the turnout was better than anyone could of hoped for. We are trying to see if can get a morning then a pm race before it gets too cold now. Next year as the D Zero has took off at Carsington with four new boats on order we should see an increase in the class racing aspect of the Wednesday series to add to the five solo that sometimes race on wednesday. Could it be that the Wednesday racing could become the best day to go sailing, morning race then lunch, afternoon race than evening race with a very good turnout as usual ? ------------- Wrighty |
Replies:
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 2:05pm
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Not sure that a Weds daytime would be more popular than Sunday, but do agree that midweek evening racing gets bigger turnouts (about 80 vs 40 at my club) and so wonder whether we should be switching the 'default' main races to midweek evenings. We hold all of our trophy races on a Sunday; to maximise turnout perhaps the prestigious ones should be on a Wednesday evening? No one seems to work Friday afternoons anymore. I wonder whether a 2pm race on Fridays might be the way to go? Inteferswith the school run, but as most sailing is by middle aged men, probably not too much of a problem!
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Posted By: Wrighty
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 2:19pm
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Thats a great point about Friday. Carsington do a sail and sizzle night untill 8pm in the Summer on Friday so it only need a push to do a normal afternoon race now, they do a novice race anyway so we will see what happens,it could kill the Sunday race series is the only problem but might attact more members so win and loose?
Chris ------------- Wrighty |
Posted By: transient
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 3:13pm
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Thursday evenings through the summer seems popular for some at our club. Mainly race training, coaching or free sailing. The club opens on tues evening during the summer months for RYA 1&2, this attracts fair numbers of free sailors taking advantage of the safety boat cover. I'm not sure that Wednesday daytime would work for most clubs unless they had significant numbers of retired members. What sort of turn out do you get at Carsington and what sort of jobs/lifestyle do the participants have? |
Posted By: Wrighty
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 3:40pm
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We got 16 on the last Wednesday but between 7 and 16, add school holidays in the summer the numbers go up, early retired, retired, shift workers, self employed, company owners, some can work on remote from home on broadband subject to servers on line, its a changing world now and Sunday is a working day now.
I would say university lectures as well now as half of my daughters lectures are cancelled for no reason, 9 grand for no teaching is a complete rip off.  ------------- Wrighty |
Posted By: transient
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 4:37pm
yep........didn't realise it had changed that much though. As the gig-economy gets hold I guess clubs will have to be even more flexible. Sounds like a good job is being done at Carsington. |
Posted By: 423zero
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 5:42pm
| Thursdays from midday all year, going into evenings during summer, their are more during afternoon than evening. |
Posted By: Chris 249
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 8:36pm
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As an outsider, can I ask why so many dinghy clubs in the UK choose Wednesday night? Last time I was over there I tried to sail at as many clubs as I could, but so many of them sailed on Wednesdays that it was impossible to schedule. Wouldn't it cater for more people if clubs in the same area sailed on different evenings, or is there some particular reason for choosing Wednesday? ------------- sailcraftblog.wordpress.com The history and design of the racing dinghy. |
Posted By: Sam.Spoons
Date Posted: 24 Oct 16 at 8:45pm
| Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in my history (currently Tuesday if I wanted to race windrufers, Wed at two reachable clubs for dinghy racing and Thursday was the midweek raceway for my own WS club a few years ago. It makes sense not to race Monday or Friday but I agree that local clubs sailing all on the same evening makes no sense. |
Posted By: gordon1277
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 8:55am
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Lee sail Tuesday, Evenings, Stokes Bay Sail Wednesday, and I think Seafarers and Hill head are dependant upon tide, so what you wanted to achieve could be done here on the eastern end of the Solent.
For us Tuesday Nights is better attended than Saturday afternoons, we hardly ever race Sundays and we do Gybe club Saturday morning then race training and then race in the afternoon. Only problem with adding to much extra racing is finding the volunteers or pressed men to run it. Clubs need to be aware of burn out for the volunteers. ------------- Gordon Lossc |
Posted By: transient
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 9:24am
It breaks up the working week nicely. Wednesday is a popular evening for many pastimes including popping up the pub for a couple of pints with the lads. |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 9:32am
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I've been spoilt locally over the years Tuesday night Longboard racing at Hythe, Wednesday afternoon dinghy racing on the lake at Redoubt although they screwed that about this year trying to move it later, and Thursday night Dinghies at Hythe.
