UKIDA Guidance Notes
For Sailing Clubs
Hosting An Open Event
2013
Introduction
These guidance notes are intended to help clubs organise the most successful event possible for both themselves and visiting boat crews along with their families.
UKIDA events are a balance between competitive sailing and making sure that everybody enjoys the event and has a good time.
We have tried to outline what we feel clubs should do before, during and after an event, and where UKIDA can help.
The booklet is intended to be a work in progress and suggestions for improvements and additional advice are more than welcome.
Before the Event
What are you going to do?
In order to support your club as much as we can, UKIDA needs as much notice as possible concerning the plans you have put together. This way we can make sure that as many clubs and sailors as possible know about your event and get as many Darts and competitors there as possible.
UKIDA would like a rough copy of your clubs intentions sent to as soon as possible, with a more detailed (and hopefully a final) itinerary to follow 3-4 weeks before the event. The event calendar is complete by the spring of each year, and ideally we would like some information to put in the spring edition of “Art of Dart” from each club that is holding an event. Detailed information needs to be available 3-4 weeks before the event so that we can post it on our website and send out Constant Contact publicity emails to all our sailors. This should include publication of a Notice of Race on both your website and our website. The standard UKIDA NOR is attached and we would ask that this is used as a template. The NOR should include all information that enables sailors to decide if they wish to attend the event or not (e g race times, if other fleets are involved, accommodation options, latest finish time etc).
Promotion
We all know the saying “Any press is good press”, and common sense tells us that no press at all isn’t any good to anyone!
So what do you need to do?
Contact Y&Y - they are always more than happy to post your event advert online, and if you can get the advert in early enough, then in the magazine too.
You can also contact your local press office, newspapers, radio etc. Pretty much anything to get the word out! Make a poster with the key information on it (a sample poster is included in the appendix), UKIDA is more than happy to send out Constant Contact emails to let people know what your intentions are and why they should put their boat on the trailer and mosey on down to spend the weekend with you. Talk to your local clubs, speak to the club up the road from you, make a deal that if they bring their sailors to your
event (even if it’s just to the social), then you will bring your sailors to the next event that they organise. That way everyone benefits: your club and event has a great atmosphere and it is of course more money for the kitchen and bar! It is a good idea to get a poster about the event displayed in all your nearby clubs well in advance.
If you have a club Twitter or Facebook account then get your plans on there, as well as a good few pictures (from sunny days of course!) to make your club look warm and inviting! If you do not have club based social media then get in contact with Jenni and she will spread the word for you on the UKDIA social media sites.
How can we find you?
We’ve all been there, you’ve left on time, planned a sensible route with nice stops, and totally out of control a 3 hours drive has ended up taking 7, and now you are half a mile from the sailing club and have no idea where to go!
UKIDA would ask that all clubs sign post the way to their club from a sensible radius, for some it might be 2-3 miles away, for other 6-7 miles. We leave this up to the clubs discretion. It is also a good idea to publish various routes (depending on which direction people may approach from (e g North, South etc) online for visiting boats to look over before they embark on their journey giving them some idea of what to look for as they get nearer to their destination. With the added direction signs there should be no chance of your guests getting lost - you would be surprised how many experienced Dart sailors can’t use a Satnav or read a map!
What should we do when we get there?
This is pretty straight forward and can be a couple of simple sentence’s on the UKIDA Chatpage or on Facebook etc. Rather than leave your guests to clog up the gateway with their boats, let them know where they should put them on arrival - the field, empty boat park spots etc. It is also important that people in tents or campers are told where they can pitch their tents and park up.
We would prefer if you have somebody at the club on Friday nights before an event, and if possible have the club open for food and drink. There is nothing more depressing than driving for 6 hours and arriving at 9pm to a dark deserted club with no welcome.
If it is impossible to open the club on the Friday night, UKIDA asks that you leave contact details for a named helper in case of any problems on arrival (e g the gate is locked by mistake; there is no more room in the allocated boat park area; or just if they are not sure they are in the right place). It is also a good idea in these circumstances to suggest a nearby meeting place (e g pub or restaurant) for early arrivals.
During the Event
Entries
We expect the host club to take care of event entries, and to ensure that all those who enter are entitled to do so. To enter a UKIDA event all helms must be current members of UKIDA (or another National Dart Association) or a full member of the host club (free temporary UKIDA membership). UKIDA will supply a list of current UKIDA members prior to the event. UKIDA will also supply membership forms for sailors wishing to join UKIDA at the time of entry.
Sailing Instructions
UKIDA has its own set of sailing instructions, and asks that hosting clubs use them rather than their own unless there are very good reasons for not doing so. SI’s & NOR’s are available for download on the UKIDA Forms tab on the website.
This is down to the simple reason that for our members visiting from other clubs the set up is always the same (the flags, start sequence, course options etc). That way we lessen the confusion and potentially endless questions at briefing for the Race Officer to fend off! It is also much fairer for the visiting sailors rather than looking for unfamiliar marks on unfamiliar water.
Hosting clubs should of course include any regional variations or local rules in the Sailing Instruction appendices, though we would ask you to discuss any such changes with UKIDA before publication.
