Time for Teams? - Chelmarsh Sailing Club builds Team Racing skills and participation
by David Partridge 14 Oct 06:03 PDT
12 October 2024
Team Racing has become established in the Chelmarsh SC calendar with a Spring and Autumn Saturday event each year. The background idea was simple: how can we encourage new sailors to participate in racing, start to learn some rules (applicable to all!) and build a social atmosphere at the club.
The club runs four RYA Sailing courses each year and both youth and adult participants are offered three month membership and invited to the weekly Saturday Improver session. Some transition readily to Wednesday evening sailing or Sunday Racing or chose our Tuesday Leisure sailing groups but others are worried about the cut and thrust of racing. Loud shouts of "Starboard!" can seem threatening!.
Team racing at the start of the year to encourage people back onto the water and a celebratory Autumn event to encourage all the new sailors to keep going and feel part of the club works well to develop club cohesion and provides a great way to integrate everyone and promote racing.
How?
We have great little training boats (Hartley 12s) which new sailors learn to sail solo with mainsail only. Introduce the jib and a hairy old racer sat up front explaining tactics and rules and you have a mean racing machine.
Promotion is key, the Improvers and Leisure sailors, regular club members and racing fleet captains get besieged with e mails, social media and prompts. The event is advertised on TGIF our weekly newsletter and incentives offered (including a legendary Guinness cake). Sailors and Helpers sign up on our booking system with a low entry cost (£3) just to cover lunch and tea and coffee. The club sponsors the boats, clubhouse heating and showers!
On the day registrants (we had 32 this week) were invited to fill in their name on post it notes (one colour for new sailors one for older or experienced) and these were jumbled and matched on the board.
Briefings are simple, an outline of a simple triangular course, prizes: the biggest being for the best team name!, and a very short overview of two key rules: port/starboard, and windward boat.
Key to the day is everyone mucking in so the pre-event notice warned all that everyone would be involved in making tea and coffee, launching safety boats and helping teams transition on and off the water.
Race management was simple (2, 1, go) with lots of timing, help and countdown and encouragement to get stragglers over the line. Short two-lap triangular courses, and a finish line close to the pontoons to get team change arounds organised. Keeping a good pace ensures everyone is engaged.
Our even sail number boats were decorated by enthusiastic juniors with streamers and bunting to form one team. Odds the other so we had teams of three matched and equal boats.
Simple results showed a total team score of less than 10 was a winning result so a second, third and fifth place was sufficient to win a race. This of course provides opportunity for the best sailors and tacticians to team race whilst providing everyone with an incentive to try hard for every place.
Race Management
So through the day we hold a series of races so each of the four teams meets all of the others. Team A sails against B, then B against C then C against D etc. Change overs resembled grand prix pit lanes by the end of the day with crews in and out in seconds!
The key is fun! Rita and the Bouys, Chelmarsh Champions, Chelmarsh Delinquents and the Barracudas battled it out through the day. At the lunch break we announced half way results (a convenient very even scoreline) scoffed soup and rolls and rushed back onto the water to try and complete the series before forecast 30 knot gusts set in!
The helpers were fantastic, manning start line safety boat and galley. We also had a great photographers (pressed into sharing the pictures from their phones on club socials) Karen Iley and Martin Carl really captured the day. Special thanks to AOD the inestimable John Streubig and Derek Bollen for coordinating safety.
It was noticeable with all the quick fire races how much better starts became and how many more calls of windward boat and starboard developed. The finish line sometimes required photo finishes!
Results:
Rita and the Bouys - 10,10,6
Delinquents - 9,11,9
Champions - 9,11,13
Barracudas - 11,11,12
Best team name (by very vocal crowd response) - the Delinquents
Smiles and laughter all round. A few capsizes, lots of team building and rules learning and a great day on the water. All topped off with wonderful cakes from Berni Garrihy and Jonathan Carter and a rules discussion and Q&A hosted by Matt Thursfield.
The winners will be engraved on the splendid Team Rudder Trophy and win their place in the bar.