US ILCA 7 representative for Paris 2024

Gouvernail

Gouvernail

Lottsa people don’t know I’m famous
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Austin Texas
Organize irresistible fun in available toys and people will gather in droves.

Hints:
If you want anybody under70 to hang out at your pre and post race parties quit playing your ancient Beatles, Rolling Stones, and any music by any
Musician who was born before 20 years after Woodstock.

Loan a person a boat the person won’t know how to have fun with it and the boat will come back screwed up.
Give a kid a sailboat and the kid will sail whenever and wherever there is fun to be had

Sailing isn’t fun if it is more frustration than enjoyment. New sailors need lots of help. If you observe a sailor who is not prospering, you can help make it fun or expect the person to learn to hate sailing

If you want a person to join your fleet, sell or give your boat to that person and go get another for yourself.

Whenever somebody fails to show up, EVERYONE in the fleet needs to make contact and find out why.

If your climate has an off season, organize off season get togethers on whatever is your sailing day or people will find new uses for that time and day.

Every fleet needs to have a stockpile of ready to sail toys. The stockpile can be at a dealer, at the club, at retired sailor’s houses but
If somebody shows up and wants to join the fun, that somebody WILL NOT if there are no available toys.

The very easiest place to find new players is among those who were recently playing.
 
onepointfivethumbs

onepointfivethumbs

Anarchist
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Dinghy Anarchy via Da Mitten
Curious2 said:
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 that every nation is like the US, where kids are "pushed into" 420s etc. That's simply not the case. In Australia, for example, there is LOTS of "pushing" into high performance craft but most kids aren't getting into them. Some of the clubs in Sydney spend about $20,000 per year (IIRC) subsidising each skiff, and yet still kids drop out in huge numbers. It's NOT all about what is happening with "pushing" in the USA.

Kids ARE being given the choice in many places in the world; that's a simple fact. They still drop out. That's also a simple fact.

At one of my old clubs, for example, the kids were "pushed" from Bics into cats because it's a cat club, including foiling As. They all dropped out instead of moving into F18s, foiling As, etc. If the drop out was because kids were pushed into Lasers etc then that 100% drop out would not have happened.

We you say "give them the option between a Waszp (or a cheaper Mach 2) and a Laser and see what they pick" you seem to assume that I'm not at a club where kids have been given that choice, or similar choices (ie A Class, F18s and F16s, skiffs, other foilers). The reality is that kids have that sort of choice at every small boat club I've been a member of for the past 22 years, and I don't think a single one of those kids has taken up the "extreme sailing" choice and really stuck with it on a regular basis. I have no reason to like that, since I came from an "extreme sailing" background and have a Formula cat, a foiler, etc, but reality is reality.

Drop out happens no matter whether kids are "pushed" into Lasers, foilers, fast cats, fast windsurfers or anything else therefore it is completely illogical to blame the drop out on Lasers and 420s. In fact, drop out occurs in ALL sports; down here, at least, it's far LESS in sailing than in other sports.

Below is a chart from one of our states, showing participation rate by age in major sports like football. See the enormous drop-out rate in teens? Sailing starts later so the drop-out happens a bit later, but the drop out rate is actually dramatically LOWER in sailing (as shown by other big-data studies from the same state).

So blaming Lasers and 420s for the drop-out is to completely ignore that (1) drop out happens in ALL sports; (2) drop-out happens when kids are pushed into fast cats, boards, skiffs, etc and therefore blaming it on Lasers etc is illogical; (3) the drop out is lower in sailing than in most sports so we should stop assuming sailing is doing it wrong.

Yes, give the kids a choice - but that is what I'm trying to say. You are saying they should NOT have a choice because you are saying they should not stay in Lasers etc past training and club sailing. I'm saying give everyone a choice and respect their choice instead of slinging shit at most of those choices.

By the way, people have been saying "the only reason foiling isn't booming is that older foilers were too hard" for about 20 years, so we can dismiss that claim. And I clearly said that I think the healthy numbers in Waszps is a good thing because it's great to see - it's just that if that is "the future" then the numbers are too small to give the sport a future at all.

Sailing needs evidence-based planning and respect for ALL choices, and not for people to sling shit at the classes that they don't personally like.


View attachment 576408
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GREAT post.

The most interesting data point to me is the nearly 2% advantage of 15-ish year old girls in club membership; I'm not too familiar with the Oz scene but I have to imagine if it's anything like here there's close to gender parity out the gate, and then youth racing seems to reward more aggressive youngsters (most often boys) while at the same time external foci like school sports or whatever their peer social groups are doing continues to filter out all but the most committed.

