Ronald
"Philip, but then you end up with a deadly dull, pure technical, open forum."
Well lets see.... the issues facing the sport are..
What to do about the decline in young people sailing cats for recreation.
Should the rank and file sailor make more effort in recruiting racing sailors from your clubs pool of c420 sailors.
What should be an elite high performance program for top juniors in standard Yacht Clubs.
Does the nacra 15 work. If ISAF Youth Worlds were in the US... what would happen to 20 Nacra 15s to be sold here. What about in Scandanavia or Great Britan.
Do we need safety standards for distance racing for non catamaran OA's to run our races.
Is handicap racing a way to get critical mass at regional regattas.
How will the progress in flying boats play out for the sport... do we grow... or do we shrink yet again?
National Sailing Federations are charged with running the international competitions... (Olympics... ISAF youth worlds etc) Does that money grow the sport that we engage in.
What is the value of non class championships (alter cup) to sailors and the sport.
So... that is not a set of technical issues. They require consenus forming and buy in from the rank and file.
Where have clubs taken sailors who start on a Hobie wave or getaway moved up in performance to at least a Hobie 16 or faster? How did that happen... can we bottle that magic.
How do we get more racers... not just sailors.
How do we get dinghy sailors to play with multi's.
etc etc etc
The one thing about sailing.... is that you don't need anyone else to put your sail up... and sail away...
The questions I posed speak to the community issues in sailing. Something IS ADDED when you organize into clubs, fleets and races. That is what this forum is about. Anything that detracts from the community aspect of sailing... should be pruned.
I agree with P.M..... move the crap to it's own forum....
Vent your opinions in the proper place... the open forum works for sailing politics...AND the technical issues like... best way to seal my mast..
YMMV
