Important Lessons and Adaptation

Last year we embarked on a new journey. For as long as I could remember, our GSBYRA regatta format consisted of invitationals up and down the bay, nearly all of which were open to just about any sailing vessel capable of navigating, even if only marginally, the host club’s waters. This resulted in some very cumbersome start sequences, especially considering that all classes, except for PHRF (and sometimes even they) sailed on the same race course. For the most part, one on race per day was the format. When I was growing up on the bay, this format was immensely popular. Regattas regularly drew hundreds of participants, and many parties became the stuff of legends.

Race Week was the annual highlight of this bygone era. The format was one day in each port, traveling from east to west or west to east in alternate years. The vast majority of the boats were towed from club to club by a vast armada of powerboats trailing long strings of sloops. In those days, if you were a sailor, you planned your vacation around Race Week.
For reasons still debated, the popularity of this format began to decline through the late 60’s and 70’s. In response, Race Week underwent many changes in format, none of which restored this event to its former glory. Attendance at traditional weekend regattas trailed off, as well. Still, we forged ahead on the inertia of our own stern wake.

A sign of changes to come occurred in the late 90’s under the leadership and foresight of Bob Linekin. Individual fleets communicated to us that they preferred different race formats than we traditionally offered, most notably shorter courses with multiple races, as was done elsewhere in the racing community. Not being able too find this format, they organized their own events and avoided our traditional bay regattas. As a result, we changed Race Week and we encouraged member clubs to change their formats to include multiple race courses of varying formats, so that small numbers of similar classes could race together. Many of our clubs embraced the new format and the fleets began to return to bay regattas, including Race Week. From this we learned important lessons. The foundation of competitive sailboat racing is fleet and the key to a successful season on the bay is to adapt to the wishes of those fleets. These fleets still, however, need places to sail, and thus began last year’s journey.

The format we established was to have the fleets work together with the clubs to organize fleet-based regattas designed to maximize both competition and fun. 2003, our trial year brought successes, but also some unforeseen sand bars through which we’re still learning to navigate. The key to all this is communication. We need to have fleets talk to clubs, and we need them collectively to talk to us.

We are already seeing signs that sailors from beyond the bay recognize what we are doing and want to join in. If we all hop on board, perhaps we can return sailing on Great South Bay to its former splendor.

Bob Grover