Cayard out at US Failing
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Why is that dumb? You just made my argument for me. The board allegedly didn't want to do what Cayard believed was necessary for success. So if the team is not successful, who would get blamed if Cayard stayed on? The guy in charge of the team, Cayard becomes the fall guy.
bloodshot
Super Anarchist
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
Do we know, specifically, what this disagreement was? For preference, know, not guess. There seems to be a lot of noise but not so far much signal around his departure.
Follow the money, the lack thereof, or the way it was being spent.
Exactly. Resources either were not enough or not going where Cayard thought they should go. I doubt they were arguing about the music playing in the lunch room.
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
Sorry but we could all guess that. I was hoping for more specific information. Maybe it isn't out there.
Meat Wad
Super Anarchist
Olympic Sailing is a White sport and it requires lots of money. Skiing is same. But skiing is exciting to watch.
Kiteboarding on the other hand, draws from a broader populace and is much less expensive. But is still relatively boring to watch after 15 minutes. It all looks the same unless you are a sailor.
Sailing is just not relevant in the sporting industry. Go to any sporting goods store and how much sailing gear do you find?
Kiteboarding on the other hand, draws from a broader populace and is much less expensive. But is still relatively boring to watch after 15 minutes. It all looks the same unless you are a sailor.
Sailing is just not relevant in the sporting industry. Go to any sporting goods store and how much sailing gear do you find?
pudge
Member
Very similar. They went all in on a lighter material even after all the data suggested otherwise.idks. but it never occurred to me to label Cayard a loser. I mean, who hasn't made a bad sail choice?
kent_island_sailor
Super Anarchist
Isn't this an issue that has been going on for decades? Olympics <> anything at your local club.
Maybe these two functions need to be separate?
Maybe these two functions need to be separate?
Tcatman
Super Anarchist
Did you think Cayard's plan made any sense on the day he was appointed? His plan included olympic trials back in the states for classes where the US would be lucky to qualify the country for... indeed... they are putting on this boondogle at Miami Yacht Club. Cayard came across as an old dude talking about walking to school up hill both wys. Clean called it. US Sailing for picking him in the first place and Cayard for living the dream 30 years ago deserve responsibility. The fundamental point is that none of these things are in the boat and on the water with this years hopefuls as the quad is down to the crucial year. The important question is what is the impact on the sailors on the team? What exactly does that look like?
kent_island_sailor
Super Anarchist
Anyone:
Is there a way to do this job or do Americans just not care enough about winning Olympic sailboat races?
Is there a way to do this job or do Americans just not care enough about winning Olympic sailboat races?
I think you know the answer to this question. Who on earth is going to give money to the sailing team now? Teams have always been mostly on their own, now, they are orphans. Luther Crapenter is not the coaching answer, he should have gone away long ago.
The US Sailing Board is as much a problem here as anything. They hired Cayard, and now they are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
mckenzie.keith
Aspiring Anarchist
Pretty unprofessional.
Professional just means you got paid.
If Cayard's plan didn't make sense, why was he hired?
RobbieB
Super Anarchist
Sounds like US Sailing and US Olympic Sailing need to be two separate entities.
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
I'm not sure there can be. IOC regards World Sailing as the representative of sailing. World Sailing has member national associations (MNAs) as members. I don't think one country can have two MNAs.
Why do you think, uniquely on the planet, the USA needs two entities to represent sailing?
PeterHuston
Super Anarchist
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I was in my mid 20's when Eichenlaub dragged me to my first USYRU meeting in '86 at SDYC. He was the then Shipwright for the Sailing team, and universally loved. Told me I needed to somehow get involved with the organization. So a couple of years later I did, and went to every meeting for 10+ years, sat on or chaired a number of committees. I was by far the youngest person in the room, and Ehman dubbed me "Young Peter" as a result.
You could see the trend happening then of Training becoming the focal point of the organization. Instructor certification was a necessary evil, because club boards needed some sort of standard for insurance purposes. The problem is, as many of us predicted, Training has overwhelmed the organization. 20 years ago I said the organization needed to be renamed US Training.
For sure the organization needs to be set up in separate entities. Everything about Training should be spun off into their own separate company, wholly owned by US Sailing. This is not a new idea, it is exactly the format that USYRU set up when they had to "cleanse" the pro sailing prize money for Olympians and created the US Professional Sailing Association. When the Olympics changed their rules about professional athletes, the need for USPSA went away, but the structure has been used in the past, and should be implement again. Further, US Training should be located in a warm weather area, probably St Pete, Sarasota or maybe at the US Sailing Center in Stuart, so that they can run year round instructor training, and more importantly have a dedicated place they can run Safety at Sea stuff. Still travel Safety at Sea seminars, like in Long Beach this past weekend, but have a full time facility too.
Right now, what we have in structure is the equivalent of if the Professional Ski Instructors of America ran the US Ski Team.
The model that Cayard espoused is no different than what many people have known for years, if not decades. The difference was this time, given his history in the sport and relationship to guys with serious money, maybe he had a real chance to pull off serious fundraising. It is said he raised $18 million, but I'm not sure what that really means in the context of when that money will be available to the sailors. Now, I have to wonder if the pledges for the $18 million will all be honored because Cayard won't be there to watch over it. People give money to people and some person that is going to stroke a check for $500k+ is going to want to know the person who asked for the money is still responsible for its expenditure.
But Cayard isn't the problem. The problem is the US Sailing Board, and their seeming unwillingness to actually look at the entire, overall picture of US Sailing.
The lack of real, open communication starts with the President of US Sailing. It is inexcusable that the press release announcing the re-structuring went out without any attribution whatsoever. This was not an oversight. This is an abject failure of leadership by the President, Rich Jepsen.
US Sailing is now run like a private corporation. The Board is effectively muzzled. Try to get anyone on the Board to talk about all of this in public and see how far you get. The change in Board structure destroyed the bottom up information flow to the Board, now, it is all top down dictums.
The fact the President of US Sailing is hiding behind an unattributed press release really tells us all we need to know. It's as if Jepsen got in the lifeboat as soon as the Titanic hit the iceberg and sailed away on his own. It is the absence of that sort of leadership and accountability that is the real problem with the US Sailing Team.
