2012 Worlds

Hello, just wondering what the qualifications are to register for the worlds in 2012... From looking at the registered boats in France this year it appeared there were many more french boats than allotments based on what I read in the Int F18 rules.

The host country gets extra slots during the allotment. In addition, as the date for an event draws closer and teams from other countries bail out, it usually follows that teams from the host country are best positioned to accept last-minute slots due to cancellations.

cool thanks John! We are new to the F18 but hope to improve enough in the next couple of years to be able to go to the Worlds. What an experience that would be!

Will there be a North American Championship in 2012?

Right now, the discussion has been that there would not be a separate NAs - as in 2005 when the Tiger Worlds were in Santa Barbara, it was a combined event and the top NA team was declared the champ for that year.

I don't think anything is final in that regard, but that's where the discussion has been.

I think it would be great if we could have a North Americans in California a week or so before the Worlds. Kind of like a Pre-Worlds. Even if it was only a two or three day event. Singling out a North American Champion at the Worlds sounds a little cheezy to me.

BTW: I paid my membership dues

We have to do it already... it has been a while since the NA champ was also 1st place. ;->

I'll bet this will be a topic of discussion in the coming weeks - members watch the inbox.

i think you should try to have the NA's the weekend before the Worlds (ie, have the regatta, then 5 days later start the worlds)

That works well for those who travel from all over the world, you can have a practice event as soon as you arrive, then some time to sort yourself out for the worlds.

So we need to schedule a North American Championship prior to Worlds so that all the international sailors can get themselves sorted out? I'm laughing, actually, out loud.

Honestly, I'm sure it will be up for a class vote, and then submitted to the host club if necessary. There is already a warm-up event scheduled - Labor Day regatta. My suspicion (based on history) is that there will only be a few teams that can afford to take the time to do both. Stacking on another event? *shrugs*

last time the worlds were in Aust a lot of teams were in country for a week or more prior, so its reasonable to expect the same pattern for those guys coming from Europe to the USA.

Its not important what you call the regatta, it could be the "Long beach champs" or whatever. But its just a good idea to give teams the chance to check out the area and the RC if possible.

Maybe have the North Americans at the Labor Day Regatta.
It's one thing to separate out a North American champion at the North Americans it's quite another thing to do it at a Worlds.

Yep, watch your inbox. I just have to get the distribution list sorted, I don't want to leave any of our new members out.

We just had the Labor Day Regatta. It was packed! It is also the District Championships for the Lasers. We were rounding marks next to them and you can imagine the issues. There would have to be two courses if we ran a USF18 NAs in conjunction with the Labor Day Regatta. There were lots of volunteers needed to run the event with one course so two makes quite a bit more.

I am not nixing it just monitoring expectations.

Later,
Dan

The Board expects that there will be teams that arrive early. We're trying to estimate the number of containers and when they might arrive. They expect the Labor Day regatta would be used as a warm-up event - two days of a separate F18 course either in the harbor or outside the breakwater or both.

The question for the class is if there is a perceived need to have a separate NAs in 2012, and why or why not. There is no question about a warm-up event; it is already on the books. Calling the Labor Day event the NA Champs, in my opinion, serves no purpose. It won't attract more teams, already sits on top of the Worlds, and will be attended by many international teams.

If we use the Worlds as the North American champs then what about the teams that don't qualify for the worlds? They are out of the running for the NA's before it starts.

Seems as though there are many opportunities to sail an event before a NAs or a Worlds. We just had the same at Racine and very few teams took advantage of it. I think that a regatta is more likely to get attention if we called it an NAs. I feel calling it such would be the deciding factor in participation.

I think a 2012 NA's held seperatley from the worlds would be a tough sell to a lot of teams. Many teams will need to prioritize which event they will make the necessary committments of time, money, vacation, and other resources to attend. I feel that many teams will choose worlds over NA's.

The one thing I don't like about having worlds be NA's is that you need to qualify to participate. Because NA's will most certainly be worth the most points for deciding who goes to 2013 worlds, it makes it difficult for a new team to qualify for 2013. They would have to qualify in 2011 to go to 2012 worlds to qualify for 2013 worlds. It discourages participation.

On the other hand, as long as I have a job, I will not attend two week long regattas in the same year. I would also suspect that East Coast teams would not come to Long Beach for a two day NA championship unless they also qualified for worlds.

Perhaps the solution is to not have a NA championship in 2012 and make the regional championships a bigger deal by making them longer than 2 days, making them worth more points, or at least promoting them more would be a good compromise.

This post does a nice job summarizing the situation. And before you get too twisted up about making the cut for the 2013 Worlds, we (the US) have never used all of our allocated slots. This doesn't guarantee the situation will be the same come 2013, but it's not something we need to get preoccupied with.

The last worlds still had 20 slots left as well and this was in France.
I dont think there will be 180 entries anyway since it will be a very expensive trip for most non-Americans.

I don't own an F18 but here is my thought.

You need to do one big event a year. You can't do two or you will force people to choose. Especially if you did an East coast NA's and a West Coast Worlds. Then a lot of teams would choose the NA's that are closer to the East Coast and this would hurt participation in the Worlds.

A 3 day event prior to the Worlds would be a little silly. Most teams would not choose to race for 8 days and possibly hurt their boat just prior to Worlds.

I think counting the Worlds as the NA's is the best solution understanding nothing is perfect.

Nobody's perfect.

I stopped reading after that line...

Mike... aren't you a 20 sailor?!?!