True. ... Lance Armstrong drives cycling participation. Michael Phelps drives swimming participation. Ellen McCarther never won anything but at less then 5 foot tall... She struck a chord racing around the world alone. They happen to be freaks of nature with extraordinary accomplishments... but OK..
Do you want your US Sailing dues to go into sports marketing of some of the sport's sailing elite to the mainstream? Who would you pick right now?
Here is one sad example.. ... John Kerry went windsurfing on his vacation prior to the fall election cycle.... The PR and photo's did not work out so well for him in the election... or for windsurfing (elitist yachting type... who the hell goes windsurfing... tacking.. whats that about... OH what a flip flopper...) .
Probably the last well known US sailing personality was Steve Fosset... Should US Sailing market him? Before Fosset... we had Dennis Conners and Ted Turner. I have to tell you that I would not want a dime of my dues money going to market these individuals as a way to grow the sport of sailing. They did a fine job of promoting themselves. I wonder how most Americans feel about the America's Cup these days?
At the other end of the What should US Sailing do spectrum are lots of sensible people don't think we need much organization at the national level at all. .. As they put it.. "Hey... don't tell me what to do.... keep the taxes low... keep an eye on those controlling europeans and don't make a lot of rules to bother me with." Many cat sailors are the same way.... Oh... why can't we go back to day where we had a party and some racing. We don't need a stinking organization with lots of rules, insurance waivers, etc etc.
