Adjustments for US Sailing

[RobbieB]

There a lot coming out of the Cayard thread. I thought it might be more direct to have a thread actually named something that someone at US Sailing might look at, (someone there has to look at this site on occasion maybe while they are at home?). The Cayard thing is an exploded bomb and I'm sure shock waves are going to be going on for a while. So, what next...?

US Sailing has had its share of challenges and the sport does and has as well. However, there are localized success stories that are really cool and should be shared so people can see it's not all gloom and doom.

I haven't been a fan of US Sailing for years. I could never see what the organization did for folks like me, (weekend warrior) beyond RC, Judge and Instructor certification courses. I've been an "off and on" member going back to the mid-80's all the way up to 2023 when I recently joined again.

The reason I joined was I received an email from Chris Snow in early January telling me I had been nominated for the John H. Gardiner One Design Leadership and Service Award for my work as the ILCA-NA District 12 Secretary. He told me the award would be presented at the US Sailing convention in FL. I was shocked and honored and thought, "what a great reason to experience one of these events", (I've never been to one before). I also thought it would be poor form to accept a US Sailing award without being a member, so I joined.

We packed up the family for a weekend in St. Pete. For the most part I enjoyed the event. I thought it was well organized and well attended. I saw a ton of folks I know and have met through the years. Went to a Dave Perry rules round table discussion over coffee and really enjoyed that. Dave Perry is wonderful to listen to when explaining rules and very conversational.

I had planned to attend other events, but the resort had a lot of cool things to do so I spent most of my time having fun with my family on the beach, (zip line, huge water slide, the US Sailing boat demo day....).

The award ceremony I went to for my award was focused on OD Sailing and folks who have had a positive impact. We were told to be on time, (10:30) and keep our acceptance speech to 2 minutes. At 10:30 we were standing outside of a locked door and continued to stand there for 30 more minutes. The reason....

The 1 hr seminar before us was something do with time management, selling, blah, blah, blah. It was put on by some paid marketing consultant. From the description I could not see how it related so I skipped it. The moderators let this guy drone on an extra 30 minutes. I'm guessing he was really good..

Here's the thing- When it came time for those of us who have actually made really cool/positive impacts to our sport we were told it was our award ceremony that was getting cut short to get the program back on schedule....It was a big WTF! moment for me. It's a huge honor to be nominated for this award. We all traveled on our own dime and paid pretty big bucks to stay at the property. We all had really cool stories to tell about how we, (along with a lot of help from other sailors) had positive impacts on the sport. You could probably make a decent play book out of our stories for people who want/need ideas to get things going where they live or in a local fleet.

Personally, I could do a solid 30 minute power point on the 5 yrs I worked hard on D12. I know the other folks have great info to drop as well, but US Sailing thinks that Marketing guy has better info I figured.

US Sailing reached out to me for feedback after the event and I shared this pretty much word for word. I received an empathetic response. However, the fact it happened at all tells a story of a disconnect happening within the organization. Another example about how far off the mark they've strayed is the recent OD participation survey. Just look at the classes that were excluded! Anyone, with some knowledge of US OD class sailing should have been able to look at that before it was released and said, "We've missed a bit here. Let's try again."

Now dues are going up, (again) and I'm back on the "For what!?!" bus. Olympics aside, US Sailing can do better. I have faith they will, but I think they should revisit what their mission is for US Sailors. They just have to reach out and actually take in the input received from US Sailors and not necessarily just US Sailing member sailors.

 

[Svanen]

What an absolutely disgraceful episode, which was in no way mitigated by the subsequent emphatic email: mere empty words.

As you said, a big WTF moment. US Sailing should hang its head in shame.

 

[Tcatman]

The number one complaint from the rank and file concerns the "saving of the sport" (whatever that means). You ran an ILCA division and drew on the resources of the national class and defended that organization... What role was US Sailing playing? . What would you have wanted them to do for your class, division and members that would "rescue the sport" or advance the ball. How about the for the YC's that your members belong to and run your events. If I remember your threads correctly, you were generating your own efforts at the grass roots level and that was the only way positive things were gonna happen. What should US Sailing have done for your over the past 5 years. Another interesting question would be what if any value do you see in the ILCA Olympic participation (not that you have a choice).

 

[BrightAyes]

The number one complaint from the rank and file concerns the "saving of the sport" (whatever that means). You ran an ILCA division and drew on the resources of the national class and defended that organization... What role was US Sailing playing? . What would you have wanted them to do for your class, division and members that would "rescue the sport" or advance the ball. How about the for the YC's that your members belong to and run your events. If I remember your threads correctly, you were generating your own efforts at the grass roots level and that was the only way positive things were gonna happen. What should US Sailing have done for your over the past 5 years. Another interesting question would be what if any value do you see in the ILCA Olympic participation (not that you have a choice).

