Sunfish NAs

Trent Lott

Trent Lott

Buy here, pay here.
Lordy me !

That's the weakest entry list I've ever seen for an NAs ! www.rcyc.org

I guess a lot of people are adverse to go to the Longhorn State.

I wonder why?

-Trent
 
Trent Lott said:
Lordy me !

That's the weakest entry list I've ever seen for an NAs ! www.rcyc.org

I guess a lot of people are adverse to go to the Longhorn State.

I wonder why?

-Trent
Click to expand...

"weakest" may not be quite the correct word. Rather, a disappointing number of entrants (41 as of 6/19).

As Paul Simon once wrote (Twenty Ways to Leave Your Lover) "no need to discuss much" (IMHO); we have gone over the issues before on this forum; different vacation schedules, Katrina, etc.
 
"weakest" as in:

0 former WorldChampions
0 former NA Champions
0 former SA Champions
1 former Midwinter Champion
0 former ISCA Masters Champions

What year was there a weaker NA fleet than that?
 
Well, my distinguished colleague from Mississippi, you do have one fact wrong - Robert "Bobby" Findlay is a former NA champ. And Paul Foerster may be among the absolute best to ever enter an SF NAs. However, there sure is not a "lott" of depth in the fleet.

It could be due to the fact that your esteemed fellow Republican George "Dubya" Bush has driven gas prices to the moon since the "let's get cheap oil from Iraq" thing didn't pan out. Or it could be most Sunfishers are from blue states and don't want to visit Texas.

Your French Friend,
Beldar Boathead
 
Boy, looking at the results for the first day, 62 boats is better than 41.
BUT, there are a lot of names listed as preregistered that aren't on the results list.
 
Yes, I just saw the results come up on the site and there are 20 more entrants than were on the entry list.

Fat Bob is a former NA and MW Champ but fatherhood has taken its' toll and he has not been known as Fast Bob for a long time.

Malcolm also showed up and he is a former World Champion.

Greg Gust has been a threat in previous major regattas and is due for a win.

The biggest surprise has to be the appearance of Paul Foerster. Obviously, he is a contender racing anything that has a sail.

But there are a lot of big names missing. In the overall picture, it still wins the prize for the weakest NA fleet .

Maybe people remember what happened when John Kennedy decided to visit Dallas. The Yankees may be safe as long as Foerster and Gust maintain their leads.
 
Even more disappointing was the fact that there were only 7 participants in the Junior Fleet.

In New York, any potential Junior participant had final exams until today (Thursday, 6/22). I am not sure about the exam schedules of potential participants from the New England states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware, where there are very active junior programs that use Sunfish as their primary boat.

I can hear it now...."Mom, can I skip my chemistry final to go sail a regatta in Dallas??? Think of all the geography I could learn along the way. I might even get to meet Mark Cuban!!"

I think there would have been greater participation for both the Junior and Senior divisions if RCYC and the Sunfish class had scheduled NA's just one week later.

I hope that the newly elected USSCA President will make it a priority to promote venues that can host the NA's at a time when ALL the potential junior participants are not in school. I realize that it does put a limit on the available dates to about 5 weeks, but for the health of the class, it is important to get more younger sailors on the line at the major events.

Mike Fortner
57923
Rochester Canoe Club
 
I agree whole heartedly, But the "window" is actually only about 3 weeks. Forget the 4th week; and southern schools start up the first week in August.
National junior events have always had that problem and family classes like the fish class it extends to any national event as family/school becomes more important than a regatta for the parents.
 
Olympian Paul Foerster (gold in 2004) is the new champ, but Greg Gust didn't make it too easy for Paul.
 
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