Dave
You need a paid staffer so that the regatta is pretty much at the same level three years from now as the event volunteer staff burnout and turn over.
You also need the US Sailing stamp because this Organizing Authority has credibility through out the country. Some people tried to reform NAMSA and do this job but you can see how well that has worked. There is simply no support for another organization.
Events like the NOODs in my area are run out of AYC...and Sailing World. The paid staff at Sailing World works with the paid staff at the Yacht club to get the very same volunteers out on the water to run the regatta. The price doubles for this regatta compared to the same three day regatta on Labor Day run by the Sailing Assn (CBYRA)
Do you need all of this overhead... (always a hot debate)...Is it valuable to partner with NOOD.... YMMV. The F18's find value in supporting these kind of events.. Could they have the same regatta a week later... certainly.
Negotiating a fair deal for all stake holders is a PIA.. Tis why I applaud all of those who take on this challenge. BUT... the price of the job is not the first order issue.
(Something like JO's has been much less of a problem.)
I doubt USS is overstaffed, at $40/member of gross revenue.
just to show my naievate' with USS, do they sponsor the Alter Cup winner at the Olympics or some other international event?
Or is this Alter Cup the pinnacle, and you're done after that...?
Alter Cup is the top event. It's not related to any other series (Olympics or otherwise) in any way other than having a slot for youth champions and having a slot for a team representing the boat used for the Olympics (there has been a Tornado spot reserved in the past).
You need a paid staffer so that the regatta is pretty much at the same level three years from now as the event volunteer staff burnout and turn over.
When it came to the US Multihull Championship that was absolutely not the case. All the heavy lifting was done by the volunteers and the host.
You also need the US Sailing stamp because this Organizing Authority has credibility through out the country. Some people tried to reform NAMSA and do this job but you can see how well that has worked. There is simply no support for another organization.
We could have a very long discussion as to why NAMSA never took off and I'd probably be in agreement with most of your opinions. As for US Sailing as the OA adding credibility to a regatta... yeah, that's debatable.
I have no doubt that is true..
But Consider... how much it would cost in travel, per diem and hotel to pay the travel of a staffer to even attend and work the event! So... can't live with em... can't live without em.
I do not want to be in the position of defending USSA policy on these events, personnel, negotiating skills,competence etc .. I know there are problems and limitations...
When everybody thinks they are getting screwed over ... the solution is clarity in expectations, finances and philosophy.
This is the opportunity to sort that out.... or the volunteers won't be there to run ANY event.
big names
in sailing and they have a hard time getting them to come. Paul Cayard came to our event and folks were quite excited to have a big name come to that event.
Mike, Perhaps you have not noticed... Multihulls have a similar problem. Would you say that Hobie 16 sailors are beating the door down to race the USSA championships? Yet they are the largest double handed class in the country.
Mulithull sailors do a much better job of supporting interclass championships (USSA Multihull or Area qualifiers then monohull sailors) .... Our tradition of handicap racing, weak as it may be, does get the sailors out on the race course competing occasionally.
The core question is. How valuable or interesting is an Inter Class championship to Multihull Sailors... (or to Dinghy sailors... to Keel boat sailors)
How you run this championship matters but this is not the key issue.
You need a paid staffer so that the regatta is pretty much at the same level three years from now as the event volunteer staff burnout and turn over.
When it came to the US Multihull Championship that was absolutely not the case. All the heavy lifting was done by the volunteers and the host.
You also need the US Sailing stamp because this Organizing Authority has credibility through out the country. Some people tried to reform NAMSA and do this job but you can see how well that has worked. There is simply no support for another organization.
We could have a very long discussion as to why NAMSA never took off and I'd probably be in agreement with most of your opinions. As for US Sailing as the OA adding credibility to a regatta... yeah, that's debatable.
I was wondering how long it would be before NAMSA came up. Maybe it's time is now. The disenchantment with US Sailing is stronger than it has ever been.
Mark when I read your posts (and a couple of other folks) I hear the teacher from Charlie Brown.
If there is no Alter cup then the only reason to join US Failing is some yacht clubs require it. Now if the membership site at US Failing doesn't work like it should then you just get to pay extra late fees or miss events.
I think that a North American or National championship in your chosen class is always going to be a greater focus for most racers at the higher level.