Well I for one use the ASA gosailingapp.com site to recruit semi-capable crew for racing. It's nationwide, simple and is focused on getting recent ASA graduates on the water. Ask any skipper and they will tell you recruiting crew is a difficult, time consuming and onging process. ASA makes my job MUCH easier with a silly app and website. You would have thought US Sailing could have done something YEARS ago. That's one example.

 

[[email protected]]

There a lot coming out of the Cayard thread. I thought it might be more direct to have a thread actually named something that someone at US Sailing might look at, (someone there has to look at this site on occasion maybe while they are at home?). The Cayard thing is an exploded bomb and I'm sure shock waves are going to be going on for a while. So, what next...?

US Sailing has had its share of challenges and the sport does and has as well. However, there are localized success stories that are really cool and should be shared so people can see it's not all gloom and doom.

I haven't been a fan of US Sailing for years. I could never see what the organization did for folks like me, (weekend warrior) beyond RC, Judge and Instructor certification courses. I've been an "off and on" member going back to the mid-80's all the way up to 2023 when I recently joined again.

The reason I joined was I received an email from Chris Snow in early January telling me I had been nominated for the John H. Gardiner One Design Leadership and Service Award for my work as the ILCA-NA District 12 Secretary. He told me the award would be presented at the US Sailing convention in FL. I was shocked and honored and thought, "what a great reason to experience one of these events", (I've never been to one before). I also thought it would be poor form to accept a US Sailing award without being a member, so I joined.

We packed up the family for a weekend in St. Pete. For the most part I enjoyed the event. I thought it was well organized and well attended. I saw a ton of folks I know and have met through the years. Went to a Dave Perry rules round table discussion over coffee and really enjoyed that. Dave Perry is wonderful to listen to when explaining rules and very conversational.

I had planned to attend other events, but the resort had a lot of cool things to do so I spent most of my time having fun with my family on the beach, (zip line, huge water slide, the US Sailing boat demo day....).

The award ceremony I went to for my award was focused on OD Sailing and folks who have had a positive impact. We were told to be on time, (10:30) and keep our acceptance speech to 2 minutes. At 10:30 we were standing outside of a locked door and continued to stand there for 30 more minutes. The reason....

The 1 hr seminar before us was something do with time management, selling, blah, blah, blah. It was put on by some paid marketing consultant. From the description I could not see how it related so I skipped it. The moderators let this guy drone on an extra 30 minutes. I'm guessing he was really good..

Here's the thing- When it came time for those of us who have actually made really cool/positive impacts to our sport we were told it was our award ceremony that was getting cut short to get the program back on schedule....It was a big WTF! moment for me. It's a huge honor to be nominated for this award. We all traveled on our own dime and paid pretty big bucks to stay at the property. We all had really cool stories to tell about how we, (along with a lot of help from other sailors) had positive impacts on the sport. You could probably make a decent play book out of our stories for people who want/need ideas to get things going where they live or in a local fleet.

Personally, I could do a solid 30 minute power point on the 5 yrs I worked hard on D12. I know the other folks have great info to drop as well, but US Sailing thinks that Marketing guy has better info I figured.

US Sailing reached out to me for feedback after the event and I shared this pretty much word for word. I received an empathetic response. However, the fact it happened at all tells a story of a disconnect happening within the organization. Another example about how far off the mark they've strayed is the recent OD participation survey. Just look at the classes that were excluded! Anyone, with some knowledge of US OD class sailing should have been able to look at that before it was released and said, "We've missed a bit here. Let's try again."

Now dues are going up, (again) and I'm back on the "For what!?!" bus. Olympics aside, US Sailing can do better. I have faith they will, but I think they should revisit what their mission is for US Sailors. They just have to reach out and actually take in the input received from US Sailors and not necessarily just US Sailing member sailors.

Sorry that happened to you, and thank you for your contributions! PS-- i'd bet big bucks that your part of the ceremony being cut out can be directly tied to Rich Jepsen. Rich, if you're reading this, RESIGN NOW!

 

[RobbieB]

The number one complaint from the rank and file concerns the "saving of the sport" (whatever that means). You ran an ILCA division and drew on the resources of the national class and defended that organization... What role was US Sailing playing? . What would you have wanted them to do for your class, division and members that would "rescue the sport" or advance the ball. How about the for the YC's that your members belong to and run your events. If I remember your threads correctly, you were generating your own efforts at the grass roots level and that was the only way positive things were gonna happen. What should US Sailing have done for your over the past 5 years. Another interesting question would be what if any value do you see in the ILCA Olympic participation (not that you have a choice).

US Sailing puts on the programs that trains the Judges and a lot, (not all) of the RC we have running our events. Not to mention the level programs for Jr instructors that work with our beginner sailors.

