Coastal 2020

[waikiore 501]

I went to the CC sight looking for info but was disappointed as like many here I dont facebook and the coverage was great till Rangi light!  Did Champosa finish after motoring ?

[El Toro 115]

From a competitor perspective is was a very well run event.

Pre organisation was good and from the minute we got to Russell it was superb. Prize giving was seamless and the after match was awesome...cant fault it. 

So well done NZMYC

[DrWatson 382]

12 minutes ago, Veladare said:

From a competitor perspective is was a very well run event.

Pre organisation was good and from the minute we got to Russell it was superb. Prize giving was seamless and the after match was awesome...cant fault it. 

So well done NZMYC

That’s cool and I’m glad it was enjoyable. But I’d also like to hear from some of the 85% of boats (some +140 crews) who didn’t make it into either the media feeds or the race cutoff. 
 

Remembering of course that all their entry fees contributed considerably to the financial cost of running the race and hosting the party - probably 25k or so?
 

[Ex Machina 390]

41 minutes ago, Tamure said:

Generally speaking (I could be wrong) media and sailing dont really get on. The sport is slow and technical from a spectators point of view but lacks wide appeal of another dull sport like test cricket. The nicest way to put it is live sailing is an acquired taste from a spectators point of view. The last AC had every brain in the media business, vast gobs of money, the pinnacle of yacht racing in a stadium format and yet it still failed to really capture a wide audience.

The interesting thing about the AC (and MotoGP, F1 etc) is the human backstories, the infighting, the politics- the coastal gets interesting when big swinging dicks are competing for records. The race out of the Sydney harbour on boxing day is a classic!

Sailing forums like SA are sadly densely populated with middle aged men mostly keyboarding about glory days or putting other people down, so I would not use forums as any kind of metric to gauge interest in the sport. 

I meant media platforms that the coastal was being covered on ...Instagram , Facebook , live sail die , YouTube etc .

ironic comment about middle aged keyboard sailors on sailing forums ! 

[Black Panther 1,776]

12 hours ago, crump said:

Before selling the Davidson 28 (which has gone to a lovely young couple down in Napier) I did the math on a CC race just for a laugh. Reckoned we could finish before cutoff given ideal weather the whole way up but anything else would be hopeless. It's pretty hard to set up an event that long that caters to everyone from the ocean racing crew down to the bottom end with the piedys etc.

Currently sitting on the cash pondering it should go to a house deposit or more boat shenanigans. 🤑

When i launched first boat in 1980 it was equal to a 4brm house in mt albert. When i sold It 8 years later I  got a 15% deposit on the same house.  If i had bought the house instead of the boat i would have been 10 times better off and could have bought the boat as well.

Sad but true.

[Fish 0]

Again I'd like to highlight the comments about how good the party was.

Is the Coastal Classic a yacht race or a party?

The quality of the racing is being substantially degraded to enable a better party.

The event starts on the Friday of a long weekend. It is possible to have a substantially later cut off time and still get Auckland boats back home in time for work on Tuesday.

The Coastal has become a completely binary race with one set of weather conditions to be considered a good race (SW 25-35). There are so many elements and nuances of yacht racing, especially overnight / distances races that can come into play, if the race wasn't artificially constrained by the early cut off time.

I started distance racing in the UK with the JOG and RORC channel racing. No organised parties, the party started when all the crews got in, and opened the rum. Whenever that was. But there was such a diverse range of conditions and experiences. Sneaking into Cherbourge in a sea fog with a light house loom, the green flash at sunset mid channel, stonking kite runs down channel with the wind up our chuff, concentrating hard and drifting across a calm painted ocean to catch the tide into St Peter port, upwind beats, big seas, calm seas. Trying to beat around tidal gates (similar to getting around Cape Brett).

Now the Coastal is limited to SW 25, and a certain type of boat. It is excluding large numbers of existing boats. Contrast to the SSANZ series, who are enabling a very wide range of boats to compete, and finish. Numbers are going through the roof. And they still manage a social side / party as well.

[B00B00 330]

I would call it an 'Event' rather than having to define it as either a race or a party. People do these 'events' for many different reasons but in all cases its for a weekend enjoying doing what you love. 

When you go cruising is it about the passage or the destination, the social times catching up with friends or the solitude of ancoring in a quiet bay away from the city?

When you go to a music festival is it more about the music or the dancing, getting together with friends for a good time or just appreicating good music?

Coastal classic gives you all of the above and doing well in the yacht race makes the party a lot better!

 

[NZTiger 20]

Would there be any merit in starting the smaller boats and slower divisions on the Thursday night before?  I understand that that would essentially result in two races as the differing start times would experience completely different conditions, but so be it.

[Adrianp 137]

17 minutes ago, B00B00 said:

I would call it an 'Event' rather than having to define it as either a race or a party. People do these 'events' for many different reasons but in all cases its for a weekend enjoying doing what you love. 

When you go cruising is it about the passage or the destination, the social times catching up with friends or the solitude of ancoring in a quiet bay away from the city?

When you go to a music festival is it more about the music or the dancing, getting together with friends for a good time or just appreicating good music?

Coastal classic gives you all of the above and doing well in the yacht race makes the party a lot better!

 

Well said BooBoo. Spot on - it's an event weekend and its "The Event" of Kiwi yachting. I missed one two years ago as I was still in Fiji and I was so gutted watching the live start and coverage that I made sure I was back in NZ for the following race.

We didn't finish this year on Epsom Salts (8.5m Cat), motored the last 25 nm to Russell, had a awseome afternoon/evening catching up with friends and dancing away to the band, then a long motor home with another catchup in Tutukaka on Sunday night. Towed the race boat behind the cruising bus.

