Port Tack Charter

Debrief of 1st Test of Theater Style Racing

Posted on 08/05/10 in Theater Style Racing, 1 Comment

Dear Sailors and Sailing Fans,

The test of Theater Style  Racing went well on Aug 4th in Weymouth. Two separate tests fleets were run, with 5 races each.   Each series resulted in two 1 on 1 races to determine Bronze and 4th and also to determine Gold and Silver.

We have kept the media coverage pretty low key as Sail For Gold did not want us to take away from their event starting on the 7th of August. Photo’s, video, and the story will be released after S4G finishes.

A full sailor debrief occurred the next day with the sailors:

Feed back was very positive with some positive comments coming out of the test.

Please find the notes from this below. There was plenty of video taken which should get edited fairly soon (connecting cable lost).  Please feel free to get back to us with any further thoughts or comments!  Attached is a rather long rambling set of notes which contains most of the planning and notes from this first test.

What we did:

0.16 nm long upwind boats did 4 -5 tacks ? In 1.5 min legs

Ran 6 races each 8 – 10 mins long going into sequence less than 3 mins after finishing.

Posted results on white board immidietaly after each race.

360 turns for penaltys, boats could hit marks

3 laps 2 would have been fine

Not much place changing after first leg

Starboard Windward mark rounding looked good

Did not move course very much, did move Windard mark a bit but not leeward. Start line was too short, not enough space for all boats.

Used marks to define the edges of the course fixed edges would be better.

10 boats competed.  In the final, Nathan Outteridge (AUS) and Iain Jensen defeater John Pink and Rick Peacock (GBR) to win the Gold.  In the 3/4 race, the Sibello brothers (ITA) defeater Manu and Stephane (FRA) to win the Bronze.

Notes from the meeting:

Too many races 3 – 4 races better, 4 races needed to break through the luck factor

To keep emphasis on normal racing, the fleet should carry forward place from gold fleet

keep it simple as possible

2 laps

Capsizing made positions confusing for spectators mainly form later group of lower standard

Sailors like the high intensity

good to see how rules and aggression increases when something at stake, on water jury needed as much for detterent as any thing else

Starboard rounding good as makes closer and more interesting. But want to try port as well.  There were too many boats for starboard roundings, there were more than 8 (10)

It was not seen as fair to decide winner from one race.  The match race should change so that carry position through and first to win 2. ie leader from previous round can win one race and second has to win two to win. Definitely to try this in Perth test.
In general is was a good balance between fair competition and media, there were not many passing opportunities.

does the winner have to win the last race?

Extreme weather can lead to a winner being one condition biased

more weighting from fleet racing ( gold fleet ) carry points through

we need expert tv advice on areas like 8 min final or short time final

can’t get boats to full speed not so exciting to sail or watch

There is consensus from this group that a medal race with width restriction is the first step, suggested to be 2 : 1 ratio for starters, sailors happy to do this in this Olympic cycle.

8 mins is good time in fact number of boats in fleet should equal target time in minutes

Run 49er X racing prior to world cup events with quick qualifying series on first day and 8 boat restricted course on second day with match race final.  Carry points through from qualifying to 8 boat section and carry position in to match race as one score, best of two scores to win.

And run above as perth test

Market it as a test to avoid resistance and run these prior to all WC events for foreseeable future. Coach boats to run but we need to get course barriers made and tested.

In test event allow all to have a go so start early and have each set of 8 boats do a mini series of 2 or 3 races each. Winner of each 8 goes in to a losers final with a further 4 races and a match race final. This to be held after main final but all the other rounds to be done before main final.

(These next notes refer to regular racing) Future class events one big fleet for qualifying ( pre gold fleet ) and don’t carry any thing in to gold fleet start a fresh. Only two days of qualifying.  Top ten from worlds auto qualify for gold fleet at world cup events, but not at worlds.

Form small sub committee for this

Current members are:

• GBR Simon Hiscocks
• AUS Nathan Outeridge
• ITA Pietro Sibelleo
• DEN Allan Noregard
• FRA tba
• 3 more required be good to include some media experts?????

We only had 12 people present and we got a lot of productive with some good points debated and some decisions made.

Current and latest format plan (suggested by this group for Perth )

One day qualifying in one fleet normal size course with target time of race equal to number of boats in minutes. 3 races. Un debated if to have a discard? Perhaps not.

Finals are top 8 and each 8 thereafter. They take points through with them.

Finals are 2 laps on restricted course with a ratio of 3 : 1

Top 4 go to match race with 3 against 4 and 1 against 2. Take there position through as one score.

Best of two races to win.

Each group of 8 boats also do the 8 boat part with out the match race end 3 races each and the winner goes on to a losers final.

After conclusion of the main final losers final take place with 4 races no points carry though. Then in to identical match race final. This is purely to give more sailors the chance to race in these conditions and practise this style. As a class we would want to encourage all the fleet to get to do the 8 boat racing so when they do it for real they are practised at it and match racing.

To also try at Perth: Port roundings, wide start line, narrow leeward gate.

Longer course we did 0.16nm which was fine on flat water up to 20 knots. But felt that slightly longer 50% again would be a bit better. As a spectator I would advocate keeping it short.

Course barrier should be a straightish line. Lane rope might work but we have concerns about leaving it in the water as a hazard to navigation, imagine when / if  a power boat comes through the course.

Also slight concern if it is a fixed object is that rescue boat can not get in or out quick.

Inflatable tubes with weights underneath would be ideal and make a visual barrier.

Research has began on this although it does need following up.