THE COOKIE PIMP said:THE WORLDS START TODAY
I DO THINK THE USA HAS A GOOD CHANCE TO WIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARSIF DAVE MENDELBLATT,JEFF LINTON,CORNNER BLOUIN (THE DAVIS ISLAND CONNECTION) AND TOM WHITEHURST, TODD EDWARDS ARE THERE ANY ONE OF THEM CAN GET HOT AND TAKE IT ALL.
KingFish said:Sailors will mark their calendars around this event and it would be the best of the best...not the open enrollment it is today!
Any comments?
King Fish....
Wavedancer said:With respect to US participation, travel to Martinique was time-consuming and expensive. But this has been discussed before.
Wavedancer
THE COOKIE PIMP said:Geezer I Think Their Is A Good International Flavor Showing. Peru.venezuela.bahama's.bermuda,argentina.martinique
KingFish said:J24s, Lightnings all have have their World's every other year. King Fish....
Wavedancer said:Back to the topic. The current leader, Lucas Gonzalez Smith from Argentina is a world class Laser sailor. Won the South American Laser championship in 2002. No, Robert Scheidt wasn't there for that regatta, but still.....
As of late yesterday, Lucas is five points ahead of Marx Chirinos.
beldar boathead said:Geezer,usually I agree with you, but you are clueless on this. Sunfish is as international or more so than a lot of other classes. Check out competition in the "international" j22 Worlds, the Europe now that it is no longer an olympic class, etc.
So, the bulk of the fleet is in the US and Central and South America. So set the schedule so you don't need to be on the freekin' island for 9 days and spend a fortune getting there. That is a reasonable commitment for a mega international class like Stars or Lasers, it is not for Sunfish. Obviously Sunfish are suffering now that Radials are the defacto junior trainer in the US, but the class should realize this and plan the Worlds accordingly.
BB (and I rule!!)
mike4947 said:It's because the Laser is an Olympic class. Folks wanting to do the big time thing will pay whatever it takes.
mike4947 said:Well like I said on the average for every one sunfish racer there are at least 10 laser racers. While the Sunfish is the world's largest production boat in numbers produced you know as well as I do for every one currently being used there are many gathering dust or moldering away behind a garage somewhere.
Folks still consider a Sunfish as more of a puddle toy than a real sailboat. I've heard the fish called that many times over the years. Folks consider a Laser a "real" sailboat.
We just don't have the committed number of sailers in the sunfish community. Not to mention the average fish owner won't spend the $500-$600 to upgrade a second generation fish to current racing status, much less shell out at least several thousand dollars for a trip to the worlds.
Way back when I started sailing on a lake in the Adirondacks we generaly had 30-40 Fish out every weekend during the summer and there would be 8-10 boats traveling to regionals. As the class added a few go faster items the class size got smaller. When the racing sail came in participation dropped to around 7-10 boats with only 2 of us making even one regional a year, when the plastic fantastic came out it dropped to just 2-3 of us diehards who upgraded and left the few rec boats so far behind that they stopped racing.
The fish just doesn't have the reputation that the laser has had from day one.
Tim Polaski said:As far as sailing on Mars, I could probably go to Mars for the price a ticket to Martinique. It would be cheaper, actually reasonable, to fly to England or Italy too. Sure it takes time and money to sail at a world championship, but why host it someplace so remotely accessible as to realize low turnout.
samfish said:If the US has most of the racers, then do most worlds in the US. This should be done until we get more racers from other countries, if we ever do. Its simple as that.
mike4947 said:Remember Gaum is a territory of the US and technically in the western region. I certainly don't want to pay for that World's. LOL
Talking to class officers over the years a lot of the problems are actually finding a yatch club that's willing to hold a World's.
samfish said:Maybe the sunfish racing is destined to be this kind of racing. More laidback and relaxed than most others. You guys complain that laser has a lot of people, but try to win a regional or a midwinter, its way more difficult than in Sunfish. Sunfish will always attract people who are tired of practicing lots of hours, going to the gym everyday, etc.