Best thing I've seen for a while is recent tas windsurf titles held over weekend in Hobart. 16 windsurfer one designs - many of them the new LT model, shows many people want to race in a one design fleet not necessarily on fast gear. Also 5 in the 'R300/hybrid' class which in the light conditions were about the same speed.

I feel like having a centreboard, one design fleet (or close too it) and board that you can race and teach beginners on is underrated. Not sure I'm keen to go back to the wally but hybrid raceboards (Bic Techno etc) are fun.

We're really a small sport with generally dwindling fleet numbers. Maybe I'm dreaming but i hope in future events we consolidate classes/events and names are descriptive - does RSX or R300 really describe windsurfing to the public?

Just in course racing we have formula, course boards, one designs/LT and r300/r500/hybrid. Often in different events, all with presumably limited numbers.

I'm hoping for 2 x divisions,
Windsurfer
Sailboard-Mixed Fleet

The windsurfer division is obviously the one designs (new and old) and mixed fleet is anything with centreboard and under say 8.5m sail. Over say 10kts the mixed fleet would sail a longer course.

Yes it would be nice if everyone sailed the same gear and we had big one design fleets but that is not the reality. Every one has their own preference for what they like to sail.

If your in SE Qld there is course racing every week at RQYS that has two courses that start as one fleet, the slower boards basically do smaller upwind legs so that everyone finishes around the same time.

Raceboards, Techno's and RSX are the most common boards but formula's and foils are present most weeks as well. Anything else that can go around a course is welcome, we have even had slalom boards occasionally give the course racing boards a run when the conditions are right. It would be great to get a wally fleet so if that turns you on someone needs to be the first.

I have heard people say RQYS is to expensive to join but that is a ridiculous. A crew membership and season entry fees are far far less than what it cost's to go away for one regatta and your getting over 50 races and 6 months of sailing plus access all year to a great facility.

RQ will score separate divisons ie raceboards v raceboards and foils v foil etc etc etc plus do overall

There is still four weeks left in the season to come and have a sail. Then there is the Round Peel isl Race out of Cleveland then there is the Raceboard/ Techno states at Cootharaba in May. So still some racing to go before the winter.

If your waiting for everyone to get on the same gear you will be waiting forever. My advice is grab whatever turns you on and come sailing this weekend. First warning signal is 1.30 on Saturday.

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cammd said..
I have heard people say RQYS is to expensive to join but that is a ridiculous. A crew membership and season entry fees are far far less than what it cost's to go away for one regatta and your getting over 50 races and 6 months of sailing plus access all year to a great facility.

Cammd, I agree with many of your posts but RQ's fees of $1050 for a year's membership + $250 to join + $265 for entry fees are expensive by just about any standards. Even if you can get by with crew membership of $400 it's not cheap. It's not as if it's only windsurfers who regard RQYS as expensive. I know yacht owners and dinghy racers who say the same thing. My yacht club fees are $200. My previous YC's fees for two people, including storage for a 20 foot cat and a full year of racing fees, were about half what RQ charges for the same things.

Many of us spend far less than you to do a regatta. My regattas normally cost $50-150 for entry, some petrol and perhaps camping fees.

If you like RQYS that's great. What RQYS is doing is great. But it's not ridiculous that people don't want to spend about three to seven times what many clubs charge for the same activity.

Select to expand quote

MatStirl said..
Best thing I've seen for a while is recent tas windsurf titles held over weekend in Hobart. 16 windsurfer one designs - many of them the new LT model, shows many people want to race in a one design fleet not necessarily on fast gear. Also 5 in the 'R300/hybrid' class which in the light conditions were about the same speed.

I feel like having a centreboard, one design fleet (or close too it) and board that you can race and teach beginners on is underrated. Not sure I'm keen to go back to the wally but hybrid raceboards (Bic Techno etc) are fun.

We're really a small sport with generally dwindling fleet numbers. Maybe I'm dreaming but i hope in future events we consolidate classes/events and names are descriptive - does RSX or R300 really describe windsurfing to the public?

Just in course racing we have formula, course boards, one designs/LT and r300/r500/hybrid. Often in different events, all with presumably limited numbers.

