Please (try to) avoid sailing/transiting through race courses

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Shrew

With all due respect Mike. The plea was to not to cruise through the race course. My contention is that nobody goes out of their way to cut through a course. If this is a problem, it is that the course is likely in path of a common route.

I hope this is true, but I believe the OP was saying that when there is plenty of space, and no obstruction for common routes (both of which the OP claimed was the case in his examples), then it would be courteous for non-racers to avoid the race route.

Originally Posted by Shrew

Some arguments are around "How it impacts my race". So the ask is I spend time going around you in order to not impact your race?? There is no regard for how the races impact others.

I made this point with every post I've made in this thread. Courtesy swings both ways. It is incumbent on the racers, and most especially the race organizers, to plan their event so as to minimize the impact on other boaters.

Originally Posted by Shrew

At no point should there be an argument about colregs. They should simply be followed regardless of whether both parties are too lazy to work around each other.

Of course.

[massnspace]

I don’t really understand this plea from the OP…..

If I am in a powerboat, or sailboat under power, and cut thru a race course, aren’t all the racers already the stand-on vessel? So my presence will not affect their course, right? So what’s the problem?

And if I am a sailboat under sail, then the race course just went from 31 racing sailboats to 32 total sailboats (as an example). What real difference is there between sailing around 30 other sailboats as compared to 31?

What’s the big deal?

[marcjsmith]

powerboats- big wakes in light air. aren't good. power boats weaving through a race course even though they are supposed to be the giveway vessel, their wakes could unduly affect some races more than others. plus it gives the sailor whos racing one more thing to have to worry about. that being said, most powerboaters don't care.

I have raced and every once in a while I may hop in a regatta. but I have also sailed through a race course more than once. Sorry not gonna tack two or three times and add 40+ minutes to my journey to sail around a course for which I'm not sure of the boundaries.

However I am mindful of what tack i'm on, and also that if if I am the stand on vessel I am willing to alter course enough and make it obvious such that i'm not going to affect the outcome of the race or get in the way if I'm on a crossing path.

I think the OP is just asking for consideration, common sense and courtesy. All of which goes both ways. Ie if you set a course that utilizes a navigational aid as a mark rounding and you have 7-8 boats rounding the mark, you can't be too upset with other boats using the navigational aid for what its intended purpose is..

[mvweebles]

I kept my boat at Marina in San Francisco that, while on a sizeable cove (treasure island), required transit in a channel that led to the only deep-ish water to exit the cove. A sailing center was on one side and they'd invariably set their dinghy course on the other side with start/finish more or less in the channel because it was close to their docks. Avoiding them was difficult, and they were pretty snotty about sharing the waterway.

And then there are the much longer courses in SF Bay where it's not always obvious that you're in the middle of their course on a crowded Saturday. Overall, the races sponsored by the old line yacht clubs certainly had a sense of entitlement - St Francis YC liked to set their end right off their clubhouse which is fine, but it's in the path of anyone wanting to cruise the city front or duck out of an adverse current, especially since there are a couple very popular municipal marinas nearby. Expecting solitude just because you have a $400k chase boat setting marks isn't realistic.

I don't know anyone who would not make an effort to avoid a race course. But as others have said, it's a two way street.

[Tupaia]

I can recall an incident from many years ago. An 80ft Thames barge was proceeding down the Thames with aid of the ebbing tide. A group of dinghies were racing a course that traversed the entire river. On encountering the barge a racer was herd to yell "give way to sail" followed shortly by a crunch as the little dinghy splintered into a thousand pieces as it collided with the not in-substantial lee-board. The gnarly barge skipper probably as old as the barge itself leaned over the rail, pointed to the topsail and said so am I, now you know what a stand on vessel feels like.

[thomm225]

What the OP may not understand is that the local cruisers are not necessarily aware there is a major beach cat sailing event going on in the middle of Pensacola Bay.

Many of them wouldn't recognize a race course anyway if they had never been a racer.

The cruiser folks may have sailed out normally and then sailed their usual course which is most of the time on autopilot while they are sipping a drink.

We beach cat racers have done this mid bay thing in Pensacola Bay for years, and many times there is a problem very similar to the OP's complaint.

Photos are of me in the 2004 Nationals that were held in Pensacola Bay for an entire week.

Winds were right at 18-21 knots or so, and we were close to cancellation due to wind speed.

We had no problems with the local cruisers/day sailors on this day because of the strength of the wind.

Photo with black spinnaker was after crossing the finish line then heading down and easing sail coming back down on both hulls.

I did pitchpole a few times during this regatta boat speeds around 20 knots due to high wind gusts.

[jen1722terry]

Interesting thread.

Our homeport, Northeast Harbor, Maine has a few different classes racing each weekend outside of the harbor mouth. If we're heading in the harbor from the south, or outbound from the north, it's hard not to traverse the fleets.

These sloops are real classics and a joy to watch. But none of them are catamarans.

What we do is go under power as we approach the fleet and our harbor mouth from seaward, or stay under power as we leave the harbor and traverse the fleet. This avoids fouling the air for the racers with our sails, which them seem to appreciate. It only involves maybe 10-15 more minutes of motoring than we usually do on non-race days. The calendar-worthy photo ops were worth the delay.

I think, however, that traversing a cat fleet is very different kettle of clams because of the speeds involved. Things happen so quickly that it can be very difficult to keep clear of the rollicking boats. So, it may be wiser to actually stop and wait until the bulk of the fleet is past, which doesn't take long.

A digression: as a boy I was a clam digger in the back bays of New Jersey. I treaded, rather than raked the clams which kept me in the water constantly in a black wetsuit with a black hood and a wire basket inside of a black inner tube to hold the clams. Cats were just getting popular and liked racing on the shallow open stretches where, unfortunately, the clam were. I actually got run over (twice) by cats that didn't see me. I was fortunate to get straddled by the speeding cats both times and to avoid the rudders and dagger boards. Rather unnerving. I eventually bought an orange hood. Fast, them cats.

We're heading over to Maine next week to begin spring outfitting. I love boat yards in the spring amidst all the owners daydreaming of their adventures in the summer. Such a happy time and one I'll sorely miss when it's time to stop cruising.

Cheers to all