www.usmultihull.com

FYI below from Mike Grandfield. Please visit the site.

HTTP://WWW.USMULTIHULL.ORG

Hi All,

The issues are quite stark.

US SAILING has put forward a slate of 6 dinghy events, 2 keelboat events, and no multihull events
• 1 of the dinghy events does not yet exist
• 1 of the dinghy events has yet to produce an Olympic medal for the USA.
• 1 of the keelboat events has yet to produce an Olympic medal for the USA.
• The multihull event has produced Olympic medals for the USA in 4 of the 7 Olympic Regattas attended by the US Team.
How could anyone feel that US SAILING has been fair, or rational, or impartial?

The submission also states: “This slate of Events is representative of the sport as it is practiced around the World. As a result, it is likely that this slate will increase the number of countries competing in the Olympic Regatta.”
These statements are not true:
• Approximately 25% of the racing in the world is done in multihulls. A slate that reduces multihulls to zero is not ‘representative’.
• The slate will do nothing to increase the number of countries at the Olympic Regatta. The data has been clear for years:
Increases in the number of countries at the Olympic Regatta result only when there are increases in the size of the single-handed fleets
At Athens, sailing failed to meet the IOC country target so the size single handed events will be increased at the expense of the multi-handed events – which will get fewer entries
For comparison, here is what happens if more countries are allowed into the double or triple handed events:
1. say that the 5 current double-handed boats each had 35 entries,
2. that would take 350 of the 380 athletes for only 5 medals… and fall more than 20 countries short of the IOC target of 67 countries.
3. The other 5 events could then have 6 sailors each…

The US SAILING submission fails to give multihull sailors any representation; it fails to tell the truth; it fails to demonstrate that US SAILING understands how fleet sizes and competitive opportunity in the various Olympic events will be managed.
However, despite its failings it will succeed at hurting multihull sailing. And, it will be joined by no-multihull submissions form other countries (Canada, Denmark, and perhaps others).

If you are fouled in a race, you should be able to expect the other guy to acknowledge the foul and take a penalty or withdraw, If not, you can and should protest.
If you are not willing to defend your rights, and keep the sport clean, then don’t be surprised when your rights are abused – or when you discover that you don’t have them anymore.

The US SAILING Board did not have the right to discard the multihull event from the slate of Olympic Events. Many of us asked the Board to acknowledge the foul, but instead they have suggested that we support them for having discarded us.
If you won’t defend the right to have a multihull event at the Olympic regatta, then what would you defend?

It is not ‘going too far’ to protest the actions of the Board; in fact it looks like multihull sailors have already lost some very basic rights.
And unless we enjoy being abused, we should perhaps be more concerned that a protest could be too little, too late.

Here is a link to the website where you can read the submission, read the complaint, and defend what rights you have left by calling on US SAILING to be accountable.

HTTP://WWW.USMULTIHULL.ORG
Regards,
Mike Grandfield

Short comments:
Dean seems to quite unaware of the level of talent among the young Tornado sailors.
Regardless of event sailors must commit 200 days per year for 4 to 8 years in order to get close to an Olympic medal.

Some day there might be a lighter, faster, more durable boat than a Tornado. When there is it might be time to consider a change.
But, Olympic sailing is already losing some of its claim to being at the pinnacle of the sport. In the high performance events, boats that are heavier, slower, less durable, and less exciting would only lessen the importance of the event.

I went to the site and added my name to the complaint, and I hope that everybody who frequents this web site does the same.

After decades of belonging to US Sailing and urging other multihull sailors to do so, I feel betrayed by our governing body. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Ditto.

I guess I should have said "people from the United States" who frequent this web site should add their names to the complaint.

Those of you from other countries should find out what your own National Governing Bodies are doing on this subject and complain to them if they are planning on dropping the multihull from the Olympics.

Takes all of 10 seconds, done.

9.25 seconds... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Done

If you want to spend a little more time and write to people directly about this, here are some e-mail addresses:
dmbrenner@ussailing.org, Dean Brenner, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee
katiekelly@ussailing.org, Katie Kelly, U.S. Olympic Director
jcapron@capron.com, Jim Capron, President of U.S. Sailing

It is great that the U.S. Tornado Association is fighting this decision by US Sailing, but they need the vocal support of the entire U.S. multihull community.

