A fun racing question….

[Ferg]

See, this guy who just moved up here tells me he’s never seen anything like our Monday and Friday can races. They’re just for fun races around some buoys in the harbour (damn, I mean harbor, Canadian spelling again) Anyhow, who ever feels like it can enter, there’s no fees or trophies or overall standings. You just show up for the captain’s meeting to get a start time. The valuable “prize” (a pitcher of beer) is put up by our (redneck) yacht club on Mondays and by a local sports bar on Fridays. There are cruising boats, racer/cruisers, and thorough bred race boats. Some boats are single handed, some are “over crewed” There’s the Monday night course, and the Friday course, no matter where the wind is. Basic navigation rules are about it, although there is a crude handicapSo, my question is, do any other cities or clubs have races like this?Later, eh!Ferg

 

[Steve G]

We Get All Kinds

On Narragansett bay, we have those who race for fun, some who make a real sport of it, And some who purposely set up thier course across a busy channel and feel that nobody has the right to be within a one mile radius. I call them the "Fist Shakers". The tanker pilots call them, well...

 

[cat38skip]

Beer Can Races

Ferg,Here in the San Francisco Bay Area there are as many beer can race series as there are yacht/boat/sailing clubs. I started my beer can racing in Santa Cruz Calif. Wet Wednesdays - we race every Wednesday during daylight savings time.There are no trophies, no standings, and the racing ranges from fierce to 'who cares' The 'fleet' consists of everything from ultralight racing sleds to full keel cruisers with an emphasis on the racing end of the scale, but all are welcome. The start is the most unusual I have done. It is a 'Rabbit Boat start, where the rabbit/committee boat sails a line from the start bouy to whenever they decide to tack and race also. All boats must cross the start line aft of the rabbit/committe boat. The finish line is the entrance to the harbor or the yacht club or whatever.... Up on SF Bay there are beer can races every night of the week all summer long. http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2006/0506/May15/May15.html#anchor328326LATITUDE 38 issues the annual Beer Can Challenge - a boat must sail in 5 different beer can races in 5 consecutive days and prove it!!

 

[Don12364]

Us Too

Warsash Sailing Club on the river Hamble (UK) runs a similar "Thursday Night Pursuit" race.Each boat is allocated a 'start minute'at the beginning of the season. On the water the committee boat holds up a board which is the time (minute) on the race officer's clock and these change minute by minute. You start when your minute board goes down. The race is intended to last for an hour and it ends at 20:00 hrs or at a suitable buoy. The order of the boats is recorded and declared by each competitor afterwards on the basis of 'Boat in front' and 'Boat behind'. The idea is that all boats finish simultaneously and so nobody gets left afloat drifting about when there is good English beer to be consumed.Handicaps depend on the quantity of beer bought for the race officer - at least I think thats how he does it - and the benefit of this system is that nobody has to take finishing times and there are no calculations to perform to get a result. Simply put the leading boat at the finish is the winner.Having no timings or calculations to perform allows the committee boat to commence the party ahead of the racers.The scheme has much to commend it!