Its been one of the best Coastal Weekends I've every had in 20 years of them.

[Adrianp 137]

4 minutes ago, NZTiger said:

uld there be any merit in starting the smaller boats and slower divisions on the Thursday night before?  I understand that that would essentially result in two races as the differing start times would experience completely different conditions, but so be it.

The Start order was changed a couple of years ago so that the slower divisions start at 9.30, then some at 9.45, and then fast boats at 10am. Used to be fast boats at 10am, and then some divisions 10.05 and then small boats at 10.10.

It helps quite a bit to start them just a bit earlier. Makes for spectular sailing too as the fast boats come ripping through the other divisions.

[harrytom 698]

The CC has through tradition been held at Labour weekend.(some use it as a safe way to get BOI for xmas cruise)Now is there any reason why it couldnt be shifted to easter?? Race up Thursday(still have a day of at labour weekend)Have to midday saturday to finish??Leisurely cruise back Sunday/Monday?

just thinking outside the square and may attract more family members to participate.

[Fish 0]

I've no issue with having a party, and the social side of it in Russell. 

The question I'm posing is, is having the prize giving on Saturday night impacting on the racing and fleet numbers?

The prize giving used to be on the Sunday morning (not that long ago). Still had a party on Sat night. Can't remember when the cut off was but it may have been around 7pm or 10pm (or midnight?)

If you were still racing, you just missed out on the party. But if you wanted to finish, you could finish. As with any yacht race, the party starts when the crew opens the rum... One of my most epic coastal parties started at dawn after an epic send... I sure as hell wasn't going to wait for the band to start playing.

Fleet numbers, didn't they used to be in the 200's and almost 300? There is a massive number of boats around that are either smaller or slower that would struggle to have confidence to finish within the current time limit. But being such an iconic race, I suspect there is a number of punters around that would do the Coastal that aren't regular racers. If they thought they'd finish.

SSANZ numbers are going through the roof. Why? One element, you normally have a race you can finish.

I don't see a lot of downsides to moving the prize giving back to Sunday am, and having a later cut off. The fast boys still party, but it expands the Coastal from being a "one set of conditions only" race.

[El Toro 115]

Lack of wind at Easter and that is normally the TGA race.

IMHO its fine right where it is.. I note those with the most opinion here about lack of coverage and why they didnt have up to date notifications on this that and the other didnt race...

 

The race was the hardest coastal Ive done in 19..the event was one of the best and I was well impressed with how many people managed to jump in cars, who motor in for the the Satuday might.

Kudos to all of them

[El Toro 115]

Fish the most I have ever seen was once 200 boats, its usually around the 170-185 mark... and the Sunday prize giving was fail, most people were well on heir way home by the time it started...which doesnt give the sponsors much to crow about...

 

 

[erice 732]

for those not on social media have re-posted some pics in an album here

2 of the start, taken from north head

and a few of the finish, taken from tarpeka head

 

[chariot 244]

I've done it with 250 entries. Think it was 2001.

[El Toro 115]

Ok I stand corrected, I did that one but thought it was 200... to much grey matter these days

[Fish 0]

48 minutes ago, Veladare said:

IMHO its fine right where it is.. I note those with the most opinion here about lack of coverage and why they didnt have up to date notifications on this that and the other didnt race...

 

I personally think media / social media coverage is a nice to have in a yacht race. It is not important to me as a competitor. The trackers are handy, and easy, though. I go racing for the challenge and adventure, not to get my photo on Facebook. Understand there are different drivers for coverage though, mainly ROI for sponsors.

I def would not advocate changing the date the race is run. The Coastal is a Labour weekend icon, and generally scene as the opening event of the summer racing calendar.

The issue for me is the cut off time. Moving the slower boats start time earlier would be a pragmatic way to go.

[CarpeDiem 537]

35 minutes ago, Fish said:

SSANZ numbers are going through the roof. Why? One element, you normally have a race you can finish.

I don't think that's the reason.  I would say SSANZ numbers are going through the roof cause it's easy to find a co-skipper that wants the two-handed challenge.

How come we get 180 boats for SSANZ but less than 30 boats for the RAYC Gold Cup Series or the Commodore Cup Series, which are the same length races?  This isn't to do with having a race that a boat can finish - there is something else at play here.

Not being an expert, I think the problem is more demand on peoples time and more choice of things to do.  That choice could even be a different, (usually faster), boat.

It's super easy to find crew for Coastal, everyone wants to do it.  But finding 8 people who want to be part of a continuous repeatable team that only has room for 8 people in the team is much more challenging.

I turned down 6 "walk-ins" for Coastal this year - great problem to have - but it's not a problem I have for any other race.

It seems that the big boats aren't suffering this problem as much while the smaller boats are dropping off and disappearing from the fully crewed fleet - that's a guess - I don't know it for certain.

 

[Fish 0]

I wouldn't disagree CarpeDiem, but the corollary of what you are saying is that we would get a lot more boats entered in the Coastal, if they thought they could finish. And the Coastal may well become a vector for older / slower boats or crew back into regular racing.

On the Gold Cup, I think the big difference between that and the SSANZ events is the one division for the Gold Cup, and the need to have a very competitive boat, or just get spat out the back. I have raced it on my boat in the past, and basically had to bank on a complete drifter to be competitive on handicap.

SSANZ has a range of divisions suited to everything from Piedy's to grand prix boats. The Coastal has a wide range of divisions, but makes it really hard for the smaller, older or slower boats.