And be sure to include your US Sailing membership number!

Just added my name with my number! Shame on them. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Bob

BHAM!

Me too.

Doug

+1 more, keep it going.

I just sent e-mails to Dean, Katie and Jim. Among other things, here is what I said:

"Even if the rest of the countries vote to keep the multihull in the Olympics, how can the United States multihull sailors ever again trust US Sailing to support us? Why would our young catamaran sailors dedicate the time and financial resources necessary to reach Olympic level, when they know the rug might be pulled out from under them at any time by their own National Governing Body?

"Setting a goal for the Olympics requires a lot of trust and faith on the part of the sailors that their own country is going to support them."

I add my name to the list.

Matt J.

I knew there was a reason I never joined US Ailing.

After being told I wouldn't receive a class certificate because I belonged to a Hobie fleet instead of a yacht club I quit.

What's a class certificate?

I took a USYRU PRO class at the St. Francis YC in '91. Took the test and passed. Turned in my info form to get a certificate of completion. The guy running the class said no YC membership no class certificate.

USYRU had been pushing hard to get the multihull and board guys to join. It appeared that USYRU viewed us as potential revenue opportunities and were not about to let us play with the "big boys."

I said sayonara sucker.

I took your issue to the Race Management guys - that requirement is long since out the window, but your test results were out-dated by several years by that time. All I had for you at the end of that phone call was an apology and the opportunity to test again for a widely expanded program that includes free liability insurance for you and your whole race committee on and off the water.

Bad experiences like this make it tough to see the good stuff, I agree.

Looks like we've entered circular logic land. USSail won't get a dime of my money until I get the certificate I earned. As for the apology, it's too little and waaaaay too late.

Here is what I sent

Dear Madam and Sirs,

Simply registering my dissatisfaction with any decision that would preclude the inclusion of the Tornado as an Olympic Class. It is my understanding you have heard the many well reasoned arguments against such a decision. I will spare my voice and your time from the cacophony and urge you to do the obvious,

Best regards

Charlie Barmonde

You know guys, those half-boat snobs can't stand the speed gap. I get bs from the mono guys here all the time. I answer their wittering by banging past on a tight reach with a rooster tail off the bow.
When it comes to the Olympics though I would have thought they would understand that medals is medals.

And Mary, I don't know why you are complaining, you are not even sure the Ts should be there. : )

Don't forget that if cats are dropped from the Olympics, it will be near impossible and certainly many many years before it will be reinstated!

We made front page Sailing Anarchy.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com

What on earth would give you that idea? OF COURSE, we need a multihull in the Olympics -- preferably two of them. We need a two-person cat and a single-hander. And both of them should be "Open" classes -- meaning open to both men and women.

The multihulls are unique in that it should not be necessary to segregate and have separate classes on the basis of sex, as they seem to have to do in most of the monohull dinghies.

I think it is sending the wrong message when they use types of boats that have to be segregated by sex of the sailor.

Sailing should be more like the equestrian events, where there is no sex discrimination -- either for the horses or the riders. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Now, whether or not the Olympic multihull class should continue to be the Tornado is an entirely different topic. The point is, we HAVE to make sure at least one multihull class stays in the Olympics, and we should be pushing for two.

The multihull community is just not vocal enough. We take the status quo too much for granted.

Instead of "complaining" after the fact, as we are now stuck doing in the United States, we should all be more proactive about letting our respective country sailing organizations know how important it is to have multihulls in the Olympics -- and WHY.

It is times like these that make me wonder why in the world there were so many voices against developing NAMSA that said, "...we already have a body helping and supporting us." Where is that support now! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

And I added my name to the list and sent letters to all the email address Mary posted. I think we should all send emails and call, if necessary.
Rick

Guys/Gals:

I just got ths in my email mailbox today. It help to send a comment to them!!