I never reached out to US Sailing for assistance. Honestly never thought too. However, our regional governing body SAYRA, (part of the US Sailing organizing body) worked hand in hand with me as needed. US Sailing could take a page out of the SAYRA handbook, (IMO).

My "gripe" with US Sailing is they can and should beat the drum with these kinds of grass roots success stories! Mybe, form a "fleet building" committee that can be accessed for ideas and direction from folks looking to grow. Looking for guidance and help....

For sure, it's us unpaid weekend warriors getting our local and regional folks fired up and wanting to sail. Perhaps US Sailing could tap into those ideas, experiences and allowing these stories to get exposure at their events instead of a "Time management" consultant seminar.

 

[Roller Skates]

The award ceremony I went to for my award was focused on OD Sailing and folks who have had a positive impact. We were told to be on time, (10:30) and keep our acceptance speech to 2 minutes. At 10:30 we were standing outside of a locked door and continued to stand there for 30 more minutes. The reason....

I walked in and out to hit the head? People come in and out all morning.

From the description I could not see how it related so I skipped it.

He's great, reasonably fun, inspiring, and actually better than a lot of the normal symposium headliners. Not worth the overage, but seriously... you skipped it ...

We all had really cool stories to tell about how we, (along with a lot of help from other sailors) had positive impacts on the sport. You could probably make a decent play book out of our stories for people who want/need ideas to get things going where they live or in a local fleet.

Personally, I could do a solid 30 minute power point on the 5 yrs I worked hard on D12. I know the other folks have great info to drop as well, but US Sailing thinks that Marketing guy has better info I figured.

With 100% sincerity, you should do that. In fairness, they cut you short for the folks who volunteered to go do 30-60 minute presentations (on exactly what you wanted to share) during the next time slots. Those stories should be heard. Wish we'd heard yours, and you should have been able to share it too.

If I was gonna bitch about the OD awards, its that 1/2 of your audience walked out after the marketing guy's presentation and skipped the OD awards. To me that says WAAAAY more. Direct it at US Sailing if you want, but I think that room emptying represents the state of our sport. It was fucking shameful how empty that room got for y'all.

But also you skipped something too, so...

 

[RobbieB]

He's great, reasonably fun, inspiring, and actually better than a lot of the normal symposium headliners. Not worth the overage, but seriously... you skipped it ...

I'm in sales and get to listen to one of these guys at least once a year at every annual "kick off" meeting in the last 30 years.

With 100% sincerity, you should do that. In fairness, they cut you short for the folks who volunteered to go do 30-60 minute presentations (on exactly what you wanted to share) during the next time slots. Those stories should be heard. Wish we'd heard yours, and you should have been able to share it too.

If I was gonna bitch about the OD awards, its that 1/2 of your audience walked out after the marketing guy's presentation and skipped the OD awards. To me that says WAAAAY more. Direct it at US Sailing if you want, but I think that room emptying represents the state of our sport. It was fucking shameful how empty that room got for y'all.

The other 2 folks on the stage had really great stories too. I do think I'll get things down on paper though. I didn't care how many people were there watching us get awards. The "Rolex" award party is the big throw down party. I'm cool with that. To my earlier point I thought US Sailing might want some info on our stories. I mean, we learn from successes as well as failures. I certainly didn't expect the time for a 30 minute PPP, but my name on a plaque does nothing to forward our sport. HOW my name, (and the others) got there could help someone, somewhere.

Since our time slot pushed back to 11:00 I'm guessing it conflicted with other things? At a minimum I bet folks were hungry, thirsty and needed a bathroom break. Either way, I'm super stoked about the award. After seeing some of the names I'm sharing space with on the plaque I'm beyond honored.

But also you skipped something too, so...

True- I had full intentions of attending some of these on the award day which US Sailing gave me a free day pass, ($200.00/day otherwise on the registration site) but I got hung up on my Areo demo and a heated pool with my son after. Yes, a bit selfish, but if it were not for my family supporting me and the events I drag them around to in this sport I wouldn't be in it. So, we had some fun. I owe them that.

 

[[email protected]]

Rob, perhaps a separate thread where you explain what exactly you did to earn this award would be helpful?

Regards,
M

 

[Roller Skates]

So, we had some fun. I owe them that.

Which is the correct thing to do!

I have my own frustrations too. Just glad you're swinging, sharing, and trying to up the game. I did two presentations this year. Don't know if I changed any minds but I took a platform when I could. Plus then its only $150 for the three days. Keep telling myself I gotta participate to change things.

 

[VWAP]

Rob, perhaps a separate thread where you explain what exactly you did to earn this award would be helpful?

