Bacardi NEWPORT Sailing Week

[Justin Scott]

Regatta Costs:-

The NAs are going to be a hell of a deal.
Efg is contributing at least $50 per boat towards party to help with that.

Newport is more expensive. The Coastal Living Regatta is going to come in at around $210, but that does not include booze, which will be gratis at Bacardi but......if not free at Bacardi then where?

The advantage of hosting an NAs at a club is that the facility is provided by the club's generous members. At somewhere like Newport, the facilities need a rent check (But sail Newport is a good cause) and there is cost of erecting tent etc.

[Peter Beardsley]

I've had to run a few large regattas in the past couple of years at a yacht club.  Even when there are facilities, the costs go something like this (assuming that the setup will be in line with Miami):

- Tent (renting it, setting it up, taking it down, can be as much as $5k)
- Meals (at Miami, they had two dinners that were fairly good, along with miscellaneous appetizers on the other nights)
- Drinks (at cost for Bacardi, but it still costs them something)
- Entertainment (Bacardi girls don't work for free)
- Trophies
- PRO (Bacardi isn't a YC, so odds are that they are hiring someone and paying expenses of the RC team and a jury) -- related to this is that they may have to pay expenses for RC boats at minimum, if not rental fees for privately owned boats if they are not donated for the week

In the meantime, we have 3 new boats from Larchmont YC registered for Newport today, with a fourth to sign up in an hour or two.  Let's get more teams to sign up early to build momentum. 

[Olaf Bleck]

I've had to run a few large regattas in the past couple of years at a yacht club.  Even when there are facilities, the costs go something like this (assuming that the setup will be in line with Miami):

- Tent (renting it, setting it up, taking it down, can be as much as $5k)
- Meals (at Miami, they had two dinners that were fairly good, along with miscellaneous appetizers on the other nights)
- Drinks (at cost for Bacardi, but it still costs them something)
- Entertainment (Bacardi girls don't work for free)
- Trophies
- PRO (Bacardi isn't a YC, so odds are that they are hiring someone and paying expenses of the RC team and a jury) -- related to this is that they may have to pay expenses for RC boats at minimum, if not rental fees for privately owned boats if they are not donated for the week

It makes sense that all that costs, but how does Newport Coastal Living for example, charge $170 for basically the same thing without drinks ($3 ea I think it was?), while Bacardi is $325 and up?  Are we drinking $155 worth of drinks?  Maybe... but at $3... well..., let's bust say one of my crew was pretty entertaining.

Or, Coastal Living ponied up a lot more than Bacardi, but that'd I'd find hard to believe.  Anyway, it's all good.


Point being, I need a few more cash cows to pay for all this fun...!

[Peter Beardsley]

This could also be the difference in regatta management.  Miami was my first experience with Bacardi, but I know that at Coastal Living, Coastal Living is a title sponsor but isn't doing much in the way of regatta management.  The regatta is hosted at SailNewport, using SailNewport facilities, SailNewport crashboats, SailNewport finds volunteer RC, etc.  SailNewport doesn't have to charge itself for these things.

However, SailNewport might charge someone else something for these things, like Bacardi, who will be coming in and using SailNewport facilities, possibly boats, etc.  Also, there's whatever StudioMilano charges for its regatta management services.  And of course, it's unlikely they are trying to run this as a break-even event.  Bacardi and EFG may be sponsoring, but if SailNewport/StudioMilano can make a little money to fund future events, great.  And since this is a new event, it's possible the initial budget is off so some cushion was created in case turnout suffered. 

Not trying to be a shill for any of them, but having had to run events on a break-even basis at a club where it can be on the expensive side to host a regatta, I didn't think the entry fee was totally out of line.  There are definitely going to be places in the world where it is cheaper to run an event, and clubs that require less setup or who charge less for various things, esp. if you can bring in outside food/beer, etc. 