US collegiate sailing is such a mixed bag this is nothing but anecdotal; I have seen a number of schools recruit and retain groups of girls who are friends which then creates a positive feedback loop of participation, which then spirals into other fleets after graduation. The CFJ and c420 work well for this since they are designed for a target crew weight of around 300lb, or two average 20something women, and simple, robust, and approachable enough to be a good entry point. Boats like Lightnings, Thistles, and Snipes that are approachable and have great outreach into these groups are some of the healthiest OD fleets in the US, and become "family affairs"

Perhaps the future is female after all?
 
L

LazyLaser

New member
1
1
Looks like US Sailing has chosen their ILCA 7 sailor:
www.ussailing.org

Chapman Petersen - US Sailing

Chapman grew up in Wisconsin sailing scows and dinghies with family and friends on Geneva Lake, starting at age 5. He's currently enrolled at Stanford University and competing for the Stanford varsity sailing team while driving toward his dream to represent the USA at the 2024 Olympics.
www.ussailing.org www.ussailing.org

Does this mean my Paris 2024 dreams are dashed or is there still a chance?
 
M

MattFranzek

Member
312
128
Buffalo, NY
onepointfivethumbs said:
GREAT post.

The most interesting data point to me is the nearly 2% advantage of 15-ish year old girls in club membership; I'm not too familiar with the Oz scene but I have to imagine if it's anything like here there's close to gender parity out the gate, and then youth racing seems to reward more aggressive youngsters (most often boys) while at the same time external foci like school sports or whatever their peer social groups are doing continues to filter out all but the most committed.

US collegiate sailing is such a mixed bag this is nothing but anecdotal; I have seen a number of schools recruit and retain groups of girls who are friends which then creates a positive feedback loop of participation, which then spirals into other fleets after graduation. The CFJ and c420 work well for this since they are designed for a target crew weight of around 300lb, or two average 20something women, and simple, robust, and approachable enough to be a good entry point. Boats like Lightnings, Thistles, and Snipes that are approachable and have great outreach into these groups are some of the healthiest OD fleets in the US, and become "family affairs"

Perhaps the future is female after all?
Click to expand...

Sometime around 05-07 the local Lightning fleet was having a bit of an identity crisis where members were getting older and there were no younger sailors coming into the fleet. One of the local club/class leaders suggested targeting girls in junior sailing to join the fleet (helped he had 4 daughters who were all sailors and just about big enough to sail Lightnings). What closely followed was the junior sailing boys and the fleet keeps getting stronger and stronger. Get women and girls involved, and biology takes over.
 
M

[email protected]

Banned
2,512
379
USA
LazyLaser said:
Looks like US Sailing has chosen their ILCA 7 sailor:
www.ussailing.org

Chapman Petersen - US Sailing

Chapman grew up in Wisconsin sailing scows and dinghies with family and friends on Geneva Lake, starting at age 5. He's currently enrolled at Stanford University and competing for the Stanford varsity sailing team while driving toward his dream to represent the USA at the 2024 Olympics.
www.ussailing.org www.ussailing.org

Does this mean my Paris 2024 dreams are dashed or is there still a chance?
Click to expand...
Great kid. Zero chance of doing well at the 2024 Olympic regatta unless he's willing to take a time-out from College.
 
W

Wavedancer II

Anarchist
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[email protected] said:
Great kid. Zero chance of doing well at the 2024 Olympic regatta unless he's willing to take a time-out from College.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Actually, the USA has no male top-level ILCA sailors right now and hasn't had any for quite some time. In the current Princess Sofia regatta in Majorca, Daniel Escudero is doing better than Chapman (as of April 6). Both are in the silver fleet.
It seems to take at least four years of total dedication to get to the top ten (or so) in the ILCA 7 class.

PS: Note to LazyLaser:
If you make the top ten in Hyeres, you will have an excellent chance to represent the USA in the 2024 Olympics.
😀
www.sail-world.com

Registration open for French Olympic Week in Hyères

With Paris 2024 Olympic Games just over a year away, the world's best athletes will be present in Hyères. And on the water, the 10 Olympic series will put on a show!
www.sail-world.com www.sail-world.com
 
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T

Tcatman

Super Anarchist
1,571
161
Chesapeake Bay
Princess sofia kicks off the qualification and selection events for France and is winding up.
The USA has top 10 sailors in three classes.. Woman's Kites with Daniella Mroz from St Francis has a shot at a medal in 4th place. Cayards fubar impact after 3 years was completely negative.. He managed to to diss 3 of these 4 veteran teams of past quads... Daniella is in kites. What a disaster he was! Don't fall for the woe is me and fingerpointing bull. The sailors who are competing ...are doing that... competing hard and they deserve support.
 
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