Last Sunday’s Big-Boat races attacted another large crowd of majestic, classic ships to NYC’s Bismarck Sea Startline. The Southwestern United Sailing Sims are a great place to hold these races, given the large number of free prim reserved for sailing boats.

Unfortunately, as these races become more popular, the lag at the start line in Bismarck Sea increases as well.

Last week, however, Race Directors JeanCarlo Kepler and Armchair Binder took charge, and split the fleet. Half the boats stayed in Bismarck Sea, the other half used the Raceline in Coral Sea.

Although the two groups used different start lines, they had the same wind and raced the same NYC B1A course.

In fact, they sailed the same race: JeanCarlo and Armchair coordinated a simultaneous start for two ‘hemi-fleets,’  allowing the big-boats to spread out optimally across the sims during each race. 

Although more than a dozen big-boats competed on Sunday, lag was not a major problem and the competing skippers applauded the split-fleet idea and flawless coordination provided by the race directors. It looks like the ”two-line solution“ could be a potential fix for other popular regattas where lag is a recurrent issue.

Great Going, JeanCarlo and Armchair!

And I have one more Big-Boat announcement!!

Since 4:00pm Sunday is too late for many Sailors, on January 28 2008, NYC is starting a second, weekly Big-Boat Race Slot. Please put on your boat shoes and join Race Director Bal Lubitsch in Bismarck Sea each Monday at 10:00am for more great Big-Boat Racing!