gouvernail
Super Opinionated and Always Correct
This thread has nothing to do with politics or the Association. I am interested in playing with Lasers in large groups and having that play continue. I don't give a hoot whether any of the ideas promoted or suggested in this thread would be unworkable for the Olympians or international champions as I really don't care if we even have Olympics or world championships.
I would like to have more sailors participate in races where they have a good chance of finishing next to another competitor. I would love to see every person who rigs for a race have the opportunity to sail side by side with at least one and hopefully ten sailors at every place all around the course.
I am seeking ways to allow more sailors to feel and enjoy the thrill of sailing in competition.
Some seed thoughts:
1. Smaller folks who sail Lasers are often more coordinated and better boat handlers than old guys like me. I believe the short course racing allows the smaller folks to use those skills.
2. Long races in light winds favor small folks and long races in heavy winds favor larger sailors.
3. In all but the 4 to 10 knot wind range he race committee can manage the fleet in a small way by adding down wind to help smaller sailors and adding upwind to aid the larger sailors.
4. Shifty conditions usually aid the older sailors but sailing too close to weather shores brings coordination back to the equasion and shoves the old guys back.
5. If Radials are for folks under 75 kilos and Lasers ideal weight is only 80 kilos, the competitive sailing weight zone for Lasers is really not very large. If there is a way for the larger sailors to use muscle and size against the more ideally weighted competitors, perhaps we should look for ways to allow that. ( If I had to present that suggestion with any more soft of an approach I would ahve had to ask Bradley for a special blurry font.)
6. Can we do anything to keep the interest of mid fleet fun competitive sailors who are between the age of 19 and 30?
7. Are there new rules since the heyday of lasers which have detracted from the game we want to play?
a. Slam tacking inside the two boat length circle by weather marks used to be legal if you finished the tack before gettting whacked.
b. Offset marks remove lots of opportunity for competition and add a stupid dead zone
c. The reach mark and the pile of dumped boats
d. is the trapezoid course as stupid as I think it is?
8. Should we quit trying to tell every wimp he or she can sail a Laser or go back to telling people it is hard and separates the wimps from the sailors by eliminating the wimps?
9. Do we schedule huge campout parties at major regattas. Or restated: Do we schedule huge parties and hope a regatta breaks out?
10. Do we plan some regattas such that about half of the fleet just cannot take the distances and breeze and sails in before the "real sailors" finish all the races?
I don't know about the rest of you but I am becoming impatient with all the negative excuses and blather. After building thousands and fixing hundreds of boats and managing fleets, associations and regattas, I deserve to participate in another sailing boom before I am too old to play in and appreciate the game. ( Every living creature should have that opportunity)
Last time we had a Laser sailing boom there were no answering machines, no cell phones, few decent yacht clubs with decent showers, no Spectra, no hiking pants, no "new rigging," sails were 3.2 ounce, no email, no websites, no neoprene boots, no Gore Tex tops, no Powerbars, no Gatorade, no cd players for the road, and traveler eyes were cheap plastic. About the only thing that was more convenient in the 1970s was the drain plug. They were all the same but I already wrote about that elsewhere.
There are over 100,000,000 available people in the US alone who were not even around last time we had a Laser sailing boom.
What exactly can we do or try to get the North American new boat sales rate up to at least 10,000 per year again?
I would like to have more sailors participate in races where they have a good chance of finishing next to another competitor. I would love to see every person who rigs for a race have the opportunity to sail side by side with at least one and hopefully ten sailors at every place all around the course.
I am seeking ways to allow more sailors to feel and enjoy the thrill of sailing in competition.
Some seed thoughts:
1. Smaller folks who sail Lasers are often more coordinated and better boat handlers than old guys like me. I believe the short course racing allows the smaller folks to use those skills.
2. Long races in light winds favor small folks and long races in heavy winds favor larger sailors.
3. In all but the 4 to 10 knot wind range he race committee can manage the fleet in a small way by adding down wind to help smaller sailors and adding upwind to aid the larger sailors.
4. Shifty conditions usually aid the older sailors but sailing too close to weather shores brings coordination back to the equasion and shoves the old guys back.
5. If Radials are for folks under 75 kilos and Lasers ideal weight is only 80 kilos, the competitive sailing weight zone for Lasers is really not very large. If there is a way for the larger sailors to use muscle and size against the more ideally weighted competitors, perhaps we should look for ways to allow that. ( If I had to present that suggestion with any more soft of an approach I would ahve had to ask Bradley for a special blurry font.)
6. Can we do anything to keep the interest of mid fleet fun competitive sailors who are between the age of 19 and 30?
7. Are there new rules since the heyday of lasers which have detracted from the game we want to play?
a. Slam tacking inside the two boat length circle by weather marks used to be legal if you finished the tack before gettting whacked.
b. Offset marks remove lots of opportunity for competition and add a stupid dead zone
c. The reach mark and the pile of dumped boats
d. is the trapezoid course as stupid as I think it is?
8. Should we quit trying to tell every wimp he or she can sail a Laser or go back to telling people it is hard and separates the wimps from the sailors by eliminating the wimps?
9. Do we schedule huge campout parties at major regattas. Or restated: Do we schedule huge parties and hope a regatta breaks out?
10. Do we plan some regattas such that about half of the fleet just cannot take the distances and breeze and sails in before the "real sailors" finish all the races?
I don't know about the rest of you but I am becoming impatient with all the negative excuses and blather. After building thousands and fixing hundreds of boats and managing fleets, associations and regattas, I deserve to participate in another sailing boom before I am too old to play in and appreciate the game. ( Every living creature should have that opportunity)
Last time we had a Laser sailing boom there were no answering machines, no cell phones, few decent yacht clubs with decent showers, no Spectra, no hiking pants, no "new rigging," sails were 3.2 ounce, no email, no websites, no neoprene boots, no Gore Tex tops, no Powerbars, no Gatorade, no cd players for the road, and traveler eyes were cheap plastic. About the only thing that was more convenient in the 1970s was the drain plug. They were all the same but I already wrote about that elsewhere.
There are over 100,000,000 available people in the US alone who were not even around last time we had a Laser sailing boom.
What exactly can we do or try to get the North American new boat sales rate up to at least 10,000 per year again?