Regards,
M

Go to the class district website he represents these past years

 

[[email protected]]

Go to the class district website he represents these past years

no, im saying he should tell us what worked for him in a thread so SA's wide audience can learn, ask questions and replicate... and btw big thanks to US Sailing for at least recognizing his efforts, even though they badly botched the delivery...

 

[RobbieB]

Rob, perhaps a separate thread where you explain what exactly you did to earn this award would be helpful?

Regards,
M

Here's my best shot at the moment: I'm sure I left some things out....

ILCA-NA D12 Success Story – Not really a “Strategy”. Made it up as we went along….

D12 has always been an active district for the Laser class, (now ILCA). I sailed actively in the district from 1983 to 1994 as a Jr sailor and young adult before moving away for 10 years. I returned to D12 in 2004 and became active again as a master.

D12 has always been a bit unique in the ILCA-NA. Mostly due to the way we determine our annual district champion. While most districts hold an annual event to name a champion D12 holds an annual series of regattas. Every year we set the D12 schedule and the number of events required to qualify for the series. The low point scorer at the last event of the season is named champion, (after throw outs).

LPE supply chain issues really started taking a toll on D12 beginning in 2018. I started getting my feet wet as D12 Co-Secretary in 2017/2018 and became D12 Secretary in 2019. By 2018 the district hit a near all time low of class members participating in our series, (see chart below).

Step 1 was to allow non-class approved rigging and sails to keep people on the water and encourage new sailors to give us a try without having to spend a ton of cash on a new sail. Thank you Intensity.

For class legal gear, (after we established a local dealer post LPE litigation) I became the “mule” and would strap mast sections on top of my car, haul sails, whatever to help folks save on shipping.

For years D12 regattas were D12 Laser specific solo events. No other classes present. Our numbers became too low for clubs to host us, (they were losing money) so we started scheduling our series with area open/multi-class events. At the open events I noticed a Jr contingent of Radial sailors, but none of them every qualified for our annual series. While at one time we awarded top Jr and female D12 sailors those awards had not been passed around in years. So, how do we fix that?

D12 had our series and SAYRA, (our regional governing body) had their series. It was the SAYRA GP Jr Championship Series. This was largely Opti, 420 and a smattering of Radial rig sailors. These were the Jr sailors I was seeing at some of the open events D12 piggy backed our series on. How could we tap into that and encourage Jr Laser sailors and show the Opti sailors their next step up in boats?

D12 had a webpage that was started by a previous Secretary. I’m not technical in that way so the website was badly outdated. I knew it was a good tool but needed to get help in using/managing it. I found a younger sailor who knew how to manage content and did a great job for about a year or so which was a huge help to getting things going.

My tool of choice is email. So, I collected individual email addresses from the ILCA-NA Class Secretary and asked him to go back 5 years in expired members. I also began collecting email addresses from regatta registrations. I began blasting “rah-rah” emails, (would email myself and blind copy the list from the spread sheet). What/when was the next event? How many were registered? How the series championship standings look far? Who was in the running? I’d post regatta reports from regatta winners. It was also the D12 boat brokerage tool. I’ll bet over the years those emails moved a solid 50 boats, (all of which stayed in or came to D12).

The puzzle pieces started coming together in 2019. I knew there was a Jr contingent we were missing. To access them we needed to be involved with SAYRA as a group. I attended the 2019 SARYA convention, (like a mini-US Sailing convention). At the Jr Meeting, (which is attended by parents to discuss Jr sailing related issues and set the schedule for the Jr Championship Series) I was allowed to give a presentation on the Laser and various rigs. I focused on the Radial and 4.7. The main part of the presentation was “How big do you need to be to sail a 4.7?” and “You buy 1 Laser hull and the boat can support the kid from 12yrs old all the way to college”. I distributed information flyers and a copy of the latest “The Laser Sailor” quarterly magazine to everyone. D12 also joined SAYRA as a “Club” member and we made a concentrated effort to combine at least 3 of our 6 annual series events with SAYRA Jr Series events.

With just the 3 events we “piggy backed” on in 2019 the growth was immediate. Beginning in 2020 the D12 series schedule became nearly exclusively combined with the SAYRA series. This also allowed the Jr sailors to kill 2 birds w/one stone on the series award circuit. Compete in the SARYA series and also qualify for the D12 series! Parents loved this as well because no additional travel needed! In 2018 clubs didn’t want us. Now I was getting calls, “Hey, are you guys coming to our SAYRA event? What do you need from us? Individual class starts? You got it! Want your own course? You got it!”. We were back baby!

Then we “branded” – Our previous secretary’s wife is artistically inclined. A year or so earlier she’d designed a really cool D12 bumper/window sticker. I think they bought about 100. People really liked them. I said, “Can we do a t-shirt”. Sure! Same design, she sourced a really nice/comfortable material and we sold through 50 in a heartbeat. Then I added a D12 “travel banner”. Same design and I’d hang it at our regattas.

