Match racing

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Match racing

Postby Doug Wotring » Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:59 am

As the Recent Nationals Poll indicates, we will not likely have any match racing in the next Nationals.

Besides The Liberty Bell Where can we get an organized fix on match racing?

Thought it was interesting that the majority wanted Match racing at the Liberty Bell this year when the option was offered but those who got votes in for the Class Poll voted for no Match.
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Postby bodacious » Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:13 am

Doug, My personal take on the vote was that most people felt that the match racing was just "too much" to try to get done in a short period of time! I have a feeling that we could wind up with a "Match racing championship" on it's own!! I would like to see that! I don't think the majority were against match racing....just against having it run at the same time as the fleet racing! DougB[8D]
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Postby PegLeg » Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:46 pm

Doug W

I agree with Doug B (Bodacious) that it probably was just too much to handle match and fleet racing at the same time. Frankly, it was the good result of the poll.

My view is that a separate "match racing" series would be a good place to start. Certainly we should get some time in TRUE match racing before we try to establish a national championship in this aspect. Also, the Class Secretary would need to grant a sanction for a national event whereas any one could organize a local event to get the ball rolling.

However: To be meaningfull three things need to happen:

First; the racing should be on a "Sweedish match race" style where there are multiple round robbins against multiple boats before setting up the "finals" for an event. The "one loss = knockout" would not get too many guys to travel very darn far to participate. But given a chance for multiple matches before the "Grand finale" would provide incentive to stick around for the fun. At a minimum two full round robins should be scheduled.

Second; The event itself needs to conform to the RRS requirements for NOR, SI's and Appendix C to have any real meaning. This also means that there must be capable judges (umpires) who can learn and apply match racing protocols available to serve. The notion that good match racing might possibly occur without these guys is pure fantasy. Also the starts etc need to be as indicated in the rules. The "aw shucks - let 'em go anyway" approach will not produce good racing. The competitors need to agree to play by the rules or don't play at all. There are no protests or redress (or heated discussions) allowed from an umpires call.

Third; Time needs to be made available both before the series to train umpires and after each flight of races and to "de brief" competitors (by the umpires)as to why any "close calls" (of the rules) happened the way they did. This gets everyone trained in the match racing activity so that it could then expand to a national scale.

As a certified US Sailing judge (with umpiring experience), I would be more than willing to help anyone who is interested to set up one or more match racing weekends somewhere in the Southeast. I would not be a competitor so as to provide the full time attention to the matches (which will be needed).

Please contact me if you want to explore the subject further.
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Postby yachtie » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:52 pm

Time is the enemy here. We have dropped the Match racing at the Kiwi Nats for November as well due to time constraints to run a full round robin which is the only true way to get a Champion.[8D]
A quick exercise in time management shows that with 20 boats you get 380 flights!! Now if the perfect event happened with at least a minimum of 15 flights per hour getting done it will take a staggering 25.3 hours non-stop racing to complete the round robin [xx(] or 3 days of racing.
Not really a "doable" thing unless you can run the event alongside Fleet Racing over a full week which is a loooooooooong time.[:I]

Chris
NZL1 Longtack
&
NZL110 Swept Away
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Postby Doug Wotring » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:56 pm

I think the Double Elimination that the 2004 Nationals and the Liberty Bell use was fine.....although it takes the RD and staff to be on their toes.....it was done.

I rather enjoy match racing....from both a competetor standpoint and as a spectator after I have been bumped out.

ashame to see it go.

I think a Match racing regatta is just not going to draw
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Postby Rick West » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:29 pm

I can relate to the "bumped out" comment. Me too. However, the question was whether the class wanted to sacrifice a bit of fleet racing to keep the format. The vote was close because the whole story of match racing at a big event was not told.

What was not mentioned was the load on the staff. Dayton was not experienced and lots of time was lost. At State College in 2002 the staff was there nine hours a day for four days. We did not get breaks because something was happening all the time.

Match racing requires a judge to walk with the pair and we like to run three pairs at a time. We are likely to get four experienced people to staff a NCR and recently we have had top national competitors running these events and not sailing. After a while this wears on volunteers. For Orlando, we had to call in David Brawner...who revamped his annual full scale sailing trip in the Carib to fly into Orlando to be the MR RD. We just could not do this with the Pro-Team concept.

Another regatta event has been considered. Where can we fit it in and in what location with who available? These are tough thoughts. However, I would be glad to match race on Friday afternoon among those that show...



...94 [8D]
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