Sent on Behalf Of:

Doug Snell
305 Hobbs Road Apt #102
League City, TX 77573

To:
Mr. Peter Ueberroth
Chair, US Olympic Committee
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Tel: 719.632.5551

RE: Complaint against US SAILING

This complaint is being filed in accordance with the procedure described in the USOC By-Laws Section 8.1; and under the provisions of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (ASA).

The US SAILING Board of Directors has approved and forwarded to the International Sailing Federation a submission titled “2012 Olympic Events”. This submission proposes 6 dinghy events and 2 keelboat events, but omits any proposal of a multihull event.

Competition at the Olympic Regatta is held in a number of event categories. US multihull sailors have won Olympic medals in 4 of the 7 Olympic Regattas attended by the US Team. Multihull racing constitutes approximately ¼ of the all racing done worldwide. And, US SAILING has long recognized multihull racing as one of the core competition categories, having established:
* Youth and Adult National Championships
* A national Multihull Council, which is described as follows - “Sailors are represented by Councils & Associations of groups having common sailing interests on a national basis.”
* The Hoyt-Jolley Multihull Fund for the adult championship, and the Stevens Restricted Fund the youth championship.

1. ASA §220524(1) states that a national governing body shall “… be responsible to the persons and amateur sports organizations it represents”.

The “2012 Olympic Events” submission disenfranchises US multihull sailors and the Multihull Council. The Board of Directors has declined to act despite appeals made by phone, email, letter, and in-person by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Multihull Council and many individual multihull sailors. US multihull sailors challenge the Board of Directors to show that it is being responsible to the persons and amateur sports organizations it represents”.

2. ASA §220524(3) states that a national governing body shall ”…reasonably reflect the views of the athletes in its policy decisions”.

The “2012 Olympic Events” submission fails to reflect the views of US multihull sailors.

The multihull class representative on the Olympic Sailing Committee was excluded from the discussions that resulted in the slate of events that was submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.

The representatives of the Multihull Council were not informed of, or consulted in regard to this pivotal policy decision.

The US SAILING Team multihull athletes, coaches, and other personnel were not informed or consulted; and learned of the submission only after it had been forwarded to the ISAF.

3. ASA §220522(a) states that an “amateur sports organization is eligible to be recognized, or to continue to be recognized, as a national governing body only if it” §220522(a)8 “provides an equal opportunity to amateur athlete… to participate in amateur athletic competition, without discrimination”.

The “2012 Olympic Events” submission discriminates against US multihull sailors. It proposes only monohull events, and thereby denies equal opportunity to US multihull sailors.

4. USOC Article VIII Section 8.1.A.2.c states “ if such remedies [available] have not been exhausted, the grounds upon which the complainant alleges that exhaustion would result in unnecessary delay;

The time required to follow the procedures required to exhaust available remedies will result in unnecessary delay and irreparable harm to US multihull sailors.

The publication by the ISAF of the US SAILING submission is immanent; and this publication will disseminate globally US SAILING’s disenfranchisement of multihull racing.

The ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, for which the submission was made, will take place from 4-6 May 2007. If the submission is not amended or withdrawn it will cause irreparable harm to US multihull sailors.



The US SAILING Board of Directors has not met its responsibilities as laid out in the ASA. The “2012 Olympic Events” submission needs to be amended to include one or more multihull events; or if it cannot be amended it must immediately be withdrawn.

Respectfully,

Doug Snell
305 Hobbs Road Apt #102
League City, TX 77573

Doug,
From whom did you receive that "complaint" to send to the U.S. Olympic Committee? It didn't just appear by magic in your e-mail inbox.

Goodonya Mary! I thought that might get a response and it is nice to read you say it clearly!

Get the multihhull medalists and put the photos of them winning in a national full page add. This action devalues their medals and disrespects them and all fierce multihaull competitors around the World. Why would all Tornado sailors NOT want to face the US in the Olympics? It will cost you all a dollar each to place that add. Embarrass the buggers and ask them to explain themselves.

New Zealand was big in Olympic rowing gold in the 80s. We went through a black patch but always backed them. We have one of the strongest rowing teams on the planet again with Olympic golds and many World titles. You gotta keep leaning into the wind.

sailors are sailors and the mono fleets need to show more solidarity.