Wednesday always used to be half day closing back in the days prior to 24/7 shopping so business types got the afternoon off. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: boatshed
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 12:54pm
In the dim and distant past, the days of cricket in the village green, warm beer and black & white telly, England used to enjoy half day closing for high street shops, banks etc and this was usually on a Wednesday. They also closed at lunchtime and 12 noon on a Saturday if they opened at all. This delivered ample time for leisure pursuits. I think your answer lies somewhere in this bit of history. ------------- Steve |
Posted By: boatshed
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 12:57pm
Ah, beat me to it. Also, shopping wasn't a leisure activity and for most there was nothing to do on Wed afternoons. ------------- Steve |
Posted By: maxibuddah
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 1:38pm
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Round our parts early closing was/is on a Thursday afternoon. Hadn't really thought why our club does racing on a Thursday but this could explain matters. Certainly better supported than our Sunday racing ------------- Everything I say is my opinion, honest |
Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 2:36pm
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Half day closing must have a lot to do with it, but of course the reason half days were normally Weds is the same reason Wed is a common choice for mid week racing anyway - the clue being in the title - "mid". Weekday evening racing has become more popular than weekend racing at both my old club, in Eastbourne, where Wed evening PRATT racing has become the place to be. Where I am now on the muddy upper reaches of the Exe esturary we can only sail at high tide, and so do between 2-4 race evenings a week on alternate weeks, as the tide suits. In contrast weekend racing is generally less well supported. In both cases I think a critical factor in success for midweek evening racing is catering - people don't just come to sail, they come for the meal (hopefully a good one), drink and chat afterwards. ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |
Posted By: turnturtle
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 3:47pm
| I can't answer the social history, but from the POV of a bloke with a young family, Wednesday evening is 'no biggie' when securing the pass... |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 4:06pm
Yes the catering is always a bonus on Thursdays, something to eat and a beer afterwards. So you were a PRATT then? Jason (Andrews) always spoke highly of PRAT racing. Then what would he know, he was probably responsible for the bar record being constantly broken at Merlin week ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: zippyRN
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 6:41pm
Wednesday afternoons are also the traditional 'half day' in higher education and the military where sports /local Adventure training / mid week drinking takes place |
Posted By: Chris 249
Date Posted: 25 Oct 16 at 9:59pm
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Thanks guys, that makes sense now. Where I used to live we had racing at a different club every weeknight. Monday evening and Friday evening both worked very well too, because they made the weekend seem longer. Down here, oddly enough, midweek racing is almost all done in yachts, possibly because mast-up dinghy storage is rare and it's therefore a bit harder to get dinghies rigged and unrigged. ------------- sailcraftblog.wordpress.com The history and design of the racing dinghy. |
Posted By: gbr940
Date Posted: 26 Oct 16 at 12:26pm
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Wednesday Night club racing is sometimes more popular then our Sunday normal club racing...always has been. More recently the iMoths and RS100's have been out on every other Friday afternoons when the tide is in...so much so the RS100's now have the "POETS Cup"...where we've been getting 9 boats out regularly. ------------- RS400 GBR1321 |
Posted By: Dougaldog
Date Posted: 26 Oct 16 at 3:15pm
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GBR 940 - I'd offer to run some racing for you on Friday but think you'd be lucky to get a one lapper in....maybe even not that. 3-5 kts max! ------------- Dougal H |
Posted By: gbr940
Date Posted: 26 Oct 16 at 3:48pm
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you're not wrong Mr H...and you know us 100 sailors by now, we love a sunset! ------------- RS400 GBR1321 |
Posted By: zippyRN
Date Posted: 26 Oct 16 at 4:11pm
not just the 'gig economy' it;s more the ' order it by 11pm and get it the next day ' economy ... RM and the Couriers collect / accept direct feeds from large customers 7 days a week ... |