Jump to content

Auckland/ NZ yachting.


Guest

Recommended Posts

The problem is that there is so much inertia to overcome at club level that it takes too long and too much effort to address and would actually be futile.

 

What clubs are trying to do is lead a horse (i.e. new members) to water. Having got them there they can't seem to be able to get them to drink (participate) or, at least, drink for long enough to sustain growth in the club membership (i.e. growth from new membership is killed off by attrition). Across the board (but not in all cases) the traditional approach just don't work any more)

 

There needs to be a fresh approach where a collective effort by the marine industry / YNZ / Clubs / the media make the horse want to drink in the first place. IMHO the objective of this is to plant sailing (not necessarily racing) in the psyche of non-sailing folks by making it appear fun / cool / sexy / clean and green / affordable / down to earth etc etc. This can only be achieved through mainstream media (i.e. TV shows) which focus on the fun every day people have sailing in really cool places throughout the country. Clubs don't have the resources / reach to do this. These shows need to focus on real people and boats not highly paid over-glitzed professional sailers that nobody can relate to (except perhaps professional rugby players) sailing on completely unaffordable boats.

 

Clubs can only reach out to sailors and, because of this, they are all competing for a share of a skinny little pie. Collectivly only "the industry" can reach out to non-sailers and grow the pie and until this happens the clubs are pissing into the wind.

 

As you were gentlemen.

 

 

For a useless Furking dick w$d of a noob :wink: you write some very excellent stuff. It kinder reminds me of me!

 

beautiful stuff noob! and you're 100% right about improving the perception / image to a sexier one!

 

 

THE INDUSTRY HAS THE MOIST TO GAIN from supporting the clubs / yachting

Welcome.

Link to post
Share on other sites
The problem is that there is so much inertia to overcome at club level that it takes too long and too much effort to address and would actually be futile.

 

What clubs are trying to do is lead a horse (i.e. new members) to water. Having got them there they can't seem to be able to get them to drink (participate) or, at least, drink for long enough to sustain growth in the club membership (i.e. growth from new membership is killed off by attrition). Across the board (but not in all cases) the traditional approach just don't work any more)

 

There needs to be a fresh approach where a collective effort by the marine industry / YNZ / Clubs / the media make the horse want to drink in the first place. IMHO the objective of this is to plant sailing (not necessarily racing) in the psyche of non-sailing folks by making it appear fun / cool / sexy / clean and green / affordable / down to earth etc etc. This can only be achieved through mainstream media (i.e. TV shows) which focus on the fun every day people have sailing in really cool places throughout the country. Clubs don't have the resources / reach to do this. These shows need to focus on real people and boats not highly paid over-glitzed professional sailers that nobody can relate to (except perhaps professional rugby players) sailing on completely unaffordable boats.

 

Clubs can only reach out to sailors and, because of this, they are all competing for a share of a skinny little pie. Collectivly only "the industry" can reach out to non-sailers and grow the pie and until this happens the clubs are pissing into the wind.

 

As you were gentlemen.

 

 

For a useless Furking dick w$d of a noob :wink: you write some very excellent stuff. It kinder reminds me of me!

 

beautiful stuff noob! and you're 100% right about improving the perception / image to a sexier one!

 

 

THE INDUSTRY HAS THE MOIST TO GAIN from supporting the clubs / yachting

Welcome.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ignoring Graham Brownes mind numbingly boring rants and abuse, (David why do we have to put up with this crap month in and month out?)

 

I dont see much wrong at the mo.. basically nobody got no money bro and this aint no cheap sport... it will bounce back, that I'm sure. I think YNZ is doing a pretty bloody good job, but then again what do I know?

 

I think one way to help it bounce back is to stop our fench friends stealing all our fecking boats.... seriously, we cant sustain the drain cause we cant build new ones at replacement prices... And the way to do that, as far as I can tell, is for everybody to make more moeny so you can outbid the buggers.. ?? I dunno.

 

Food for thought

Link to post
Share on other sites
Ignoring Graham Brownes mind numbingly boring rants and abuse, (David why do we have to put up with this crap month in and month out?)

 

I dont see much wrong at the mo.. basically nobody got no money bro and this aint no cheap sport... it will bounce back, that I'm sure. I think YNZ is doing a pretty bloody good job, but then again what do I know?

 

I think one way to help it bounce back is to stop our fench friends stealing all our fecking boats.... seriously, we cant sustain the drain cause we cant build new ones at replacement prices... And the way to do that, as far as I can tell, is for everybody to make more moeny so you can outbid the buggers.. ?? I dunno.

 

Food for thought

 

 

? how do you know they are mind numbing and abusive if you are ignoring them. :think:

 

why are you replying if they are boring and numb minding?

 

Why the abusive first comment?

 

why are all posts in this thread excellent and contributing to the debate... until yours?

 

help me understand pork chop

 

I agree with your comments (on the french / sustain the Drain)though

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think one way to help it bounce back is to stop our fench friends stealing all our fecking boats.... seriously, we cant sustain the drain cause we cant build new ones at replacement prices... And the way to do that, as far as I can tell, is for everybody to make more moeny so you can outbid the buggers.. ?? I dunno.

