Star Sailors League

Maybe Tradewinds has the answer to the thread on what to use in the Endeavour Trophy- just see who can sail a door the best

No Brits in top 50 ranked Star sailors.

Bankrolled is certainly the operative word - I quote from Paul Cayard's final report:

The trouble with a vision that requires rich men with lots of money is that it leaves the rich men in utter control of your sport. As supporters of various soccer 'clubs' will tell you, the rich men may have ideas that don't align with yours, and if you are no longer a real club, but a rich man's possession, what the former members say doesn't count for much. Never mind what happens if you run out of rich men.

Personally I would much rather the sport relied on what the individual active sailors can fund out of their own resources. It may be less spectacular, but its a lot more in control of the people who count.

Originally posted by JimC The trouble with a vision that requires rich men with lots of money is that it leaves the rich men in utter control of your sport. As supporters of various soccer 'clubs' will tell you, the rich men may have ideas that don't align with yours, and if you are no longer a real club, but a rich man's possession, what the former members say doesn't count for much. Never mind what happens if you run out of rich men. Personally I would much rather the sport relied on what the individual active sailors can fund out of their own resources. It may be less spectacular, but its a lot more in control of the people who count.

Originally posted by JimC The trouble with a vision that requires rich men with lots of money is that it leaves the rich men in utter control of your sport. As supporters of various soccer 'clubs' will tell you, the rich men may have ideas that don't align with yours, and if you are no longer a real club, but a rich man's possession, what the former members say doesn't count for much. Never mind what happens if you run out of rich men. Personally I would much rather the sport relied on what the individual active sailors can fund out of their own resources. It may be less spectacular, but its a lot more in control of the people who count.

Agreed Jim c. If the success of the sport relies on a rich guy bankrolling a series through procurement (and maintenance!!) of a lot of expensive and not very relevant keelboats for fat blokes, and paying appearance fees and big winners purses, it’s a bit of a worry. That said I would far rather watch that than ac foiling cats etc. Or most hp sailing.
If you had the same quality of coverage / location I reckon you’d have at least the same spectacle in laser / Finn.
On a positive note I think that it demonstrates my theory again that high level classic “slow boat” sailing is the best to watch for sailors and non sailors alike. You get a sense of style / technique / physicality/ character.
I think that the reason behind the choice of the star is that it’s a bit of a leveller insofar as you wouldn’t get a fraction of the “household names” in lasers or Finns, whereas star stalwarts And New Guys alike can race fairly equally in stars as long as the new guys have a decent ship and a suitably large and experienced crew. The stalwart crews look after the class specifics, and the rest is readily transferable from any other classic slow boat, which Even the new foiling stud guys will have sailed at one time or another.