I'm hoping for 2 x divisions,
Windsurfer
Sailboard-Mixed Fleet

The windsurfer division is obviously the one designs (new and old) and mixed fleet is anything with centreboard and under say 8.5m sail. Over say 10kts the mixed fleet would sail a longer course.

The problem with such wide open rules is that the races will be won by expensive boards, and by the person who can choose between a Dart (which is what we used to call the giant D2 style Open Class boards), a 3.8m Raceboard, and perhaps a hybrid. Someone who has only a Raceboard will get beaten in light winds and the 300s will be beaten almost all of the time, as far as I have seen.

We could use a yardstick system. I think in interclub racing in NSW we had a fairly reasonable system based on the Yachting Australia handicaps that gave close racing between 7.5 Raceboards, Windsurfers, 8.5 Raceboards and Techno 293s. RQYS may have some modern data that will allow handicapping on board type. The wind strength will affect what board does best in each race, but over a series it can average out.

Select to expand quote

Chris249 said..

cammd said..
I have heard people say RQYS is to expensive to join but that is a ridiculous. A crew membership and season entry fees are far far less than what it cost's to go away for one regatta and your getting over 50 races and 6 months of sailing plus access all year to a great facility.

Cammd, I agree with many of your posts but RQ's fees of $1050 for a year's membership + $250 to join + $265 for entry fees are expensive by just about any standards. It's not as if it's only windsurfers who regard RQYS as expensive. I know yacht owners and dinghy racers who say the same thing. My yacht club fees are $200. My previous YC's fees for two people, including storage for a 20 foot cat and a full year of racing fees, were about half what RQ charges for the same things.

Many of us spend far less than you to do a regatta. My regattas normally cost $50-150 for entry, some petrol and perhaps camping fees.

If you like RQYS that's great. What RQYS is doing is great. But please don't tell other people off because they do not want to spend about five to seven times what many clubs charge for the same activity.

I'm not telling people off I am just setting realistic expectations, $670.00 for crew membership (400) + race fees (265.00) is not expensive, its less than $15.00 a race, I don't think you a paying less than $3.00 a race (5 - 7 times less than me), plus access to one of the best facilities in the country for the entire year. And all you do is turn up and race with full service that includes scoring safety and support, you don't have to take turns doing any chores or organising anything its all done for you.

If you think that is too expensive I think your setting expectations to low and are doing the sport a dis-service by keeping people away with unrealistic comments about costs, and that is why I think comments about RQYS being to expensive are ridiculous.

p.s. It costs 400 a year for a primary school kid to play soccer with parents having to volunteer to do some of the tasks, that jumps to 2000 a year for senior school kids.

PSS Junior membership at RQ is just over 200 + 265 race fees and that includes on water coaching twice a week over the season. A bargain in my opinion

edit; those fees include lock up storage as well for season entry holders junior and senior

Furthermore RQYS has invested close to $200k into our sport over the last couple of years. Having a sook about paying fees that = less than $15.00 a race to a club that has got behind windsurfing in such a big way makes me a little angry.

Support the people that support the sport.

And the club continues to support windsurfing by running courses, coaching, supporting sailors both senior and junior, training new instructors. It even supports the local Slalom club by allowing them top use the facility to run their racing.

My kids primary soccer fees are $130 per child.
I don't want to race necessarily every weekend so even $400 a season sounds like a lot to me.

I've got no problem with raceboard/hybrid/techno and even one designs all racing together.
Just as long as they have a centreboard and are production boards so the formula style arms race doesn't happen. That's what put me off racing. If you like formula buy an rsx - the best production equivalent with benefit of olympic one design racing.

At Parkdale yacht club
they have a fleet of 20 + wallys LT on the start line every week .
It just gets bigger and bigger.
they also teach on wallys too .
Fees are cheap cheap cheap too.
wallys are so cheap too.
wally events are cheap too, you even get a decent fed !
and over 100 competitors and it's getting bigger !

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windsufering said..
At Parkdale yacht club
they have a fleet of 20 + wallys LT on the start line every week .
It just gets bigger and bigger.
they also teach on wallys too .
Fees are cheap cheap cheap too.
wallys are so cheap too.
wally events are cheap too, you even get a decent fed !
and over 100 competitors and it's getting bigger !