We trained- We had a lot of newer people to the boat and some old timers wanting to know the latest techniques. I asked 2 time Peru Laser Olymipan Stefano Perchiera, (also College of Charleston Grad) to put on a seminar. Secured a host venue, established a low cost per sailor and had a great 2 day seminar. Note here- For “quality” coaching you should limit the boat to coach ratio to 8 boats/1 coach. We had 16 full and 16 radial, (different coach for the radials)! All spots were sold out in a week. Live and learn!

The training also became a fund raiser. I also got money from the new area ILCA dealer, (who sold 6-10 new Zims in the past year or so). We used these funds for new EOY perpetual awards.

We promoted – As a SAYRA Club member D12 was allowed to field a team for the SAYRA area Club championship event, (winners went on to the US Sailing US Club Champs). We had a team of 3- D12’ers in our team shirts sailing a J22 in the event! You should have heard the groans from the other sailors when we walked down the dock!

Here's our 6 year growth chart. I began watching the numbers in 2018, (our all time low). We had a small “spurt” of 4.7 rigs in 2017 that evaporated. Maybe the Bic had come along at that time. I can’t remember.

In 2019 we saw a nice growth spurt, but the 4.7 was still lagging…Then COVID.

D12 6 Year Growth Chart
Year​	Rig​	Total​	Total Class Member​	Total Qualified for Series​
2017​	7​	39​	23​	10​
​	6​	25​	10​	3​
​	4​	11​	6​	3​
Total​	​	75​	36​	16​
​	​	​	​	​
2018​	7​	54​	10​	10​
​	6​	31​	4​	6​
​	4​	4​	1​	2​
Total​	​	91​	15​	16​
​	​	​	​	​
2019​	7​	65​	27​	15​
​	6​	52​	14​	11​
​	4​	4​	1​	1​
Total​	​	121​	42​	30​
​	​	​	​	​
2020​	​	COVID​	COVID​	COVID​
​	​	​	​	​
2021​	7​	62​	30​	13​
​	6​	60​	24​	13​
​	4​	44​	13​	8​
Total​	​	166​	67​	34​
​	​	​	​	​
2022​	7​	54​	27​	7​
​	6​	53​	28​	3​
​	4​	43​	21​	8​
Total​	​	150​	99​	18​

During COVID I embraced ZOOM. I never held a ZOOM meeting without a prominent “G-n-T” in my hand. We had great conversations. All adult sailors and parents. I think we had a couple of kids join from time to time, but we focused on how to get through COVID and what we’d do next. We began running the district as a group. I would come up with topics, suggestions and had about 5-7 folks I’d run everything trough for “majority approval”. I also had the benefit of a couple of clubs who embraced the 4.7 rig during COVID. Regattas were shut down but these Jr programs were sailing every week and parents were snapping up boats to put a 4.7 rig in them! The radial followed.

During COVID the ILCA-NA class secretary Scott Williamson also had 2-3 Zoom meetings. I enjoyed them, but it was a little disappointing to only see about 5-7ish District secretaries attend. I think ZOOM is a fantastic tool.

ILCA D12’s relationship with SAYRA was and still is paramount IMO. As you can see the doors came off the hinges in 2021 and 2022. I attribute 2021 to “pent up demand” and some fear that the regatta faucet could get turned off at any time with another COVID outbreak.

In 2022 I went on a class membership push. While we’ve always required your membership to be current by the end of the season to be eligible for the D12 series awards we’d never required membership for our annual ILCA-NA GP event. This is worth 25 GP points and has become a crucial regatta for our Jr sailors looking for Worlds qualification berths, (D12 has been sending like 5+ Jr’s to the Worlds over the past 2 years).

We made class membership a requirement for the GP event this year after the ILCA-NA class secretary reached out to me and said, “Hey, you have 30+ boats registered, but only 10 are class members.”

We decided to fix that. After 8 hrs of frantic phone calls, text messages, emails, (all while driving to the event) we added 22 class members to the district. Not a single sailor voiced a complaint on this!

The D12 Championship perpetual award used to be just one for the “Top Sailor”- always a full rig.

Now we have:

Top Full Rig, Top Radial Rig, Top 4.7 Rig, Top Master, Top Jr and Top Female perpetual awards.

Our new secretary, (Jason Rucker) is already looking for was to keep thing spicy for 2023. Looks like we’re going to ad some “fun” awards like and “Iron Butt” for most traveled, Most enthusiastic, and others. We’re spit balling ideas now on the coconut telegraph….

It’s crazy to look back through the years and think about all the effort from so many people that went into this growth. You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink….I just fanned the flames, (constant communication is key – emails, wesite updates, regatta reports from various angles, pictures, ILCA-NA quarterly mag submissions, ZOOM calls, attending area organizing body events, it goes on…). In the end it has been the D12 members, Jr parents and kids wanting to sail that really made this a success story.

