Randy Draftz, in his 17th year as the event director for Charleston Race Week, shares how he became involved in the event, how the event runs so smoothly and some local Charleston knowledge.
Photo by Priscilla Parker CRW 2023
Charleston Race Week with Randy Draftz
From a Michigan Sailor to a Carolina Low Country Race Official
TCO: Randy, can you tell us a bit about yourself? I know that you grew up in Michigan. Were you an active sailor growing up?
RD: I grew up in Michigan, and I did grow up sailing. In fact, while attending college at Grand Valley State University, a good friend and I actually started the sailing team at the school. That’s pretty much what I majored in throughout college! We were just a little NAIA school that was going up against the Big 10 in sailing. The athletic department loved that! We certainly sailed against some tough teams at the larger schools, but we held our own pretty well. The really cool thing is that the sailing team is still active at the college.
TCO: So, post-college and before you got into regatta management, what was your professional background?
RD: Out of college I was a sailmaker. Then I started my own loft in Chicago for a bit. An owner of a local chandlery offered me a job with a weekly paycheck, and I made the move to marine distribution and retail. I moved to Charleston back in 1999 and started a rigging and electronics company called Charleston Yachting.
TCO: When did you become involved with race management?
RD: Soon after relocating to Charleston, I found myself as the Rear Commodore of the Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA). I started running races and becoming involved with the logistical and admin side of things. It was time to give back to the sport. CORA was running an annual event called Charleston Race Week. I became involved, first as part of the race committee, then scoring, then race director, and finally event director
TCO: Randy, you mentioned that you have sailed all over the country in numerous regattas, what boat(s) are you currently sailing and what boats do you enjoy sailing the most?
RD: Well, I started racing 470’s in high school. At just over 6’ tall, I was a pretty big kid in high school, so the FJ’s were not going to be a good fit for me. When I started the sailing team at Grand Valley, they didn’t have any boats. So, we bought 10 used 470’s from the University of Michigan. That might have been some of my best sailing back then when I was in college.
I graduated on to keelboats and spent a considerable amount of time big boat racing, including offshore racing which I really enjoyed. Then I started to get into One Design racing mainly in the Soling fleet. I always kept my feet wet with the big boat racing though. Once I moved here (Charleston) I found myself with a 4th grade child that was interested in sailing. We started crewing on an older Frers 36 owned by a couple who was just learning how to sail. It was a great experience for all of us. Next, we moved into a J/109. We were really successful racing that boat.
I’ve noticed that as I’ve become more involved in race management, I have kind of taken my eye off the ball a bit from the racing side. I recently looked back and thought to myself: “I think that I have golfed more this year than raced!” So, I am trying to back off just a bit on some of the admin stuff and get back into the sailing aspect of the sport.
A couple of years ago I bought a Star boat to start taking the step to get back into racing. She needs a bit of work before going on the racecourse, but I am really looking forward to getting back on the starting line soon. Hopefully I can spend a lot of time this summer out on the water practicing, making a lot of mistakes, and getting comfortable with the boat.
Randy's Rise to the Helm: Leading Charleston Race Week
TCO: Charleston Race Week (CRW) has been around for 26 years, how many years have you been involved with the event, either on the water sailing, or behind the scenes making sure things go off without a hitch?
RD: I have probably been involved since 2003, but I have been the event director for 16 years, so this will be my 17th year.
During this transition of mine into race management, I became relatively familiar with this “little event” CORA ran called Charleston Race Week. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to start maximizing the potential of the event, so I jumped at the opportunity to assist with that. When I started working with the organizers of Charleston Race Week, I was on one of the start boats. Back then the regatta had maybe 2 course areas and about 50 boats competing. The regatta has grown immensely over the past 2+ decades due to a lot of hard work.
To keep some consistency with CRW, CORA decided to delegate 3 of us who would take turns organizing the event each year. Well, one year I ran it. The next year Brian Swan was set to run the regatta, but was unable to, so I ran it again that year. Then the third year, Ken King came to me and said, “Randy, I can’t run this regatta like you do.” So, I ended up running the regatta three years in a row. It ended up being like a perfect storm for me, and I took over managing the entire event.
I was not an event organizer, but I had experience racing all over the country and knew the different fleets. I had seen how other regattas worked, both good and bad. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to put everything together and create what many of us consider to be one of the premier events in the sport of sailing.
During this time, I grew my experience as an event manager and ended up getting involved with US Sailing for several years as the Race Management Chairman. That was an interesting and cool move for me. There again, I was striving to enhance the quality and sailing experience across various locations.
TCO: Do you get the opportunity to get out and race the event anymore?
