One of the great unknown when organizing a championship is just many boats will turn up…fleet sizes at the nationals have been growing strongly In recent years. (we had 95 boats earlier this year in the Victorian championships alone). The message remains though – the nationals remain the biggest event on the Sabre calendar. A huge fleet, a great buzz, lots of like- minded sailors and their families, a great social program, and a great place for a holiday. Don’t be put off by our hope that this will be the biggest Sabre nationals ever with over 100 boats. The start lines are long; and so long as you aren’t trying to share that really sought after real estate in the final 20m of the start line then there should be room for all !
We’re adopting the same race format as was used in both of the last 2 nationals – ie the new ‘default’ format that the class hopes will be seen going forward. Assuming the wind behaves; it will be an all afternoon regatta; with 8 of the 9 races being done on a back-to-back basis. We will however ensure we have the flexibility to alter the format or timing if the winds don’t behave. (Would that ever happen at a sailing championship ?) Our Principal Race Officer is confident that he will be able to conduct the racing with a ‘single fleet’ – ie we’re not yet that big that we’d need to split into “Gold” and “Silver” fleets or whatever. We’re planning on having all boats being able to be stored and rigged in the areas immediately in front of the club this time – not the other side of the pier like the last time we were at Blairgowrie.
We’re going all out to make this as fun a regatta off the water as on it. So it might be best not to plan too many quiet nights in front of the TV. We’ll have 4 organised Sabre nights at the club over the week
Get your entry in !