Search results

  1. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I've got three and another one coming, and we have an Opti for the 6 year old, a 7'6" huon pine lug rig dinghy for the 3 year old, and perhaps a Heron or two in the future, but the quality of boat and sailing required to make it in them worries me. :). Their grandmother is also talking up...
  2. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I know of the legal usage, but I didn't mean it that way; I do respect your innovative, well targeted programme and your commitment. The only thing I can think of to plug the adult crewed beginner's gap is the Tasar with NS14 sails, which doesn't make the hull more stable but depowers the rig...
  3. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Dead right (IMHO) that existing classes are part of the problem. There's not many two-person boats in Oz to put adult beginners in; even a Tasar can scare them off and the old choices like Herons are too small for today's bigger adults. Dead right, too, on the fact that there is a spectrum of...
  4. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    You almost lost me completely when you wrote "29er or Waszp is the future", because the sport is not so restricted as to just have one future, or a narrow range of futures. Claiming that fairly expensive boats that don't work well in light winds, restricted locations or very choppy waters with...
  5. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Yes, the 2022 Moth worlds were in a difficult location, but those stats referred to 11 events held in about 11 different locations including one of the world's most popular sailing spots (Garda). We can therefore easily dismiss the effect of location. With respect, you seem to keep on assuming...
  6. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Matt, you keep on making the same claims, but the issue is that you don't provide any evidence to back them up, and the evidence that is available also doesn't back up your claims. Kids aren't getting into faster and cooler boats in great numbers. The 29er generations (and yes, it's multiple...
  7. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Yes, fleet size and convenience are the main drivers, and much of the fleet size is driven by the availability of cheap but competitive older boats. Some have switched to a local multi-manufacturer dinghy of similar size and speed, but there's no competitive boats available for less than the...
  8. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Yep, that sounds right. I think the Australian Sports Commission has changed its funding model to reward NSOs that "increase" participation. Strangely, AS is now requiring everyone to join...... It's also been pointed out that the footy codes are promoting their sport to ever-younger age ranges...
  9. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    While every nation is very different, NOAS says that 127 million people live in coastal counties in the USA. While the 60% who live inland may skew the national culture away from coastal pursuits, there's still an enormous number of people in the USA who live close to the coast. We do tend to...
  10. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    The data came from a survey in which "18,000 online interviews were carried out with a nationwide sample of individuals from U.S. proprietary online panels representative of the U.S. population for people ages six and older. Strict quotas associated with gender, age, income, region, and...
  11. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    US sailing participation went from 3.786mill in 2007 to 4.284m in 2009 and then down to 3.618 in 2019 and 3.486m in 2021 according to the Outdoor Sports Foundation. Windsurfing is said to have gone from a recent peak of 1.77m in 2016 to 1.405 pre-pandemic (2019) and 1.3 in 2021, which seems to...
  12. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I have similar data for Germany, the USA and Australia in 2014-16. To work around the issue of the nationals venue affecting the number of boats attending (which obviously affects the USA and Australia as much if not more as in the UK) the data uses a three-year average. In the USA about 71...
  13. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I think we're actually going the same way, and you make a great point that reinforces part of what I was trying to point out. While big spending can still give cyclists an advantage, the design restrictions are tight enough to ensure that people like the Eritreans can show their potential on a...
  14. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Well said, and among the wealthy nations there seems to be no correlation between national wealth and Olympic success. Successful Olympic sailing countries like GBR, Australia and NZ also have strong big-boat scenes that can attract young talent. The difference in those countries may be that...
  15. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Very well said. I'm a track cyclist myself, and the bikes in your pic are dramatically more user-friendly for typical weekend warrior cyclists than the fastest of small craft are for typical weekend warrior sailors. The bikes you picture actually underline that other sports often are FAR more...
  16. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    Ah, ok, cheers. I'm just fascinated by the way technology and design affect the popularity of sports. It's a deep and complicated subject, and discussions like these were one of the things that drove me to take up running clubs and classes. :) While this stuff may seem like a dead end, going...
  17. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    1- Agree with some of that and I have been snappy because I'm passionate about keeping the sport strong and have spent a lot of time growing it and researching it. IMHO the sport doesn't need just one pinnacle, any more than running needs just one distance or swimming needs just one stroke...
  18. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I run my club; my interclub association; and used to run what was then the only national association in what is now one of the world's fastest-growing classes (300+ at world titles). How much more do you want me to do? The reason I do all that is because when you approach those jobs the right...
  19. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    People can just scroll by, Bill.
  20. C

    US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

    I see from another thread that you gave an old Laser to a kid at your club, which is a grand thing to do. Why, then, do you apparently want to belittle the class that allows kids to get on the water like that, apparently in favour of boats such kids probably can't afford? This silly and untrue...



Latest posts



Top