Post by brianpickton on Jul 18, 2006 9:07:24 GMT -4
I have brought this up on Wednesday night at the skipper’s meeting but thought it might be good to post it here in order to encourage discussion and because I have not had a chance to talk to all of you about it.
C-fleet is the biggest fleet we see at DYC and as you know is a white sail only fleet. We typically see 17 or so boats out there on Wednesday night in this fleet alone. We have a D-fleet boat and a C-fleet boat racing in B fleet because both of these vessels choose to fly spinnakers. The D-fleet boat especially has no realistic chance of being competitive (in terms of finishing among the leaders) against the B-fleet boats, and in fact has graciously retired on a couple of occasions rather than keep the RC out on the water.
It has occurred to me that the no spinnaker rule for C-fleet may be discouraging some of the fleet from putting up spinnakers because they don’t want to be non-competitive in the B-fleet. I had suggested that all boats in A, B, C and D should sail within their fleet based upon their rating only and have the option of flying spinnaker as are the A and B fleets now. My thinking being that a D boat that rates 98 without chute still only rates 101 with chute and should race against its peers. However the opinion had been strongly expressed that their would be much opposition to a mixed fleet where some of the boats will not use spinnakers and will not race against those that do, regardless of handicap. Excepting this premise to be true, the alternative is to create a separate C spinnaker fleet.
My question is, is there an interest in creating a C spinnaker fleet in addition to the C-white sail fleet for next year? I cannot tell you what ASPN rating would be assigned to this fleet because it would be determined by the participants but I expect it would correspond to the existing C-fleet (102 to 109) with a slight adjustment for the slower boats in D fleet. That would mean that it would be 109 and lower, which would then include the D-fleet boats which rate 101 and below.
As On the Water Race Committee I would require 5 boats to give them a separate start, but I am willing to do this if there are sufficient numbers to justify it. My thinking is that they would sail the same triangular based course as we currently set for C-fleet, but would have a separate start and the option of flying kites. This would not take affect until next year in order that prizes could be properly organized and it would have to receive the approval of the overall Race Committee to be put into affect.
Some of the C-fleet boats I have talked to are in support of the idea but I would like to poll the rest of you in C and D fleets to measure your interest in this proposal. Of course the intent is to maintain a white sail fleet on Wednesday nights as currently exists as well. Please let me know what you think about this.
C-fleet is the biggest fleet we see at DYC and as you know is a white sail only fleet. We typically see 17 or so boats out there on Wednesday night in this fleet alone. We have a D-fleet boat and a C-fleet boat racing in B fleet because both of these vessels choose to fly spinnakers. The D-fleet boat especially has no realistic chance of being competitive (in terms of finishing among the leaders) against the B-fleet boats, and in fact has graciously retired on a couple of occasions rather than keep the RC out on the water.
It has occurred to me that the no spinnaker rule for C-fleet may be discouraging some of the fleet from putting up spinnakers because they don’t want to be non-competitive in the B-fleet. I had suggested that all boats in A, B, C and D should sail within their fleet based upon their rating only and have the option of flying spinnaker as are the A and B fleets now. My thinking being that a D boat that rates 98 without chute still only rates 101 with chute and should race against its peers. However the opinion had been strongly expressed that their would be much opposition to a mixed fleet where some of the boats will not use spinnakers and will not race against those that do, regardless of handicap. Excepting this premise to be true, the alternative is to create a separate C spinnaker fleet.
My question is, is there an interest in creating a C spinnaker fleet in addition to the C-white sail fleet for next year? I cannot tell you what ASPN rating would be assigned to this fleet because it would be determined by the participants but I expect it would correspond to the existing C-fleet (102 to 109) with a slight adjustment for the slower boats in D fleet. That would mean that it would be 109 and lower, which would then include the D-fleet boats which rate 101 and below.
As On the Water Race Committee I would require 5 boats to give them a separate start, but I am willing to do this if there are sufficient numbers to justify it. My thinking is that they would sail the same triangular based course as we currently set for C-fleet, but would have a separate start and the option of flying kites. This would not take affect until next year in order that prizes could be properly organized and it would have to receive the approval of the overall Race Committee to be put into affect.
Some of the C-fleet boats I have talked to are in support of the idea but I would like to poll the rest of you in C and D fleets to measure your interest in this proposal. Of course the intent is to maintain a white sail fleet on Wednesday nights as currently exists as well. Please let me know what you think about this.