Please realize... this complaint is NOT to US Sailing...

You don't need to be a member of anything... just a citizen of the USA to register your complaint with the USOC.

The US Olympic Committee (USOC) is empowered by an act of Congress to support the efforts of US Athletes in Olympic Competition. The USOC is the legal authority for the team that the USA sends to each game. The US Olympic Committee allows US Sailing to administer the Olympic pathway and could order US Sailing to revise their submission to ISAF because it does not represent the best interests of US Sailors.

http://www.usmultihull.org/

You do NOT have to be a US Sailing member… just a citizen of the United States of America.

Please spread the word and ask all of the sailors you know to support this complaint!

Mark

I just found out that complaint to the IOC is what gets sent out when you sign up to protest at that www.usmultihull.com web site. Pretty interesting to go over the heads of the US Sailing people and take a complaint directly to the U.S. Olympic Committee, protesting US Sailing. Good idea.

Oh great multihull leaders, I think Mark's point about recruiting all the sailors we know to our cause is excellent.

How about one of our leaders creating a "cover letter" that we can forward to our friends at our sailing clubs that explains the situation and encourages them to support our cause.

I'd be glad to send it to my monohull friends and enlist their support. Something uniform so that we are all passing along the same message and correct information.

Here ya go. This is a release from Jim Capron, president of US Sailing, about this issue. He wants to make sure we all have the facts right.

United States Sailing Association NATIONAL GOVERNING BODY FOR THE SPORT OF SAILING
To the members of the windsurfing and multihull communities:
Many of you have been writing to me, members of our staff, the Board of Directors, and other volunteers within US SAILING, expressing displeasure and disagreement with US
SAILING’s submission to ISAF on the events for the 2012 Olympic Games.
I appreciate these opinions, but I would like to take a moment to explain our decision and the reasoning behind it. I would also like to answer some of the questions being posed to me.

US SAILING submitted to ISAF a list of eight events that we would like to see in the 2012 Olympic Games. Those included men’s and women’s events in single-handed dinghy,
double-handed dinghy, skiff and keelboat. Our submission was silent on what we would like the other two events to be. Furthermore, our submission did not call for the elimination of any current Olympic event.

The submission that US SAILING sent to ISAF has two goals:
(a) To promote gender equity in Olympic sailing and
(b) To submit eight events in which we believe U.S. sailors will have the best chance to
excel in 2012.

That's it. The submission makes no statement for or against any other event or discipline, nor does it reflect US SAILING’s overall priorities. The submission simply nominates events that give us the best chance to be strong in 2012.

Why does US SAILING want to address gender equity in the Olympics?
Coming from such a rich history of sailing with mixed gender crews, multihull sailors might wonder why we are driving separate men’s and women’s events. We know that the IOC wants gender equity in all its sports, and ISAF has lagged in getting there. US SAILING would support “mixed” events, with teams of men and women sailing together, but there is virtually no support for mixed events anywhere else in the world. Instead, since 1932, many countries have argued for “open” events, like the Open Laser, Open Soling, Open Star, or Open Tornado to promote gender equity. We know that does not work. US SAILING needs to lead the debate on gender equity because few other voices are being heard.

Why did US SAILING’s submission only list eight events?
Quite simply, we made a determination, based on what we know today and the athletes that are currently committed to Olympic class competition, that those are the events where we have a better chance of winning an Olympic medal. We are not saying that we like those events any more than any others, and we are not saying we don’t support any other
discipline.

You should notice, for example, that disciplines such as team racing are not listed in our submission. We love team racing in the United States, and we would have a good chance of winning a medal if team racing was adopted. But team racing is not politically likely to be supported at ISAF, so we left it out of the submission.

This submission lists the eight events we think the United States would be most competitive in for 2012 and that are also likely to have international support at ISAF.

Why is winning medals important?
Aside from the obvious reason, that winning medals is good for the overall sport of sailing in the U.S. and gives us all sailing heroes, we need to win medals to fund future Olympic sailing.

