I'm a bit curious about the class breakdowns for our fleets. While it looks like Spin A, Spin B and the Etchells each have decent-sized classes for some good competition, I don't understand why we have JAM A, JAM B and an Open class, often times with overlapping ratings and just one or two boats in each fleet. Wouldn't those competitors enjoy it more if they were just together in one JAM class?
Looking at the results for Schuyler Island, I noticed that Wingdam and Edelweiss II have ratings three points apart and finished within six seconds of each other, correcting out to just over a minute apart, yet they are each alone in different classes.
Also, what is the purpose of the Open class? It looks like some years the club has had it and some years it hasn't. It seems to overlap with the JAM boats too.
I don't know what to say about the dwindling Spin C class. Maybe the B-C boundary should be adjusted, but that is a more complicated question. One idea might be to define it using the Etchells as an in-between class. So it could be A=0-99, B=100-125, Etchells=126, C=127+, JAM=non-spinnaker. Just an idea...
I'm not trying to stir up controversy here. I know classes grow and shrink throughout the season and from year to year. I just worry that having tiny classes takes away some of the fun and competition of racing, possibly discouraging people from coming out to race. I know that I would rather finish 5th in a class of ten boats than win a class of two boats.
Respectfully,
Jason Hyerstay
What are your thoughts on this?
JAM Fleet
I agree with Jason. It looks like some consolidation in the racing fleets would improve competitiveness. Perhaps the JAM fleet could be adjusted before each series so both A and B would have about the same number of boats. If there is only one boat in a class is this still a valid "race"?
fleet sizes
I'm sure that at least a portion of the reason for this lies with a growing sense that handicaps may not fairly assess a boat's performance potential. Perhaps many people who have dropped out did so from frustration setting in to the point that they felt that no matter how well they sailed they would never win. My understanding of the theory behind PHRF was that the rating numbers were a starting point and that over time fleets should assess the actual performance of boats in the fleet against each other and make adjustments to make the racing as fair and competitive as possible. The goal should be for victory to be based on the sailor more than the boat. On Lake Champlain this does not seem to be happening. If a real hard look was taken at the entire fleet and adjustments made to improve competitiveness we might see a better turnout. You shoudn't have to buy a new boat every couple of years to win.
Racing Classes
For backgroung - The Open Class was established for those who wanted to race more for fun than "winning". It even had a handicap adjustment system to even out scoring so the same person would not always win. If we have no takers than it will just be dormant for the year.
Other classes - It is my understanding that PHRF system does not work well beyond a 40+/- spread in handicaps. It would not work well to have a 132 boat racing a 240 rated boat. If it does work then there is no reason to have a spin B/C fleet or a JAM A/B fleet.
The classes at LCYC have been debated by the Regatta Committee since time began. They tend to be adjusted as need be after time has allowed the fleet to sort itself out. Example - the combining of JAM B and C a few years ago. The cross over ratings between fleets were the result of allowing boats on the margin (6pts+/-) to pick their fleet for best competition.
Everyone would agree that having one or two boats in a class does not make for good racing. But if you remember back a few years Spin A had only a few boats no one made much fuss. There does not appear to any difference between Spin C and JAM A - neither has enough boats. We need to come up with a way to set flexible classes that give everyone a chance to win provided they sail better that their competition. Just dumping all boats in a lump does not do that.
One idea is having Spin C join JAM A with an adjustment for spin time as is done in the Ladies Cup. Of course this would involve Spin boats racing against those JAM boats but might be fun to see and would be infinitely better than one boat races.
Scheduling conflicts may have efected recent attendance at our Lake Races and should be revisited next year. eg Attendance at the Teakettle and Schyuler were well off prior years. It appears that we have to give prime dates to outside events not under our control and thus schedule some club races at less than optimum times. Example - less than half our fleet was in the water at Teakettle time.
Jam Fleet
I agree with Jason, and think that the Jam fleet should be combined. The open class was designed to increase participation, with handicaps beein adjusted weekly based on where you finished. I also previously requested to change me from open to Jam A, and the results of Teakettle and Schuyler Island should be adjusted. I hope we can get Dale to put on another seminar, and maybe the Jam fleet would grow.
Class Splits and Starting Sequence
The problem of disproportionate class sizes has been growing over the last couple of years. Last year A class had a large number of boats. This year B class is the big class. B class has a joint start with C class. The range of boats are from a 37 foot masthead Pearson to a 23 foot fractional Sonar. Last week we had 4 C boats and 12 B boats. We have a chance of having 20 boats on the line later in the summer. I think it would be wise to have a separate start for C class before B and A. I also think we should adjust the C class split to include the Pearson Flyer, J30 and San Juan 33 changing the C split to Phrf > 123. Getting another start into the sequence would require a lot of effort from the race management group but I think it would be worth it.
For Jam having one fleet for the weekend races would be fine. Wednesday night there is enough boats for two fleets.
I suggest we have a meeting to discuss this on Tuesday, 6/27, at 6:30 pm.
Please send me your thoughts if you can not make it.
Thanks
John
JAM Class splits
In general multiple classes works because the PHRF effectiveness does break down over too large of a range. But the JAM fleet starts together and sails the same course so we are all having the fun of racing each other regardless of the class split. We would like a larger competitive fleet but it is an attendance issue not a class dividing line issue. (I encourage non-racers to come join us but I will be there and have fun regardless of the class size.)
Thanks,
Michael
Classes
I think that it is great that we are discussing this stuff and it is fantastic that our regatta chairman is being proactive in calling a meeting. This is the type of interaction that I had hoped for when building this new website. I look forward to the meeting!
On another note, Ulie brought up the idea of doing more seminars to bring non-spin boats into racing, which is a good idea. Another thing we could try would be to have a day where experienced spinnaker racers go out with non-spin racers to help them try racing with a spinnaker. This might be another way to help grow class C.
Cheers,
jason