Old Geezer
Member
Once again the Sunfish class is begging people at the last minute to go to the Worlds. See Sunfish class website for this year's desperate appeal http://www.sunfishclass.org/. And you may well have even received a personal invitation from the class office. Apparently it's hard to persuade enough folk that the honor of representing one's country at a World Championship, spending a week on a tropical island and racing against the best Sunfish sailors in the world is worth the cost, hassle or time-off work to enter.
Wait a minute you may say. I thought you had to "qualify" to go to the Worlds? Win a Regional Championship? Place in the top 7 at the North Americans? Apparently true as you can confirm by going to http://www.sunfishclass.org/admin/worldsqualifying.html.
So what's going on? I guess most of the hotshots that qualify don't want to sail in the Worlds. So then they ask the next rank of sailors from those qualifying championships and most of them don't want to go either. And then with a couple of months to go and Vanguard shipping 50 or 100 boats to some paradise island it becomes apparent that there are dozens of vacant spots and they throw it open to anyone.
So what's the solution? Change the format or location or timing of the Worlds to make them more popular to those qualified? Or scrap the whole qualification system and make the Worlds open to the first 100 sailors to sign up?
Ideas please......
Wait a minute you may say. I thought you had to "qualify" to go to the Worlds? Win a Regional Championship? Place in the top 7 at the North Americans? Apparently true as you can confirm by going to http://www.sunfishclass.org/admin/worldsqualifying.html.
So what's going on? I guess most of the hotshots that qualify don't want to sail in the Worlds. So then they ask the next rank of sailors from those qualifying championships and most of them don't want to go either. And then with a couple of months to go and Vanguard shipping 50 or 100 boats to some paradise island it becomes apparent that there are dozens of vacant spots and they throw it open to anyone.
So what's the solution? Change the format or location or timing of the Worlds to make them more popular to those qualified? Or scrap the whole qualification system and make the Worlds open to the first 100 sailors to sign up?
Ideas please......