How cheap, what does it cost to store and race a windsurfer at Parkdale and how many races do you get in a season?

460 family , 75 store windsurfer under cover, racing from October to mid April.
how many races that depends on weather and course size. Some times 3 sometimes 2
racing in front of club 100 meters off shore. No need for duck spectators can view from deck no need for binoculars.
No caviar and boutique beer and no bull****, just race on the cheapest form of sailing
the Windsurfer LT. making windsurfering affordable again.
now the class is growing and events starting all round the world , twilight racing will start up again next summer.
as not every one can make it every Sunday !

With the State Titles we ran in Tasmania last weekend, there was very good reasoning behind the classes (I'm saying this for the benefit of others on the forum and get feedback- it is not about trying to justify the decision or say it is the only way).

The new LT is a no brainer. It has the ability to really level the playing field and put an end to the equipment race.

It was suggested we run a Techno 293 fleet as well, as Sandy Bay has a few keen Techno 293 juniors. I proposed we run the R300/R-hybrid rather than just Techno 293s. i knew there were are few Phantom 295s, RSXs etc around Tasmania- and this would increase the fleet and competition for the juniors. By keeping it to R300, it meant the Techno kids would not get thrashed by a hot-shot raceboarder with lots of money.

As far as the State Titles are concerned, the R300s/Techno 293s usually finsihed within 90 seconds of each other in a 15 - 20 minute race. I consider this a pretty tight sort of event.

My personal thought on the matter would be to have the LTs and R300s racing. The R300s would have to use a max 8.5 metre sail from the class list. This would give a very good balance between high performance and keeping the costs under control (eg a Bic Techno 8.5 rig complete is around $1600 AUD).

With the Techno 293 doing what it is internationally and in Australia, running races that integrate the this board type has a lot of benefit IMHO.

Clarence

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
460 family , 75 store windsurfer under cover, racing from October to mid April.
how many races that depends on weather and course size. Some times 3 sometimes 2
racing in front of club 100 meters off shore. No need for duck spectators can view from deck no need for binoculars.
No caviar and boutique beer and no bull****, just race on the cheapest form of sailing
the Windsurfer LT. making windsurfering affordable again.

So its about $100 cheaper than RQYS, so when people start claiming RQ is expensive they are not really justified are they.

No need to look down your nose at RQ with comments about caviar and Boutique beer the reality is for that extra $100 you get access to a world class facility in a great sailing location.

I'm trying to talk your wally mates in to coming down and sailing, that won't hurt your class it will help it grow, they need a regular place to sail with regular events if the class is to grow in Qld. Why would be you negative about that.

Telling people RQ is expensive is not only false its counter productive to the sport and to your wally class. I don't understand that thinking.

Select to expand quote

cammd said..


Support the people that support the sport.

Cammd, I appreciate your passion for supporting those who support the sport. However, not everyone is going to turn up every race. If people have other commitments, then $650 to do a few races may be too much. We should not insult someone who through no fault of their own may not have a spare $650 for racing fees for whatever reason (age, divorce, spending on kids sports, whatever). Nor should we insult someone who prefers a cheaper community-based club. There are people of all different backgrounds, situations and tastes in this fantastic sport and surely we should respect that.

I may add that I ran a class association for years, starting from a basis where my wife and I put up a fair bit of our own money to make sure the nationals happened and ending up with the biggest championship in Australia for a couple of years running. We have both been involved in running clubs and classes for years. Over the last couple of days I've done everything from clean out the club fridge to dragging the start boat ashore in the rain and dealing with a handicap issue. I am VERY aware that the sport needs a lot of support, but we should respect the wishes of those who don't want to throw what is a fairly big lump of cash around.

I don't know of any OD or LT sailors who have publicly criticised RQYS for being expensive. If they say in private that it's not the way they want to spend their money then that's their personal issue. I do know that sailors from other classes regard it as expensive. Part of the issue may be the RQYS's own website since it states pretty clearly that the crew membership you write of is "Available to persons 24 years and over for persons interested in crewing." I very rarely crew my own windsurfer. If they are going to write misleading stuff on their website then people cannot be blamed if they believe that windsurfer sailors will be charged the full $1050 for membership.

