Sailing the Cedar Point Frostbite

[RobKoci]

I picked up my new boat and headed to Westport Conn. to sail in the Sunday racing at Cedar Point Yacht Club. Not only was the fleet big, the competition was solid and the wind was up. I sailed the course like a scalded cat thinking, "one day there will be a scratch on this boat, but not today, dammit!!" There were a couple of windward mark roundings I took very carefully. (I did play a bit of bumper cars on a start where I tried to fit into too little a space. Sorry about that.)
It was fun, but more importantly, I wanted to mention the post mortem after the race. We gathered around a mountain of pizza boxes and the top two guys had to tell us what they saw and how they won. I was so impressed with the attitude and the generosity of the fleet that I left my boat down there so I could come back in November as race some more after we are done with frostbites here in Toronto. It's an 8 hour drive, but I can't think of a better way to spend that time than to race a great fleet.

That's it. Just wanted to express my enthusasiam for Cedar Point. Well done guys. We see you soon.

 

[TimClark]

Jeez, I think you are the longest traveling frostbiter that Cedar Point has by far...You come all the way from Toronto just to sail with us? Well, it was good having some new people out on the line, hope to see you out there more.

Tim Clark

 

[laser170654]

hey Rob,
sounds like you have a sweet time, wish we had those numbers
in ontario!! Are you going to the Ice bowl this year, 3 lasers will be coming from FYC!!!
Hope to see you there!!
Brad Biskaborn
(New Laser 187137)

 

[RobKoci]

They really know how to run a frostbite. The results are on the website within days. They are exceptionally well organized. We could learn a lot about running an event from them. If we ran our races as well as they do, I think we would see the same numbers. (although we would be hard pressed to match the 60!! they got out on the first weekend.)

I will be at the Rat frostbite for sure. You won it last year, didn't you? Got to defend your title!! See you there.

 

[49208]

The basic "blueprint" that Cedar Point uses is on their website - if you check out the RC Guidelines for Frostbiting in the left hand column, and the Laser Fleet Jobs listing in the library section at the bottom of the page, you'll get a great idea of how the organizational side is setup. It doesn't happen without people volunteering, but the framework/foundation needs to be in place so those that are willing to spend their time aren't wasting it re-inventing the wheel every year.

Some of the other key factors, IMHO:
The "mentoring" that occurs on the RC side - While not everyone has the experience or knowledge to be the PRO for the day, the PRO does spend some time explaining what and why they are doing what they are doing. This helps build up the supply of people that can do the PRO job.

The post race debrief - having the top guys explain what they do and why goes a long way to helping those just starting out, as well as debunking the myth that the fast guys don't share their secrets and are un-approachable. It gives everyone a chance to ask questions and get good answers.

The general layout of the club and grounds - no waiting around to launch/retrieve boats , place to leave the boats during the week (ok, the first couple of weeks are crowded, but once the Thistles, Stars and other classes move out there is plenty of room)

Bang for the buck - even with a pretty good increase in the registration fee, when you look at what you get besides the racing, it's a good deal


Being open to suggestions and change - while the basic blueprint hasn't changed much, the fleet always has ideas on what can be done to make it more fun or easier to run - for example when we grew from 30 boats to the current level (in just a couple of seasons), it was difficult for the RC to record all the finishers when using the same starting line for the finishing line. Someone suggested using a short finishing line on the opposite side of the RC boat, problem solved. We also changed the course configuration for large fleets, instead of having the start right in the middle of the W/L course, it was suggested to move it 2/3 from the top, to allow more lanes off the start line and allow the fleet to spread out a bit before arriving at the windward mark. Much more small stuff like that, but it just makes the racing that much more enjoyable for everyone.