Getting Ready to Host

Hard to believe that spring season is here. In case you are hosting any meets, or maybe you already have, here is a checklist that may be of benefit. Sarah Helming from Sail Maine put together a great article about what to expect at a high school regatta.

Typical Schedule/Itinerary:

9:30am Report time (all sailors need to be at sailing site)

10:00am Skipper's Meeting

11:00am Regatta begins

Lunch break - There is not typically a lunch “break”. Sailors tend to eat between races. Coaches/parents should make sure to bring food and drinks as it is often not convenient to go find something after you're on site.

4:00pm Last race is sailed

5:30pm Depart venue

* If the regatta is on SUNDAY: Most regatta hosts will end a regatta at 3:30pm on Sunday to allow for people to return home/travel.

Fleet vs. Team Racing events

1) In Fleet Racing there are 2 divisions (A and B). Each team has one boat for each division. Most regattas are represented by at least 4 sailors (2 sailors per boat).

• At some of the regattas there may be an option to have 2 “teams” for each individual school. This can help to increase the number of competitors.
  

• Generally, the 2 divisions rotate through the boats. For example, while A-division is sailing, B-division is on shore. Occasionally, if the venue has enough boats, all competitors will be on the water at the same time, but there will be separate starts.
  

2) Team racing is very different from Fleet Racing. In a team race, there are only 6 boats on the race course at one time. There are two teams racing against one another and each team has 3 boats each (6 sailors).

Spectating

Unfortunately, sailing is not an easy sport to spectate and most HS regattas don't have spectator boats. However, sailors will be on land for a portion of the day and “fans” are always appreciated. ** Binoculars help! **

Coaching

Make sure to consult the sailing instructions (SIs) with regard to coaching at events. Once a start is in sequence, regardless of whether it is a fleet or team race, there is no coaching allowed (except for maybe in a low JV meet). However, if there is not equal access for all coaches to meet with their competitors, then coaching may be limited to just between races. Coaches and parents need to respect and adhere to the guidelines, as written in the SIs.