Race Team FAQs
Basic Race Team Membership
How do I join the team?
Easy! Click the yellow ‘Join Now’ button on the Race Team info page! We do cap our roster each season to make sure that members have a reasonable number of opportunities to get out racing. If there isn’t room on the team, the ‘join now’ button won’t get you anywhere… but don’t worry, we’ll put out a newsletter and social media blast when space opens up again. We do not keep a waitlist for Race Team, it’s first come first served.
Do I have to be a great sailor already?
No! Just make sure that you meet the prerequisites before you sign up, otherwise you won’t get to actually come sailing with us until we know you have the basic experience necessary to be safe on board. You do need spinnaker experience to take on any role on board that handles the spinnaker. If you haven’t already done Spinnaker School, you’re expected to get that experience as soon as you can so that you can diversify on board.
What are ‘club races’?
These are pretty casual weekly or biweekly races, in our case hosted by West Vancouver Yacht Club. They run every Wednesday from late April to mid September, and we do as many of them as we can. These races have short courses, usually one or two laps of a windward-leeward course, and lasting about an hour or so. They are the best possible way of fine tuning your sailing skills and getting a good look at tactical racing in a fleet. When we have skippers available, we also endeavour to do the Snowflake series, running every other Sunday from late October / early November through early March. These are typically longer courses, generally 2-3 hours long-ish, meaning there is usually more time in between maneuvers to figure things out! All club races wrap up with a meal at WVYC, optional but highly recommended since it’s the best way to get to know other sailors in the community and share outrageous stories of the high seas!
How do I get on board for a club race?
All Race Team members have access to our team app where we post the dates of club races for sign up. Sign up, show up, go racing!
Will I get to crew in every club race of the season?
We run a deep bench, as past experience has proven that very few people are able to commit to racing every single week. Everyone has an equal opportunity to sign up for club races when we post the dates (on a monthly basis during the racing seasons). We encourage everyone to sign up just for 2 races to start with, wait a few days to give everyone the chance to check their app, and then it’s a free for all. This as usually worked out so that anyone who wants to, has 2 days per month of racing and several people get more than that. The goal for 2024 is to fill Pau Hana every race and ideally start to get Paragon off the dock for racing as well- the combined capacity is more than enough to take care of a very deep bench of keen racers!
What do I need to bring to a club race?
Common sense sailing clothing to suit the conditions! Wednesday night races are short, so you only really need a water bottle. Sunday Snowflake races are quite a bit longer, so a thermos of soup or a hot drink, and snacks will help keep you going. Check the day sailing section of our general FAQs for ideas on gear.
What if I can’t make it to a race I signed up for?
First and foremost, it’s not cool to sign up for a spot that you aren’t able to truly commit to filling when someone else could! So we ask that Race Team members take the club race sign up seriously and make sure they are unlikely to have scheduling conflicts before they sign up for a spot. But of course things happen, and life gets in the way of fun stuff sometimes. Your team is counting on you to come race, so we need as much notice as possible in order to fill your spot so that the rest of us can still get out racing! It’s really important that you notify the team by withdrawing from the spot on our team app and posting a comment. If it’s a last minute thing, you need to text your skipper.
I want to try a VARC race! Is there any way to do that with a Basic membership?
Perhaps! The PBJ membership tiers are design to have a set team for every VARC distance race and regatta. However, there are a few races at the very start of the season that we will run as open registration events for all members to try out something more serious. There is also the possibility that a PBJ member is unable to attend one of the races they’ve committed to… so that spot would become available to the general Race Team membership. You can see the full calendar of VARC races that we intend to do on our Pacific Northwest Racing page.
Peanut Butter Jelly Memberships
What’s the difference between Jelly and Peanut Butter memberships?
You can think of them as a progression from a soft gooey baby-racer phase into a solid, competent racer. This doesn’t mean that all Jelly racers are beginners! Joining the Jelly team is a great opportunity to try out different positions on board for those who have been pigeonholed into one role that they are already awesome at, for example. Jelly is focused on skill progression for each individual crew. If we come last but everyone has learned something and gotten better at their role that day- great!
Peanut Butter is the right environment for those who are ready to specialize in one position, and want to start pursuing results as a team rather than strictly personal improvement. We are still working on crew development, but looking at it more from a team perspective where our performance together is what we are focused on advancing. Here we will start to talk more about racing strategy, tactics, and boat speed as we move past the mechanical phase.
Can I still do club racing with a PBJ membership?
Yes! PBJ memberships include all the benefits of Basic Race Team, plus designated VARC events and other perks.
What is VARC and why should I do those events?
The Vancouver Area Racing Championship circuit is a series of local events running from March to October every year. With a mix of distance races and regattas, all with very competitive fleets, VARC offers a great calendar to follow in our pursuit of crew development over the season. These events are hosted by different clubs all over the Lower Mainland, giving you a great opportunity to try racing in different areas and getting to know the sailing community as a whole. Most of the events also have great social festivities! At the end of the year, the VARC Awards recognize the top performing boats for distance racing, regattas and overall… something to aim for with our PBJ teams. Paragon was in the top 3 distance racing teams in the past and we’re looking to get Pau Hana up on that board too!
Why do I have to commit to fixed events? That’s really hard for my schedule!
Tell me about it! Your skipper and your boat commit to the racing, setting aside time in the training schedule to be able to race. If we don’t get enough crew to go racing, it’s a huge loss that cuts into our ability to fund the racing program and do the necessary maintenance and constant upgrades to have a competitive fleet. Not having enough crew to go racing is also a huge letdown to teammates who have made the commitment in their busy lives. Yacht racing is a team sport, and a key part of that is commitment to showing up for your team. By having a set schedule at the start of each season, we all know what we’re getting into and are better positioned to make the commitment.
What if I am on a PBJ team, but can’t make it to one of the set races that are part of my membership?
See above! But yes of course things can change over the course of a year, and you may find yourself in a position where you can no longer attend one of the VARC events you committed to when you joined the team. If we are able to fill your spot, you will get a credit that you can use with Sea to Sky for the value of the event. Read our full Terms & Conditions for details.