Mary be you should not have endorsed a a scathing review of the Wally Lt .

Select to expand quote

Chris249 said..

cammd said..


Support the people that support the sport.

Cammd, I appreciate your passion for supporting those who support the sport. However, not everyone is going to turn up every race. If people have other commitments, then $650 to do a few races may be too much. We should not insult someone who through no fault of their own may not have a spare $650 for racing fees for whatever reason (age, divorce, spending on kids sports, whatever). Nor should we insult someone who prefers a cheaper community-based club. There are people of all different backgrounds, situations and tastes in this fantastic sport and surely we should respect that.

I may add that I ran a class association for years, starting from a basis where my wife and I put up a fair bit of our own money to make sure the nationals happened and ending up with the biggest championship in Australia for a couple of years running. We have both been involved in club and class activities for years, and over the last couple of days I've done everything from clean out the club fridge to dragging the start boat ashore in the rain and dealing with a handicap issue. Yes, the sport does need a lot of support, but we should respect the wishes of those who don't want to throw what is a fairly big lump of cash around.

Sure that is fine but calling a club expensive because you only want to race a few times a year is false, if you can't take advantage of the value on offer that does not make the club expensive.

A club can't exist only on the days that an individual wants to sail, it has expenses to meet every day of the year. anyway RQ is marginally more expensive than Parkdale.

So if you only want to race once or twice a year for whatever reason fine, joining any club is going to make those races expensive but if you want to do club racing on a regular basis over a full season then you need to expect to pay more than $100.

The guy who made this thread sounded like he wanted to start racing. All I was doing was making an effort to let him know what was on offer in Brisbane and trying to set what I think is a reasonable expectation for costs.

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
Mary be you should not have endorsed a a scathing review of the Wally Lt .

Oh OK so no one is allowed to dare say anything negative about the "sacred" Wally LT

anyway

All I did was call out your hypocrisy

Select to expand quote

clarence said..
With the State Titles we ran in Tasmania last weekend, there was very good reasoning behind the classes (I'm saying this for the benefit of others on the forum and get feedback- it is not about trying to justify the decision or say it is the only way).

The new LT is a no brainer. It has the ability to really level the playing field and put an end to the equipment race.

It was suggested we run a Techno 293 fleet as well, as Sandy Bay has a few keen Techno 293 juniors. I proposed we run the R300/R-hybrid rather than just Techno 293s. i knew there were are few Phantom 295s, RSXs etc around Tasmania- and this would increase the fleet and competition for the juniors. By keeping it to R300, it meant the Techno kids would not get thrashed by a hot-shot raceboarder with lots of money.

As far as the State Titles are concerned, the R300s/Techno 293s usually finsihed within 90 seconds of each other in a 15 - 20 minute race. I consider this a pretty tight sort of event.

My personal thought on the matter would be to have the LTs and R300s racing. The R300s would have to use a max 8.5 metre sail from the class list. This would give a very good balance between high performance and keeping the costs under control (eg a Bic Techno 8.5 rig complete is around $1600 AUD).

With the Techno 293 doing what it is internationally and in Australia, running races that integrate the this board type has a lot of benefit IMHO.

Clarence

Clarence if you want the kids to sail in big fleets regularly put them on a Wally aswell as a bic techno.
the aust champ in techno' s sails both.

Select to expand quote

cammd said..

windsufering said..
Mary be you should not have endorsed a a scathing review of the Wally Lt .

Oh OK so no one is allowed to dare say anything negative about the "sacred" Wally LT

anyway

All I did was call out your hypocrisy

My mistake , you were only promoting windsurfing.

Please find evidence of this bagging of the rsx class and technos
you endorsed Australian Yachting Olympic Selection policy ?
um didn't Parkdale yacht club ask for some help with starting a bic techno fleet up , weren't parkdale supposed to get a couple of techno from yachting Australia what are stored at RQYS . .thats right they got sent to WA
i asked you to find evidence of this nonsense that I hate rsx and techno 3 months ago . Obviously you went a ****ed your self like I suggested

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
Please find evidence of this bagging of the rsx class and technos
you endorsed Australian Yachting Olympic Selection policy ?
um didn't Parkdale yacht club ask for some help with starting a bic techno fleet up , weren't parkdale supposed to get a couple of techno from yachting Australia what are stored at RQYS . .thats right they got sent to WA

I don't want to go trolling through years of posts trying to prove a point, I take your point re the Olympic selection policy and I don't know anything about missing techno's going to WA although I do know we sent two or three to Seacliff in Adelaide last year,

Listen if I have offended you or anyone else regarding comments I made about the wally I apologise, I respect your choice to sail whatever you want and I wish your class all the best. If you agree I would prefer to end our little online war.

