Lake Lefroy ULTRA Marathon Proposal

Hi All
I have mentioned this a few times but I figure its time to stop talking about it and make something happen.
That something I will call an Ultra Marathon for want of a better title.

The idea is to conduct a race using as much of the available area of Lake Lefroy as conditions on the day allow. Ideally the race should take 3-5 hours to complete. The race course will consist of a series of marks, the winning competitor will be the first across the line after sailing around all the marks in the order of (their) choice. Or if we have to make the course multiple laps then we would specify the order of the marks.

Each competitor will need a GPS capable of exporting a track log to verify that they did pass all the marks correctly.
They will need to be able to program a series of way-points then navigate past those points while login their track.

There will be a few more details to work out but I'm posting this to gauge interest.
The best time for this would be Feb - March 2016

Please respond here if:
- you are interested in attending and
- weather you would prefer the Easter weekend or a normal weekend

An Ideal course would look something like this...
A straight line that passes round all these points is about 50km.

Yup, sounds like a goer.
The old boy should be keen too.
How are the winds at that time of year?, I'm guessing spf 50+ will be the race sponsor

that point at black island is a bog by the way john.
John for commodore!

it would be unusuak to be able to round black island at all . ive bogged a quad between the penisular and the island . anzac day is late april , getting into light south easterly time. we still have the lightning nickel trophy to race for , so if all the class 5 guys want to have a go at anzac weekend , im up for it.
i would favour just doing the marathon that weekend and leave the minis at home . Its highly unlikely that youd get in your course, but i recon youd still get a big lap. 50kms is a tad woosy. chook does that at pinklake on saturdays for a warmup.
the best run in that area if the lake is dry is to run all the way down to flanagans saltworks at the southern end of the lake.
vic and I managed that run almost 8 years ago and the lake hasnt been favourable since. the big problem with LOOOONG single lap marathons is that once 1 yacht gets awaythe race is knd of over. thats why i favour setting races with big laps of 10 or so. that gives an opportunityfor the leading pilot to make a blunder, eh vic

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landyacht said..
It would be unusual to be able to round black island at all . I've bogged a quad between the peninsular and the island .
50kms is a tad woosy. chook does that at pink lake on Saturdays for a warm-up.

Thanks for the feedback Paul but I think your missing the point.

The course does not have to round islands I just picked them as an example. If the competitors know how to use a GPS then the course marks can be any-ware and my intention is to require competitors to use a GPS (happy to spend time teaching anyone who wants help). BTW If Black island is the one to the south (point C) then the last 2 times I was down that way I sailed around it no problem.

50km is a straight line lap round the example course above, any tacking would add a lot of distance to that. My idea is to set a course that should take 1/2 a day to sail either by multiple laps or some long upwind legs, depending on water and wind conditions. But mainly to use as much of the lake as possible given conditions on the day. Someone suggested another variation I like, which is to leave the order of marks up to the individual sailor. I.e. It doesn't matter in which order you round the marks so long as you round all of them. This could add a interesting dimension to a one lap race.

In the 5 years I have been here the longest marathon course I have seen was a good bit less than 10 km straight line distance around the marks. I know that this was often necessary due to lake conditions and other constraints associated with the regatta weekend. I'm not having a go at any of the course setting that has been done, there are good reasons why the marathon is set as it has been. But what I have outlined above is a format I really want to try.

What I'm asking for here is expressions of interest from anyone who would like to try and sail the sort of race I have described above. If enough people are interested I'm happy to make it happen. Just need to decide when to do it. What I want to do here should probably be quite separate from the Lightning Nickle Marathon.

Maybe................
The faster yachts/classes, could be made to go round an intermediate marker to extend their individual leg, so most yachts get to the designated marker at roughly the same time.

If the first few legs were a bit shorter (for them) and close to the end of the causeway so they don't get disorientated, the kids could return back to base so that they don't end up totally knackered.

That noise you guys can hear, is me just thinkin'

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Chook2 said..
Just being a devils advocate.

Why not set a course where everyone goes like the clappers to a distant mark and then stops and socializes till everyone's there. Just have a pow wow about it's natural wonders etc. Have a drink or whatever. Then restart (in the reverse order of arrival, between a couple of scratches on the lake in long compacted line) and race to the next mark and do the same.
Just like when Paul takes us social sailing when lake conditions are favourable except it's a multi legged race and handicapped event.

I'm sure that on arrival at a mark you would know who you followed in and could mark it on a master sheet for adding up at the end.

It could then be a family event.

Set the slower more inexperienced yachts off first to compete against sailors of similar abilities. All classes on the lake at once.

This way we all get to see and hear about the lake, it's natural beauty and history and every sailor gets the chance to race a good leg.

Really impressive trophy's would be needed for the event (like that those that are the norm at Lake Lefroy, Chocolate frogs and Wagon wheels) They are GOLD!!!!

Might need a "squash" off the wood at the Widgee Pub, while down the bottom of the lake.

S%$t, now I've got a head ache.

what your describing is a poker run chook . we tryed to do one a few years ago but the lake beat us .
we all sailed to a mark where we then collected a card. at each point you got to you got a card then finally a final point where you could tarde a card with the dealer. back at camp you turned your cards and the best hand won allows for slowest and fastest. cards dealt in order of arrival at the waypoint. points decided at easch point depending on conditions . similar to our last tourist loop to places ive never been able to sail to before. i would even award the Lightning nickel for a day out like that

as sailing commodore i would have the pack of cards , and get there with plenty of time to reshuffle the pack to make sure of which hand everybody got