Top dog

Originally posted by tickel Originally posted by seamonkey Originally posted by tickel Last year I phoned and E mailed the organisers and never got a reply. The Class took it up and we were I believe promised an entry for this year. The same sailor won the Nats again this year....and nothing. Believe me keenness and initiative was shown. I had presumed that with this years attendance being rather down on last years it had scuppered the entry. Anyway congratulations Simon on your entry and good luck. There are 142 classes in the nationals attendance table that have had a nationals in 2011 and 25 slots available.I guess the organisers look at the entries they get then select the 25 which they consider to be from the classes that yeild the best quality champions ... This of course is a subjective process as the toughest fleets are not always the biggest e.g. 49er & I14 ...If your mate isn't getting a sniff no doubt he's sailing in a noddy class ... tell him to prove his worth in somthing more mainstream; look at previous events and you can see which classes the organisers rate. To be honest and irrespective of my interest in this subject the expression "Noddy Class" is just bloody rude.

Iso nationals, 5 boats ... what would you call, it?

Not sure Seamonkey actually sails, Tickel, or he would have been drowned by his fellow club members by now...

Originally posted by tickel Iso is a fading class, superseded by later, more modern designs. That does not give you the right to treat the class or the people who sail in it with derision. Tell us what you sail and I will find a suitably insulting epithet to describe it.

Ooohhhh .... first it's Jim being rude to you now me ... time to grow some thicker skin ...

Everyone know some classes are harder to win than others and at the bottom of the pile are the noddy ones... if your mate wants his entry into the big event and if he's the next Anslie then he just has to show his metal in a class with greater levels of competition.

Out of the 142 nationals run would his class be rated by the people on here as one of the 25 toughest to win? yes or no ..?

As for me I am busy with more modern pursuits with kites

''Perhaps someone who can win Streaker, Graduate Nationals plus does pretty well in Lasers should be invited. Outdoubably he is one of the best non-Olympic sailors in the UK.''

Originally posted by JimC I always love this "everybody knows" stuff. Its amazing how often what everybody knows" is wrong, and even more amazing how often very few people seem to know what "everybody knows"... Personally, and logically, I'd say any class which has people from works teams waltzing in after a couple of weeks training and finishing in the top 5 has to be in the "easy to win" category...

Depends.
Different people would apply the 'works team' or 'pro' label  a bit differently, but if you have a sailor of sufficient talent to make a works team, and he applies a couple of weeks to a class, that could be a lot of hours on the water, compared to joe average. Also many facets of racing are transferable between boats.
Tactics, wind appreciation, fitness, teamwork etc can be built sailing anything.
In fact sailing more than one class can help anyone at any level.
If you can buy a fully tuned boat, as you can in Fireballs, Merlins etc it's probably easier to get very close to your potential quite quickly, if you are already at your potential in another class.
Boats that have to be tuned to the individual, e.g. the Finn, or classes where genuine development is taking place would be the hardest to jump into. Not because it requires more potential to do well in them, but because it takes longer to reach potential.
Perhaps a better question is which classes are easiest to stay out of the bottom 10 places?