D12 went from an “also ran” district in class membership numbers into the top 3 ILCA-NA districts for class membership.

The VXOne Southeast Region, (full of D12 sailors and now 2 past D12 secretaries) is following a similar equation with a Championship series to name the annual champion. Stanley Hassinger, (previous D12 class secretary ) and I sail his boat and have our names on the 1st two years of this perpetual award…That class is growing very nicely in the SAYRA region.

That’s about it. Now if I can do the same thing with the Finn class down here….. #D12dontstopcantstopwontstop, (I just made that up. It keeps going…. ;-)

 

[crashtack]

US Sailing reached out to me for feedback after the event and I shared this pretty much word for word. I received an empathetic response. However, the fact it happened at all tells a story of a disconnect happening within the organization. Another example about how far off the mark they've strayed is the recent OD participation survey. Just look at the classes that were excluded! Anyone, with some knowledge of US OD class sailing should have been able to look at that before it was released and said, "We've missed a bit here. Let's try again."

Now dues are going up, (again) and I'm back on the "For what!?!" bus. Olympics aside, US Sailing can do better. I have faith they will, but I think they should revisit what their mission is for US Sailors. They just have to reach out and actually take in the input received from US Sailors and not necessarily just US Sailing member sailors.

Interesting read. As for the OD survey, I happen to know the people that (at least partly) organized it. No classes were deliberately excluded - just some organizations didn't bother responding with data. Whether it should have been released so incomplete is a different story...

 

[BGeff]

It's not referred to as US Ailing for nothing.

 

[aA]

If I was gonna bitch about the OD awards, its that 1/2 of your audience walked out after the marketing guy's presentation and skipped the OD awards. To me that says WAAAAY more. Direct it at US Sailing if you want, but I think that room emptying represents the state of our sport. It was fucking shameful how empty that room got for y'all.

i skipped this year (i'll spare y'all my reasons and USS complaints) but in years past, iirc the "awards" was an invite only event and your symposium fee did not equate to invitation. things may have changed

 

[Couta]

Here's my best shot at the moment: I'm sure I left some things out....

ILCA-NA D12 Success Story – Not really a “Strategy”. Made it up as we went along….

D12 has always been an active district for the Laser class, (now ILCA). I sailed actively in the district from 1983 to 1994 as a Jr sailor and young adult before moving away for 10 years. I returned to D12 in 2004 and became active again as a master.

D12 has always been a bit unique in the ILCA-NA. Mostly due to the way we determine our annual district champion. While most districts hold an annual event to name a champion D12 holds an annual series of regattas. Every year we set the D12 schedule and the number of events required to qualify for the series. The low point scorer at the last event of the season is named champion, (after throw outs).

LPE supply chain issues really started taking a toll on D12 beginning in 2018. I started getting my feet wet as D12 Co-Secretary in 2017/2018 and became D12 Secretary in 2019. By 2018 the district hit a near all time low of class members participating in our series, (see chart below).

Step 1 was to allow non-class approved rigging and sails to keep people on the water and encourage new sailors to give us a try without having to spend a ton of cash on a new sail. Thank you Intensity.

For class legal gear, (after we established a local dealer post LPE litigation) I became the “mule” and would strap mast sections on top of my car, haul sails, whatever to help folks save on shipping.

For years D12 regattas were D12 Laser specific solo events. No other classes present. Our numbers became too low for clubs to host us, (they were losing money) so we started scheduling our series with area open/multi-class events. At the open events I noticed a Jr contingent of Radial sailors, but none of them every qualified for our annual series. While at one time we awarded top Jr and female D12 sailors those awards had not been passed around in years. So, how do we fix that?

D12 had our series and SAYRA, (our regional governing body) had their series. It was the SAYRA GP Jr Championship Series. This was largely Opti, 420 and a smattering of Radial rig sailors. These were the Jr sailors I was seeing at some of the open events D12 piggy backed our series on. How could we tap into that and encourage Jr Laser sailors and show the Opti sailors their next step up in boats?

D12 had a webpage that was started by a previous Secretary. I’m not technical in that way so the website was badly outdated. I knew it was a good tool but needed to get help in using/managing it. I found a younger sailor who knew how to manage content and did a great job for about a year or so which was a huge help to getting things going.

My tool of choice is email. So, I collected individual email addresses from the ILCA-NA Class Secretary and asked him to go back 5 years in expired members. I also began collecting email addresses from regatta registrations. I began blasting “rah-rah” emails, (would email myself and blind copy the list from the spread sheet). What/when was the next event? How many were registered? How the series championship standings look far? Who was in the running? I’d post regatta reports from regatta winners. It was also the D12 boat brokerage tool. I’ll bet over the years those emails moved a solid 50 boats, (all of which stayed in or came to D12).