The Olympic side of US SAILING receives no funding from the non-Olympic side of US SAILING. Sailors who join US SAILING to support our Olympic program should know that zero membership revenue (or any other general revenue for that matter) goes to fund the Olympic programs. The US SAILING Olympic program is completely self-funded, primarily through USOC grants and fund-raising. In fact, the Olympic side even pays US SAILING for rent, utilities, postage, etc.
The amount of funding we receive from the USOC to support our Olympic effort is directly tied to our performance on the water at the Games. More medals mean more USOC funding.
It’s that simple.

Is the list of events in the ISAF submission representative of sailing in the United States?

No. It is also not representative of the sailing that the non-Olympic side of the association actively supports and promotes.

Olympic sailing is always in a state of flux. The slate of Olympic events (multihull, keelboat, etc.) is up for debate every four years. Olympic equipment (Tornado, Hobie, etc.) is also up for debate every four years - the year after the events are decided. No class or event is ever guaranteed.

Provided sailing remains in the Olympics, there will always be opportunities for sailors to go to the Olympics, but perhaps not in their first choice of equipment. One of the
hallmarks of great sailors is that they can be successful on different types of equipment.

Charlie Ogletree, who used to sail on my offshore monohull when he lived in Annapolis, was a competitive dinghy sailor before switching to the Tornado.

Has the Tornado been removed from the 2012 Olympics?
Neither the Tornado nor any other class is in the 2012 Olympics at this time. The decisions on events and the equipment used in those events will be made by ISAF, not US SAILING, and this is how it works:

The ISAF member national authorities (MNAs) and classes put forth submissions on events at the 2007 ISAF Mid-year meeting to be held in Paris in May. Some MNAs submit only one event, some a full slate of ten events and others submit a partial slate. Classes also submit events that might use that class’ equipment. At the end of the ISAF Mid-year meeting, a list of possible events is produced. That list gets vetted and debated throughout the year and voted on by the ISAF Council in November to become the final slate of ten events for 2012. Then the whole process begins again the following year to select the equipment that will be used in those events.

Why not recommend a different multihull than the Tornado?
That time may come, but it would be premature to begin discussing equipment now. First we decide on events. If the multihull is eventually selected as one or two of the events, the choice of which multihull class would be important, and US SAILING will be actively engaged in the choice of that equipment.

Does US SAILING support multihull sailing?
US SAILING's role as the national governing body for the sport is to promote sailing. That means all forms of sailing - dinghy sailing, multihull sailing, windsurfing, kite boarding, ocean racing, team racing, match racing, model yacht racing, etc. We do all that. US SAILING's role in fielding a US Olympic Sailing Team is to support competitors and win medals.

I urge windsurfing and multihull sailors to not take the US SAILING submission out of context or read anything in the submission that is not there. The Board decision to submit
eight priority events for the 2012 Olympics is limited to serving our best interests of doing well in the Olympics, and maybe more importantly, helping US SAILING’s ISAF delegation to lead the sport toward gender equity in Olympic sailing.
Jim Capron
President, US SAILING

Mary:

Not sure how I got it. Forwarded original email to your email inbox.

Doug

What a silly defence of the US Sailing position. The lack of logic is profound. He should just say... "My good ol boy network tells me this is a winning proposal for the USA".

Gender equity my butt...

Why not recomend Men's and Women's multihull as a solution to gender equity?

A hobie 16 with spin would have world wide acceptance for the women's multihull INSTANTLY. No problem finding an appropriate boat to adopt for the women!

men's and womens keelboats (Soling, Star, Yingling Lightning, J22)
Men's and women's Boards
Men's ane women's single hander (laser, radial, finn or europe)

Men's and women's double handed Dinghy (49ner or 470 or what ever they come up with... )

That covers the sailing spectrum of the various types of boats raced in the world and specifically the USA without considering... Oh... that's my favorite class of boat.

The Hobie 16 with spin easily covers the gender equity issue and the world wide acceptance of the class.

The US proposal is just a political hack job that bows to the Good Ol Boy Network of collegiate dinghy coaches ...

