Which Way to Long Beach?

[Justin Scott]

Its time to start dreaming about Long Beach in 2014.

How do we get there? Has anyone done this drive? Any sights worth catching along the way?

[Peter Beardsley]

Shortest mileage also theoretically has the best sights if you wanted to see folks or take pics of the Viper in funny places (The Arch in St. Louis, Grand Canyon, etc.) - through southern PA, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo TX, Albuquerque, etc.).  Google Maps says 41 hours, 43 hours in current traffic.  Current traffic may be different in 11 months. 

[Tim Carter]

Get your kicks on Route 66....    ;)

[Garrett Johns]

Whatever the route, be sure to come for Long Beach Race Week / NA's warm up at the end of June, leave your boat, then take the BEST route back for NA's which is the airport!
This is assuming Timbo and the gang can swing some Snake storage down there for month but, sticking with the music theme, "There's plenty of room at the Hotel California"

[Justin Scott]

Shortest mileage also theoretically has the best sights if you wanted to see folks or take pics of the Viper in funny places (The Arch in St. Louis, Grand Canyon, etc.) - through southern PA, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo TX, Albuquerque, etc.).  Google Maps says 41 hours, 43 hours in current traffic.  Current traffic may be different in 11 months.

You are including the Grand Canyon in that estimate????????

I you really want a picture of your Viper at the Grand Canyon.......use photoshop.

[Peter Beardsley]

Justin, have you looked at a map on this?  Grand Canyon National Park is only an hour north of the proposed route I sent you on.  That's not much of a detour if you're planning to do the drive and have never been before. 

[Olaf Bleck]

Justin, have you looked at a map on this?  Grand Canyon National Park is only an hour north of the proposed route I sent you on.  That's not much of a detour if you're planning to do the drive and have never been before.

There are other places not to be missed as well, such as the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas.

Getting across the midwest is hell regardless.  The route through Denver is nice, except you then have to tow your boat over the Rockies.  The southern route is a little flatter. 

Anyone looked into the price of a rail car?

[Drew Harper]

Grand Canyon is WELL worth the stop. Make sure you see sunrise on the Canyon. It's a spectacle you'll not soon forget. Take a day and hike down to the mid point and back. Amazing.

There WILL be storage for many boats between LBRW and the NA's. The entire West Coast Circuit has been designed around the North Americans and is VERY SoCal centric. Lots of new regatta to attend. The Open 5.7 class has collapsed as the builder quit, so Vipers are moving into Marina Del Rey, their stronghold.

There will be several two boat trailer kits for rent (small fee) that converts two current Rondar Trailers to a double. It's possible to roll two of these onto a 48' flatbed and bring them cross country. Rail cars are not possible without canting the boat.

We've towed many Vipers from Peabody to SF. Roughly $3500 for a double trailer via Uship.

[Brad Boston]

Nice to see the organization of this so far out! Jackpot will be there for a minimum of 2 regattas next year..
See you soon.

Brad

[Olaf Bleck]

Rail cars are not possible without canting the boat.

We've towed many Vipers from Peabody to SF. Roughly $3500 for a double trailer via Uship.

Hey Drew,

Is that $3500 one way, for two boats?  So $3500 RT per boat.  That's in the 50cents/mile range.

An "Autorack" rail car, is 89' x 9'1" inside, and this one for example, is a three decker:

http://www.bnsf.com/customers/pdf/Tri-Level-Specs.pdf

So you could easily roll a dozen boats into this thing, maybe 18 to 24 if you overlap bow to bow.  The question is what's it cost to "rent" the car and roll it coast to coast and back?   Rail freight averages 3cents/ton-mile I read somewhere, so if if you figure 6000 mi. RT, and call one boat a ton, that's only $180.  That sounds unrealistically low, but suppose it cost $10k for a whole railcar-load...?  It starts to look interesting...

Anyway, just speculating out loud.

[Tim Carter]

Yes, just get here...  something to tell the grand kids about.  I should have the NOR and entries open in early Jan..  I am working on some perks for the early long distance entries. 

We need to put some heads together for combo transpo options from the different regions.  I think there is a group coming from Larchmont and I think there are several Texas / So East boats that are going to come visit Mickey.  Need to round-up the Patriot's and those fresh water sailors up North.

[Dave Taylor]

Hi All,
We are looking at coming over from Sydney Australia to compete in the North Americans in September.

Does anyone have suggestions of where to look or suitable accommodation suggestions near the sailing club?

We will also need to look into chartering a boat to avoid shipping ours over for the regatta.

[Tim Carter]

Hi everyone,  here are some inital housing deals I have secured, will find more also.  There may be one or two boats that can be chartered, but there will not be many.  Everyone wants to sail..  ;)