The puzzle pieces started coming together in 2019. I knew there was a Jr contingent we were missing. To access them we needed to be involved with SAYRA as a group. I attended the 2019 SARYA convention, (like a mini-US Sailing convention). At the Jr Meeting, (which is attended by parents to discuss Jr sailing related issues and set the schedule for the Jr Championship Series) I was allowed to give a presentation on the Laser and various rigs. I focused on the Radial and 4.7. The main part of the presentation was “How big do you need to be to sail a 4.7?” and “You buy 1 Laser hull and the boat can support the kid from 12yrs old all the way to college”. I distributed information flyers and a copy of the latest “The Laser Sailor” quarterly magazine to everyone. D12 also joined SAYRA as a “Club” member and we made a concentrated effort to combine at least 3 of our 6 annual series events with SAYRA Jr Series events.

With just the 3 events we “piggy backed” on in 2019 the growth was immediate. Beginning in 2020 the D12 series schedule became nearly exclusively combined with the SAYRA series. This also allowed the Jr sailors to kill 2 birds w/one stone on the series award circuit. Compete in the SARYA series and also qualify for the D12 series! Parents loved this as well because no additional travel needed! In 2018 clubs didn’t want us. Now I was getting calls, “Hey, are you guys coming to our SAYRA event? What do you need from us? Individual class starts? You got it! Want your own course? You got it!”. We were back baby!

Then we “branded” – Our previous secretary’s wife is artistically inclined. A year or so earlier she’d designed a really cool D12 bumper/window sticker. I think they bought about 100. People really liked them. I said, “Can we do a t-shirt”. Sure! Same design, she sourced a really nice/comfortable material and we sold through 50 in a heartbeat. Then I added a D12 “travel banner”. Same design and I’d hang it at our regattas.

We trained- We had a lot of newer people to the boat and some old timers wanting to know the latest techniques. I asked 2 time Peru Laser Olymipan Stefano Perchiera, (also College of Charleston Grad) to put on a seminar. Secured a host venue, established a low cost per sailor and had a great 2 day seminar. Note here- For “quality” coaching you should limit the boat to coach ratio to 8 boats/1 coach. We had 16 full and 16 radial, (different coach for the radials)! All spots were sold out in a week. Live and learn!

The training also became a fund raiser. I also got money from the new area ILCA dealer, (who sold 6-10 new Zims in the past year or so). We used these funds for new EOY perpetual awards.

We promoted – As a SAYRA Club member D12 was allowed to field a team for the SAYRA area Club championship event, (winners went on to the US Sailing US Club Champs). We had a team of 3- D12’ers in our team shirts sailing a J22 in the event! You should have heard the groans from the other sailors when we walked down the dock!

Here's our 6 year growth chart. I began watching the numbers in 2018, (our all time low). We had a small “spurt” of 4.7 rigs in 2017 that evaporated. Maybe the Bic had come along at that time. I can’t remember.

In 2019 we saw a nice growth spurt, but the 4.7 was still lagging…Then COVID.

D12 6 Year Growth Chart
Year​	Rig​	Total​	Total Class Member​	Total Qualified for Series​
2017​	7​	39​	23​	10​
​	6​	25​	10​	3​
​	4​	11​	6​	3​
Total​	​	75​	36​	16​
​	​	​	​	​
2018​	7​	54​	10​	10​
​	6​	31​	4​	6​
​	4​	4​	1​	2​
Total​	​	91​	15​	16​
​	​	​	​	​
2019​	7​	65​	27​	15​
​	6​	52​	14​	11​
​	4​	4​	1​	1​
Total​	​	121​	42​	30​
​	​	​	​	​
2020​	​	COVID​	COVID​	COVID​
​	​	​	​	​
2021​	7​	62​	30​	13​
​	6​	60​	24​	13​
​	4​	44​	13​	8​
Total​	​	166​	67​	34​
​	​	​	​	​
2022​	7​	54​	27​	7​
​	6​	53​	28​	3​
​	4​	43​	21​	8​
Total​	​	150​	99​	18​

During COVID I embraced ZOOM. I never held a ZOOM meeting without a prominent “G-n-T” in my hand. We had great conversations. All adult sailors and parents. I think we had a couple of kids join from time to time, but we focused on how to get through COVID and what we’d do next. We began running the district as a group. I would come up with topics, suggestions and had about 5-7 folks I’d run everything trough for “majority approval”. I also had the benefit of a couple of clubs who embraced the 4.7 rig during COVID. Regattas were shut down but these Jr programs were sailing every week and parents were snapping up boats to put a 4.7 rig in them! The radial followed.

