Cayard out at US Failing

[Kriese]

I can't imagine a better U.S. sailor to head up our national team & Olympic effort than Paul Cayard.

This guy has sailed everything & been a top competitor & world champ in the Star class for 40 years. He knows what it takes to compete & win at the highest level in our sport.

They pushed him out & now we hear that Lyne, Spina, Carpenter & McKee have also quit. A meltdown of this proportion boggles the mind.

 

[dogwatch]

Yes as a rough guide, national lottery money is spent on the elite sport , basically the aim of wining medals .
While government money , that is received from Sport England is money is spent on grass roots sailing .

Actually both are mostly lottery. UK Sport ("elite") funding is 55% lottery, 45% tax. Sport England ("grassroots") is 67% lottery, 33% tax. Figures from their respective accounts 2019-2020 to exclude Covid-related specials. Those interested in Sport Scotland etc. may calculate for themselves.

I will now attempt to STFU about the RYA and the UK.

 

[TPG]

For the mean time, US Sailing is now the biggest joke in international sailing. If people doubted that before, it was just confirmed today.

Now?

 

[[email protected]]

US Sailing is a joke, but the US Sailing Team is not a joke. USA has a deep roster of up and coming talent in several classes, I predict a resurgence over the next 2-3 cycles.

 

[martin 'hoff]

US Sailing is a joke, but the US Sailing Team is not a joke. USA has a deep roster of up and coming talent in several classes, I predict a resurgence over the next 2-3 cycles.

Knowing some of the sailors in the roster, I generally agree, but the current shitshow is not going to help, in particular at this point of the cycle for Paris.

 

[nolatom]

Am trying to keep an open mind here notwithstanding the headwinds.

First aid/CPR this weekend, instructor course the following weekend. It’s a community sailing center thing.

 

[Roller Skates]

instructor course the following weekend. It’s a community sailing center thing.

I've been a proponent of the instructor courses, I think they add a lot, but even that segment has its "oddities of management" currently. Some diehard people resigning on the Education/Community side this year. Has me wondering. Sibel kinda imploded too.

Trying to be optimistic. I took the time to to go to SLF (generally lighter on the kool-aid these days) to reconnect with industry friends post covid. Jepsen seemed far more engaged than past presidents, seems to have an agenda (which is better than some), was confident with direct answers in workshops. Was comfortable saying "we don't, yet" rather than whitewashing things. I was pleasantly surprised with some of his more candid answers. He was targeted by hard direct questions more than once. But hard not to see all the USST stuff and think something is off. That isn't healthy anywhere.

I dunno. Don't much like stirring the pot, but am sure actively sitting in the kitchen.

 

[dacapo]

I've been a proponent of the instructor courses, I think they add a lot, but even that segment has its "oddities of management" currently. Some diehard people resigning on the Education/Community side this year. Has me wondering. Sibel kinda imploded too.

Trying to be optimistic. I took the time to to go to SLF (generally lighter on the kool-aid these days) to reconnect with industry friends post covid. Jepsen seemed far more engaged than past presidents, seems to have an agenda (which is better than some), was confident with direct answers in workshops. Was comfortable saying "we don't, yet" rather than whitewashing things. I was pleasantly surprised with some of his more candid answers. He was targeted by hard direct questions more than once. But hard not to see all the USST stuff and think something is off. That isn't healthy anywhere.

I dunno. Don't much like stirring the pot, but am sure actively sitting in the kitchen.

as a 17 year Instructor, I have seen the level of new instructors go down year by year. There was a time when young potential Jr. sailing instructors had to know how to really SAIL to pass Level 1...not so much anymore. I've had to do more and more remeadiation of young instructors every year. Some instructors still had no clue how/where to sit on an opti correctly. Others shunned the basic tenants of SAFETY,FUN,LEARNING

There was a time when Basic Keelboat instrucntors actually had to be able to TEACH (and sail well) in order to pass Basic Keelbnoat instructor classes.

 

[[email protected]]

Yep. I took USSA Level I instructor course around 1996 and several kids in our class failed because they didn't pass the powerboat operators' test...

Anywho, the President needs to resign. Apparently unlike ole Pete H above, this guy is a USSA lifer who has oversaw the destruction of the organization as the president, he must go.

Cayard should be offered an apology, a raise, and total control of the US Sailing Team and related activities, and perhaps that can lure him back, assuming the clowns that caused this go away.

 

[RobbieB]

Cayard should be offered an apology, a raise, and total control of the US Sailing Team and related activities, and perhaps that can lure him back, assuming the clowns that caused this go away.

My point exactly. Keep US Sailing and US Sailing Olympic Development Squad completely separate.

Without the distraction of the Olympics US Sailing might actually have a chance to grow the sport.

