HELP !! 2012 regattas

Drew Harper · August 27, 2011, 09:44:14 PM

I need your help.

The west is preparing to finalize our 2012 west coast circuit. I'd like to hear your thoughts on something.

We had nary a regatta in 2011 of 30+ boats. With almost 50 boats sold during this selling season, we should have had lots of big events.

We've got too many competing dates between the three regions....east coast, west coast and south coast.

I believe if we area careful in planning we should be able to send at least one 3 boat trailer from each zone to one major in 2012 in the other zones. That'll add a great ingredient to the biggies for next year. Additionally I'm working on a proposal to build one container of boats (4) for each major in the three zones to be sold at a discount after the regatta. That would add some great options for folks with the money to charter.

I think we should work hard to support the 2012 Marblehead NA's, some big regatta in Houston as that'll be our site for the 2013 Worlds :-) and Long Beach Race Week as that'll be our site for the 2014 Worlds.

I've been the driving force behind the Wests last two years regatta circuits. This is being driven by committee this year.

How can we best communicate each zones plans for 2012 for your area?

HELP!!

Brad Boston · August 27, 2011, 11:14:52 PM

How about the 2011 NA's?

John Park · August 28, 2011, 07:08:16 AM

Brad, sorry we can not help in 2011 but Drew can you keep in mind that we are fairly good that we will have 12 Viper sailers ready to come to your NA's in 2012 and we will need 4 fast Vipers (and if you have seen the string in the your Western Region forum hoping to not piss Deborah or Jay's wives off any more Hahaha).
But, we will look to sail with you all and have some fun.

Pat Gibson · August 28, 2011, 09:21:06 AM

Houston yacht club has a few big regattas each year that can be in the mix. among others we have midwinters in February (Ok it will be 80 degrees) a leukemia cup in july and a one design regatta in september (NOOD replacement) plus others. The One Design is a texas circuit stop for which we already have 16 boats. 2 weeks later we have another event run by GBCA call the Bank regatta. we have moved the austin circut stop due to low water to be run as part of the Bank. Vipers will sail the OD at HYC, leaave the boats rigged and 2 weeks later sail the Bank regatta from HYC. obviously there are other Texas events like the Mauri Pro Challenge in Corpus in June - awesome.

HYC sets a calendar in november that tries to coordinate with other texas clubs and major fleet events. i can work with you guys to optimize things.

BTW - Did i really agree to a Viper Worlds in 2013. Thought is was NA's but what the heck go big or go home. HYC is on it!

Drew Harper · August 28, 2011, 10:26:13 AM

Quote from: Pat Gibson on August 28, 2011, 09:21:06 AM
Houston yacht club has a few big regattas each year that can be in the mix. among others we have midwinters in February (Ok it will be 80 degrees) a leukemia cup in july and a one design regatta in september (NOOD replacement) plus others. The One Design is a texas circuit stop for which we already have 16 boats. 2 weeks later we have another event run by GBCA call the Bank regatta. we have moved the austin circut stop due to low water to be run as part of the Bank. Vipers will sail the OD at HYC, leaave the boats rigged and 2 weeks later sail the Bank regatta from HYC. obviously there are other Texas events like the Mauri Pro Challenge in Corpus in June - awesome.

HYC sets a calendar in november that tries to coordinate with other texas clubs and major fleet events. i can work with you guys to optimize things.

BTW - Did i really agree to a Viper Worlds in 2013. Thought is was NA's but what the heck go big or go home. HYC is on it!

LMAO...Pat we only have boats in the US and OZ. Well, we do have a couple in the UK and another in Switzerland and of course one FAST one iin Bermuda. Why wouldn't we call it the worlds. It'll be our first ever :-))

Peter Beardsley · August 28, 2011, 03:39:08 PM

Something to think about when scheduling the 2012 NAs: Melges 32 Worlds are set for Sept. 25-29, 2012 in Newport. Now that we have more M32 owners with Vipers, to the extent we want to boost turnout for Viper NAs, we should try not to conflict with major M32 events. That is likely one issue with 2011 NAs turnout for at least a couple of owners, but it will be an even bigger issue with a U.S. Worlds.

One thing that strikes me when thinking about getting people to travel outside their region for events, is focusing on not conflicting with other people's big events. It seems like the nice time of year to sail Vipers in the northeast also conflicts with some of the major California events, so getting cross pollination is unlikely. Texas sounds like it has a lot more potential since the good times of year to sail in Texas are not good times to sail in the northeast. SoCal may always be a nice place to sail, but that's besides the point.