I believe that the key element for a successful US Multihull Championship, as I have defined it above, is differentiation (in the marketing sense of the word).
Product Differentiation: “A source of competitive advantage that depends on producing some item that is regarded to have unique and valuable characteristics.”
The Alter Cup needs to be something that other events are not. Be radical!
My suggestion is to make the Alter Cup an open Portsmouth handicap event. This is a radical idea the likes of which has never been tried in the US. Picture the Texel equivalent of course racing. Why not throw a distance race in there as well. Differentiate the Alter Cup from every other catamaran championship in the US. Do not bill it as the championship that will decide who is the best catamaran sailor in the US. You will be laughed at. Bill it as the event no one is going to miss because there is nothing else like it.
As much as I despise racing handicap, Bob's hit the nail on the head here.
Some other observations and comments:
Championship of Champions
I've competed in two, both in doublehanded monohulls (Y-Flyer and Flying Scots). Contrary to what Mike H. said, there's always a waiting list for entry. The one that I attended last year was extremely well organized, albeit a bit pricey ($400 for 3 days of racing, 1 day of practice). They fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner, gave us a bunch of swag and entertained us every night (Tom Ehman was the
surprise rock-star competitor
). Gary Jobson was there one night. Liz Walker was there the whole time. The Dallas Corinthian YC volunteers did the heavy lifting on the event and even hooked me up with a member family for a place to crash so I didn't have to pay for a hotel room. While I thought it was expensive at first, I think it was a good value for the money. I had a great time and met a lot of really nice people outside of the very narrow world of catamaran racing.
Some Perspective
This thread has only had input from 24 people (many of which only made 1 post). That's maybe 1% of the active catamaran racers in North America. Over half of the posters are from the southeast US (NC, SC, GA, FL). 25% are from the
east coast
- defined as VA on northward. Only three are from the west coast. Mike H. and I are the only ones from the Midwest.
Food for thought.
But Consider... how much it would cost in travel, per diem and hotel to pay the travel of a staffer to even attend and work the event! So... can't live with em... can't live without em.
I do not want to be in the position of defending USSA policy on these events, personnel, negotiating skills,competence etc .. I know there are problems and limitations...
When everybody thinks they are getting screwed over ... the solution is clarity in expectations, finances and philosophy.
This is the opportunity to sort that out.... or the volunteers won't be there to run ANY event.
You are exactly right Mark, this particular staffer that we are talking about is not a valued asset but a liability so paying to have that resource there is counterproductive. Again, someone that could be easily replaced by volunteers and the championship would be better off for it, IMO. I'd also like to point out that Mr. Rejda got himself to Houston and LA on his own dime and
worked
the week. This is a volunteer who had to take time from is day job and again
paid
to be there!!!! The contrast between these two inviduals is crazy obvious, for one it's just a job, for the other it's a passion! Which one do you think served the championship better?
Now your point regarding clarity of expectations. US Sailing made it crystal clear what the expectations were. The problem was it was a complete screw job! So I/we had go begging to US Sailing to please please work with us so we could make sure that we not only gave the sponsors fulfillment but the host and provider didn't get completely boned in the process. This is where I leaned heavily on the previous chairs to develop the best approach to resolve the situation. I guess US Sailing got tired of having to negotiate.
Now if you do exactly what US Sailing wants and take exactly what's given and you’re grateful for it then things will be just peachy keen. Anything that goes outside those lines and you just might earn yourself a
Thank you for your service
letter.
We are US Sailing.
Lower your sails and surrender your vessels.
We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.bwafer.com/starwars/images/borgcube1.jpg)
Is that a pledge to challenge USS?
It turns out USS has quite a bit more money than I thought.
The survey is now closed, with over 200 responses. Thanks to all for your time in helping us move forward with this.
We will compile the reults, and generate a long-term plan. I won't be logging much time here during that time.
I will say this: For those of you who just can't let go of the past, ponder this. When was the last time (outside of voting for an officer or class rule) you were ever officially asked for your opinion? You might want to have given us the benefit of doubt before bashing us (or the survey itself) before the survey was even closed.
Mike
Dave, I am sure those issues will re emerge when someone tries to put the championship back on line... It has worked out in the past.... all be it with a great deal of pain on both sides... I presume that it can work in the future..