RD: No, unfortunately not. There is just too much going on from a logistics standpoint – too many moving parts. There would just be no way that my head would be in the game on the sailing side or the race management side if I tried to do both. To put it in perspective, we have up to 6 race courses and about 18 different classes of boats racing. There are 175 plus race committees out on the water and another 100 shoreside volunteers working away. I try to have as much going on as possible for competitors both on and off the water, so it’s a marathon of an event to oversee.
Typically we are heading home well after midnight and returning back to the venue at 6am to ensure a smooth start and provide the race committee with all they need for the day. To say the least, the days are full!
TCO: In January, you announced a partnership with Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum and the USS Yorktown. How did that come about? It is unique to host a regatta of this caliber on a historical aircraft carrier.
RD: It is such a cool venue! We were there yesterday going through the aircraft carrier, and they told us we were going to be able to hold the skippers meeting in a 280-seat movie theater onboard. Sticking with my goal of trying to grow the sport of sailing, the USS Yorktown can host up to 1200 people a day as visitors, so we have the opportunity to expose people to the sport of sailing with live monitors and live footage throughout the carrier each race day.
I just had someone reach out this morning asking if they could get their 4 and 7-year-olds out to watch the racing. It is great to be able to tell them to go aboard the aircraft carrier, and we will transfer them onto a spectator boat. While they are waiting for a boat, they can watch the races onboard and have a walk around the ship. This new partnership with Patriots Point, the Maritime Museum and the USS Yorktown is a huge step for CRW as an event, as well as to the sport of sailing and the communities of both Charleston and Mount Pleasant.
We did hold the race last year at Patriots Point onboard the USS Yorktown, but we only had access to portions of the ship. This year since the partnership has been established, we will have access to the entire aircraft carrier – it is going to be so cool for both the event participants and the visitors of the Yorktown!
Behind the Scenes: Making It Happen - How Do You Do It?
TCO: What does it take to organize such a huge and successful regatta? I heard that you have over 200 people on RC alone. Is this true? How do you recruit them and keep everything in line?
RD: You know, we have been so lucky when it comes to our race committee teams. Just from the Charleston side of volunteers, the support has been tremendous throughout the years. Since the event took a national/international status, we have a waiting list for race officials that would like to participate and be a part of the event. This year alone, we have more people wanting to be race officials than we have spots. We have been fortunate to have the interest from the sailing community from that aspect. The people that we do get, are all international and national experienced race committee members, so, our race management is 100% top notch.
With the event starting to resemble the looks of an Olympic event, with all the courses, participants and involved race management, we have enlisted a true PRO to oversee the race committee. Taran Teague was delegated to that position a few years back, and she has done a fantastic job keeping everything organized and making sure everyone has everything that they need.
TCO: Last I checked, there were just over 175 boats registered for 2024. How many courses are you planning on running this year?
RD: We will definitely run 5 full courses: 3 inshore and 2 offshore courses. One of the offshore courses will be a pursuit course for the cruising class. I introduced this course a few years back and everyone seems to just love it. The other offshore course will be an ORC course.
TCO: A few Yacht Clubs and even the Olympics are starting to transition to Digital Officiating, has CRW started moving that direction?
RD: We played with Vakaros last year for the RS21 class a little bit, but that is about the extent of it so far. We have toyed with a few other digital systems, knowing that it is likely the leading edge of technology the future. However, I am not sure that the technology is there just yet. We tried SAP about 5 years back with the trackers and to be honest, that wasn’t quite ready yet either. As for now, we are going to stick with paper and pencils, the old-fashioned way.
"My goal is to make it a destination event that can be competitive on every level, but still be affordable for everyone’s budget. If someone is having to choose one extended regatta for the season, I want it to be to Charleston RACE WEEK."
TCO: With such a well-attended and competitive event, I am sure that you have had your fair share of challenges. What is one of the most challenging situations you have dealt with throughout the years with CRW?
RD: If CRW has an Achilles heel, it’s likely the logistics and expense of the regatta. Getting people to Charleston, getting the boats in/out of the water, dockage, hotel venues, food and beverage, the list goes on and on – these are the biggest challenge that we face each year.
When you are looking at about 175 boats registered this year, that puts us down 20-30 boats compared to previous years. It’s not just CRW, I think that it is the sport all together. I think that the sport has taken a big hit over the past 10 years. Some of the extended 4 or more-day regattas are getting so expensive to travel to. Many sailors are having to choose to do 2- and 3-day regattas over the week-long events, or just choosing to go to one extended regatta per year and sticking to weekend regattas. When you figure the hotel rooms, flights, regatta fees, boat fees and food for your crew, things add up quickly. My goal is to make CRW a destination event that can be competitive on every level, but still be affordable for everyone’s budget. If someone is having to choose one extended regatta for the season, I want it to be to Charleston Race Week.
