Let me shift the discussion away from the personal back and forth.
Stephen... you mentioned Capricorn Nationals and of course you are doing the F18 Nationals and worlds.
What is your definition of Class here... Why do you have or support “Capricorn Nationals”?
IMO, It would be like having a Nationals for Flyer A cats… but not Mark IVs or V’s or Marstroms or A2’s etc etc. What is the point?
How does having a builder sponsored exclusive nationals help your racing class which I assume is the F18 class.
What am I missing here? Don’t you undercut your class… “F18’s”… by setting up a situation where you are competing for your members time and money with a subset regatta called Capricorns, or Nacra or Hobie nationals?
One could make the argument that the F18 class should pull and ISAF move and declare sailors who compete in unsanctioned nationals… like Capricorn nationals out of bounds and banned from the F18 nationals
What do you do about ISAF boats that also comply with the F18 rule such as the Tiger. IMHO that is one of the attractions of F18 - the best of both worlds. I enjoy my OD Tiger sailing and also F18 sailing. As the Capricorn grows I'm sure that will be an attraction for many of it's sailors too.
Furthermore, the fastest way for me to abandon a class would be for said class to try and force me to only sail their events. In Australia at least they would be dumped by a lot of sailors so fast their heads would spin.
I don't actually know if Capricorn is a National class in Oz (Steve?) however the symantecs of naming their national titles aside (one issue I do agree with), any manufacturer trying to build their brand with extra attractions should be encouraged.
Tiger Mike
Tiger Mike
