Catamaran Sailing & the RYA

[cedric]

RYA have issued a statement:
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=138587

[Andrew Hannah]

I also see there is to be a single one-man dinghy for men.

Which is going to be dropped, Finn or Laser?

Andrew.

[Charles]

I got the RYA's reply / justification , no doubt others have & it is in the public domain as a statement burried in their youth training pages at:-

http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/new ... t_0907.htm

There are a number of points made which lack clarity, though some are probably also fairly reasonable.

[Andrew Hannah]

The parity between men and women events has clearly nothing to do with sailing, and everything to do with sex discrimination. This is what has driven the RYA. Presumably, sex parity was a condition of lottery funding which the RYA received. But, as Nick has pointed out elsewhere, the Tornado is THE only mixed sex boat at the Oylmpics.

One solution might be to hive-off the windsurfers to another umbrella organisation. I don't quite know how the RYA got involved with them in the first place. Most clubs have a few windurfers, but I have never known any of them expressing an interest in joining club racing. Windsurfers don't really fit the sailing scene.

A smarter idea would be to remove the RYA from olympic responsibilities. We need a separate authority to take care of olympic matters. This would allow the RYA to resume its traditional role of representing the interests of boating folk, such as pleasure steamers, canal boats, water skiers, etc.

What the hell is Yngling? Is it anything to do with fishing?

Andrew,
TBYC.

[Bob Carter]

Hi Andrew
You seem to favour the revolutionary approach wrt the RYA and the Olympics. I must admit to favouring the evolutionary approach. In most aspects the RYA do a good job. They provide most of the infrastructure for our sport. They have done a super job of training and developing sailors to take part in the Olympics and hence I think sailing is this countries strongest Olympic sport (followed by rowing & then hardly anything) measured by the number of medals our sailors win. So why would we want to throw out the baby with the bathwater because they have taken a somewhat negative view of catamaran sailing? It is far better to highlight our concerns/ displeasure via letters to the RYA, the petition, forum comments, etc and hope that we can effect the outcome. Nick Dewhirst (in his role as charman of UKCRA) is planning to attend the meeting on 8 October with the RYA, Brian Phipps, Rob White and others with the hope of changing their minds. Let's hope for a successful outcome.
Regards
Bob

[Andrew Hannah]

Peasants, like me, are revolting!

Andy the Red.

[Andrew Hannah]

Hi All,

Nick Dewhirst has posted a note re Olympics on the front page of the association website. He also included various links to click on.

I would like to transfer Nick's message onto my own club website as a news item. Please could someone explain how I do this. (This is more a computer query than a sailing matter!)

I am sure other members will also want to do the same, as the debate will thereby reach a wider audience.

Any help is welcome.

Andrew, TBYC.

[Martin Searle]

Hi All,

<snip>

I would like to transfer Nick's message onto my own club website as a news item. Please could someone explain how I do this. (This is more a computer query than a sailing matter!)
<snip>
Andrew, TBYC.

Andrew,

I don't know how Thorpe Bay's system works but if it needs the HTML code.

You could try:

Open the news article in IE
Right click the page and choose view source
Scroll down the text file (it'll be gobbledegook for the most part!)
Find the bit that reads EMAIL SENT BY NICK DEWHIRST
Copy everything from there to Chairman, UKCRA into the clipboard
Paste into your sites webform.

That should work but your webmaster will know what to do.

Maritn S.

[Chris]

I have added Nicks Email to Shanklin's Website and Chat Page, lets hope it gets some response.

Chris
Webmaster
www.ShanklinSailingClub.com

[Bob Carter]

Hey Guys - this is a very positive sign of some flexibility from the RYA. They propose to change the resolution on Youth training to include Cats again in 2009. See the following link.

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=138678

Evolution can work.

We will find out more when Nick & Co go to the meeting on Monday.

Meanwhile many thanks to all those that signed our petition.

[cedric]

Excellent news, and thank you to those that actually pushed the RYA and set up the petition

[Bob Carter]

Mark Jardine wrote:
"A very important annoucement by the RYA:

RYA Council reviews stance on Youth and Olympic event submissions"


The revised flexibility shown by the RYA on the Youth sailing is appreciated. In the original submission the RYA were proposing 7 events for the ISAF Youth Championships and now by including both the Catamaran and the high performance monohull the number of events increases to 8. Now if the ISAF have a limit of 7 events then it becomes an issue for the ISAF to resolve. ( I think that this is the likely situation, by the way). If the ISAF turn around to the RYA and say sorry we can only accommodate 7 events - which one do you prefer to drop? I am interested to know what the RYA would reply. If they would reply that the Catamaran should be dropped we would be back where we started, so I'm interested to hear the RYA answer to this hypothetical question.

Perhaps they will be prepared to answer this at the meeting next Monday

[Andrew Hannah]

In the morning's post, I received an appeal for money. It was from the Prostate Cancer Charity. They helpfully explained that for £1000, I could become a founding member. Wow! I thought to myself, why don't these people apply to the National Lottery for funding. You are probably wondering what this has to do with sailing, and this thread in particular.

The reason why Prostate Cancer Charity cannot apply for Lottery funding is because they would have to show how the money would benefit women. It's a bit like a charity for breast cancer charity for men, but in reverse. To get Lottery funding for anything, the sexes have to be treated equally.

It therefore follows that the Lottery funding the RYA has received will have had strings attached. This is why there has to be a single handed dinghy for women as well as for men, even though there are far fewer women sailors generally, than men. The investment in training has to be equal, if disproportionate.

I am afraid to say, the National Lottery, the RYA and others, have got this equality thing around their necks!

Andrew,
TBYC.

[Bob Carter]

The minutes are here:

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/ ... N=1&TPN=46

[Andrew Hannah]

I've just received an amazing e-mail from Theresa Ryall, our only female Sprinter at Thorpe Bay. Unfortunately, my computer skills don't go as far as cut and paste, so I can't transfer what she sent. But, I'll e-mail Bob.

Apparently, the British government has banned our Red Arrows from performing a stunt or two at the 2012 olympics. We are told the Red Arrows are too British! There is a petition going but so far, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has refused to budge.

I wonder whether the perfidious Royal Yachting Association is behind this. After all, they want to ban catamarans from the olympics. And as everybody knows, catamarans are a British invention. Well, certainly the first production boats were, the Shearwaters in the late 1950s.

There is a common thread, as it seems the RYA and HM Government are both anti-british. They are certainly in step with each other, if not in league.

Andrew,
TBYC.