Olympic 'finals' proposal

I have to agree that criticism coming from different areas of the sport to another side is highly detromental. I believe it is a totally ignorant attitude to have and "in-fighting" within any sport has to be put to one side to allow for it to grow in a proper direction. Even although I class myself as a skiff sailor, I also love sailing traditional classes, yachts and multi-hulls. I have gained a lot more knowledge about the sport through not being tunnel visioned. Any sailing is good, so why try and make out it isn't just because it's something which may be unfamiliar to you. I recommend to anyone who has tunnel vision, try every area of the sport which you can and keep an open mind.

Yo! Rick's got what I was sayin! Man, I'm not knocking the dudes in
blazers they get there own thrills but they ani't doin the 100 in 9.5secs.
What I'm saying is that high performance sailing ani't for everyone, in fact
its only for the best and watching it don't stop me or others going sailing
(and it didnt stop me from running the hundred to a dam high level),
which was kind of a few peoples arguments on here. In fact it draws
people closer to the flame. So chill man, sounds like Chris 249 needs a
ride on something fast! joke dude before it gets messy! And whats
all this about numbers. The Y&Y nationals attendace shows that there are
more people racing so how can the sport as a whole be going down the
plug hole becuase of high performance boats? Yeah attendance levels
change but, but dude all the windsurfiing cats are doing kite surfin! they
want bigger AIR!!!!!!! Rock On! And man I don't want to drag classes into
this, but the UK Cherubs have gone up 25% in membership in the last 2
years, and they are high performance fall over boats. So lets get with the
programme. Anyway lets bolt on those cameras and rock in the Final race.
Crash and burn,, baby!

Hey and don't mix up reducing local numbers with types of boat it's more
to do with general economic situations, fun costs cash. But thats got
nothin to do with the 5 rings.

"So chill man, sounds like Chris 249 needs a
ride on something fast!"

Well mate, I've sailed against the Mothies who have won the last 5 worlds.....and normally gone faster. No credit to me, I was on faster gear. Just saying that just going faster than a Moth (which really is not all that hard) means very little. And that's not even counting the really fast singlehanders.

Moths are great boats, but if you think Moths are super-duper fast you really need to get out and try an 18' skiff, 16' skiff, Tornado, F16, slalom board, speed board, raceboard, Canoe, etc etc etc etc etc.

The boat I race most is proportionately faster than a Tornado. This is not a diatribe from a Heron sailor. But what you and I happen to prefer to sail ourselves is not necessarily what is good for the sport to project and promote.

"The Y&Y nationals attendace shows that there are
more people racing so how can the sport as a whole be going down the
plug hole becuase of high performance boats?"

Sailing's not going down the plug hole because of high performance boats. All I'm saying is, why diss the boats that ARE popular and say that fast boats are the  future of the sport (as you implied) when (as you say) more people are racing now slow boats are more popular? Sailing WOULD probably go down the plughole if people stopped sailing slower boats, the low numbers in fast classes (including those I sail) proves that pretty well.

"Hey and don't mix up reducing local numbers with types of boat it's more
to do with general economic situations, fun costs cash"

WRONG....here, for example, it can be fairly cheap to run a real skiff because of club support. For example I've been offered free 16 and 18 skiffs in good condition. 12' skiffs (real ones, with 500ft kites) are also offered free at times.

But lots of people don't bother to take up the offer of skiff types even when they are free or cheap. Instead they pay out real money to sail other boats. So it's NOT always got anything to do with general economic situations or cash.

Kites v boards.....kites are slower than boards. Therefore speed can't be the only lure. Secondly, do you ahve anything to show that kites are (a) actually more popular than boards or (b) anything like as popular as boards where before they followed the high-performance route??

"So; lets make the Olympics represent the peak of the sport and not dumb it down ... just like all the other sports."

That means you reckon that slow boats are NOT the peak of the sport and are 'dumb'.

I assume you're not saying that Laser, Star and 470 sailors are "dumber" or less skilled than 49er sailors are you????? Any IQ tests to back it up? Hmmmm, let's see....FD, 470 and LAser sailors moved into the old Pro 18 circuit and beat all but one of the skiffies. FD, 470, 420, Laser, Mistral etc sailors move into 49ers and Tornadoes and get into the medals........

So if "slow" boat sailors are so dumb why do they do well in fast boats?

Why is a Laser sailor champ less skilled and dumber than the champ of a high-performance singlehander like (say) the International Canoe?

What is the fastest singlehander? A Class. Where do these non-dumb guys from the peak of singlehanders (if fast means good and smart) finish when they move to dumb, non peak classes like Lasers?

Down the back, in point of fact. So if the fast class guys are so smart, why do they get beaten by the dumbies from slow classes?

OK, boats that fall over may be good to watch. It didn;t help the pro windsurfing circuit. It didn't help the 18s. It hasn;'t helped the Hobart. The ORMA 60 tri circuit is rarely all that healthy. Volvo Ocean race gets good TV and there are rumours the shrinking fleet may kill it.

So where is the proof that what makes good TV will actually help increase the popularity and general health of sailing??????????

If you say knocking slow boats and pushing the fast ones onto TV will actually help sailing, can you please show us some proof?

Please?


Edited by Chris 249

Can you get Mogadon in Oz?

Stephen/Tornado_alive

 

This is aexactly what I was talking about in my post - get the racing close to the shore (maybe a shore break to make it more interesting).  Get TV in close - borrow the Amerca's cup marks which poeple / TV can site on / be stationed on.  Get some GOOD commentators who know what is going on.  Get some people around to expalin what is going on as well in the crowd.  The only way people will watch and enjoy it is to make them understand how it some of it works.