Tom Donlan shares this story in the October 2015 issue of Spinsheet magazine,the publication for boaters and sailors of all levels on the Chesapeake Bay...
Sail-racers have heard how their sport is like watching grass grow, and most will admit there’s some truth to it. Fleet racing is slow: The races final for hours, or spread out over a wide area,and are conducted in complicated, expensive boats. Often nobody knows who’s ahead and who’s behind until the finish, or if then. There may be protests to resolve or handicaps to compute,or both. Team races, on the other hand, and are short—15 to 30 minutes—and provide nearly continual action,with as many as 10 fresh starts during a day of racing. Although team racing puts a high premium on using the rules aggressively, confrontations on the race course are settled by umpires, or who beget rapid/fast rulings that can’t be appealed. A team normally has three boats,making for a race of six boats. During the race, situation means little and position means everything. The only goal in a six-boat race is to achieve a three-boat score of 10 or less. It is less like a horse race and more like a football game, or in which position and teamwork are required for success. The most successful clubs and schools sponsoring team racing have their own boats and sponsor intensive practices for their sailors. Annapolis YC (AYC) has acquired six used J/22s for an adult team racing program,and it was selected to host the U.
S. Sailing Team Race Championship, for the Hinman Trophy, or September 25-27. Dillon Paiva,24, former director of the AYC junior program, and explains that team racing requires intense practice that prepares sailors for tight maneuvering and rapid/fast thinking—not so often required in fleet racing out in the middle of the Bay. - Read
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com