 

Food for thought

 

Bloody good point, the nuclear breathed bastards are whipping some goodies as well.

Link to post
Share on other sites
ah the holy grail, yes my comment about SSANZ was deliberate, they were the last bastion of yachties for yachties, seamanship, upskilling etc,etc then we had the 2008 fiasco where suddenly the rules changed and it was no longer possible to race in conditions that previously had been allowed. Then last year we had the high handed lectures about no late entries and then those that dared to question the front office were told to join the committee or F off. When the leadership head down that pathway then things unravel. I have been a great supporter of SSANZ and hope they get back to the type of outfit they were in previous years, I know that most of the posters on this site will brook no crticism of SSANZ but I think they have put themselves above their members in recent times.

 

It's very easy to make such comments from the sidelines but unfortunately SSANZ are a victim of their own success as well as the current PC climate.

To expand on the above... If you go back a few years when SSANZ ran 90, 150 and 230 mile courses with between 20 and 30 boats we typically knew all the sailors, level of experience etc and they tended to be the dedicated hardened yachties. Now with 160+ boats entering and shorter courses we get a greater variance in abilities (not that this is a bad thing...the B&G Simrad is now considered a way to introduce shorthanded sailing and the RNI is the event for the experienced) SSANZ as an organisation don't know the experience of all crews and in this PC enviroment have a responsibility to act responsibly in ensuring everyone's safety.

As far as late entries are concerned SSANZ accepts entries right up to the briefing on the Thursday before the race. I think thats alot later than many other organisations. The reason why we WILL NOT accept entries after close off is purely safety. Simply put after entries close I send a list of all boats and their courses to Coastguard as well as producing Start and Finish lists for the race committee. There are hours of work that go in and I believe it is completely unfair to ask a unpaid volunteer to start over again just because one or two competitors can't organise themselves. The entry deadline was set at the latest time we could still comfortably have everything ready to go before racing started. Secondly after the lessons learned a few years ago when several multis turned over we do not want the risk of multiple versions of the entry list being in circulation....too easy to have an error. Again back in the days of 20-30 boats it wasn't a problem but now we are at 160+ systems are important, especially considering the small size of the orgainisation and that they are all unpaid volunteers running a major event on about 1/5 of the budget of Bay of Islands Sailing Week.

SSANZ has made numerous changes to courses/divisions etc each year in response to competitors. More changes are planned for this year and we are always open to suggestions (except in regards to late entries or weather decisions)

Finally I accept the B&G Simrad has been "softened" but this has generated far more entries. We get far more positive emails from competitors than negative ones for experienced yachties that want to sail in anything. I personally love to sail in the more extreme conditions but given the choice of racing 30 other likeminded boats or racing 160 and having to put up with some postponements I'd always go for the increased number of competitors.

 

Cameron

Link to post
Share on other sites

thanks Cameron for the reply to my rant and for taking the trouble to set out your thoughts. SSANZ have certainly done the business and is clearly meeting the 'market' much of this development in this regard has been under your watch and hats off to you.

 

I do understand the conundrum you face with safety standards, fleet numbers and expectations, crew competence, organiser liability and responsibility and the weather.

 

The safety standards (cat4) vs fleet numbers vs entries vs competence is real although the whole issue around the box ticking nature of tht safety standards (pretty much if you can afford and have the gear you can get Cat 1 without have left a marina) vs real safety is not helping the situation...The Waka in Josh's hands is full on shorthanded ocean racing machime, for some of us she would be a liability in the inner harbour in a breeze, I can think of a few Cat 1 vessels with skippers i wouldn't go past north head with. I can also think of some cat4 vessels and skippers I would go anywhere with.

 

The more that organisers take on the responsibility of making safety decisions the more liability they accrue and are in danger of skippers 'handing over' their responsibility in this regard to the organiser and then when the inevitable happens and the forecast 20 kt breeze morphs into a full gale there is carnage and the posibility of a real problem.

 

The sea is a very special place and requires its own standrads, procedures and manual, skipper responsibility is the cornerstone of of the operator manual. I see it happening at all levels of sailing now, from the opti through to ocean racing where organisers and PRO's are making more of the safety decisions, we are training skippers that if the RO says it is safe to leave the baech or the dock then ipso facto, it is,

 

I recognise that RO's do have a responsibility and we can;t ahev an open slather approach but I do wonder where we have got to along the continuum

 

The RNI 2 handed is a gem and the #1 life memory outside of family that I have to date but it is a very big step from the current SSANZ 2 handed series which now has a psuedo wind limit of around 25 kts depenind on direction sea state etc, etc.

 

Racing is where we all learn our skills particulalry heavy weather, who in their right mind leaves the dock in 25 kts+ if it is not to go and race. certainly it si pretty hard to get a crew to go and go traning for anything more than about an hour in the inner harbour (let alone in the outer gulf) in over 25 kts if it is not a race.

 

I realise SSANZ and yourself are not responsible for the training and development of the keelboat fleet but this forum was about the states of yachting in Auckland/NZ and SSANZ is a very huge part of that.

 

anyway congratulations to SSANZ for inspiring so many to experince the special joy and cammeraderie that exists within the two handed fraternity and yes I too would ratehr be thrashing around with 100 odd boats out there than 25.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...