Hi Simon,
Agree with the other Ralph T - great story.
Since my entry into sailing (as a parent & NRO) I have always been critical
of how badly we advertise our sport by sailing miles out to sea, with no
reasonable identification of boats. The number of times people have
approached me on the shore asking what is going on & why are they sailing
where we can't see them, shows that there is interest.
Sad to see how much progress we have made since 1892:-(
I try & keep as close to the shore as possible when running races & have had
much success with the 29ers with lots of short back to back races and team
racing BUT IT IS HARD WORK CONVINCING THE DIE-HARDS!
Regards
Ralph Tingle
Ogston SC
Since my entry into sailing (as a parent & NRO) I have always been critical
of how badly we advertise our sport by sailing miles out to sea, with no
reasonable identification of boats. The number of times people have
approached me on the shore asking what is going on & why are they sailing
where we can't see them, shows that there is interest.
With the Cherubs we prefer to race close to shore if we can and
have shortish races. Sitting out a race when we were at Newquay
(the Welsh one) the other year I was standing on the edge of the
breakwater watching things. Eavesdropping shamelessly it was
quite obvious that the general public were watching things too and
quite a few were following individual boats. It helps that our boats
are very easy to tell apart and pretty dramatic anyway.
Sailing in the right boats - ie the more extreme skiff types - is most
definitely a potential spectator sport, but it needs small fleets,
close to the shore racing and the boats must be easily
distinguishable. But then I always feel the "traditional" principle of
"Have a white boat so you can't be spotted easily on the start line"
is running perilously close to rule 2 behaviour... Plus it makes it so
much easier for the race box if you can distinguish boats easily...
Jim C