Hamble Wednesday evenings and Impalas

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Any other HRSC members on here? I've just had the email asking for an opinion, only to find that as a new member I don't have one yet.

Can you talk me through why the Impalas do or don't want their own class and why that might be a problem for the rest of the fleet? I'm guessing that they'd want their own start - meaning that competition is reduced for the others..

 

[Judders]

I don't sail midweek because I work too far away as does my co-owner, however the arguments are the same for the Winter Series.

When the Impala's didn't have a fleet and there were only three active on the river, we tweeked our sail plans for IRC. Later boats came along and are class legal. So in an OD class, the longer standing members of the fleet have a slight disadvantage (not that you would notice from Polly's results!).

Furthermore, those of us who were around when there was no option of our own start needed IRC or club class (as was) then and understand that if we want a handicap class to be there if the fleet were to diminish then we can not abandon it now.

On the other hand, many do want proper OD racing because it is of course the only pure form of sail boat racing.

 

[lpdsn]

Not a member, and it's a few years since I've raced out of the Hamble, so only a comment as an outsider, which you can of course completely ignore.

The question of breaking off a one-design fleet from a normal IRC (or other handicap) class is a pretty generic one.

The clear advantage for the OD fleet is that they get one-design racing. A level playing field, at least in theory, which should mean the best/luckiest crew win. Many people say OD racing is the best.

The disadvantages are down to class sizes. Both in the OD fleet and the rump IRC class. You need a reasonable minimum number of boats in a class for interesting & challenging racing. I'd suggest 12 as a good minimum. What tends to happen is that if you regularly have only 5 or 6 boats or less people lose interest and a class can die very quickly.

Of course if the current class is too big to be manageable that makes the decision very easy.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Thanks for those thoughts - handicap racing is what I joined for, but certainly see that if five more like mine came along...

The question then must be which might attract more boats of whatever flavour. I need to think about that.

 

[olly_love]

Hi,
I own Frank the black impala and race on a Wednesday,
The debate has been going for a while as we have 5-6 boats out regularly, however it can only be 1-2 impalas out,
as far as im aware it is staying as one class.

which boat have you bought? and welcome to the club

 

[flaming]

It was a similar debate for the winter series, and has been for years.

The real problem arises when boats have very different setups for OD and IRC racing - the J109 being a prime example. However if the boats in question generally race IRC in their OD trim, then for less serious racing it makes a lot of sense to race together and use extracted results for the OD classes where appropriate.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Olly, I've had an email from the club entitled "Wednesday Evening Survey" which I think you need to see. It's asking both sides what they think. If you send me your email address by pm I'll forward it to you.

I've bought an old Etchells from the Cowes fleet, simply because I've always fancied one. Deciding how and where to race it was a secondary decision - as my username suggests, I just want to get out on the water again! Regular racing OD over at Cowes isn't an option, and it was while I was wondering where to keep it remembered how much fun I'd had doing Hamble Wednesdays years ago. It was one of those increasingly rare light bulb moments, so after a few seconds thought I joined the club. And thanks for the welcome!

Flaming, yes, I've followed some of that debate on here and normally completely agree with your views. I'm concentrating on the Wednesday question for now, and the fact that is pushing me to vote for the Impalas keeping their class is that some of their owners must have put a disproportionate amount of work into getting where they are now. The likes of me need to use that as a target to attract the non-OD owners to come out and play, and not spoil the Impalas fun for my short term benefit. And I suppose that a healthier Wednesday fleet can only be beneficial to the weekend numbers?