The standard UKIDA sailing instructions have been included in the appendices to these notes.
Racing
Two day UKIDA open events normally stick to the following six race format:-
Where possible a late start on Saturday (preferably not before 12 noon) to allow visiting boats to arrive and rig up, with a short briefing at around 11am followed by 3 races back to back.
This should be followed by a relatively early start on Sunday morning (around 10-10.30am) and a further 3 races back to back with an early finish time (a latest possible start time is stated in the UKIDA sailing instructions) in order to allow visiting boats time to de-rig and travel home again.
The prize giving should follow on promptly – ideally starting before 4:30pm to ensure maximum attendance and awarding of the prizes to competitors before they leave.
Where there needs to be variation from the above 6 race format due to tidal constraints or other local variations, please discuss the options with UKIDA before publishing the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions. Races should be planned for an average of 45 minutes duration for the lead boat and for the fleet to finish within 20 minutes of the lead boat. We expect clubs to sail under the current version of the Racing Rules of Sailing as published by ISAF. Start sequences, courses, penalties etc must follow these rules.
The race start times should take into account the Après Sailing arrangements which have been made by the host club. This means that enough time should be left for your visitors to come ashore, de-rig, generally get ready (and for the ladies to do their hair), before your Après Sailing event begins. Don’t forget that realistically the majority of your visitors are not thinking of winning the event and are mostly there to do a bit of sailing, enjoy the weekend and have a good time!
Facilities
Most of what is said in this section will be common sense, but we will say it anyway!
After a long day on the water there is nothing more comforting that coming ashore and knowing that there is a nice hot shower waiting for you in a lovely warm changing room.
Make the most of the facilities that your club has. If you have had the changing rooms refurbished then let people know, use that as part of your advertising.
UKIDA does believe that it is a reasonable expectation that there is enough hot water and shower facilities for the number of visitors you are expecting at your event. This means that for some clubs it might mean leaving the boiler on for a little longer.
If a club has camping available on site then further facilities are required. Campers will require access to toilets during the night. Whilst we might not mind sleeping in a field, access to proper toilet facilities is expected. This means that where possible the club should be left open, even if this is not the “front” door to the club. Please notify campers how they can access the facilities. If it is really not possible to provide access to the club (there are no other doors, or access to the bar area can not be prevented) then the club should be opened as early as possible the following morning.
Most sailors would hope that breakfast is available each morning before sailing. You should publicise the times that this is available, and make sure that the times are suitable for the race start times. If for some reason breakfast cannot be available than please publicise somewhere where competitors can go for a bacon sandwich!
Prizes
UKIDA suggest that when determining the number of prizes host clubs should purchase, clubs should follow the RYA guidelines - prizes should be awarded to the square root of the number of competitors expected at the event. For example prizes 1-5 if 25 boats are expected, prizes 1-3 if 9 boats are expected etc. This obviously excludes the handicap prizes which are provided by UKIDA.
The prizes awarded should preferably not just be alcohol. UKIDA recommends that for the main prizes (e g 1st, 2nd & 3rd) the prizes should be a physical memento that can be kept, rather than a bottle of wine drunk in one night!
Prizes awarded previously have included engraved glasses and plates, mugs, and embroidered towels etc.
Club are of course welcome to include alcohol in the prizes if they should so wish, but it should be an accompaniment rather than a stand alone prize.
Après Sailing
We now come to one of the most important aspects of your event; after all who doesn’t enjoy a reason to boogie?
Price
Depending on what you have planned for your evening entertainment will have a impact on what you intend to charge for your event. UKIDA recommends that clubs follow these guidelines in order to satisfy visiting boats and their own bank balance:
£30-35 one basic meal included, no free accommodation on site or camping, basic entertainment included e g a disco for the Saturday night
£35-50 more than one meal included, free or reasonably priced accommodation or camping on site, a band or similar entertainment for the Saturday night
If a club is holding an event longer than 2 days then the price and that which is included should be discussed and agreed with UKIDA before it is published.
Evening Entertainment
Knowing what the Dart fleet are like, for most this is by far the most important part of the weekend… what to arrange for a social?
UKIDA advises that hosting clubs consider the number of entries you expect to have when deciding on your evening schedule. Those events with a smaller turn out are unlikely to want to spend out and get a band in, unless they are combining the event with a club social or have a mixed class event on that weekend. Where as clubs who know they will have a larger turn out would have disappointed visitors if there was just an iPod on shuffle and the bar shut at 10pm!
Linked to this UKIDA does expect that more is made of the evening entertainment if your club is hosting a larger event such as the Inland National Championships or the Single-Handed and Ladies Nationals.
Your plans for the après sailing entertainment can be pretty much whatever you can imagine and put together! In the past we have had several themed evenings – ranging from Hawaiian to Wild West (complete with Bucking Bronco).
Many clubs do decide to book a band which is generally guaranteed to get people up and dancing, many have included a “Happy Hour” drinks offer on certain beverages, and have included a spot prizes section if there have been contributions by sponsors or in some cases generous club members.