Is it time to start thinking about this??
Dubai for the first one anyone??
:D:D:D
wouldn’t that be funny… say, maybe we could get Russell Coutts to have a go!
on a more serious note: a footy “world championship”… i think it would depend where it was, and how serious it is… for instance, i think a championship in Dubai might be asking a little much, however, perhaps a championship in england, or here in the states might be better attended. there would then be the question, would it be appropriate to have “national championships” and send the winners of that on to a “world” venue. my guess is that, given the historical record of attendees at footy regattas, it may be a little early to start a “world championship.” perhaps we should focus first on a schedual of national and international regattas, to almost “train” footy members to start attending events.
i of course, write this from the somewhat hypocritical perspective of never having attended a footy regatta myself. i plan on it, but they all seem to be rather far away to get to easily… perhaps we ought to concentrate first on getting more local regattas going?
just thoughts!:graduate:
2010 would seem like an achievable goal…
Yes, Barrett, so run one! Or liase with Scott Spacey. I guess that Old Lyme to Long Isand can be done entirely by Metro North if you can’t get hold of any other means of transport. Good things happen to him who makes them happen.
If you want any tips on how to hype it, contact me directly: there are some trade secrets that probably have to remain secret to work. But it is totally crazy that the only US open meetings I know of have been in Daytona Beach (run by a Brit), Sheboygan WI (run by a Brit), Raleigh NC and a place in NH 2+ hours from Boston that nobody has ever heard of. There should be one in Central Park or with a big fan in the pool in the middle of the Rockerfeller Centre or wherever. Cme on, you’re a nation who made you money and the good bit of your reputation from being imaginative, can do, let’s do. I hope that isn’t dead.
End of sermon from Pompous Brit ;):zbeer:
Might not be dead Angus but from my view on the ground it is in a deep sleep. Now that is fighting talk… lol
How about having something coincide with the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic Barrett?.. Is that not your neck of the woods?
Being a pest…
Graham
If we want a World hampionship (and if we don’t dream now it will definitely not happen) we need smonevwho’s prepared to do some initial planning. Any volunteers.
The first thing we need to do is to decide where. Identify the locations of the existing fleet and work out the likely cost of getting them all to one of a number of venues (essentially airpots) at any one of (say) 4 times in the year when the weather is reasonable. Yhis is a mjor task and probably needs local assistance.
I suspect that the ‘right’ answer will end up being somewhere in the UK or USA. We then have to choose a stylih venue - and get them to accept us. After hat, it’s ‘just’ a matter of buying the burgers, helping with accmodaion, arranging the parties, coecting the money, deaing with the press and all the other things yu do before your first cup of coffee. Let’ go for it. Volunteers?
Happy Xmas?
the wooden boat show might be a good time to try a footy regatta… although mystic seaport and i don’t always see eye to eye… (grins) however, i don’t know when said boatshow is - i can look it up online no sweat - but if it occurs between the 15th of june, and the 15th of august, i really cannot be of much assistance, as i will be stuck in ME. that said, maybe a fall regatta would be good down here, just as the cold winds start to blow… (summer on LIS is absolutely horrific for sailing.)
interesting… we shall have to see. there is also a huge reflecting pool in the center of boston, that somehow is ALWAYS windy. the problem would be, i don’t know that the owners really want a bunch of rabble-rousing footyers taking over their pool… oh well.
There are probably plenty of local regattas around. We have an Old Farts Regatta every Thursday morning, about 20 miles from Manhattan, on a pond near the NY/NJ border. We start with Footys, then Victorias.
Maybe hold something in ME? Build boats at camp or bring mostly ready boats with you. I would think the camp would approve of something like that. If you make it open, you may attract Bill or others nearby.
Barrett
Your Boston pond. You don’t know whether the owners would like their pond by a hoard of Footys. Maybe they would - so ring them and ask. They presumably built the pond to attract attention to themselves - so ring press/tv as well. Can you lock into your camp system to get youth entries? Have you got the details of every registered Footy owner in NE USA from John Amroso? Setr up a mailing list? A sponsor could be good: any connections in the yacht business? Any other business? If 't’s family, don’t assume they’l say yes just because it’s you: put up a proper business case.
Can do, will do. Solutions on this thread by New Year’s Day please.
And while you’re about it, do the same thing for the Rockefeller Center in New York - unless you can think of somewhere better.
Walt (and others). Please publicise this kind of thing. First, you might pick up members for your own group. Second you get rid of the idea that there is no Footy club racing.
The other thing is, contact each other. Are you on speaking terms with Scott Spacey in Huntington, Long Island, NY?
