Virtually Perfect

To answer my own request for good news about regatta organizers and race committees, I did sail in one regatta this year that was virtually perfect. Even though the winds were sometimes shifty, the start lines and courses were as square as could reasonably be expected. Start sequences and signals were spot on. Finishes were recorded accurately and, as soon as one race had finished, the RC started the sequence for the next race without any waiting around. There were no peanut butter and jelly unmentionables posing as regatta lunches, and the regatta results were posted on the web an hour or so after the last race. About the only thing to complain about as far as race management was concerned was that the start lines were a little short for the size of the fleet.

Off the water there was absolutely nothing to which one could take exception. No parking problems. No extra charges for food or drink. No dead skunks Brian.

On top of all that I had my best overall score in any regatta this season with a fifth place ranking. Then today I discovered that the regatta was written up on the Yachts and Yachting web page, with a brief description of a typical clumsy blunder by myself in one race. Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity and I will try not to let the fame go to my head.

Here's a picture from the Y&Y site of myself making a perfect mid-line start away from all the chaos at the pin end. That's me in the pink boat with my bow just hitting the line as the gun went off.


Oh, didn't I mention? It wasn't a real regatta. It was the first weekly Tacticat regatta last Monday, hosted in Europe this week. For those of you not in the know, Tacticat is an Internet environment where sailors of different countries and sailing classes meet to train tactics by virtually racing each other.

As I said, virtual perfection in regatta management thanks to the brilliant minds that invented Tacticat and continue to improve it in response to feedback from users. Come join us.