I raced for over a decade with a great group of folks on a slower cruising boat. He had a bimini and it lived retracted and covered aft. When rain threatened during a race, it took us maybe 30 seconds to unzip and remove the cover and another 45 seconds to deploy it and clip straps forward. This was a beast of a dodger (in my opinion) on a 37' boat.
Of course our two minute deployment drill was executed by a frenzied race crew in "emergency bimini deployment mode".
On my own Catalina 30, I have a dodger that lives deployed all summer. It was not well designed and gets in the way of everything--both cabintop winches and the traveler. But, it makes a world of difference in cool breezes and also hot sunny days. So, it stays up. However, it comes down every Thursday night and gets left at the dock for racing. It gets in the way that much. We can take it down and put it up pretty quick with a couple crew. Part of the weekly ritual.
Of course our two minute deployment drill was executed by a frenzied race crew in "emergency bimini deployment mode".
On my own Catalina 30, I have a dodger that lives deployed all summer. It was not well designed and gets in the way of everything--both cabintop winches and the traveler. But, it makes a world of difference in cool breezes and also hot sunny days. So, it stays up. However, it comes down every Thursday night and gets left at the dock for racing. It gets in the way that much. We can take it down and put it up pretty quick with a couple crew. Part of the weekly ritual.