As the UK Class secretary, it’s not my job to tell you your business - and certainly not to dump more work on John Amorosu or Bill Hagerup - but the attached link to the UK Footy Finder might help. It’s not quite ready for public release but pretty close.
Hope this helps,
Angus
Getting back on track here!!
If some didn’t “dream” then the Footy class still wouldn’t exist as it is today.
Angus is right ,if we ever want to have a world championship then we have to start thinking about it…other wise it will never be.
The class is growing fast,National and world championships need to happen at some point.
The UK have had a “Nationals” the other countries need to as well.
A generous time frame to a “worlds” could have us all aspire to something.
This class is young…fertile minds can have a field day.lets start thinking and doing
Having run a couple of RM World’s in 1986 and 1990, my advice is to sort out the budget at an early stage. The amount you have to spend will determine what you can do and the scale you can aim at. Sponsorship is always a good thing, but you will have to ask and expect a few curt refusals, particularly as a footy looks even more like a bath toy to the unitiated than a Marblehead. Those already involved in sponsoring full size sailing are the best bet. At least they understand the concept of a yacht race and may be piqued by the idea (and ludicrously low cost, relatively speaking) of a model event.
Even though we had sponsorship money, the greatest single input was the time of a very large number of volunteers. Even if we had paid them the minimum wage this contribution would have far outweighed sponsors, entry fees and all other cash contributions. For a footy event, I think you will have to look to non footy sailors as well as the footy community for leg work and all the things that need doing.
Russell
May I suggest that some serious consideration be given to the original concept of Internet racing? If races, with more than one boat, could be held at a number of locations, at the same time of day (but allowing for time zones) with the results reported on the Net, then many more people could participate, rather than just the fortunate few who can afford to fly half way around the world for two or three days. If a standard course, a la the original Internet time course could be worked out, then the varied winds and weather conditions at different locations would be merely matters of chance, and would not bias the results in any consistent way.
My wife and I ran the 1997 IOM Worlds in Wellington along with the help of a wonderful team of volunteers who as Russell correctly points out are essential to the success of such a venture.
We had no major sponsorship and travel costs were quite high for competitors as you can imagine.
If you are really serious about running a “WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP” then the very first thing you should do is find a suitable title for the event that does NOT include the words “World Championship” in its description. Those words in this context are owned by the ISAF RSD and they guard them jealously. If you use them then you must conduct the event to their rules and standards. That is not normally a problem except for the requirement for a full protest committee (5) of "Approved International Judges." All of these fine folk (maximum of 2 from any one country ) must be provided with airline tickets, accommodation, meals, transport, housing at the venue, refreshments, gifts, etc, etc all at the regatta committees expense.
This was by far and away the most expensive item on the budget for my 1997 event.
The New Zealand EC12 Owners Association recently held an “International” event with 3x USA, 4x Australian and a bunch of locals which was titled simply NZL06 and was a much more casual affair without the strict detail work required by the ISAF RSD whilst still being sailed and regulated by the RRS and appendix E.
This meant that the costs of staging such an event were held within reason so that the entry fee was not the NZ$300 that we had set in 97 or the 500 euro? for this years IOM worlds in France.
It is a wonderful dream and one that will eventually come to pass I am sure. Best wishes to all. :zbeer:
I am sure when the time comes to run the “world championship” then the powers that be will have embraced us fully.If not then it will be there loss as far as I can tell.
You see the Footy is fast growing…smaller boats are the future of this sport,the evidence is everywhere to support this statement(gradual shift to smaller racing yachts at International level over time)
Thanks for that Ian. We’ve already called what is intended to be a low key European champoship (note the small ‘c’) the Euro GP.
It does occur to me that under Eurpean law, the ISAF might come off worse if it tried to impose its stranglehold on some of the phrases to which it lays claim - but no is quite definitely not the time to experiment.
Rod- a good idea. Why don’t you run such an event. What do you think would be a good date?
Yes Rod ,Please run such an event.
Incidentally,the 2nd running of the NZ Postal classic will have its NOR out soon!!
Brett and Angus
What about the addition of multi-boat race times on the standard Internet course, with the addition of a 10 ft start-finish gate (as already described elsewhere). All boats would be considered to have made all races over 2 days, and the ranking would be by average time. This would give a premium for prepartion and consistency, and even out any weather variations
A time in mid-spring (mid-autumn for the Southern Hemisphere) would be best.
As to who could run it, we are a small group of 3 sailors, and could not run the event alone.
Rod, Footy 08 CAN, Soling 782 CAN