Priscilla Parker CRW 2023
Navigating the Waters in Charleston
TCO: Charleston is known for the challenges of the strong currents coming out of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. What are some local tips you would give to newcomers regarding tides and currents? What other challenges should they know about?
RD: Well, with the currents generated by those rivers, I wouldn’t be surprised if they created the Atlantic Ocean! They can be exceptionally strong currents, sometimes they can get over 3kts! Other than the currents, there is a fairly predictable sea breeze. It will gradually move southeast, then progresses and fills in. Our race dates in Charleston are somewhat set by the tides, I try to find a high tide early in the mornings, mostly for the offshore boats. That way they can get flushed out to the courses and then theoretically sucked in during the afternoon on the flood. They have done a lot of dredging in the harbor, so the current will be a bit stronger in the deeper waters. There is a channel on YouTube called Tide Talks that has thousands of views. This channel gives a good idea of what to expect when sailing the Charleston waters. We are looking to update the video with local knowledge for future regattas.
TCO: What about shoals and shallow areas to avoid?
RD: Oh yeah! Circle 2 for example has a huge rock in the middle of it – called Middle Ground. We usually have a safety boat in the area during regattas to warn sailors, even though it is marked. But there is always that boat out on a practice sail who finds the rock. Even some of the better-known pro-sailors have found this rock! (Editor’s note: No names were revealed!)
There are some other areas that can get a bit shallow, but Middle Ground can get as shallow as 6’, or less. Visitors need to be cautious of areas that could be shallow. Even though they are marked well, sailors tend to push it a bit and find them anyways.
TCO: What are some of the weather stations that locals typically use? Is there one that is more popular for the area?
RD: We have a local guy, Shea Gibson, that Quantum Sails hires to do wind predictions, and he has been awesome for us. He is on call for us to predict any fronts or unexpected bad weather coming through. Many times, he will do weather briefings in the mornings for us before race days. He is a great resource. Shea is a skilled kiteboarder, so he knows the harbor conditions well. Back in the days of my offshore racing, I used Commanders Weather all the time. They were great back then, and still might be one of the best out there. They are a big part of numerous sailing programs around the world.
Let’s talk about Charleston
TCO: For those who are traveling to the Charleston area for the first time, what would your recommendations be? What are some of the must-see things?
RD: The history of Charleston is amazing. Coming from the mid-west, and not being much of a history buff, I didn’t appreciate the history that there is here. After living in Charleston for some time, I have really come to enjoy it. You certainly want to spend some time downtown, take in some of the tours, children’s museums, and historic neighborhoods. Certainly, the USS Yorktown is one of the largest attractions in the area. If you come for CRW, you can get the Yorktown and a great regatta!
One thing that everyone has to experience is the local cuisine. The food in Charleston is phenomenal. With all the local restaurants, there is no reason to eat at a chain restaurant when you are visiting Charleston! There is just no excuse to have a bad meal in Charleston.
Recently, I have received at ton of emails from participants asking if can we can add a lay day to CRW. Many of the sailors told me that despite having visited numerous times for sailing, they had never had the opportunity to explore all that Charleston has to offer. While we still don’t have a scheduled lay due, we have noticed that many sailors are coming to CRW early or staying late to explore the town and surrounding areas. We highly recommend this.
Thoughts for the Future of Charleston Race Week
TCO: Randy, thank you for taking time this afternoon to give us some great information about the CRW and the city of Charleston. Just one last question regarding CRW for the future. Where do you see the future of CRW? Any changes in the works?
RD: There are always changes going on, but I think that we need to continue focusing on the logistics and reducing the costs of the event for the competitors. That’s probably my 2 cents for any event that is trying to remain successful and grow. Striving to minimize event expenses while still delivering a top-notch event is crucial for advancing the sport’s growth, and it’s a priority we must uphold.
We need to make sailing accessible to everyone. The key is to make it affordable, easy and less time consuming. We have a great long-term partnership with the aircraft carrier that’s going to be a great hosting venue, but what are we going to do about the marinas, dockage, launching/hauling – in total the overall logistics? This is a question that organizers need to continue to focus on each year. I can assure you that whatever we are going to do is going to benefit the sport. We all must be cognizant of that.
Randy, good luck with the regatta this April! We look forward to hearing all the great feedback from the racers.
-Ty Christopher Olsen, March 2024
