14ft regatta

[berny]

I've been thinking that an all in 14ft regatta at Yarrawanga might be a real good thing. It's a great club and a great place to sail within reasonable distance of Vic. and SA sailors + other clubs on the Murray and surrounds. A combined PT, Hobie, Windy, Mari, F14 thing might be a reall hoot even if it's a once only. All the 14ft classes holding their nats at the same venue. Something to work toward for a future Christmas.

Any interest?

[Dave]

Great to hear you are back, Bern! I've missed your input.

The idea of an 'all-in' combined event is a great one. Yarrawonga has an annual regatta that is usually aligned to the weekend closest to Anzac Day. It attracts a healthy fleet of Victorian Paper Tigers and sometimes some NSW ones as well.

Yarrawonga is a great venue for inland, but I have sailed there many times and only got anything like a good breeze in one race. Most of the rest was true drifting conditions.

A much better venue in my opinion is Mokoan (near Benalla, Victoria). It's a little bit further from Sydney, but worth the extra half hour drive. It's a much bigger lake and I have sailed in much better breezes there than Yarrawonga. They have an annual regatta that is always the weekend before the Melbourne Cup (it's called the Rose Festival Regatta). This also attracts a good fleet of Victorian Paper Tigers.

Even better would be a coastal venue, so that we got to compare the classes in truer winds, but Mokoan is a great second choice.

As far as combining Nationals goes, this would certainly be of benefit to the smaller fleet classes and would save on costs, admin, etc. But for the Paper Tigers, while we continue to get fleets of 40-50 at a Nationals, we will continue to have a 'stand-alone' event.

I love 14ft cat regattas, as you know, but even more enjoyable for me is sailing against 40 or 50 boats of the same design. The racing is phenomenal.

Dave Stumbles.

[berny]

But for the Paper Tigers, while we continue to get fleets of 40-50 at a Nationals, we will continue to have a 'stand-alone' event.

Dave Stumbles.

Mate, a combined 14ft regatta run properly could only be of great benefit to all cat classes, including the PT's. I think it's more than a little short sighted and uncompromising to be so incisively dismissive of the idea simply because the PT's are presently getting good fleets. It probably sums up the typical 'I'm alright Jack' attitude which continues to insure cats will always be no more than a quaint odyssey as far as the majority of general sailors are concerned. Too bad because IMHO they deserve better.

[This message has been edited by berny (edited 19 March 2006).]

[Dave]

Bern, I'm sorry I came across in a way that seemed dismissive of the other classes. That certainly wasn't my intention.

Most of my comments were in full support of your proposal and trying to provide constructive feedback. If I had an "I'm alright Jack" attitude I wouldn't have bothered organising the Koonawarra Bay 14ft Cat Regatta for the last 13 years.

While I believe most PT sailors would like the idea of the huge combined 14ft cat regatta that you mentioned, I am sure most would not want it to be their Nationals.

Most people who sail one-design classes want one-design racing, especially when it comes to National Championships. It's why they don't combine all the classes together at the Olympics, they keep them separate.

If we did keep all the 14ft cats on separate courses at the one regatta, it would be beyond most club's ability to run it.

If we had them all on one course but gave them separate starts it would have the added concern of getting them all away before the first class comes back around, especially when General Recalls are considered.

If we started them all together, that would really detract from the racing for people in the larger classes (like the 40-50 PTs). Like I said, one-design sailors want one-design racing.

We should be proud of the large fleet catamaran classes in Australia. Don't put them down for wanting their own separate Nationals. I am sure infighting will do more to destroy the reputation of catamaran sailing amongst the general sailing world than having big fleet one-design Nationals. After all, big fleet one-design Nationals is exactly what the monohulls do.

So, I encourage you to organise the big combined 14ft cat event and I will do my best to get PT sailors to support it. But please don't attack us if we choose not to use it as our Nationals.

Regards,

Dave Stumbles

[berny]

Mate, I'm sorry also that I had a big winge at your expense when really it's the cat sailing fraternity generally I'm more frustrated by. I do admire you for the work you've done to promote 14ft cat sailing in the past, and I understand you were in the main being supportive.

I still believe the 14ft'rs could do a mass regatta with separate starts, and even courses for the bigger fleets and maybe a combined start/course for lesser supported classes. My main aim would be to show that there are plenty of 14fters racing and possibly attract some good sponsorship money with a larger fleet.

In retrospect I think it would be better staged at a larger Port Philip bay S.C. like McCrae Y.C. or maybe one a bit closer to Melbourne to attract interest from spectators and give possible sponsors some exposure. I can see the beach out in front of the club littered with a 100+ 14ft cats. What a sight that would be. I'm thinking Pt Phillip Bay as it's sort of midway between Sydney and Adelaide and may attract boats from SA including Darryl Barrett with his F14's.

Anyway it'll probably never happen and I'd rather stay friendly with you than get all excited again about 14ft cat prospects.

You going to Toukley?

Bern

[This message has been edited by berny (edited 24 March 2006).]

[berny]

double post

[This message has been edited by berny (edited 24 March 2006).]

[Dave]

Great to catch up with you at Toukley, Bern.

McCrae (or somewhere on the bay) sounds like a great idea for this type of event. They would certainly cope with that size fleet and multiple courses.

Dave.

[berny]

Yes it was good to catch up with all you K/Bay sailors. Nice regatta and a great opportunity to re-visit Toukley SC. Some heavy duty conditions Satdy and just beautiful Sundy. Too good.

[berny]

I take it that a national 14ft regatta is not attractive.

How about a 14ft series run at three venues through the season at say Mannering Pk., Koonawarra, and maybe Canberra or similar. Combined points to accumulate toward an overall series champion with combined divisional/class championships. Any discussion?

[This message has been edited by berny (edited 08 May 2006).]

[Dave]

The Paper Tigers use those actual regattas (plus their State Titles, wherever they are for that season) as their State Pointscore (Travellers Trophy). This season we also included the Ian Holly Memorial Regatta at Toukley.

The three regattas you mentioned are excellent for this purpose as they provide a great opportunity for 14ft cats to race each other (even though Canberra is not restricted to just 14s). They also have a fairly even geographic spread, which is ideal for the purpose.

If a number of different 14ft cat classes used these regattas for their Travellers Trophy events, this could be done in conjunction with what you have suggested. Having the two in combination encourages more people to attend and provides bigger fleets of similar boats.

Sounds like a great idea to me. And you would already have a base fleet of Paper Tigers, Maricats and Windrushes at all three events. There have been various amounts of other 14s at some of these as well (F14s, Hobie 14s, Arrows, etc), so the making of a great event is already there.

My own opinion is that 3 rounds is probably enough and any more will only detract from the fleet numbers at each one.

Dave.