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.
What do you really want US Sailing to do?
Forget the asshats (Dennis Conner indeed!), look for dinghy sailors, give em a few bucks, get em on TV/radio/internet. They probably don't need to be Olympic level sailors, just someone very personable, reasonably attractive (photogenic) and has a chance at being towards the pointy end of a big fleet. Dare I say a laser sailor?
Steve Fosset wasn't bad, but probably suffered from tall-poppy syndrome from teh general public.
Look at the promotion Rohan Veal has given to moths...he is a sailing house-hold name. Ellen Macarthur was a hit on Top Gear when she set the fastest lap time! BAM, the opinion of a few million UK non-sailors changed overnight with that one appearance. It surely led to more ppl getting into sailing. Both personable, reasonably attractive, and at the pointy end of their fleets. Both also happened to promote themselves very well online.
Not my dues, I'm from down-under. OK, you can ignore me now if you wish. And I'm not in marketing at all, just seems like common sense from the cheap seats. It's all been done before, just look at similar sports for marketing strategies.
It all goes back to the basic goals of US Sailing/Yachting Australia/ISAF, and if building sailing participation is part of your constitution or objectives, then this seems like a simple and relatively cheap solution. Alot of the sailing marketing/promotion/media is aimed at existing sailors, preaching to the choir. It's just a matter of deciding whether or not the association wishes to build fleets.
But we all know what sailors are like, cheap...
