Chuck,
That a good question with valid answers. I would add, it pulls the
families together. On my boat I have three generation enjoying (most of
the time) the exaltation of a good competitive team sport, afterwards
sitting below laughing at some the stunts pulled during the race, and
then of course the party with competitors afterwards and trying to
figure out why they went the way they did.
Another answer is: I always have raced. There is an adage, that when
two sailboats meet - the race is on.
My dad was a naval architect and he built my brother and I an 8' sailing
pram, in high school we built a kit Thistle which I campaign for twenty
years. Was on the sailing team at Univ of RI, team captain and coach at
Naval Academy, family bought our C&C35 in 1980 and have raced it ever
since, at one point with 4 generations aboard.
My question is: why has sailboat racing in the decline?? In the 60's the
weekend regattas on Narragansett Bay drew over 100 boats. PHRF-NB in the
early 2000's was over 600 boats, today we hover around 400.
Reasons I have been given:
Families have too many other things on their agenda.
Hard to get crew.
Too stressful
Don Kern
/Fireball,/ C$C35 Mk2
Bristol, RI
On 1/30/2021 12:51 PM, CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List wrote:
Why race?
If you consider the benefits of racing; learning to sail better,
getting a boat to perform at it's highest efficiency, learning how to
trim sails properly, learning to use the tide and currents, learning a
few racing rules and signal flags, learning how to develop and manage
crew members, building a team, etc. I enjoyed the challenge and
personal growth that came with it and I'm grateful for all the people
I met along the journey.
Racing has a stigma about it that diehard cruisers avoid at all
costs. Cost being the most important. Risk of collision and risk of
breakage is another. Next is prep time. Next is learning new skills
associated with learning the start sequence, flag signals, racing
rules, etc.
I followed the cautious route learning to race my boat. I crewed on
some racing boats and learned the start sequence and how to get round
the course and then had some experienced racers coach me aboard my
boat on a couple races. It made the greatest difference to have their
experience and skills to make the races safe and I would encourage any
yachtclub to foster that program of coaching cruisers in a few races.
I was lucky and found some really good guys to help me learn. My
mentors were soft spoken experts who were firm but never raised their
voices, so all my pickup crew members had total respect for their
wisdom and we prepped the bottom and I had good sails and we did very
well.
Why do others race? How did you learn?
Chuck Scheaffer Resolute 1989 C&C 34R Pasadena Md
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the
costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to
send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the
costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to
send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