What this amounts to is that the sailing coaches of the top Collegiate sailing programs have wispered to Bodie about their wonderful olympic talent. wonder of wonders ... nobody recomends a sailor for multihulls or boards!

Good Ol Boy networks get you the same ol same ol solutions.

NOTICE... he did not state ANY verifiable FACTS about the notion that the US is strong or has Olympic talent in those skiff/dingy classes/types of boats.

How many skiff races are held in the USA?
How many 470 Men or women's races are held in the USA?
How many catamaran races are held in the USA?
How many 2 person dinghy teams with spins are popular in the USA.

Want to bet on these numbers?

Write to the USOC, join the petiion drive, Have them slap some sense into Jim Capron. (Mind you he has only had the helm since the fall)

Mark

It might also be of interest that of the 17 or 18 Olympic Sailing Classes that have existed, if you rank them by the number of medals the US has won, the Tornado is tied with the Finn for fourth. No medal potential?

When you fill out the form at www.usmultihull.org, you get a copy of the email that goes out to the Olympic Committee on your behalf.

Then I guess that is where it came from. Letters like that should get something going right I hope?

Doig

Guys/Gals:

Just got this, this am.

Doug

Dear Doug,

“Thanks for your support!” to you from all of you.

It is now 0700 hours on Thursday, 23 March, and ‘all of you’ are the over 375(!) US multihull sailors who have joined the Complaint.

Your voice and your vote have sent a powerful message to the USOC and US SAILING that sailors from every part of the multihull community expect to be represented fairly and equally by the national governing body for the sport.

US SAILING will now be required to respond in accordance with the Bylaws of the USOC and the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

A number of sailors have asked if they are eligible to participate in the Complaint.

Here is what the US Olympic Committee Bylaws and the US SAILING Bylaws say:

· USOC Bylaw 8.1.a.1
"Any amateur sports organization or person which belongs to, or is eligible to belong to [US SAILING] may seek to compel [US SAILING] to comply with the requirements of the [USOC] Bylaws or the [Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports] act".

· US SAILING General Bylaw 201 – Eligibility
"The membership of US SAILING is open to all sailing organizations and all sailors, coaches, trainers, managers, administrators, and officials without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, or national origin."

So, whether or not you are a current member of US SAILING – you are eligible to participate.

Information regarding the Complaint and its progress will be made available through email updates and web postings.

- Daily updates will be sent to you and all of the sailors who have voted their support.

- Special updates will be sent if there is important information or a new web posting.

The US multihull community is diverse and exciting. It is now discovering that it has a strong voice.

It is time to use our voice and to energize support for US multihull sailing at all levels: youth and learning to sail; recreational cruising and just ripping around for fun; one design and open racing; participation in international competition and Olympic campaigns.

US Multihull

Yup...time to grab the banners and march into town.

I got the email, look at the top, it says about 375 cat sailors have already sent objections. Good job people!

That makes me at least 376!

This is the medal history for the Tornado in the Olympics.
Thought it might be interesting to look at.
[ Tornado class
Further information: Tornado (sailboat)
This is a mixed event for men and women.

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1976 Montreal Great Britain (GBR)
Reginald White
John Osborn United States (USA)
David McFaull
Michael Rothwell West Germany (FRG)
Jörg Spengler
Jörg Schmall
1980 Moscow Brazil (BRA)
Lars Sigurd Bjorkström
Alexandre Welter Denmark (DEN)
Peter Due
Per Kjærgaard Sweden (SWE)
Goran Marstrom
Jorgen Ragnarsson
1984 Los Angeles New Zealand (NZL)
Rex Sellers
Chris Timms United States (USA)
Randy Smyth
Jay Glaser Australia (AUS)
Christopher Cairns
John Anderson
1988 Seoul France (FRA)
Jean Le Deroff
Nicolas Henard New Zealand (NZL)
Chris Timms
Rex Sellers Brazil (BRA)
Lars Grael
Clinio Freitas
1992 Barcelona France (FRA)
Yves Loday
Nicolas Henard United States (USA)
Randy Smyth
Keith Notary Australia (AUS)
Mitch Booth
John Forbes
1996 Atlanta Spain (ESP)
Jose Ballester
Fernando Leon Australia (AUS)
Mitch Booth
Andrew Landenberger Brazil (BRA)
Lars Grael
Kiko Pellicano
2000 Sydney Austria (AUT)
Roman Hagara
Hans Peter Steinacher Australia (AUS)
John Forbes
Darren Bundock Germany (GER)
Roland Gäbler
René Schwall
2004 Athens Austria (AUT)
Roman Hagara
Hans-Peter Steinacher United States (USA)
John Lovell
Charlie Ogeltree Argentina (ARG)
Santiago Lange
Carlos Espínola

