Not sure that I understand it
But I'm in!

Well Lao Shi, so far just you and me. That simplifies the scoring system. Can't believe we are the only two appreciative of the pure simplicity of racing between parallels of Latitude. The nautical system is based on them after all!

I'll take the gps when I next scope out my local course. On exposed north-south aligned coasts, in seabreezes, chop and waves will be part of deal no matter where you are. I think a time between two parallels 0 deg 01' 00", a nautical mile, apart of less than 6 minutes will be pretty good.

I like the idea.
3 people is good for the pick up and car swapping required- cos upwind is slow.
Maybe longer downwinder is needed to make it worth the car driving- remember the 25 km LOC is done in 30 minutes to 1 hour. But we could always log a few latitude, and pick the best of the run.
Maybe someone can do the realspeed programme to make it easy to select a "LXRacing" " Latitude Cross Racing"- catchy hey...) division.

I'll have a crack.

I want to some downwinders this season anyway in prep for the LOC.

Like the others I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I'm sure we can work it out.

Ledge Point is at 31deg 06' 27.36" S
Lancelin pub is at a latitude 31deg 00' 53.43" S

A difference of 0deg 05' 33.93"

The subtraction is not easy, which is why after a bit of head scratching I suggested racing between even minutes - so we could do it using the raw tracks - position vs. time - with no real need to get into computer programming.

So the LOC winners cross two circles of latitude separated by 05' 33.93" in 30 minutes, that's 5minutes 23sec for each minute of latitude. (two different meanings for "minutes" confusing all right!)

So a time of 5minutes 20 sec is what you'd aim for in latitude racing if you hoped to be on the winner's podium. That's what east coasters should be aware of when they go over. I thought I'd go reasonably well? Well I got to the pub in just over an hour, and even then I didn't round the last cray boat.

Sailing over one minute (1') of latitude you should be able to sail back without necessarily needing a car shuffle. If the idea goes further there could be bonus points for 2', 3' or 4' downwinders if you like.

For example if you were practicing from Ledge Point you'd sail down wind for about 10 minutes sail back and be looking for these sort of numbers in your downloaded track file

time .................................................position

12hr13min12 sec ............................31deg 06' 00.00".........115deg 22' 12.89"
12hr13min14 sec.............................31deg 05' 59.XX".........115deg 2X' XX.XX"
.etc
every 2 seconds etc etc
.etc

12hr18min36sec..............................31deg 05' 00.00'...........115deg XXXXXXXX
etc.
etc

(the Xs are not important in the calcs)

Now I'm hoping the lines of zeros in the position column stand out when you scan the track file and you can see that you covered 0deg 01' 00" of latitude from time 12hr13min12sec to 12hr18min36sec ie a time of 5min 24 seconds - you're on the pace.

Because the east and west coasts run roughly north south and the seabreeze come in at 45 degrees to coasts, there is a certain equivalence and the east and west coast playing fields are level.

Trouble with inviting the Vic and South Aussies to take part is that they'd have to use longitudes as the simple measure of downwind distance. And unlike latitudes, longitudes aren't parallel, the distance between them varies. That could be fixed with some clever programming though.
(btw there's only two "t"s in latitude)

Good to see some interest from WA

Why not just have a 5 mile time? Would make things simple and it doesn't have to be north - south so would include more people. It would have to be 5 miles between any two, and only two track points, ie not 10 half mile runs strung together.

Perhaps it could include a requirement for a minimum number of gybes but thats going to be hard for a software program to recognise.

5 miles would means it would have to be open ocean as I don't know of any 5 mile speed strips in aus?? Also down wind sailing would obviously be the quickest way.

5 miles down wind sound good to me

My 2c

Not to be a wet blanky, but while the coasts may seem to run north/south, they are really a crinkly jig-saw puzzle shape.
Wello, for example, faces due north, but sails best on a westerly, producing a north/south track. and Currumbin is not far off due north, but is mostly sailed in a nor-easter at all sorts of funny angles depending on inclination.

The 5 mile idea is much simpler.