During COVID the ILCA-NA class secretary Scott Williamson also had 2-3 Zoom meetings. I enjoyed them, but it was a little disappointing to only see about 5-7ish District secretaries attend. I think ZOOM is a fantastic tool.

ILCA D12’s relationship with SAYRA was and still is paramount IMO. As you can see the doors came off the hinges in 2021 and 2022. I attribute 2021 to “pent up demand” and some fear that the regatta faucet could get turned off at any time with another COVID outbreak.

In 2022 I went on a class membership push. While we’ve always required your membership to be current by the end of the season to be eligible for the D12 series awards we’d never required membership for our annual ILCA-NA GP event. This is worth 25 GP points and has become a crucial regatta for our Jr sailors looking for Worlds qualification berths, (D12 has been sending like 5+ Jr’s to the Worlds over the past 2 years).

We made class membership a requirement for the GP event this year after the ILCA-NA class secretary reached out to me and said, “Hey, you have 30+ boats registered, but only 10 are class members.”

We decided to fix that. After 8 hrs of frantic phone calls, text messages, emails, (all while driving to the event) we added 22 class members to the district. Not a single sailor voiced a complaint on this!

The D12 Championship perpetual award used to be just one for the “Top Sailor”- always a full rig.

Now we have:

Top Full Rig, Top Radial Rig, Top 4.7 Rig, Top Master, Top Jr and Top Female perpetual awards.

Our new secretary, (Jason Rucker) is already looking for was to keep thing spicy for 2023. Looks like we’re going to ad some “fun” awards like and “Iron Butt” for most traveled, Most enthusiastic, and others. We’re spit balling ideas now on the coconut telegraph….

It’s crazy to look back through the years and think about all the effort from so many people that went into this growth. You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink….I just fanned the flames, (constant communication is key – emails, wesite updates, regatta reports from various angles, pictures, ILCA-NA quarterly mag submissions, ZOOM calls, attending area organizing body events, it goes on…). In the end it has been the D12 members, Jr parents and kids wanting to sail that really made this a success story.

D12 went from an “also ran” district in class membership numbers into the top 3 ILCA-NA districts for class membership.

The VXOne Southeast Region, (full of D12 sailors and now 2 past D12 secretaries) is following a similar equation with a Championship series to name the annual champion. Stanley Hassinger, (previous D12 class secretary ) and I sail his boat and have our names on the 1st two years of this perpetual award…That class is growing very nicely in the SAYRA region.

That’s about it. Now if I can do the same thing with the Finn class down here….. #D12dontstopcantstopwontstop, (I just made that up. It keeps going…. ;-)

Onya Robbie B! That is exactly what it takes to build grass roots sailing....that's what needs to be communicated & shared...and replicated across the sport. Here in Aus we have a couple of dedicated individuals that have done as you've outlined and built our Finn fleet to record size...sustainable and foundational to further growth. Right now the limit to our growth is access to boats...We have sailors committed to regattas that demand 1000's of kms of domestic travel...and over a dozen heading off to Europe for the Masters Worlds each year..The secret to this growth and commitment is....camaraderie, friendship, laughter, fun...and of course close quarters combat sailing!!🤣😳 There are age group awards, mid fleet trophies (the hardest to win!!) and great social gatherings...and regular updates via social media..lots of gossip!😳 Everyone shares their set up info, offers advice and genuinely wants to see improvement from every member of the fleet...it's fantastic to feel like you... belong and that your presence at an event is important to the group. Nobody is left behind! Congratulations again on your passion and commitment...and thanks for sharing this valuable story!

 

[Roller Skates]

i skipped this year (i'll spare y'all my reasons and USS complaints) but in years past, iirc the "awards" was an invite only event and your symposium fee did not equate to invitation. things may have changed

Most seem to have moved to daytime/lunch and as part of the included fee. Past decade has been open, but additional ticket, which sucked. Celebrating success shouldn't take an additional $75. Hoping that it increases visibility and awareness of the awards.

 

[[email protected]]

Celebrating success shouldn't take an additional $75

So more money should be siphoned from our olympic hopefulls so people can go to an awards banquet for free?

And as far as the people bitching about the cost of training programs in one of the other threads, I'd ask the same question.

 

[RobbieB]

So more money should be siphoned from our olympic hopefulls so people can go to an awards banquet for free?

And as far as the people bitching about the cost of training programs in one of the other threads, I'd ask the same question.

As I mentioned before I liked the Symposium. Thought is was well run and organized. It is quite expensive though. Next year will be in Savannah, GA which is close to home for me and I do plan to attend at least one day. I believe US Sailing has a place in the sport here in the US. I do think it's time for some serious self-evaluation though. Maybe if they put people who actually need a job, (and are committed to work to keep it) in these roles it would help. I have to imagine it's a little more difficult to tell millionaires what to do and how to do it....