Select to expand quote

clarence said..
With the State Titles we ran in Tasmania last weekend, there was very good reasoning behind the classes (I'm saying this for the benefit of others on the forum and get feedback- it is not about trying to justify the decision or say it is the only way).

The new LT is a no brainer. It has the ability to really level the playing field and put an end to the equipment race.

It was suggested we run a Techno 293 fleet as well, as Sandy Bay has a few keen Techno 293 juniors. I proposed we run the R300/R-hybrid rather than just Techno 293s. i knew there were are few Phantom 295s, RSXs etc around Tasmania- and this would increase the fleet and competition for the juniors. By keeping it to R300, it meant the Techno kids would not get thrashed by a hot-shot raceboarder with lots of money.

As far as the State Titles are concerned, the R300s/Techno 293s usually finsihed within 90 seconds of each other in a 15 - 20 minute race. I consider this a pretty tight sort of event.

My personal thought on the matter would be to have the LTs and R300s racing. The R300s would have to use a max 8.5 metre sail from the class list. This would give a very good balance between high performance and keeping the costs under control (eg a Bic Techno 8.5 rig complete is around $1600 AUD).

With the Techno 293 doing what it is internationally and in Australia, running races that integrate the this board type has a lot of benefit IMHO.

Clarence

I'm happy for any race format/divisions Clarence. If a raceboard came along and keeps winning over the line doesn't worry me (I'd probably buy one again). That said I'm happy for hybrid/techno class only.

Might consider a techno or even RSX if one comes up. Not sure about you but still thinking about the LT.

Select to expand quote

cammd said..

windsufering said..
Please find evidence of this bagging of the rsx class and technos
you endorsed Australian Yachting Olympic Selection policy ?
um didn't Parkdale yacht club ask for some help with starting a bic techno fleet up , weren't parkdale supposed to get a couple of techno from yachting Australia what are stored at RQYS . .thats right they got sent to WA

I don't want to go trolling through years of posts trying to prove a point, I take your point re the Olympic selection policy and I don't know anything about missing techno's going to WA although I do know we sent two or three to Seacliff in Adelaide last year,

Listen if I have offended you or anyone else regarding comments I made about the wally I apologise, I respect your choice to sail whatever you want and I wish your class all the best. If you agree I would prefer to end our little online war.

Why didn't those techno come to parkdale ?
we had sailors waiting and then they got sent elsewhere

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..

cammd said..

windsufering said..
Please find evidence of this bagging of the rsx class and technos
you endorsed Australian Yachting Olympic Selection policy ?
um didn't Parkdale yacht club ask for some help with starting a bic techno fleet up , weren't parkdale supposed to get a couple of techno from yachting Australia what are stored at RQYS . .thats right they got sent to WA

I don't want to go trolling through years of posts trying to prove a point, I take your point re the Olympic selection policy and I don't know anything about missing techno's going to WA although I do know we sent two or three to Seacliff in Adelaide last year,

Listen if I have offended you or anyone else regarding comments I made about the wally I apologise, I respect your choice to sail whatever you want and I wish your class all the best. If you agree I would prefer to end our little online war.

Why didn't those techno come to parkdale ?
we had sailors waiting and then they got sent elsewhere

Max Wojik sent them, they were pretty old probably over 10 years.

Max is the coach what we had to pay for , to teach kids how to race bic technos because yachting Australia wouldn't ?

Sorry I don't know anymore than what I have already said

Select to expand quote

cammd said..

Chris249 said..

cammd said..


Support the people that support the sport.

