Short course short races?

The Sailing Instructions say .. .. 

The time limit for the leading boat in a club race is two hours. Boats failing to finish within 30 minutes from the finishing time of the leading boat will be scored DNF (Did Not Finish) without a hearing - this changes RRS 35.

. .. 

The target time for the leading boat to finish in each fleet in a club race is between 50 and 70 minutes. Target times do not apply for the Long Distance race, Pursuit Races or Cruiser Races. Failure to meet the target time will not be grounds for redress - this changes RRS 62.1(a).

OODs remember you have three options in average lap racing to shorten races that are overrunning .. 

1. Shorten Course
2. Using Force Finish to finish individual slower boats while the faster boats are on their last lap
3. Using the "Curtail" option - essentially abandoning the race and taking the results from the last lap that each boat finished

Details are in the Sailing Instructions - please take a look before you do an OOD duty.

Firstly a big thank you to John & the race team for a brilliantly well run race yesterday, great course & so good to have a decent length race. Really enjoyable.
Personally we're not fans of the multiple race days, with the numerous fleet starts we have & the unavoidable waiting around in between. The early finishers tend to come ashore & very tricky to manage. It's even more onerous & a struggle for the OOD as shown in recent months  - we find running 1 race if a big fleet turnout, stressful enough!
For anyone like ourselves having over an hour round trip to get to SYC, if a race is under an hour, it hardly seems worth it!  In the middle of summer, with a nice breeze, it was just nice to be out there & thanks again John & team.

 

I would certinly prefer 2 'short' races back to back.
This could simply replace some of the standard series race days but be part of that series.

I also prefer shorter laps but more of them as this gives the Race officer more flexibility / ability to get the overall race times closer to the 'ideal' / specified length.

Due to the disparity in boat speed I think consideration should be given to a separate start for the Juniors.

John Steels

I like both types of race (long and short back to back). However, I think the balance is tilted heavily towards the long type so on that basis I'd like more shorter races (both with regard to time and distance).

I agree that it is just nice to get out though.
...my 2p

Yesterday was a trophy race so I guess one longish race was appropriate. However, apart from the pre-start I was out racing for 1 hour 47 minutes, and I wasn't one of the last finishers. Even the first boat to finish was racng for 1hour 25 minutes. 
Rounding 'salmon pool' during lap three meant that half plate was maximum and almost no plate by lap 4. 
So from my perspective a long race should certainly be no more 80 minutes and a standard race 40 minutes for fast boats and 50 minutes for slower boats such as the Solo/Laser Radial. 
The only advantage yesterday was that there wasn't a queue for the hose and, for once, there wasn't a post race 'forum' on incorrect results!

I was unable to sail this weekend but when I looked at the results and saw how long the race was I have to admit that I didn't feel too disappointed not to have taken part as I know that I would probably have retired after about an hour. As someone who is regularly near the back of the slow fleet there is really no point in continuing to the bitter end.
A bad start or some disaster during the race usually means that all hope of finishing well up the fleet is lost so the chance to get things right during a second race can make a big difference.
Regarding not being able to fit everything in, surely if you are running 2 races instead of one the series would be completed over fewer days but with the same number of races.
I can appreciate the difficulties of managing the waiting time between races when 4 fleets are involved but think it would be good to try running more back to back short races and then see how people feel.