No pitchforks and torches?!?!

Bring 'em if you got 'em!

I like the scene with the flaming sticks at the mill.

Guys/Gals:

We have over whelmed there email server. The are now using FedEx. Got this this mourning.

Doug


Dear Doug,

It is now 2200 hours on Friday, 23 March, and nearly 500 (!) multihull sailors have submitted a Complaint to the USOC.

In a US SAILING Press Release posted today, US SAILING President Jim Capron said:

"Is the list of events in the ISAF submission representative of sailing in the United States?"

"No. It is also not representative of the sailing that the non-Olympic side of the association actively supports and promotes."

This admission underscores the validity of the Complaint. US SAILING appears to be completely out of touch with its responsibilities as a national governing body.

Earlier today the General Counsel of the US Olympic Committee commented that the sheer number of Complaint submissions had overflowed their email system. The updates sent to the USOC will now be sent by FEDEX.

The US multihull complaint looks like it is the largest complaint (by number of submitters) ever initiated with the USOC.

Good sailing to all

Doug,
How come you are getting these responses, and I have not gotten a single one. I even sent my complaint a second time in case I didn't do it right the first time. Nothing back.

This is a rhetorical question, because I know you don't know the answer. So you don't need to reply to this.

I've been getting them too Mary. Perhaps your spam blocker is stopping them reaching you?

Well, I can't imagine, since my spam blocker doesn't even block spam.

It goes to whichever email you put on the complaint form, so if you used a secondary email address to protect you from spam, you will have to call up that secondary email. I hope I am not stating the obvious. This happens to me all the time. I use my yahoo account to register something and then get mad when I don't recieve a response on my primary email. [RANT] Speaking of which... I never get any spam on my yahoo account. I get a ton of spam on my cable modem account that I pay out the <noodle> to maintain. I always try to keep my cable account private but somehow it gets out there and I get tons of stock quotes and online viagra stores. So my free account has a better spam blocker than my pay account. Makes me wonder what the cable company is doing with my money. [\RANT]

From a spectator position I think this is cool to see how the system actually works sometimes when it comes to using the established complaint channels. Whether or not US Sailing comes around or not, I think they get the message. I really hope they do the right thing.

-Rob V.

Mary,

I have been getting the exact same ones.

Mary:

Got this today. Sounds like BS to me.

Doug

Doug, that's the same press release I already posted on here. And yes, you are right about what it sounds like.

However, due to correspondence I have been having back and forth with Jim Capron, I now have a pretty good idea of what we need to do and how we need to do it.

I will get my thoughts organized and post about that on Monday.

Meanwhile, I hope all multihull sailors are contacting all the multihull sailors they know (many of whom do not frequent these forums) and give them the link to add their name to the complaint against US Sailing (at the beginning of this thread) that goes to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

I got the initial one but none after that (but then again, I'm at a regatta and haven't been in front of my home computer since Friday).

Update? Anything happening?

Anything happening? Yes, but slowly.

Based upon the US Sailing press release, I sent a letter to Jim Capron and Dean Brenner asking additional questions. Jim Capron responded to my questions, but asked that his responses not be distributed on the forum or in the magazine.

I then sent a letter to Gary Bodie with some additional questions that I thought he would be in a position to answer. He gave me some good answers, but they are only a part of the picture.

I then had a bunch of new questions that I have sent to Gary Bodie, Dean Brenner and Jim Capron. Gary is in Europe right now, so Dean Brenner says he can answer my questions if it is okay with Jim Capron. HOWEVER, since these answers are for publication, they have to be coordinated through the US Sailing PR Department.

