Catamaran Sailing & the RYA

[Bob Carter]

I see that the RYA have proposed to ISAF that catamaran sailing is dropped from the ISAF youth sailing from 2009.
They propose that the catamaran class is dropped in favour of the 29er. They propose that the 420 class for both boy & girl is also retained as separate events. The request is hidden in ISAF submission 129-07 which the RYA seems to have not seen fit to share with sailors in the UK.

This means that the only way for prospective catamaran sailors to be developed through the RYA youth programme would be via monohulls. I suggest that people who disagree with this position make their position known to the RYA.

Read it foryourself at: http://www2.sailing.org/meetings/2007no ... ub_129.pdf

[Robin Boardman]

I have registered my disapproval Bob and, as a member, asked the RYA for their reasons. To others interested, the linkposted by Bob needs the .pdf missing off the end to work

[Bob Carter]

Thanks Robin.

I have fixed the link. If anyone wants to complain try:

rod.carr(at)rya.org.uk


Cheers

Bob

[Charles]

I've also asked Rod for the rationale

[Bob Carter]

It is even worse than I thought. There is another proposal by the RYA to dump all Cats from the 2012 Olympics.

The link to it is

http://www2.sailing.org/meetings/2007no ... ub_103.pdf

So it is even worse than I had figured.

Keep up the campaign guys.

regards

Bob

[Andrew Hannah]

The RYA people live in an ivory tower. They've got this equality thing around their necks. Everybody knows sailboat racing is predominately male. Just look at your own fleets to see what I mean. And yet, the RYA is proposing events that are equally shared between the sexes. They're neurotic.

Seemingly the misty-eyed residents of the aforesaid ivory tower, believe no youngster has aspirations to race a hurricane 5.9, a tornado, shadow or even a sprint. The RYA somehow think a 15 year old is content with an optimist. Honestly, it's true. I'm not joking! Youngsters are encouraged to sail optimists until they are 16. Cadets at Thorpe Bay wouldn't be seen dead in them.

Why is the RYA so sniffy about catamarans? Nick Dewhirst once explained to me, the early days of cat sailing. He contemptuously said, "Of course, it's not real sailing, you know. Cats are for spivs who want speed, whereas proper sailors want something more traditional". Nick went on, "that is why cat clubs are often located away from popular venues like The Hamble and Burnham".

But here's the point. The RYA is powerless to railroad its progression scheme, unless it can also get the clubs on board. If we are to take on the RYA, we must re-double our efforts to make all our clubs cat-centric. The major sprint clubs are already cat-centric, especially Whitstable, Gurnard and Seasalter. It's the duty of all cat sailors to follow their example. We must also get our people onto club committees.

I could write a book about the RYA folly. Suffice to say, it's not worth joining.

Andrew,
TBYC.

[SteveR]

I've logged my protest with the RYA
SteveR

[Robin Boardman]

I have today received a reply to my email to the RYA regarding the subject of this post. I am not going to paste in the whole reply as I am unsure of etiquette here (and have made errors on such before!) but I will attempt to summarise. It would seem that Brian Phipps and Rob White know about both proposals.They have already had discussions with Rod Carr, CEO of the RYA, regarding the matter and are to meet John Derbyshire, RYA racing manager, soon after which they (the RYA) will publish a paper to let everyone know the facts. Whatever, there will be one less class in the 2012 Olympics at Weymouth. I personally think it will be a huge omission not to have a catamaran class there as I am of the view that Olympic racing should reflect the mainstream - cats are just as much mainstream as are dinghies, windsurfers and keelboats. We need to be stay aware of developments and make our voice heard

Robin 1748 & 1949

[Andrew Hannah]

Hi Robin,

It would seem the proposal is British. But the British alone, don't run the Olympics.

Would you know how the other countries are thinking? Have they been refused consultation too?

Europe has huge numbers of cats, and I can only think the RYA proposal will be rejected by them.

Andrew.

[Charles]

I got the same response from Rod, clearly he has had enough queries to make it worth him drafting a standard response!

Hopefully the RYA will be able to communicate their thoughts & I'm sure Brian & Rob can bat effectively for the cat world & will update us shortly.

[Bob Carter]

Hi Guys
Thanks for your support. Have a look at:

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/ ... PN=1&TPN=5


For some interesting perspective on the situation
Regards
Bob

[Robin Boardman]

Hi Robin,

Would you know how the other countries are thinking? Have they been refused consultation too? Europe has huge numbers of cats, and I can only think the RYA proposal will be rejected by them.

Andrew

Hi Andrew

I am afraid I have no knowledge of other countries.

Robin
1758 & 1949

[Andrew Hannah]

Our congratulations must go to Bob Carter who simultaneously started a new thread on the Yachts and Yachting forum, and has ignited a furious debate.

The posts have already run to six pages and the thread is still only four days old. "Sprint Bob's" thread is easily the hottest topic on the Y&Y website forum. There is no doubt the cat sailors have wrong-footed the RYA, who seem to have lost credibility with many of our sailors.

I would urge Sprint members to take a look the the Y&Y website, and post your own comments, as I shortly will. My forum name is Soggy Doggie.

Andrew,
TBYC.

[Robin Boardman]

The cat is out of the bag (pardon the pun) on the Dinghy Sailing Magazine site aswell although the source might be guessable by some!!

http://www.dinghysailingmagazine.co.uk/ ... icleID=636

[Bob Carter]

Online petition is here, please sign it:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Cata ... index.html

The wording was negotiated on the Y&Y forum & Jon Worthington set it up.

Please email it to all of your sailing contacts.