I have no idea of the details... but i fully support the volunteers walking if the parties can't make it work. Said so at the MHC meeting if you remember.
Matt points out how few people participate in the debate... perhaps they think we are doing a fine job.. More likely they don't give a damn what happens... one way or the other. I think you design a championship that appeals to the elite sailors (max competition) and is open to the rank and file who BYOB.
What event would be unique (I agree with Merrick's point) and competitive enough to get the top sailors in the major One design fleets to spend time and money and compete?
I see it it as an open championship in something like double handed spinaker with charter boats available to the opposite coast sailors and NCAA champs and appropriate class champions.
Open to the USSA membership with a class legal boat or one with a measurement certificate. (Open handles the opportunity legal issues while regatta pricing takes into account the charter boat subsidies needed to make it work.
Everybody has their own boat... (this allows you to run a three day event with 10 races and not mess with equipment redress issues. (Much easier on a host club to run this kind of regatta.
Double handed spin (or sloop or single handed in alternate years) so that a measurement based handicap system can do a fair job rating similar boats.
If the new Mixed Multihull Class made this one of the domestic schedules big events.. And the One design classes promised to work to get their top sailors to the event (subsidize entry fee, provide a boat, ete etc ) I can see enough star power committed to the regatta to attract a lot of sailors willing to pay a premium to see how they measure up (laugh) (or get smoked).
Remember, Mixed multihull will probably have no more teams then the last few Tornado cycles had.... 3 to 5. Putting on a decent regatta will be problematic... Participating in a large open championship would be a good large fleet NA regatta for these sailors.
I have no idea of the details... but i fully support the volunteers walking if the parties can't make it work. Said so at the MHC meeting if you remember.
Matt points out how few people participate in the debate... perhaps they think we are doing a fine job.. More likely they don't give a damn what happens... one way or the other. I think you design a championship that appeals to the elite sailors (max competition) and is open to the rank and file who BYOB.
What event would be unique (I agree with Merrick's point) and competitive enough to get the top sailors in the major One design fleets to spend time and money and compete?
I see it it as an open championship in something like double handed spinaker with charter boats available to the opposite coast sailors and NCAA champs and appropriate class champions.
Open to the USSA membership with a class legal boat or one with a measurement certificate. (Open handles the opportunity legal issues while regatta pricing takes into account the charter boat subsidies needed to make it work.
Everybody has their own boat... (this allows you to run a three day event with 10 races and not mess with equipment redress issues. (Much easier on a host club to run this kind of regatta.
Double handed spin (or sloop or single handed in alternate years) so that a measurement based handicap system can do a fair job rating similar boats.
If the new Mixed Multihull Class made this one of the domestic schedules big events.. And the One design classes promised to work to get their top sailors to the event (subsidize entry fee, provide a boat, ete etc ) I can see enough star power committed to the regatta to attract a lot of sailors willing to pay a premium to see how they measure up (laugh) (or get smoked).
Remember, Mixed multihull will probably have no more teams then the last few Tornado cycles had.... 3 to 5. Putting on a decent regatta will be problematic... Participating in a large open championship would be a good large fleet NA regatta for these sailors.
And what would we need US Sailing for? They won't crack the tough nuts, they won't kick in any real $$, they will however happily take the $50 per person surcharge. So again what will US Sailing do for us? Nothing in Bob's proposal is a deal breaker if US Sailing is not involved. If US Sailing MUST be a player then I want to know what will we get for our $50 per person surcharge? The answer of paid staffers to keep train on the tracks is a red herring.
Any organization will divide and conquer. Unless you're willing to join with others, you'll get nowhere.
I just looked at the rest of the Championship series(US sailing website). Every single regatta is ONE DESIGN. Why would we make ours any different?
I also believe every regatta is my invite or qualification. Why would we make ours different?
Personally I feel that the last thing you want at a championship regatta is your average Joe on the course possibly screwing up someones else's race(one who deserves/worked thier a$$ off to be there).
Would I be interested in participating. No. Smart enough to know I don't belong there. Am I interested in the race. You bet. It is the best against the best on equal footing. Not something we get any where else. And that is the way it should be.
Am I a member of US Sailing? No. Used to be but then it got to where there were no benifits to me at all.