I would be interested to know what course distances other clubs/classes are racing over. We sail a course that measures about 530 metres rumbline. The course we sail is a diamond configuration. I do know of one club over here that set up a course that measured 800 metres and it was used to sail a 24 hour marathon.
Peter
Holy Cow! 530 meters! That is huge!
The pond at our club is barely 100 meters long by maybe 60 meters wide. When the wind cooperates we can set a course the long way along the pond and sail windward leewards that are 90 meters from mark to mark. If the wind is across the pond in the short direction we can maybe get a 50 meter long windward leg. Our “control area” is positioned midway long one side of the pond so the boat is never more than 50 meters away and that is about the limit of what we can see and be able to judge mark roundings, crossings, etc.
Are you walking the shoreline to keep up with your boats so that you can see what they are doing?
- Will
Will Gorgen
Here in Boston we sail at Storrow Lagoon which to me seems like about the size of a football field. we put marks at either end. Its fun to walk along the shore and pretend your boat is on a huge open sea.
i"ll try to descibe the course and the lake.
the lake is about 200 metres long and 70 metres wide. we have prodominantly south-east or north-east winds. the lake faces east-west. we have a designated sailing control point.
the start finish line is positioned off this area.
the inner mark here for reference will be called mark D
the windward mark is A
the wing mark is B
the bottom mark is C
the course is
Start-A-B-C-D-B-C-D-A-B-C-FINISH.
the distance therefore between the windward mark and the bottom mark is 100 metres and the distance between the wing mark and the start line is 50 metres.
That sounds more reasonable, Peter.
I thought you were talking about 500 - 800 meter long legs! That would have been very difficult to sail unless you walked along the shore to stay near your boat…
- Will
Will Gorgen
I thought Appendix E requires you to be in a ‘control area’ while racing? It’s nice being close so you can see things better, but some people (like me) seem to be always stepping in a hole! It would put a visitor at a disadvantage if he was used to the correct way. We should all go with the rulebook, or petition changes/amend it to be different, then stick with that.
All the pictures I see in the AMYA seem to show the skippers walking the course. I always wonder about that. Some walk the course at our club so it makes it necessary for others to. When rounding marks if you are right there you can see a lot better when to turn and the over laps.
[:-sonar]The "CONTROL AREA"can be as large as you like. IMHO, It is far better with a large fleet of 16 boats, to be able to walk the bank, to enable a better view of mark roundings, wind shifts, right of way boats etc. The race observers, (if used) must remain inside the designated control area, so as not to give them a better view than the compeditors. I am about to run the New Zealand IOM national championships next weekend 13 & 14 March and my plan is to run windward leeward courses of approx 400 metres
total length. With an entry of 34 there will be two fleets of 17 to give entrants the maxamim racing.[:-captain][:-pirate]
Do it NOW before it`s too late.
400 meter long control area? WOW. Well I never thought of doing it that way. My thought of a “control area” is the area 20m long on both sides of the start line, where we park the cars. I thought a 150 m W-L leg was long…
Cheers
[:D]Tomo, Sorry mate, I did not make it clear, our CONTROL AREA will be around 70 meters long with a leg of the course length of approx 80 metres, with five legs making each race 400 metres.[:-jump2]
Do it NOW before it`s too late.
At our club, we normally designate a large portion of the shoreline to be used as the control area such that skippers can walk the shore. but our pond is well suited to this.
I have been to some great regattas where the group of skippers could barely fit into the control area. Edina MYC comes to mind. They have a small peninsula that sticks out into the middle of their pond and allows a nice close view of the starting area for almost any wind direction. They normally set a modified course with the start/finish line in the middle of the pond. Given that the skippers cannot walk the shore, they also usually modify their rules to allow contact with the windward and leeward marks (so long as you round them on the proper side you are good). This tends to equalize the eyesight issues…
- Will
Will Gorgen