123 boats on the racecourse!

Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Last Thursday's WYC race had 123 boats sailing. To manage this the RC spreads the 6 classes over 2 W/L tracks with a common (right side) start area and first windward mark, shown in orange. Boats on the left side spin reach to the left top mark and then W/L on left (yellow) before heading to their own finish. 13 marks in the water, 3 boats and 9 Race Officers pull of this madness every week!

The orange mark in the middle is a gybe mark for the right course than is used by some of the (right) fleets. As you can see, it can get very busy around there!

 

BarryL

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May 21, 2004
1,118
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
WOW!!!

Better know the rules of racing!

Barry
 
Mar 23, 2009
139
Rafiki 35 North East, MD
You have to be impressed by whoever handles the logistics of getting all of those boats to the correct starting areas at the correct times. That's amazing.
 
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
You would be surprised at how "easy" it seems on race nights. Every one knows their fleet start times, courses, and we all kind of work our way in as the the fleets ahead of you start. It can get a bit hectic but for the most part it goes off smooth (ish). The race committee is on the radio with countdowns to starts as well. Having left and right courses helps keep the cats a bit more herded too.

I also think I can see my boat from there.....

PS: That picture was taken before any racing had started. I think.......
 
May 4, 2005
4,062
Macgregor 26d Ft Lauderdale, Fl
I'm impressed. Was that a special race, or your average turn out?



Rarely do we see that many boats for a start. (and we have 5 clubs in biscayne bay)

Some of the big distance races (miami-key largo has around 100, but half are multi-hulls)

Columbus day is also big, but its around 100.
 
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
I'm impressed. Was that a special race, or your average turn out?



Rarely do we see that many boats for a start. (and we have 5 clubs in biscayne bay)

Some of the big distance races (miami-key largo has around 100, but half are multi-hulls)

Columbus day is also big, but its around 100.

That is about average for Thursday nights.
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Mr Bill,

That is an AVERAGE Thursday race. Sundays a but less, and Saturday as well as its a more casual around-the-island race.

Matt, the RC at WYC is world class. I've raced lots of places and 99% of them can't come close. Our PRO is a full-time paid position and the guy is also a world-class sailor and a former collage coach at the Naval Academy and Stanford. It's run like clockwork.

Barry, We're big on RRS as you can guess. we have constant classes and seminars, in particular in the spring. In addition, we have a semi-informal arbitration that you can be bound to and take a scoring penalty instead of potentially going to the room and getting tossed. But yes the marks get hairy!
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,432
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
Having fun!

I'm envious ... I'd love to race against similar boats, but all the racing on our lake are one design fleets from LHYC. They have very active fleets for E-Scows, Stars, Thistles & A-Cats. They also have a sizable youth program for Optimists. I'd say up to almost 20 per fleet for the 4 fleets that race on Saturday and Sunday mornings on many weekends through the summer. There are no mid-week races. I'm guessing that we work too hard in NJ to pursue mid-week frivolity. :cry:

I think Sue would get into it if there was a cruising class which would likely be filled with Catalinas, Hunters, O'Days and Magregors, all from 18' to 25' if there were any interest.

Sunday was interesting as about what seemed like 80 boats were occupying the entire length of the main lake. The fleets have separately timed starts. At one point, I was thinking about crossing the back end of one fleet on a port reach before the next fleet came marching upwind on port tack. The problem is that these fleets are much faster than me and they point higher than I can anticipate. I chickened before getting into the middle of the fleet and gybed over to head for the west shoreline to get out of the way. I don't feel like getting into a position where I feel there is no place to maneuver without crossing somebody the wrong way once they start converging in one wall of sailboats. If I'm not mistaken, all were on port side but I was upwind, so I'd be trying to give way to a wall of boats. I re-considered and just gybed out of the way (even though I didn't want to go to the west shoreline) at a point in time when some were probably wondering what the heck I was going to do. There isn't enough room to avoid them completely on some mornings and there are often times when my available sailing time just happens to coincide with their race schedule.
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,318
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
I'll bet there are a lot of empty ice machines on race day.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD

Reminds me of the tee shirt where the sole power boater says, "Oh, s**t".
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
I'm envious ... I'd love to race against similar boats, but all the racing on our lake are one design fleets from LHYC. They have very active fleets for E-Scows, Stars, Thistles & A-Cats. They also have a sizable youth program for Optimists. I'd say up to almost 20 per fleet for the 4 fleets that race on Saturday and Sunday mornings on many weekends through the summer. There are no mid-week races. I'm guessing that we work too hard in NJ to pursue mid-week frivolity. :cry:

I think Sue would get into it if there was a cruising class which would likely be filled with Catalinas, Hunters, O'Days and Magregors, all from 18' to 25' if there were any interest.

Sunday was interesting as about what seemed like 80 boats were occupying the entire length of the main lake. The fleets have separately timed starts. At one point, I was thinking about crossing the back end of one fleet on a port reach before the next fleet came marching upwind on port tack. The problem is that these fleets are much faster than me and they point higher than I can anticipate. I chickened before getting into the middle of the fleet and gybed over to head for the west shoreline to get out of the way. I don't feel like getting into a position where I feel there is no place to maneuver without crossing somebody the wrong way once they start converging in one wall of sailboats. If I'm not mistaken, all were on port side but I was upwind, so I'd be trying to give way to a wall of boats. I re-considered and just gybed out of the way (even though I didn't want to go to the west shoreline) at a point in time when some were probably wondering what the heck I was going to do. There isn't enough room to avoid them completely on some mornings and there are often times when my available sailing time just happens to coincide with their race schedule.
Scott,

I figure that a least 50% of the WYC sailors work or live within 12 miles of the club. It's really a metro location. Lucky.

Regarding casual fleets, our PFRF II (non-spin) has two type of boats, serious types who would sail in the much more competitive PHRF I if they could manage the crew commitment required to fly spins, and the casual sailors who like the notion of racing but are not hard core. Our club offers a huge (50%) discount on mooring if a boat regularly races; that helps drive turnout for the casual ones as well.

As a boat owner, that is the biggest part of the game, getting a committed crew. You have to start be being committed yourself, having the boat in racing condition and doing the scheduled races no matter what. Then you can ask for crew commitments back.

For sure it is a good idea to keep your eyes on racing fleets when you are just banging around. And racers can see you try. But you are entitled to the lake as well.
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,432
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
I was tongue in cheek about the work comment. But I have wondered about why no race league during the week. I've heard that years ago, the casual cruising type sailors on the lake used to race during the week, but I've not seen it since I've been around. The organization was probably just too casual and may have been based from a local tavern. LHYC is way too blue blood for my social status and the rest of us just don't seem to have any organization.

There is a regular Thursday night bass tournament that operates out of my marina.