TRADITIONAL LAUNCHINg - Caribbean Compass

DECEMBER 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 14
Errol
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Regatta Organizers
Say ‘CSA Rule Rules!’
The Caribbean Sailing Association’s fifth annual Caribbean Regatta Organizers’
Conference took place at Divi Little Bay Resort, St. Maarten, on October 25th
and 26th. Twenty-six people representing 11 Caribbean sailing regattas willingly
shared their hard-won knowledge and experience in order to improve their
individual events and Caribbean racing as a whole. Two days of intense discussion
gave participants new and innovative ideas to help them organize regattas
held in a range of venues extending from Puerto Rico to Bonaire.
Among those present were Stuart Knaggs of Captain Oliver’s Regatta, Herve
Dorvil of the Course de l’Alliance, Bob and Linda Phillips and Judy Petz of the
BVI Spring Regatta, Julie and Joe San Martin of the St. Croix International
Regatta, Angel Ayala of the Culebra Heineken International Regatta, Neil
Forrester of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, Byron Tromp of the Bonaire
Regatta, Laurie Gumbs and Donal Curtis of the Anguilla Sailing Festival, Niki
Borde and Peter Baillie of the Tobago Carnival Regatta, Steve Sleight of Cowes
on Line, Jean Michel Marziou and Michel Corbel of the Triskell Cup Regatta and
Elizabeth Brooks of OnDeck Racing. A five-strong contingent from the St.
Maarten Heineken Regatta included Robbie Ferron, Heather Tackling, Rien
Korteknie, Gerty Vaftenhout and Michele Korteweg.
Organized by CSA president Cary Byerley, and assisted by the CSA secretariat’s
Petra Gilders, the annual conference’s aim is to bring together Caribbean
regatta organizers in a central location to share information and to facilitate
Regional regatta organizers recently put their heads together, to the benefit of
each event and Caribbean yacht racing as a whole
networking with others in their industry. The conference is held at a different
venue each year to encourage participation from throughout the island chain.
Cooperation between the islands is key to maintaining a level high of competition
with the rest of the world’s regattas, as well as maintaining the strength of
the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA).
According to Heather Tackling, “It is great to meet with other regatta organizers
and compare notes. We are all working on the same things but are able to
help each other out with tips, ideas and contacts. Year after year, I continue to
walk away with new ideas and concepts and I am able to implement them in our
event. It is an invaluable resource for information, no matter what size your
event is.”
Topics covered in this most recent conference included rescue and disaster
management, scoring, registration and marketing.
One of the liveliest discussions dealt with the CSA’s handicapping system and
why the CSA rule works so well in the Caribbean. Paul Miller, Director of
Caribdata, led this session, as he is qualified with a vast amount of experience
with CSA as well as a number of other handicapping systems. For the past
seven years Paul has been working closely with CSA, helping move to a paperless
system and analyzing race results for fairness.
While a number of other handicapping systems have enjoyed short-term
popularity in the region, the CSA Rule has been in continuous use for more
than 40 years. Here, as explained by Paul, are the reasons why:
Boats perform differently as conditions change and boats that perform well in
20 knots of wind are unlikely to perform well in five knots, or vice-versa. The
small geographic area of the Eastern Caribbean is blessed with fairly consistent
conditions and a one-number rule works well in our narrow wind range, which
is why the CSA Rule is still in use, making it the oldest continuously used sailboat
measurement handicapping system. Administrators in the area are able to
react quickly to changes in boat design and equipment to ensure as level a playing
field as possible for both visiting and local boats.
Paul has had the opportunity to closely analyze the results of a number of
regattas using the CSA Rule, and has found that it consistently produces
tight results for the top competitors: with few exceptions, corrected times are
normally within two percent of each other. When “rule beater” boats do
appear, problems are relatively quickly sorted out. The CSA measurers, led by
Chief Measurer Jeffery Chen, meet yearly to discuss how the rule may need
to be fine-tuned.
The ratings of every CSA-measured boat are easily accessed on-line at http://
csa.cdl.vg, and although the formulae from which the handicaps are produced
are secret, the handicaps and measurements are available to the public.
Linda Phillips says, “We in the Caribbean take a great deal of pride in the CSA
rule. It works well here because it was designed for Caribbean conditions and it
is constantly being evaluated and tweaked to ensure fairness. Although the rating
rule which enjoys the short-term popular status of ‘flavor of the month’ may
seem attractive to some, the CSA handicapping system rules in the Caribbean
because it works in the Caribbean.”
Thanks to Linda Phillips and Cary Byerley for information in this report. For
more information on Caribbean regattas visit www.caribbeanracing.com. For
more information on the CSA visit www.caribbean-sailing.com.