GC 32 super cat

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Doug Lord, Oct 15, 2012.

  1. basil
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    basil Senior Member

    Hi Corley;

    I'm interested to read your views on what spectators expect to see watching a yacht race. I think the only class to come close to keeping the spectaors attention would be the GC32's. A sinple reach to the 1st mark downwind - upwind - downwind - reach to the finish line might be all thats needed. The Ultimate 40 Series often lose my interest due to the often convoluted courses they sail.

    and I agree the AC45's with their excellent graphics must make it easier for punters who have no idea whats going on to see who's who and where they are in the fleet.

    Do we need foiling - I dont think so - do we need speed and potential crashes - I think - yes. I nklow watching a 49er race is pretty bloody boring even for those of us who do sail.

    I believe that after watching the GC32's they might be onto something. As a match racing boat. I think they will be a huge failure. The reason for the is the moment one boat does one more tack than his opposition he's lost the race. Though its pretty much like that with keel boats as well, but with multihulls its even more damaging. Particularly with the GC32's with no jib they are embarassingly slow to tack as well as they do not seem to be able to point. There are huge tacking angles upwind.

    Whats the answer to getting more people involved in sai racing - I'm still not sure?

    Just Sayin

    Bas.
    ps Those of us in the r/c racing world are having exactly the same discusssion. Though I thnik in the r/c world it comes dpwn to money. Hey thats the same in big boats??
     
  2. Corley
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    Corley epoxy coated

    Good question I think racing can be interesting in different ways for example the build up to the America's Cup Deed of gift match was fascinating but the racing was tepid to watch but still I find myself watching the races an ungodly number of times the sheer extremity of the craft is intriguing. It's a sort of geeky admiration that I'm sure is not shared by the bulk of the populace.

    The AC72's were in my opinion exciting to watch there were some match racing elements at work there but obviously some of the traditional match racing techniques were not applicable. It was a combination of visually impressive racing multihulls in a venue that played to their strengths.

    Match racing in multihulls I'm still not convinced in general that it works the boats are so fast and often in the ACWS we would see the boats go to different sides of the course rather than engage directly with each other. The fleet racing seems a better bet and is more entertaining the Extreme 40's did the job pretty well I thought and were visually spectacular. I'm not sure the GC32's will do the job much better on the tight stadium courses where space to maneouvre is so limited. The stadium sailing experience that makes the event interesting and appealing to watch.

    I look at circuits like WMRT in it's old monohull format and wonder who was watching sure the tactical aspects were interesting but it wasn't engaging or exciting imo to watch. I'm not sure about the move to M32 catamaran and how that will pan out it doesn't seem the ideal choice for match racing. Looking around I think that there are many people in sailing event management wondering what way to go and perhaps casting around and trying out different craft and sailing/viewing experiences is the way forward.

    I'm sorry about my rambling the problem is that we are all still wondering how things are going to work out. The elements that make racing interesting for the competitors are mostly lost on spectators without good video coverage and the technical overlays that the ACWS and America's Cup brought to the table were perhaps the best I've seen. It's a technical sport and if the technical aspects cant be well displayed in a format that is easy to interpret it certainly loses much interest from a viewers perspective.
     
  3. Doug Lord
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  4. Doug Lord
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  5. Doug Lord
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  6. Doug Lord
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  7. Doug Lord
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  8. OzFred
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    OzFred Senior Member

    The best way to address negative opinions of sailing is to increase participation. By far the best way to increase participation is to increase the number of kids at sailing clubs. Expect maybe 1 in 10 that do a learn to sail course to stay on for a season. Then maybe 1 in 10 of those will become a regular club member. Somewhere in their teens they'll leave the club and maybe 1 in 10 return sometime later with their own kids and maybe get involved in sailing again.

    Maybe 1 in 10 of those become regular volunteers or club officials. So a lot of kids need to be put through learn to sail to keep the club viable, and a lot of effort put into getting them to become club regulars. The rest mostly looks after itself if the first bit is done right, because the younger teenagers become perfect instructors and coaches for the kids, and then become the backbone of the club as adults. Offering further development courses for first aid courses, powerboat licence, safety boat driver, race officials, etc. in conjunction with other clubs or sailing associations is also very important to maintain momentum.

    Flash sailing tournaments count for nothing in terms of participation at clubs in the same way that Formula 1 racing doesn't attract people to motoring clubs. People are smart enough to see the obvious chasm between a 15m foiling cat and an Opti (or any other club sailing boat).

    The biggest increase in learn to sail at our club came after Olympic medals in Laser, 470 and 49er classes. Only one of those is even remotely flash. Most people I know aren't aware of foiling AC boats, and those that are are only mildly interested, the boats are as relevant to the average punter as a Mercedes F1.

    Foilers, of themselves, do not attract people to sailing any more than spinnakers do. People want to try foiling like they want to do a bungee jump or jet boat ride, it will not create a rush of people demanding foiling Optis or O'pen BICs.
     
  9. CT249
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    CT249 Senior Member

    All very true, Oz. And unlike the "foilers are the future" claims, what you say is proven by objective data, which the "foilers are the future" crowd have NEVER provided.

    The F1 analogy is a good one. It's weird how often people say that they want regattas to be "just like F1" when very few people actually take part in motor racing, which proves that getting people to watch a spectacular sport doesn't necessarily get them to do it.
     
  10. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    ===================
    The foiling revolution is still in its infancy but the spectacular images from the GC 32 productions and from the AC are planting a seed in the minds of many people. But it's the new boats like the Quant 23 foiling keelboat, Aeronamics 14 monofoiler dinghy, Whisper multifoiler and others under development that will make a huge impact on the sailing public by providing easy to sail, comfortable and affordable foilers that utilize the whole windrange from very light air on up.
    These new boats will light up the imagination of people that have always wanted to fly but were afraid that the requirements of foiling were too stringent for them and their family. Foilers that don't require the kind of athleticism of a Moth, AC boat or even a GC32 and are comfortable, easy to sail and foil in light air will change the face of the foiling public and have a dramatic impact on sailing as time goes by. The introduction of these new foilers is the key to the growth of the foiling revolution.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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  12. Doug Lord
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  13. Doug Lord
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    From Copa by Nico Martinez:

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  14. Doug Lord
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  15. onekiwi
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    onekiwi Junior Member

    I did not read all the previous pages, but check out the extreme sailing series.They are usings GC32's this year in a stadium race format...fun sailing
    http://www.extremesailingseries.com/
     
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