Growing fleets with A/B regattas

One Design Classes need to be proactive to attract new members. Some classes bring people in as crew while other dinghy fleets have loaner boats. The mission is to expose people to the activity both on and off the water, and showcase how this could be what they do for fun.

Another idea is to take a page out of the college sailing playbook and have an A/B regatta. Fleet members pair up with prospects or ‘friends of the fleet’, using the same boat, with one team racing in the A Fleet while the B Fleet watches from shore. After a race or two, the B Fleet races while the A Fleet is ashore. The combined scores from the A and B team decide the results.

The Snipe Fleet at Cottage Park Yacht Club (Winthrop, MA) recently held their second annual A/B regatta, finding how the two-division format allowed more people to get into boats with many competitors being first time Snipe sailors.

More so, the onshore time while the other division races provides social time for spectating in an inclusive and relaxed atmosphere. For the CPYC event, 10 boats translated to 20 teams, and with any luck some of the B Division teams will buy their own boat. Fleet growth!