Aluminum mast and plate runner fleet at WC and NA's
eric_anderson:
The reality is that 90% of the time you are going to compete with 3/16 inserts or snow plates. If you own one set of cheap pit runners , 3 inserts and 3 26" snow plates, you can sail in the gold fleet. I know that from personal experiance. Beyond that it is far more important to have your shit lined up and tuned perfectly than to have lots of stuff.
As far as masts go, I have bought 3 composite masts in 12 years. I still own all of them (one is in europe) Last year I sailed an 11 year old mast in Europe.
The real cost of racing is travel. Last year the closest spot I sailed was 220 miles from my house. If you want to reduce the sosts of iceboating, get a partner and a smaller car
thistle3966:
Being new to the class and iceboating, I find this an interesting read.
I think at the regional and national level, participation in the 'plate-runner' division is low, primarily due to the competitive nature of those who actually travel to the bigger regattas. These are individuals who have the insert runners, composite masts, and the rest of the go fast gear. Those with aluminum masts and plate runners are usually more interested in club racing or cruising around a local lake for the day. I don't think creating a division for plate runners will encourage them to travel to these events. I know that is an extremely large assumption based on my perception, but from what I have observed, seems to be the reality.
I believe this is a great idea, but maybe more for the club level??
I don't speak for the majority, but I am slightly discouraged when trying advance. I have an outdated older boat, aluminum mast, plate runners in which I probably spent too much money and time fixing up, and can't sell. I went to the Western Challenge last year and was completely hooked. One of my buddies let me take out his C2 boat with all the trimmings, and since then have been gathering advice and opinions on what gear to acquire to become more competitive.
I get discouraged when I see the cost. I am not saying that I have to have everything nor do I feel iceboating is the most expensive sport. Iceboating is secondary to campaigning a one design sailboat in my household, so slipping an extra 4-5k past the finance warden is extremely difficult, especially after being interrogated about the expense report from the summer of racing.
The composite masts appear to be readily available at a reasonable cost, but competitive used insert runners are the hard to find. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to sell their finely profiled, perfectly sharpened runners that they have spent hours stoning. I am too competitive to show up to events with everything but the appropriate runners, but also don't have the extra cash on hand to get the runners I need to copy the leaders in the class.
Geoff Sobering:
Just a personal note on the competitiveness with plate runners. A couple of years ago I had a major crash the week before the Westerns and not enough time to get everything back to together on my main boat. Instead I took the boat I keep around to loan out to people (ancient all glass "Norton Winder" mast, 50's era plate runners, and a hand-me-down F-01 sail) to the regatta. All I did was check the crown and sharpness on the runners.
My guess is that I finished about 3-5 places behind where I would have with a better mast and insert runners.
More importantly, I had a blast!.
I was racing in a pack of boats in every race, so I didn't feel like I was "tagging around the course".
Cheers,
Geoff S.
rpotcova:
Just keep in mind that the goal here is to boost participants and make the membership happy. Boosting participation keeps our costs down. 5 steps starts keeps our older members happy. Plate runnners cover the new folks or the guys that just don't want a bunch of runners. And the intent is only for the bronze fleet..not all fleets.
Good ice and no snow would solve most of the problem.
DN 5449:
Quote from: thistle3966 on November 06, 2012, 11:32:27 AM
Being new to the class and iceboating, I find this an interesting read.
I think at the regional and national level, participation in the 'plate-runner' division is low, primarily due to the competitive nature of those who actually travel to the bigger regattas. These are individuals who have the insert runners, composite masts, and the rest of the go fast gear. Those with aluminum masts and plate runners are usually more interested in club racing or cruising around a local lake for the day. I don't think creating a division for plate runners will encourage them to travel to these events. I know that is an extremely large assumption based on my perception, but from what I have observed, seems to be the reality.
I believe this is a great idea, but maybe more for the club level??
I don't speak for the majority, but I am slightly discouraged when trying advance. I have an outdated older boat, aluminum mast, plate runners in which I probably spent too much money and time fixing up, and can't sell. I went to the Western Challenge last year and was completely hooked. One of my buddies let me take out his C2 boat with all the trimmings, and since then have been gathering advice and opinions on what gear to acquire to become more competitive.
I get discouraged when I see the cost. I am not saying that I have to have everything nor do I feel iceboating is the most expensive sport. Iceboating is secondary to campaigning a one design sailboat in my household, so slipping an extra 4-5k past the finance warden is extremely difficult, especially after being interrogated about the expense report from the summer of racing.
The composite masts appear to be readily available at a reasonable cost, but competitive used insert runners are the hard to find. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to sell their finely profiled, perfectly sharpened runners that they have spent hours stoning. I am too competitive to show up to events with everything but the appropriate runners, but also don't have the extra cash on hand to get the runners I need to copy the leaders in the class.
I have some what the same feelings as Thistle,coming from a One Design background it is a little disconcerning to feel the playing field is not level.Like Geof said unless you are willing to seriously campaign these boats you have to be happy about going fast relatve to your skill and equipment level.
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