Cammd, I appreciate your passion for supporting those who support the sport. However, not everyone is going to turn up every race. If people have other commitments, then $650 to do a few races may be too much. We should not insult someone who through no fault of their own may not have a spare $650 for racing fees for whatever reason (age, divorce, spending on kids sports, whatever). Nor should we insult someone who prefers a cheaper community-based club. There are people of all different backgrounds, situations and tastes in this fantastic sport and surely we should respect that.

I may add that I ran a class association for years, starting from a basis where my wife and I put up a fair bit of our own money to make sure the nationals happened and ending up with the biggest championship in Australia for a couple of years running. We have both been involved in club and class activities for years, and over the last couple of days I've done everything from clean out the club fridge to dragging the start boat ashore in the rain and dealing with a handicap issue. Yes, the sport does need a lot of support, but we should respect the wishes of those who don't want to throw what is a fairly big lump of cash around.

Sure that is fine but calling a club expensive because you only want to race a few times a year is false, if you can't take advantage of the value on offer that does not make the club expensive.

A club can't exist only on the days that an individual wants to sail, it has expenses to meet every day of the year. anyway RQ is marginally more expensive than Parkdale.

So if you only want to race once or twice a year for whatever reason fine, joining any club is going to make those races expensive but if you want to do club racing on a regular basis over a full season then you need to expect to pay more than $100.

The guy who made this thread sounded like he wanted to start racing. All I was doing was making an effort to let him know what was on offer in Brisbane and trying to set what I think is a reasonable expectation for costs.

The point is that the people who find it too costly for them shouldn't be insulted, particularly if they have no need of the value on offer. There are actually cheaper clubs and if someone prefers the cheaper option, good on them.

Select to expand quote

MatStirl said..

clarence said..
With the State Titles we ran in Tasmania last weekend, there was very good reasoning behind the classes (I'm saying this for the benefit of others on the forum and get feedback- it is not about trying to justify the decision or say it is the only way).

The new LT is a no brainer. It has the ability to really level the playing field and put an end to the equipment race.

It was suggested we run a Techno 293 fleet as well, as Sandy Bay has a few keen Techno 293 juniors. I proposed we run the R300/R-hybrid rather than just Techno 293s. i knew there were are few Phantom 295s, RSXs etc around Tasmania- and this would increase the fleet and competition for the juniors. By keeping it to R300, it meant the Techno kids would not get thrashed by a hot-shot raceboarder with lots of money.

As far as the State Titles are concerned, the R300s/Techno 293s usually finsihed within 90 seconds of each other in a 15 - 20 minute race. I consider this a pretty tight sort of event.

My personal thought on the matter would be to have the LTs and R300s racing. The R300s would have to use a max 8.5 metre sail from the class list. This would give a very good balance between high performance and keeping the costs under control (eg a Bic Techno 8.5 rig complete is around $1600 AUD).

With the Techno 293 doing what it is internationally and in Australia, running races that integrate the this board type has a lot of benefit IMHO.

Clarence

I'm happy for any race format/divisions Clarence. If a raceboard came along and keeps winning over the line doesn't worry me (I'd probably buy one again). That said I'm happy for hybrid/techno class only.

Might consider a techno or even RSX if one comes up. Not sure about you but still thinking about the LT.

I'm going to keep on topic....

Yes, I'm still thinking of an LT- just have to work out which raceboard I part with to make room.

Maybe an F2 lightning up for sale Matt.

The LT would be an excellent coastal long distance board as well.

Personally, I think the main aim at this stage in Tassie is to get longboard racing re-established- and working out what is the best way to get there and bring along as many people as possible.

We'll discuss more soon (and tee up some coast runs too).

Clarence

Sounds great, Clarence. FYI we had some pretty fair interclub/interclass racing in NSW, using handicaps derived from the Australian Sailing yardsticks. From memory it was;

9.5 Raceboard 93
7.5 Raceboard 98
Windsurfer One Design (LT) 114 Pumping restrictions as per class rules
Techno 110 (?)
RSX 103 (?)

Obviously it's not perfect because the boards perform differently in different wind strengths and angles and course sizes, but it turned out to be pretty damn close with the national IMCO champ winning the series from a top One Design sailor if I recall correctly. They were both about the same speed when they both sailed IMCO and both sailed Windsurfer, so the system seemed to work. I did the same sums for club racing at DAC and again over a series the system worked quite well.