Tim Carter · August 28, 2011, 10:09:40 PM

That is the problem with being @ a year round location... whenever we schedule a event here, it's always in the middle of SOMBODY'S peak season....

Sucks to live here.... :P

Peter Beardsley · August 28, 2011, 11:10:19 PM

My two cents as we think about scheduling some of these major regattas farther and farther in advance is that we pick dates for NAs that affect the fewest number of people in peak seasons so that for the folks who are able to travel, they don't miss quite as much sailing time, and then we otherwise focus on building local fleets as large and strong as possible since the reality is, apart from at most 2 events per year, national travel will not be an option for most teams.

This should be easy enough to do though since there are certain times of year when it is much better to sail in places than others. I assume 2012 NAs will be in September or early October (though really it could work just as well in August or early September), which is as good for Texas as it is going to get.

2013 NAs for Texas I assume would be late October, which is good since northeast teams won't be missing much to make the trip.

2014 NAs in Long Beach I assume would be August-ish, which can be dealt with on the northeast calendar if the event isn't too close in time to major events like Marblehead NOOD (and maybe if there is a mass shipping option by then, we can be loading trucks or containers while derigging for the NOOD to take boats straight to California).

What are conditions like in Texas (wind/warmth) in February or March? May sound controversial for people who think Miami is the be all/end all for sailing (and it's definitely really nice), but since there's no local fleet, and minimal fleets of any kind for any class in Miami, might be fun in future years to have a central base in Texas for the winter. Traveling roadshow as proposed earlier of Houston/New Orleans/Pensacola isn't realistic for teams traveling from the northeast, but if there was a Viper Midwinters in Texas and another major regatta or two at the same venue 4-6 weeks later, suddenly the trip gets more bang for the buck and maybe we also grow a fleet in a place that actually has a chance.

Drew Harper · August 29, 2011, 11:57:23 AM

Quote from: Peter Beardsley on August 28, 2011, 11:10:19 PM
but if there was a Viper Midwinters in Texas and another major regatta or two at the same venue 4-6 weeks later, suddenly the trip gets more bang for the buck and maybe we also grow a fleet in a place that actually has a chance.

I like the way you're thinking here Peter.

Greg Rubin · August 29, 2011, 09:28:13 PM

I would point out that Mardi Gras Race Week has loved having the Vipers, and while our dates move around a bit normally fall in Feb/March. We would hate to loose you guys to Houston due to a conflict in dates. Perhaps doing a Houston-New Orleans duo thought would work out.

Greg Rubin
MGRW Chairman

Jeff Jones · August 30, 2011, 10:11:38 AM

MGRW and the HYC midwinters wont conflict Greg. The midwinters are usually early Feb. What we're telling people is that instead of leaving their boat's stuck in ice - bring them down to HYC, race the midwinters and then take them over to MGRW a few weeks later for your event. Houston to New Orleans is what - 4 hours?

HYC would probably be willing to host another major regatta in march.

Add: if anyone from outside of Texas was interested in doing a HYC / NOYC / HYC venue i could most certainly find someone to drive your rig back in forth so you could just fly in / out.

Drew Harper · August 30, 2011, 11:14:40 AM

Quote from: Jeff Jones on August 30, 2011, 10:11:38 AM

Add: if anyone from outside of Texas was interested in doing a HYC / NOYC / HYC venue i could most certainly find someone to drive your rig back in forth so you could just fly in / out.

JJ, you ROCK! That's great news.

David Oliver · September 03, 2011, 09:26:50 AM

Does anyone have the hint of a clue as to when, exactly, the NAs will be?
I have to select vacation for 2012 in the next few weeks. . . I guessed at when they would be this year and was off a week. I don't mind traveling, but my partners just really get bothered when I don't show up at work. Especially when I'm on call.

David

Lee Shuckerow · September 06, 2011, 03:06:36 PM

Quote from: Greg Rubin on August 29, 2011, 09:28:13 PM
I would point out that Mardi Gras Race Week has loved having the Vipers, and while our dates move around a bit normally fall in Feb/March. We would hate to loose you guys to Houston due to a conflict in dates. Perhaps doing a Houston-New Orleans duo thought would work out.

Greg Rubin
MGRW Chairman

I did like the idea of having multiple regattas working together. I think it was miami race week and long beach racing this year? With our connected world we could come up with some sorta system to do an overall. Taking into account how a boat finished vs how many boats are competing. I haven't seen this done yet fully and it could make competing events more friendly and I think more interesting. when regattas occur on the same dates and they are on opposite sides of the country getting some continuity and recognizing each other would be good.