Without the distraction of the US Sailing Board/Politics the Olympic Development Squad might have a chance at some medals.

 

[pudge]

I predict a resurgence over the next 2-3 cycles.

Because most of the board will be dead by then?

 

[nolatom]

Geezum. Hope that’s not what I encounter in the entry-level course this month.
I want it to be good instruction because I care about our community sailing center, its members, and students.

 

[SC Finnster]

Smells like a palace coup coming up. Those guys didn’t leave without a plan.

Wonder if that plan will lead to a USOPC Section 8 Complaint. Hard to live up to your Performance Partnership Agreement without a director or coaches two years out.

 

[PeterHuston]

Wonder if that plan will lead to a USOPC Section 8 Complaint. Hard to live up to your Performance Partnership Agreement without a director or coaches two years out.

That would be an interesting result of all this, but I sort of doubt it will come to that. US Sailing got bitchslapped a bit by the USOC in the Farrah Hall case and had to make some changes, but they were relatively minor in the scheme of things. If Cayard et al are trying to get US Sailing decertified as the NGB, good luck with that. I don't think they will, and if they did I doubt they would prevail. But if a bunch of sailors in Olympic classes filed it, might have some beneficial impact, but again, it's a long road to go and someone has to have some cash, time, and seriously good sports law specific lawyers to make it all happen. It's hardly fatal that the NGB wanted to split the job functions on the Olympic sailing team, some dudes got upset and quit.

 

[Go Left]

That would be an interesting result of all this, but I sort of doubt it will come to that. US Sailing got bitchslapped a bit by the USOC in the Farrah Hall case and had to make some changes, but they were relatively minor in the scheme of things. If Cayard et al are trying to get US Sailing decertified as the NGB, good luck with that. I don't think they will, and if they did I doubt they would prevail. But if a bunch of sailors in Olympic classes filed it, might have some beneficial impact, but again, it's a long road to go and someone has to have some cash, time, and seriously good sports law specific lawyers to make it all happen. It's hardly fatal that the NGB wanted to split the job functions on the Olympic sailing team, some dudes got upset and quit.

I suspect that the group that quit are not without access to resources.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

This guy has sailed everything & been a top competitor & world champ in the Star class for 40 years.

Not that there's any real relevance between being a world champ and running a multi-million dollar budget organization and motivating dozens of staff and athletes, but Cayard never even won a medal.

He knows what it takes to compete & win at the highest level in our sport.

What's the most recent major project Cayard has won with? Artemis AC was woeful, fatal, and humiliating for him. He could only manage 2nd on Pirates in 2006 with +2x the budget of the next boat. I don't think a bunch of RC44 and Star boat regattas is particularly relevant to running an olympic team, maybe I am wrong about that. His experience supporting his daughter's dinghy sailing is probably more so. What am I missing Ed?

 

[PeterHuston]

I suspect that the group that quit are not without access to resources.

Oh for sure Cayard has access to resources, starting with the AmericanOne Foundation. My guess, he's taking that money and going home. The dudes who quit will all go to work for him/A1F and try to pull off some sort of coup to take the team away from US Sailing. Sailors are caught in the middle, again.

 

[[email protected]]

He won a big Star regatta like 2 weeks ago. It's undeniable that he's objectively one of the 10 most accomplished living sailors on the planet, and has managed massive programs and budgets. He's also a damn nice guy that was even spotted inflating marks before a recent OCR... I think his long-term and recent success in the sport give him massive credibility, and that fact that Doug, Larry, et al will take his calls kinda checks all the boxes. There's a couple other possible folks I think of that can sorta check a couple of these boxes, but Paul = massive credibility boost

PS-- Rich, if you're reading this, please RESIGN NOW.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

The dudes who quit will all go to work for him/A1F and try to pull off some sort of coup to take the team away from US Sailing.

Cayard is neither competent nor ambitious enough to have even a scintilla of a chance of achieving that.

 

[Couta]

Serious question...why does anyone really care about medals at the Lympix? Is it just nationalistic egotism? Does a country feel humiliated by not having medals?
Is there any data to suggest a positive correlation between Lympix sailing participation and growth in participation of the sport (Yes I get it that WINNING medals gets some short term publicity...but i question whether just being a Lympix sport boosts much/anything)
I'd suggest - based on decades of personal involvement, that having a small elite (elitist) group of athletes and hangers-on operating in a bubble outside of the mainstream of the sport does little-to-nothing to grow our sport...in fact, it sucks up the whatever funding there might be at the expense of development...
This discussion around the peak body and its performance is being had by almost every country...and the conclusion is that the Lympix has hijacked the sport. Sailing is shrinking in participation...and worldwide, the Peak Bodies are desperately hanging on to the teat of govt funding using Lympix as the rationale....fiddling while Rome burns...
Time to rethink our objectives and refocus our resources.