I love my catamaran. I love racing my catamaran. I love racing my catamaran upwind & downwind. I love racing my catamaran a long distance. I love *sailing* my catamaran back & forth across the lake as fast as I can, but I almost never get to do this in a "race".



How come there aren't more catamaran "races" that have nice long reaches, or crazy slalom shaped courses? Here's some reasons I can imagine are used.



Strategic - the strategic aspects of W-L courses (windward/leeward) represent the "pinnacle" of sailing skill. I say this a load of cr**. The pinnacle of sailing skill is demonstrated by whoever wins the sailing race. Everyone has the same rules, the same course, and the same chance at winning.



Handicaps - handicap numbers are derived based on certain course configurations or assumptions about them. I don't buy it. With the exception of Texel, every cat race score that I've seen posted (mostly US, I'll admit) uses the same Portsmouth numbers, even if it's a 100 mile course downwind, or a 50 mile course around an island, or a true windward-leeward "round the buoys" course. If everyone had their own handicap numbers, this reason (excuse?) would be more believable.



Race Committee workload - I've worked race committee countless times, and it's just as easy to set up a course to be a reach, as it is to set one up as a windward-leeward. For distance races where race direction at start is downwind, we've done downwind starts, or made a short upwind section on first leg of race.



Consistency - when you host a regatta, you want participants to be able to plan correctly, and compete fairly. If every club had crazy shaped courses, no one would know what to expect until they showed up. But this kind of home court advantage already is built into lots of races. Local sailing conditions on a lake or bay is just one kind of home court advantage. Many yacht clubs, and even cat clubs, use permanent buoys in lakes bays or channels, as marks of their races. Unless you use GPS and program in the waypoints, locals will always have advantages (What course is an I7? Where the he** is K mark? Is a "X" mark an obstruction or a mark of the course?). It reminds me of my first distance race - for some reason they started all the slow & novice boats first - I couldn't even see the first mark - my friend said "just sail on starboard, close-hauled, till everyone catches up with you, then follow".



Well, maybe this is the only reason that's valid - everyone's doing W-L, so if I don't, they won't come to my regatta.



What do you think?

Do you like sailing on reaches? I know you do, it's OK to admit it!