Race Management: Course Coards

Course Coards

Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Race Management
Forum Discription: For race officers and competiors to discuss the topic
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7178
Printed Date: 28 Jun 25 at 3:43pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Course Coards

Posted By: djdhi
Subject: Course Coards
Date Posted: 23 Sep 10 at 7:44pm

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

Replies:

Posted By: JimC
Date 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.

Posted By: JohnW
Date 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!).

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Posted By: bert
Date 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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