imported_oldfart
New Member
What a great new facility Fairhope YC has!! Thanks to all the volunteers and staff who made the US Masters this past weekend a success and worth a long drive.
While tossing down a golden nectar of the gods, I learned of a possible ranking system for Sunfish sailors in NA. The ranking system would be used to determine Worlds qualifiers.
This concerns me. How would the ranking system work? What would be the benefits vs current selection system? Would it encourage participation? Would there be bias towards certain sections of the country? How would it improve participation and competitiveness at the Worlds?
I'm a recent newcomer to the Sunfish, longtime Laser sailor. I have observed that filling NA Worlds slots for these two classes requires a much different approach. While Laser demand greatly exceeds availability, for Sunfish it seems availabilty is greater than demand, at least in the last few years. The Laser class has a Grand Prix points ranking system, but it is not the primary factor used for Worlds selection. Six major regattas with a drop down process in each is used. In 2009, the NA region has 12 slots allotted for the Laser Worlds. If all else fails in the drop down, then the Grand Prix is used. The probability of that happening is very low.
There are two major open Sunfish events a year, NA's and Midwinters. There are also Junior, Women and Masters Championships. These and the Regionals would logically be considered in a ranking system. So how would that be different than the selection process currently used? Not sure I see the need or the logic for going through all the machinations to create a ranking system.
What do you think?
While tossing down a golden nectar of the gods, I learned of a possible ranking system for Sunfish sailors in NA. The ranking system would be used to determine Worlds qualifiers.
This concerns me. How would the ranking system work? What would be the benefits vs current selection system? Would it encourage participation? Would there be bias towards certain sections of the country? How would it improve participation and competitiveness at the Worlds?
I'm a recent newcomer to the Sunfish, longtime Laser sailor. I have observed that filling NA Worlds slots for these two classes requires a much different approach. While Laser demand greatly exceeds availability, for Sunfish it seems availabilty is greater than demand, at least in the last few years. The Laser class has a Grand Prix points ranking system, but it is not the primary factor used for Worlds selection. Six major regattas with a drop down process in each is used. In 2009, the NA region has 12 slots allotted for the Laser Worlds. If all else fails in the drop down, then the Grand Prix is used. The probability of that happening is very low.
There are two major open Sunfish events a year, NA's and Midwinters. There are also Junior, Women and Masters Championships. These and the Regionals would logically be considered in a ranking system. So how would that be different than the selection process currently used? Not sure I see the need or the logic for going through all the machinations to create a ranking system.
What do you think?