If anyone is interested I would be happy to contact RQYS to see if I can get some information from their mixed fleet racing to tune the numbers and perhaps bring in FW and foilboards.

Select to expand quote

Chris249 said..

cammd said..

Chris249 said..

cammd said..


Support the people that support the sport.

Cammd, I appreciate your passion for supporting those who support the sport. However, not everyone is going to turn up every race. If people have other commitments, then $650 to do a few races may be too much. We should not insult someone who through no fault of their own may not have a spare $650 for racing fees for whatever reason (age, divorce, spending on kids sports, whatever). Nor should we insult someone who prefers a cheaper community-based club. There are people of all different backgrounds, situations and tastes in this fantastic sport and surely we should respect that.

I may add that I ran a class association for years, starting from a basis where my wife and I put up a fair bit of our own money to make sure the nationals happened and ending up with the biggest championship in Australia for a couple of years running. We have both been involved in club and class activities for years, and over the last couple of days I've done everything from clean out the club fridge to dragging the start boat ashore in the rain and dealing with a handicap issue. Yes, the sport does need a lot of support, but we should respect the wishes of those who don't want to throw what is a fairly big lump of cash around.

Sure that is fine but calling a club expensive because you only want to race a few times a year is false, if you can't take advantage of the value on offer that does not make the club expensive.

A club can't exist only on the days that an individual wants to sail, it has expenses to meet every day of the year. anyway RQ is marginally more expensive than Parkdale.

So if you only want to race once or twice a year for whatever reason fine, joining any club is going to make those races expensive but if you want to do club racing on a regular basis over a full season then you need to expect to pay more than $100.

The guy who made this thread sounded like he wanted to start racing. All I was doing was making an effort to let him know what was on offer in Brisbane and trying to set what I think is a reasonable expectation for costs.

The point is that the people who find it too costly for them shouldn't be insulted, particularly if they have no need of the value on offer. There are actually cheaper clubs and if someone prefers the cheaper option, good on them.

You can enter racing casually at RQ up to 3 times, the thinking behind this is to allow to try before you buy, its only allowed three times because to continue to enter casually on an ongoing basis would be unfair to the members who bear the cost of running the club every day regardless of how often they use it.

I think what your suggesting by just paying the minimum amount to race when it suits you is actually an insult to all those people that support clubs by joining them and paying the fees. I take it that's what you meant when you referred to people that have no need of the value on offer.

Select to expand quote

windsufering said..
At Parkdale yacht club
they have a fleet of 20 + wallys LT on the start line every week .
It just gets bigger and bigger.
they also teach on wallys too .
Fees are cheap cheap cheap too.
wallys are so cheap too.
wally events are cheap too, you even get a decent fed !
and over 100 competitors and it's getting bigger !

Perth had not seen Windsurfer One Design racing for decades until recently. Our fleet of LT's is about 20 and growing. One of the things I'm loving is 12-18knots is "windy" on a LT. I'm having fun sailing all over the river usually 10-20km per session. We are also loving the railing upwind (although for me I'm still a bit heavy, but working on it, at 99kg)

@Matstirl

Here is a little reality check on what it actually costs to race, not including buying or maintaining gear

The upcoming regatta in May at Cootharaba hosted by LCSC will cater for Raceboards, Hybrids and Wallys pretty much exactly what your saying your interested in. LCSC is arguably one of the least expensive clubs around. A great club in a great location run by great people, very friendly. This particular regatta is a favourite among the guys and girls I sail with at RQ.

To enter I assume it will cost around $100 give or take $10. You will also require public liability insurance, so you can obtain that through a third party like Nautilus ($150) or join an affilated AWA windsurfing club. Lets say you join Bayside or Windwanderers your up for another $60 or $70 I am not sure of their fees, if you join LCSC its about $170.00 I think. Then you need to find accommodation, camping at Boreen point is pretty cheap so maybe $20.00 then fuel cost as well say $30 if your coming from Brisbane. So now you some where between $200 and $300 dollars to do the cheapest regatta around that I know of. That is maximum 10 races over 2 days

So if I argue that $670 for a full season of racing is not expensive I don't think that is an insult to anyone it's just a simple fact.