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With regards to the Adelaide Nationals, is there a reason why the event goes from the 27th December to the 5th of January ?
Not that I don’t like sailing the maximum number of days allowable, but this means that the racing finishes on the 5th January (Saturday), followed by presentation night and then a long drive home for interstate sailors on the Sunday back to Tassie, Vic, QLD or NSW.
Given the large amount of traffic heading back home on the Sunday as it is the end of a lot of people holidays (making for an interesting driving experience, especially with a boat on the back and impatient traffic)- this is less than a desirable date for travelling on the major arterials.
Additionally having the regatta form the 27th to the 5th means the days span Thursday to Friday inclusive. When booking accomodation many venues book out their facilities in weekly chunks. Even if the competitor arrives on the 28th, this is still a result that acomodation is required for one week and and addtional day which can cause problems, as they may be forced to pay for 2 weeks accomodation when they only need 8 days.
As a suggestion, would it be possible to have measurement and invitation race on the 27th and have the Regatta finish on the Friday? This allows Interstate travellers the option of heading home that one day earlier and avoiding the mad Sunday rush, as well as giving the SA sailors an extra day to relax and attend to chores around the house before heading back to work on the Monday ?
Thanks
Hi, I may be some diverse views – please consider …
1. Travel – after the last Nats in Adelaide I left after the presentation and arrived in Canberra 9pm the following evening. Traffic was not a problem. I planned my accommodation (the back of the wagon), and basically put myself to the task.
Holiday traffic tends to be in clusters at certain times – avoid those. Departing Adelaide at 10-11pm in the evening achieves this. Other peaks in other cities would be avoided as I cannot imagine a route to anywhere that required passing through more that the home city (for those living in a capital city).
Travel with the professional drivers – during the night – and you avoid the amateur once a year dudes!
If this is not appealing due to family – then let me set the record straight – we are taliking about the NATIONAL championship – not a birthday party.
2. Timing of the Nationals – there are two primary factors
a) Avoid conflict with International events and Olympic class events
b) Availability of key personnel for the conduct of the regatta at the host clubThese are paramount inputs to the timing o the Nationals, and none other.
Signed: Winnie the Pooh and supporters …
… Bounty Hunter (Sabre, 1496)
… Dora the Explorer (Radial Laser, 172260)
… Nui Uma (Spiral, 717)
… Bingo (Winnie’s personal rescue boat)
… Sally (Sue’s dog – Sally just loves going in the boats)
… the ute (specialised LPG powered travel aid)
… Sue’s swag (yep – I have upgraded from the back of the wagon, and Sally loves it)Sue
Team Co-ordinator2.
indeed there will be a myriad of view on this…but there is a strong trend in many classses towards shorter nationals series over the christmas period reflecting the various demands on family time. it is interesting to see the sabres going the other way. i suppose the number of interstate entrants at B&SYC will be a good indicator of whether a two week commitment is simply too much for some. i am sure there will be the die hards for whom unbroken all night driving is an important part of the family holiday…but for those of us interstaters that opt for safety and comfort on our road journeys, the regatta really would absorb a full 14 days. sadly, that counts me out.
not a judgement, just an observation.
Hour of the day by crash type of fatalities
00:00-01:59 02:00-03:59 04:00-05:59 06:00-07:59 08:00-09:59 10:00-11:59 12:00-13:59 14:00-15:59 16:00-17:59 18:00-19:59 20:00-21:59 22:00-23:59 Unknown
Opposing direction 10 2 10 9 15 19 30 34 30 23 13 13 0 208
Run off a straight road 28 25 19 16 21 19 27 32 43 36 25 38 0 337
38 27 29 25 36 38 57 66 73 59 38 51 0 537Hi,
this is an extract of date from http://www.tacsafety.com.au/jsp/statistics/reportingtool.do; when formatted it shows that the most dangerous time for running off the road or having a head on collision is 12:00 (noon) to 20.00 hrs (8pm). It is safer at night!
When you eliminate the influences of alcohol – the stats squew further in favour of night time driving.In the last three years I have travelled in excess of 200,000km, mostly at night! The media is the problem when it comes to reporting road fatalities. There is wonderful comaraderie amongst the night time drivers. I had wonderful assistance from the truckies at Moree (on my move to Qld) when my trailer structure collapsed. They offered ropes and lights to assist in my repairs.
The safest way to travel is at night behind a truck! I am even happy to take it slow on the grades to stay with a long distance traveller.And what about the absolutely wonderful experience of driving in full moon light, or see a falling star! And waking to see a fox in the bushes close by as I peeked out of the swag – God, he was a fearful as me!
Where oh where is the sense of adventure and the explorer spirit?
Two weeks, one week, one day – I don’t care – just DON”T clash with Olympic and International sailing events.
Sue Hextell
PS I sailed my Spiral on Sunday – and I haven’t lost the touch!! So Shane – watch out!
Nice to see Sabre sailors getting stuck in to a topic.