So right now I am on hold. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Hi Mary

I have some past experience in dealing with these very same folks... Their standard operating procedure is. I will answer your questions... but only privately. At the end... you are stonewalled and nothing has changed or will change.

Good luck. A stone wall and a good ol boy network are formidable!

Rest assured, there are still things happening! The response to this issue by the catamaran community has been staggering and awe inspiring. Everyone is taking notice from the old-school sailors to the US Sailing board. I'm sure more information will be coming out soon.

The Multihull Council is still forging forward - we'll have the minutes from our Special Meeting up on the USSA website soon. They made a big sever move over the weekend and things are just now getting back to normal.

I have found that Mark's assertion is true - often, I am asked to not repeat or post something I'm told. Twice, I have said that I would not abide by the request, as I considered the information to be public and of great interest. Other times, it is in the interest of the multihull community that certain persons who divulge information feel safe in doing so. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Some might have noted that the US and Canadian submissions to ISAF were apparently not accepted. They do not appear on the agendas for the May meeting in Paris. There is additional indication that submissions will be due instead sometime before the November meeting. This gives us a little more time to make our case to the Board, but not much, as there will be discussions of "proposed events" and voting on a method of event selection during this upcoming meeting. All of this info is on the ISAF web site: www.sailing.org - look under Organization/Meetings/Forthcoming Meetings for a list of agendas and supporting papers.

In the mean time, the filing of a grievance with the USOC appears to be moving forward, though the USOC has indicated an electronic filing will not be accepted. Looks like there will be some folks going postal... using stamps, I mean... y'know? Snail mail? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The Multihull Council has been hard at work, talking to members of the Board and the OSC to make the case for a multihull event in 2012. Things are definitely looking up, and that is directly attributable to people like Mary, Mark, Jake and over 650 of their friends taking an interest in multihull sailing's future. Nice. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Until I get more answers back from US Sailing, here are at least a few things to think about. I asked the following questions of Gary Bodie, and his answers follow my questions:

In a message dated 3/28/2007 12:23:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mary@catsailor.com writes:

What names do you have as possible Olympic contenders in the multihull event after John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree retire?

What suggestions do you have for the multihull community to get more people qualified in a way that will be taken seriously by you and by the OSC?

Do you think it would make a difference if the Tornado were replaced by a boat that has a strong and growing presence in the United States and that would make it possible for people to train on home waters and get Europeans to come here to train, as well (at least in the winter)? I am talking, of course, about the Formula 18 and the A-Class.

Do you think it would help to have a single-hander (like the A-Class) replace the Tornado, since that would at least reduce the total number of people at the Olympics, which seems to be one of the IOC goals?


Mary;
These are my opinions and do not necessarily reflect the OSC or US SAILING.

It's not appropriate for me to get into names. But it's pretty obvious from team standings and regatta results. Plus we're aware of the youth sailors not yet in Tornado that are doing the Youth Multihull and ISAF Youth Worlds.

The multihull community could do several things to assist the Olympic Sailing Committee. (1) Continue to develop the multihull "pipeline" with events like the Youth Multihull Championships, (2) Actively recruit non multihull youth sailors from the dinghy and college pipeline to sail the Olympic class multihull, (3) help fund our developing youth teams, and (4) assist us in the knowledge transfer to the developing teams.

I think the Tornado has done a pretty good job of reinventing itself with the double trap, spinnaker, square top, and carbon rig. But the continuing technology development makes it very expensive to win and tends to entrench the favorites.

I don't think ISAF would approve an open development or formula class in any category. The ideal multihull replacement (IMHO) would be an out of the box, one builder, modern one design, sails supplied by one manufacturer. (like the 49er). I don't think it's particularly important if the replacement class is currently active in the USA. In fact, I doubt it is an active class anywhere yet. If multihull is in for 2012, I suspect that Tornado is in to fill the spot for 2012 at least. But it would probably enhance our medal prospects if ISAF adopted new equipment.

I don't think singlehanded or doublehanded is that critical at this point.
--Gary