No doubt everyone has noticed Gouvernail's tagline: "Still the last person to run a growing North American Sailing Association of over 3100 members." I'm kind of bored with seeing that time and again and got to thinking. . .
As of December 9, there are 2344 class members. That means we only need to get 757 new members and Gouvernail will have to change his tag line. All of us current members only need to get 0.3229522 new members each! Getting only a third of a new member each has got to be doable. Get two of your Laser buddies together and tag team someone. Heck, there's 15,200 members on this forum (and they can't all be duplicates of the guys who keep getting suspended or foreign members), it should be even easier.
At only $40 ($35 for Juniors) it makes for a pretty inexpensive X-mas present so sign up your favorite Laser sailor today! And make Gouvernail change his tagline to at least the "Second to the last person. . ."
And for all you guys who make the argument that Class membership does nothing for you -- Go Sail Force 5s!!! You're dead to me.
My own personal view is that I have not join the UKLA because I could not see what benefit it bought me as a grass roots sailor. This year my hand is forced because I have been elected the class captain so I need to join. We shall see what happens! There are a lot of initiatives taking place in the UK to try and bouy up the club Laser sailing. I will eport back once I know more.....
maybe if the back issues of the laser sailor were only available to members, that would give people 1 more reason to join? also, along these lines, why not throw up a password screen for members to log in, and then in the special "members only" section have some good premium content. maybe some laser drill videos with pro's, etc?
That one has been tossed around several times. The prevailing wisdom is that having open access to information brings more people to the class, and they will eventually join.
well maybe the prevailing wisdom is wrong... the point is that the laser class is a huge organization and they could easily afford to pay a top guy to demo some manuevers for some vids that would be available on a members only site. the existing info that is free could be kept the same, how about offering a little more for your membership dollars?
Just because the class is large doesn't mean it has a ton of money.
For videos, check YouTube. Scheidt, Ainslie, full Worlds races. What else could you need?
The way I always saw it was like this: The Laser Class Association does something. I don't know and never did know exactly what. They send out a magazine, etc. Stuff that probably made my racing life/regattas a little better. I have to join to race in big events.
They wanted $75 for two years (may have been less then), so I could race in big events, get the magazine and whatever else they do. Oh, don't forget catch-phrase stickers. Seventy-five dollars. For two years. You can't even get a two year magazine subscription for $75, period. You can't join many things, whatever they may be, for $75, period.
If they wanted $75 from me for whatever it was they do, fine.
I don't get it. What else do people want/think they're entitled to for $40/&75?
FYI. The NA Class has a paid position called Executive Secretary. The last year I did the job the I sent to myself and the IRS 1099 said something well over $50,000.snip...A class association has finite resources, namely volunteers. I think it is best to concentrate their efforts on the stuff and needs being done, and that only the class association can do.
damn guv, that van sounds killer!
is the class currently growing? stagnant, or shrinking???
Or they can walk away from the situation and not attend open regattas.
It seems that the coaches are delibrately coaching their charges to ignore the protest calls unless that individual is at the "same level".
speaking of fleets- how do you know your fleet #?
There are no fleet numbers anymore. I wish there was though. I'm curious what fleet number my club is.
Personally I would like to see the class do something similar to the Lightning Class.
http://lightningclass.org/membership/districtsFleets/index.asp
You can click on a district and then go down to a fleet and see who's a member in each fleet. If a person is not a member of a fleet they are a member of the district and is reflected there as well. By adding that level (and going back to fleet charters and making them official), the class can physically show where the sailing is, show where the big fleets are and maybe get a little more into each district rather than just seeing what's going on in a district. If we wanted to go far enough fleet dues can roll into the district and the district can do what they want with those fees (trophies or something else for the district).
People complain about the fleet level and that the class may not care for them. This might be a step towards that.
I'm sure Fred can say something on the old fleet charters and such.
another great example of a usability feature that could be added to the website . thanks eric
Why not start by polling the new members of the last few years what it was that attracted them to join the class?
First, its hard for me to come into this class and accept the SMOD rules about purchasing stuff only from Laser(or its affiliates). Im trying to fix up a '73 hull and its going to be very expensive(over $1200) to be class legal..boom, mast, sail, vang(you have to have it to be competitive so I dont want any slack anout you dont have to buy it, or there are plenty of old rigged boats doing well, I just dont buy it anymore. . . .[snip]. . . Second, $40 for not much is hard to swallow for a new memeber, espeicially one who needs alot of new parts, it will be the last thing I purchase for sure.
[snip]
I say all that to say this is a great class, a ggreat boat, and the one year I raced, I met some good people. $40 is a little steep for a gigantic class, so maybe that is the biggest obstacle for most new people to join.