[Olaf Bleck]

I'm all for people doing work getting paid for it.  I run an events company myself.  It happens to be in dancing, but nevertheless, we don't work for free.  Obviously if someone is doing an event with volunteers, the costs are a lot less but the people volunteering get some personal satisfaction from donating their time.

Anyway, it's going to get expensive if the typical cost of a regatta runs $300+.  Professional regatta organizers need to recognize this and pull the dollars from their sponsors, not the participants.  The participants are already ponying up heavily by the mere fact that they're there:  boat, transport, sails, lodging, crew costs, etc.

Between Miami, CRW, and Newport, I've already shelled out a grand just for entry fees for the first three regattas of the season.  What, about $50 per starting gun?  Never mind the other costs...!  gotta love sailing  :-)

[David Furna]

Racing in Newport is expensive all the way around. Starting with the 5 state toll booth ripoff just to get there.

Great place to sail and race, but nothing cheap about it.

[Olaf Bleck]

Racing in Newport is expensive all the way around. Starting with the 5 state toll booth ripoff just to get there.

Great place to sail and race, but nothing cheap about it.

No doubt, but that still doesn't explain why Coastal Living was $170 vs Bacardi for $325+ at the same venue, what, two weeks earlier?  Itd' be interesting to compare the regatta's respective budgets.

Going out now to get fertilizer for the money tree.

[David Furna]

Coastal Living is a 2 day regatta, the first day they make you race around a big anchored container ship and the 2nd day they race you through a mooring field in shallow water......

It will be interesting to hear the feedback after the race. With 180 boats racing in Charleston Harbor, I may still be waiting at the ramp to take my boat out in June!

[Jeff Jones]

The viper 640 fast, fun..... Affordable? 

Brad...  Someone said something about new docks being added to support our na's.   

[Matt Sole]

I hope that BNSW has a different feel to Coastal Living. I am sure that the event will be a lot slicker than the Coastal Living one which felt a little parochial last year. If Coastal Living was a 3 day event the cost would be $262. or an extra $63 I think studio Milano will do a great job.

[Olaf Bleck]

There was three night of parties at Coastal.  Some fleets I think to race 3 days.

Anyway, looking forward to a good time.

Anyone got a lead on a big house we can rent?

[Brad Boston]

The viper 640 fast, fun..... Affordable? 

Brad...  Someone said something about new docks being added to support our na's.   

Yes our club has agreed to put in some new floating docks to make the Viper more comfortable docking. Our club owns a spile driver so it is not to hard to do.

[Peter Beardsley]

Now up to 13 Vipers.  4 of the 5 Larchmont YC Vipers registered.  Owner of #5 won't be back in the States until July 1 so he's out.  Let's see everyone else sign up. 

[Dan Tucker]

our club has agreed to put in some new floating docks to make the Viper more comfortable docking. Our club owns a pile driver so it is not to hard to do.

How many clubs can say THAT?  I'm going to love a club like that, I can't wait to get to Sarnia!!

I'm also looking forward to Coastal Living (a long -time favorite of my J/24 past), and Bacardi Newport - I'm excited about the diversity of regatta styles like this. As someone who's been involved with the Viper class for a few years, it's sort of entertaining and gratifying to hear a discussion like this. Not long ago we were thrilled to get 12-15 boats in one place at the same time under ANY circumstances!

It's all good.

[Peter Beardsley]

Less than a month away, time to gear the thread back up.  20 Vipers signed up.  Roll call on who is registered already:

Newport: 4 out of 10 (get those new guys signed up!) 

Marblehead: 5 out of __ (12?)

Western CT: 4 out of 12 (missing a bunch of regulars, including Goodrich, Parkin, McNamara, Bainton, among others)

Larchmont: 4 out of 5 (guy who is missing won't be back in the States until July 1)

Eastern CT: 3 out of 4

A few more Newport guys, another M'header or two, a couple of Western CT guy, maybe a few good natured Canadians and Michiganders and we have ourselves a 30+ boat regatta.