Americas cup

Originally posted by Richard Gladwell

Originally posted by Richard Gladwell

Originally posted by Chris 249

/\It's POSSIBLE that the hyper-performance approach will work in attracting people into the sport - but to me the point is that we are being told that it DOES work and it WILL work,  but we are not being given any objective evidence to prove it.  If the modern AC was so effective in improving participation then why is participation not growing?  If the high performance sailing does so much to attract yoof then why does a significant (albiet small) sailing nation like NZ have just a dozen entries in the 29er nats and 3 or less at the Nacra 17 nats?

RG: Because they are Olympic and Youth boats. While the sailors might class-hop a little - the primary focus is on getting to the Youth Worlds and from NZ they usually select the multi hull crew from the second 29er crew.

Nacra 17 is a relatively expensive class with a primary Olympic focus and the need to have a mixed crew - so the options diminish rapidly on both counts.

Thanks for replying and sorry for my late reply.  However, the fact that the 29er is used to select two crews and yet gets only ten entries doesn't seem to indicate that the high-performance route is generating significant interest.

About the Nacra - the fact that so few can afford a foiling cat just illustrates why some of us are concerned that so much promotion of that end of the sport may be counter-productive. Why sell an image that people cannot achieve?  

Originally posted by Chris 249

/\Secondly, there is evidence that there is a serious risk in separating the marquee event too far from the form of the sport most people can do.   

This is the old argument on the Winter Olympics as to whether the Downhill should be something everyone can do, and can identify with it. Or do you have an extremely difficult course that only a handful can complete.

The Olympic skiing is also done on highly-restricted kit that looks pretty similar to the stuff we can buy.  The AC is not.

If we want participation we get everyone sailing Lasers and get the numbers up, until they get bored with Laser sailing and want something more exciting, or that is different than singlehanding a stacking monotype.

So why don't we do just that?  What would be so wrong about having bigger numbers in clubs, beaches and championships?

Secondly, the numbers make it very obvious that people don't get bored enough with a stacking monotype to leave the sport in droves.  They HAVE left the sport from high performance classes in droves, sadly.

The growth in the singlehanded stacking types proves that they are what is working - so why not learn the lessons from them and promote the practical, accessible end of the sport instead of stuff most people will never be able to sail?

Originally posted by Chris 249

/But, to repeat myself, if the hyper-performance pro route was going to have the benefits people claimed, then why aren't we seeing sailing growing in the country that followed that route more than anywhere else?

Because the hyper-performance route is something that the general media can get, it gets more TV news time etc - mainly stuff like Coutts crashing an AC45, Oracle barreling their AC72 etc. That makes the  prime time news. Non-sailors see it and the sports starts getting a bit more attention than it would have done otherwise. 

When did you last see Laser or one design racing on prime-time TV news? (I mean in the main news bulletins not the sports news.

I don't watch TV news, but Tom Slingsby's gold took up almost all of the front page in at least one of the Sydney papers a few years back.  That same paper showed NOTHING on the front page from the US victory in the AC.

As already mentioned, the FACTS ARE CLEAR - a significant number of the top-rating sports here and elsewhere have low participation rates. This is simply beyond reasonable doubt.

By the way, an Aussie got second in the worlds in the third most popular participant sport here a few weeks ago - and it did NOT make the front pages.  If a sport's popularity depended so much on getting onto the front pages, how come a sport can become so popular when the guy who gets 2nd in the world pro mens title doesn't even make front page news in his own home city?

The point is that there is no direct relationship that says because people see AC boats racing you will see club fleets double the next week with people new to the sport that have just rushed out and bought boats.

But certainly it lifts the profile of the sport. When you talk to non-sailors they know what you are talking about, and if given the opportunity to go sailing they will probably give it a try. 

So in exchange for creating a vast gap between the grass roots and the pros we are hoping that "probably" people will try the sport?  Forgive me for saying that doesn't seem to be worth it - especially when these new participants will find it all but impossible to sail something remotely connected with the sailing that attracted them.

When the sport was low-profile it was always a hard sell and described as like watching paint dry/standing in a shower ripping up $100 notes etc. You don't hear that sort of comment any more. Well not in NZ at least. And probably not in UK after BAR have been in the news a bit more (and won something).

RG

Sorry, and I think I'm repeating myself here, the belief that people think that sailing is boring is contradictory to the two major surveys about the attitude of the public towards the sport.  They are NOT turned off because it is boring, they are turned off because it is difficult, expensive and inaccessible.

We are once again back to the basic issue that some of us prefer to rely on actual data that shows what sectors of the sport are fading and which ones are doing well, and also on actual objective data about why people do and do not do sports and in particular sailing.

On the other side, those who want to push the high-performance side rely on assumptions that it will generate more interest, but they have not shown any evidence to back this up.

Edited by Chris 249 - 18 Nov 15 at 8:43am