2012/2013 Miami Series. How many??

Dan Tucker · March 20, 2012, 05:58:17 PM

Fresh off a great Bacardi Miami Sailing Week, and getting pumped up for Charleston, I spent some time on the phone today with our friend in Miami, Mark Pincus.

We have dates penciled in for 3 events for 2013, including Bacardi and Coral Reef Cup. Storage (mast up) at US Sailing Center is arranged. Mark said that Viper sailors were asking him for a 4th event in December of 2012 to kick off the series. We can pull that off, probably 2 weeks before Christmas.

Feedback SOON please! I want to get us on the Biscayne Bay racing calendar ASAP, before other classes start snagging dates. We're WAY ahead of the curve for next winter right now. The Sailing Center/CRYC combo seemed to work well for people, I want to nail that down for next year.

I think we can pull 25-35 Vipers for a 3-4 regatta series with storage, if planned now. Might be able to secure a sponsor (a la Jaguar), to help with costs if we start soon too.

What say you? 3 events or 4?

Dave Nickerson · March 20, 2012, 06:14:28 PM

Initial reaction is 3. What are the dates of the 3 or 4 that you have lined up?

Peter Beardsley · March 20, 2012, 09:11:57 PM

We're planning to be in for next year, but a well organized circuit planned well in advance with a bunch of people committed early would definitely sweeten the pot for that. Sufficient spacing between the events (4-5 weeks apart each) would also be preferable.

Matt Sole · March 21, 2012, 12:23:38 AM

I would love to know who Dave Nickerson uses for his polling, because it sure isn't anybody I speak to.

IMHO a december event would be great. That would mean that most owners would not have to find any winter storage but finish up the last events up north and then think about bringing the boat south.

Dave Nickerson · March 21, 2012, 08:16:08 AM

Matt - Sorry, poorly phrased. Was only speaking for myself. For me, it depends on when they are.

Brad Boston · March 21, 2012, 09:01:42 AM

If we stay off the Etchells weekends it would be easier around the clubs and let some of the people that sail both to keep doing so. We need as many boats down there as possible.
Brad

Patrick Daniel · March 21, 2012, 10:59:12 AM

I can commit to 3 or 4, whichever you guys decide.

Jonathan Nye · March 21, 2012, 11:45:55 AM

My personal preference would be for three starting in February. Have always found it hard to focus on December events with all the holiday related stuff. That and based on lots of years sailing Etchells in December and January, the conditions are considerably less reliable than in Feb/Mar.
Jonathan

David Furna · March 21, 2012, 12:11:33 PM

I'd be interested in teaming up with someone to race the series....be easier on expense and crew.

Dave

Dan Tucker · March 21, 2012, 02:00:42 PM

Bacardi will be 2/7-2/9 2013

Coral Reef Cup will be 3/23-3/24

We're trying to get a January date, possibly 12-13, but OCR is 2 weeks later and serious Olympians will be overrunning the place. That would be fine with us, not with them or USSC. They're balking at having a January event, would rather do February, which doesn't make sense with Bacardi. I'm pushing for Jan 5/6.

December dates under consideration are 12/8-9 or 12/15-16 (too close to Christmas IMO). This is the key question, do we want to push for a December? Don't forget, it means another month of paid storage at USSC... They go by calendar month.

Peter Beardsley · March 21, 2012, 02:07:53 PM

Bacardi is 3/7 in 2013, not 2/7, right? It's always early March.

It would be great if the breakdown was something like this:

- MLK weekend in mid January (overrun with Olympians at USSC but no other regattas there apart from anyone who is in Key West, which isn't really a conflict concern for most of the class)

- Bacardi Cup in early March

- It'd be nice if there was a later gap instead of Coral Reef effectively 2 weeks after Bacardi, but it is what it is. I'd even be ok with just two regattas plus Charleston if I knew that the two regattas would be well attended -- certainly easier to swing with work.

Lee Eikel · March 21, 2012, 02:26:12 PM

Wow, I haven't planned past Charleston this year! I think spacing is the most important thing. 4-5 weeks between events. Anything much closer together would be tough.

Jeff Jones · March 21, 2012, 03:06:01 PM

Lee, you guys thinkin all Miami and no MGRW or both?

MGRW is mid Feb again next year (i think??)

Quote from: Lee Eikel on March 21, 2012, 02:26:12 PM
Wow, I haven't planned past Charleston this year! I think spacing is the most important thing. 4-5 weeks between events. Anything much closer together would be tough.

Lee Eikel · March 21, 2012, 03:30:10 PM

MGRW is easy for us since it is in our back yard so we still do it even if we had to bring the boat back from a Miami event (granted there were a enough boats to make a good class). Although a string of Miami events could mean bad things for MGRW. In short for me 4-5 week intervals would be good on out of town regattas. Miami sure was fun, seeing the stern of that red boat all 3 days was the only bad part ;) .

Peter Beardsley · March 21, 2012, 04:24:38 PM

Jeff is right on the 2013 Mardi Gras timing. It would be nice if a few boats were motivated enough to do all of those events. I've been asked to try to help coordinate more of this stuff nationally to help turnouts, and I'm open to suggestions. Mardi Gras is an important event, and Bacardi Cup is an important event. Having Mardi Gras as a floating date is tricky, but we'll work around it. My vision would be something like this:

Miami regatta in mid January -- no Mardi Gras conflict -- if the Gulf Coast boats are motivated enough to make the trip east before Mardi Gras, fantastic. If not, it gives the east coast guys a chance to get their boats down there. Make it a holiday weekend to give people more incentive to show up and fewer excuses.

Mardi Gras mid February in New Orleans.

Bacardi Cup early March

Coral Reef Cup end of March if this is the event that we decide we want to support. It's a bit closer than I'd like to Bacardi. The alternative is pushing for a stand-alone regatta one week after Coral Reef Cup, but that bumps up against Charleston a bit.

Charleston in mid April. Again, a bit closer to Coral Reef than I'd like, but everyone loves Charleston.

Miami becomes most cost effective when you can do at least two regattas down there, and Jonathan, Dan, Justin and others have worked hard to figure out an affordable mast-up storage option for the class that could be feasible going forward.

By comparison, here's what the M20s have for a schedule:

Gold Cup: December 8-11
Miami Champs: Feb. 11-12
Bacardi March 8-10
Charleston Apr. 20-22

The spacing works well and they had a good turnout for their December event despite jamming it in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and despite the concern about inconsistent weather that time of year in Miami. The only problem with this setup is that if you have two events prior to Bacardi, you run the risk of people leaving for Mardi Gras and not coming back for Bacardi, which isn't a good option (or alternatively, not going to Mardi Gras). It's something that we'll have to kick around a bit more. But like I said earlier, suggestions welcome.