Your fleet has decided when to host its annual regatta, or maybe you are holding the District or another championship. How will you get the word out? Lots of techniques but your first priority is to get the event onto the Lightning Class Regatta Calendar.
How do you do that? Go to the ILCA website; www.lightningclass.org and click on Member Login. Calendar events can only be added while logged into the website as a member of ILCA.
Once you are logged in, you will see your name in the upper right corner of the home page. Select the menu item Event Calendar from the Events menu.
You’ll see the Event Calendar, showing events for the current month. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the calendar to add an event.
Fill in the Basic Info for the event.
Give the event a title, and you must select a Category type, but the first option, “Not Selected” or “Other Event” is okay if what you seek is not listed on the pull down.
The “event is for” will default to your personal fleet. You may need to contact the ILCA office to override this, if you are creating an event that is not associated with your fleet.
You have the option of making the event visible to all, just members, or to only show the detailed information to members. For visibility to all who might see the class website, select “visible to all”
You personally will be listed as the event contact, but you can remove yourself and search for and replace the contact with any member of ILCA. This is followed by options as to what information to make available for the event contact person. Very important to enter the dates of the event!
Now, scroll down and select Registration information to be recommended or required. For many events the registration website is separate and apart from ILCA, so you may want to set registration to “External” and enter the URL of the host club or regatta registration service you are using. Capacity of events is not typically applicable to ILCA regattas.
Scroll down more to enter location information. Video conferencing is typically not applicable to the ILCA regatta calendar. Don’t forget to “Save” your calendar entry. You may edit it later.
And here is your event - created!
Once saved, convert the Quick Event to a Full Event by clicking on the up arrow. (Not really sure what difference that makes, but it’s just one quick step so please go ahead and do it.)
You’ll get a confirmation message once converted.
To feel comfortable that you added the event successfully with the correct date and other information, check out the listing on the calendar in either list view or grid view.
For most events, the Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, Guide to Housing, etc. will be hosted on the regatta registration site. If you aren’t using a separate site for registration and regatta management, you can include a link to those documents on your fleet website. Or, email them to the Class office at office@lightningClass.org and they will get added to the event for you.
Having trouble finding something on the website? Write to help@lightningClass.org for assistance.
Please Give us Feedback on the Website
What is missing from the website? What is too hard to do on the website? What other sailing websites might we learn from? Would you like to help improve the website?
Please send us your thoughts and let us know if you want to help. Send to the LOYALS at loyals@lightningclass.org or lightning-loyals@googlegroups.com, or call or text Bob Shapiro at 978-761-3289.