As one of quite a few Tassie sailors committed and booked for travel to South Australia i plead with the writer to think before suggesting a change of date.
It is not smart to consider changing at this stage. By all means lobby for year after.On a related matter i wonder why there is only one heat per afternoon?
Surely a few back to back races could be held which would place less stress on host club volunteers.
Why only seven races as well? Many classes are having over 10 heats to decide a Nationals. Any thoughts?Matt
1697
ZahirAs to the only two factors dictating timing of titles being avoiding clashes and when volunteers are available – I’d say these are secondary. In a non Olympic/non International class like the Sabre, the key objective has to be providing a venue, a format, and a time that holds maximum appeal to would-be entrants. For many, this is as much a holiday as it is a sailing event; and one for which family considerations are paramount. This is also the real world we live in, and people have jobs to get back to. So if organisers want to encourage broader participation in a championship, then these are very real considerations. If a particular potential host club is not available at a certain time because their volunteers are away or they are holding another championship – then there are plenty of alternatives !
wow…if only the TAC published such definitive data on windshifts.
agree that clashes with other regattas and availability of vounteers are two things that would be taken into account in any informed decision process regarding a major regatta, but with respect i’m not sure they would be the only two factors, nor the most important.
again…sabres are not an olympic class, the nationals do indeed constitute a family holiday for many. the total time commitment for a regatta does impact upon attendance…just look the numbers at the vic states since they were conducted over 2 days instead of 3. many of us would desperately love to commit a fortnight to a nationals….alas time pressures in the modern world won’t always allow it.
similarly the attractiveness of the location and proximity to fun extra curricular things have an impact on numbers. at the risk of inciting uproar, compare the white sand and turquoise water of blairgowrie or eden or anywhere in sth aust to the mud and rocks of cleveland…it’s simply more enjoyable to travel to (and sail in) pretty places with the shore based support crew blessed with choice for sunbathing, swimming etc.
i’m not dismissive of any of the points raised but remember that most of us do this for fun, and whilst competition might be fierce on the race course i venture to suggest that very few of us would compromise any of the family aspects of the sabre sailing experience just to compete.
What is a family holiday? What is the real world?
Here are some unfortunate but very real suggestions:
– a place where children witness DV
– where children are abused
– individuals with mental health problems that are not treated
– where adults choose suicide rather than the people they love
YEP – I know about the real world.Here arer some facts to help us counter the above:
– there are parents whose children sail Olympic and Youth classes
– these parents often put their own needs second to those of their kids
– a family holiday is not a quantifiable event
– by definition a family is a dysfunctional group (> 1) of related persons
– HOLIDAY is … what you want it to be … it may be a day … an hour …. an event … it is that special moment that u treasure for ever – and u cannot plan itA Sabre sailing colleague at Clevelend, who chose to travel to Perth for the Heron Nationals rather tha sail at CYC said to me before Xmas “… the further you travel, the more fun you have …”. This typifies to some extent what Nationals are about. IONALS are about connecting with the people you see once a year … it’s testing your skills and boat …. it’s NOT a kid’s birthday party, nor a family ‘holiday’. Read some of the literature – like James Hardy – get back to the spirit of what a National Championship is all about.
As for the rocks and mud at Clevelan! You ain’t seen mud till you’ve sailed at Oak Flats – man – that is REAL mud! Coal dust mud! Black as ….. oops (sorry junior readers – I am censored).
And rocks – well – how about the northern end of Lake Illawarra! Its a bloody 6′ high concrete wall! I suggest you use the ramp there. And watch out for needles in the water.
Susan Hextell
Sailor
Considering sailing Dora the Explorer at Blairgowrie ( I am told it is a wonderful venue), or 125 at Lake Macquarie (God’s own country!)Blow ye winds southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow ye wind … cross the bonnie blue sea.Gee Wizz,
I never realised there so much went into setting dates for the nationals. I always thought they just blind folded the Commodore of the host club and threw darts at a calendar until two stuck somewhere within the Christmas school holiday dates. How wrong I was.
For info, having formally driven Trucks for a living, another very dangerous time to drive is at Sunrise. The reasoning works something like this.
At night, your eyes see only what is lit up by your headlights, and as such has a lot less information to process. Like a computer sitting almost idle.
As the sun rises, you may not realise it, but your brain has to suddenly start processing a bucket load more info, like the cow in the paddock that you took no notice of at all, the clouds in the sky, the trees on the side of the hill that you would not have even seen in the dark.
If you have been driving near all night, just stopping for fuel, your brain has been working at low capacity and like a computer, a sudden massive increase in incoming data can easily cause an overload and shut down.
Imagine being wide awake one second and out asleep like switching off a light the next.
The 6pm – middnight road toll is, as much as some will say otherwise, in many cases alcohol related, drinks after work, the night club or pub etc.
Most of the Sunrise prangs have no alcohol or drug related findings.
I was lucky, very lucky just once, and since then I always stop for a nap for a couple of hours as soon as the sky starts to lighten.
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