Burton Feedback

[Tim Gatti]

It would be good to hear any feedback from those who attended this year's Burton.  The vibes were all positive at the Burton Dinner and the Prizegiving on the Tuesday afternoon, but if anyone has any specific comment to make please post them here... all with a view to improve the event for participants going forward.

I have already received some really useful reflections from Team Spinnaker which I include below, which partly echoes other discussions I had during the event regarding the Crew's Race and Crew's Union activity - both of which have proved difficult to accommodate within the four-day format - but we'll keep trying! 

Look forward to hearing from you and thanks for coming.
Tim
pp Burton Committee

Here are some of the comments from Team Spinnaker:

Is it possible to arrange any more activities for the younger members of crew, as
youngsters between 10 to 15 years can find it hard to mix, particularly in the
evenings where most of the adults are chatting over a drink. Any sort of
activity, such as table tennis, table football, pool, or football, etc may help
to get this age group to mix. It may also already be too tight a schedule in
the 4 days (3 nights) but this could help this age group chat to others.

Would it be possible to spread some of the prizes further down the fleet, this could be
particularly appropriate to the youth fleet where it would be good to
recognise/encourage more, say the first 3, again this is to give encouragement
to the future of the class and possibly the first 3 admiral cup boats could be
rewarded? We have no experience of other class championships and these may have
been tried and discounted previously.

In terms of takeaways, would it be possible to provide all youth participants with some
form of medal or souvenir that they could take away â€" other sporting
events often have a small medal or cup, that is given for participation and
this might be appreciated by the younger members that they could take back home
to show their mum, grand parents, or to their local sailing clubs as it is some
form of achievement to compete in Burton week. I appreciate that this would
cost slightly more (unless its possible to reduce the glass ware to one per
winning boat?) but think that it would help retain the crews interest in the
class to come back in the following year (for another competitors medal,
t-shirt, etc.)  It would also be great if it could be something that is
useful - for example, some form of label that can be used to identify the
sailing kit bags (some of the GBR sailors bags had labels from events that they
had attended) or maybe an event t-shirt.

[darebarry]

Thanks Tim and all for a super few days sailing. The only thought for next year would be for the tuesday evening. It would seem that not everybody rushed home and for those left it was a bit flat. Could it be considered for next year if the club could be open for a bit of food and a beer and chat on tuesday evening?
PS if anybody has ended up with an extra Alverbank Mainsail cover mine has gone walk about, could you send it back to the IoW.
Cheers Dare 

[Jane Wade]

I totally agree with the feedback from Spinnaker- it would be good for all youth entries to get a recognition of their achievement.  
The sailing and facilities at WPNSA were great but it really was a soulless place and with no-one living particularly close, a choice of changing rooms and sharing with other fleets it lost the intimacy we have enjoyed in previous years.  I don't think this will be the case at Brightlingsea.
We have in the past had buddy systems to encourage communication and experience sharing throughout the fleet and I think this is worth exploring again.  We could start pairing the buddies before Burton Week so that maybe some of the old-timers could help the newcomers prepare for the week at a couple of opens beforehand. An incentive to enter early as you could get some extra help in the run up.  
Perhaps we could do more with the Friday night as well - maybe games / speed-coaching/knowledge-sharing (as in speed dating) which might also help with the point made by Spinnaker where some of the younger fleet members find it difficult to get to know everyone.  
The races were all about the right length but the actual legs (Burton excepted) felt longer than necessary - I would rather go round a smaller course more times and it tends to stop the fleet spreading too much.  
Well done to everyone, I know how much hard work goes in to make it such a success - I really enjoyed it even if I did hurt a lot on Sunday evening.
Jane 
Crew 3527 Snagglepuss

[andymck]

I agree with Jane, The courses could be a bit shorter, with similar time for the leaders, and some variation as well, we have the option of the trapezoid course, which I have never experienced in a 12, this gives better overtaking opportunities, as there is a run every lap.
I think the buddy system would be good to see back, with the number of entries we have had recently this could even be a group of three to four boats, with potential for a competition. 
I think the comments from the spinnaker group about spreading the prizes out is a great one, the random prize at Norfolk Week is ever popular, and means very few people go home empty handed.
I hope next year will be a bit more sociable, believe it or not the WPNSA is a lot better than it used to be for socials, at least you can now get a pint. The nly thing we need to make sure for next year is that there is a bearing supplier open over the bank holday.

Andy

[Chadders]

Hi all 
Your new committee will be meeting on the 17th July and one key agenda item will be a review of Burton Week 2010 so that we can make 2011 at Brightlingsea even better!  The feedback above and any additional feedback given here, direct to your committee members or to myself would be much appreciated and help to guide us to even better things for 2011 and beyond.  Many thanks  Howard Chadwick Chairman NTOA  aka Chadders