Most traditional sports leagues or series’ take place over a shorter period than a conventional sailboat racing season. We have so many demands on our time with family, work and competing sports. Sailing takes place all day often over multiple days or even an entire week compared to 18 holes of golf which takes up at most half a day. Yet even at that four to five-hour time frame, golf is struggling with participation due the various aspects it takes to play. Interesting that golf also has many of the same participation challenges that sailing has, travel time, actual play time and the cost involved.

Stadium sailing is set up to be a four-hour experience, yet participants compete for half that time. Importantly, this stadium style event creates a far better ratio of actual racing time to your total hours invested, versus the normal sailboat racing day if sailing from a yacht club or if on the road for a travel event. That is one of the key goals, to maximize actual racing time relative to the entire time devoted to the sailing pursuit.

The sailors are the actors on the water and then the ambassadors on land. We will ask all participants to mix in with the audience to explain what is happening on the water, so there is a natural synergy that will evolve with all there to both sail and spectate. This will naturally help grow the sport, which should be a byproduct of this stadium event and thereby foster more participation for a sport challenged to grow.

PSL will have a couple boats mixed and a commentator on land. To sail the 18 races, each race has to be between 11 and 13 minutes. There is no down time and practicing is not allowed. Once the first flight completes the three races the next group has to be ready to go without any gap in time, thus helping to maximize the actual race time for the sailors. The course has three movable buoys which control a windward-leeward course. The start, finish and leeward gate are all the same.

In order to run 18 races in four hours the marks have to move a lot. The wind speed and direction will directly affect the time, so the marks have to adjust. Based on the first lap time the windward mark will increase or decrease in distance.

PSL is working with a buoy manufacturer that will produce motorized marks that will be controlled with a smart phone. The mark will lock into a GPS setting unless changed. We will have one person adjusting the course constantly for wind direction and speed to keep the time close to 11 minutes and true to the wind.

This style of racecourse management and competition will place a premium on quick tactical decisions and boat handling skill and will aid in more rapid improvement in the participants. Competitors will face many more, but similar situations than in the normal one, two or three race day of a traditional sailing event taking an entire day making the action entertaining and exciting for the stadium spectators. The goal is to make the racing quick, easy and decisive to provide near immediate gratification for all competitors and virtually continuous action for the spectators.