Multi-rig racing

Originally posted by turnturtle

Originally posted by turnturtle

Originally posted by ex laser

Think you've missed the point James.

damn right I have....

some folks think its unfair that someone chooses between classes/boats depending on the weather.

I agree, to a level anyway, and from a series points POV think they should be scored as separate entries.  I don't think a Radial has any place on a Laser class racing results card.  However if they want to sail together for the craic and then extract the individual class results, then I can see the logic of keeping the programmes aligned.

In terms of handicap racing, I don't think a punitive handicap need apply, what's the point?  Should the occasional Solo sailor be given a harsher handicap just because his regular Merlin crew is off on holiday with their family... oh do cock off. 

I wouldn't go so far as to bring affluence into the equation on this thread, I don't see its relevance.   

Frankly I'm not sure I know, nor really care, how affluent many people are at my sailing club.  I certainly wouldn't judge it by how much they choose to spend on a boat, or dare I say, 'boats' plural.  

Even the most expensive dinghy in the dinghy park could be bought with a modest monthly repayment plan - it would barely be noticeable on an equity-out deal on a 30 year mortgage, and that's money you neither earned, nor were gifted.... it's just social economics to be paid for by our grand-kids down the line.  Unless you're in negative equity, in which case, sorry mate, but what dinghy Minted Mike has is the least of your worries chum.

Who gives a sh*t really?  That's a problem with society- every one is so quick to judge each other...

And you're judging people just as quickly....so quickly, in fact, that you appear to completely ignore the fact that there are two sides to the discussion.

Sure, if someone can't find a crew one day then it's reasonable if they can sail another boat just for the lols. However, that completely ignores the fact that if you have a highly competitive class of reasonably high standard, then victory is likely to go to the person who buys an extra rig of a different class if that is allowed.

Not everyone can afford to throw an extra bunch of bucks on a mortgage. I've had good mates who were not in the position to spend enough on getting an extra rig....I suppose they are simply Not Quite Your Class and therefore should go away and do whatever sport the poor people do? Personally, I don't want to see people discouraged merely because they are tradesmen or have a big family or mortgage....I thought that attitude went out of dinghy racing around the time it started to explode in popularity.

Not only that, but given that surveys have shown that expense and perceived expense are a major problem for the sport, how can increasing the expense of currently cheap classes be justified? Cost of a major PR problem for the sport so why make it worse?

So in answer to the question "who gives a sh*t"; well some of us DO give a sh*t, because we love the sport and we want to see it prosper, and we love to see it when people can get into the sport and find such joy in it. Adding further expense may well be a barrier to both of those.

And by the way, if you think that the most expensive dinghies can always be bought with a simple additional bit of mortgage, you don't know how much a complex multi-rig boat can cost. I've sailed on one that cost (inflation adjusted) 50% of the price of the average UK house to build and run for a season.  Sure, that was extreme, but it shows how far these things are relative, and how far expense can get out of kilter with reality.

Edited by Chris 249 - 11 Mar 15 at 11:14am