No discards series
Most of us are used to our comfort blanket of a race that we can discard from a series. In the case of the 49er and other classes that do lots of short, sharp races we are often allowed to throw out our two worst scores. So it comes as quite a shock to hear that ISAF have just discarded the discard from next year's Olympic Games. The aim is to put more emphasis on the final race of the event, and to avoid the quite frequent occurrence of the winner being decided before the last race is held. Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks won the 49er Worlds in Cadiz this year with two races to spare, such was their dominance of the event.
The same happened at the Games in Sydney when the Finnish team wrapped up the 49er gold early, as did the Austrians in the Tornado and our own Iain Percy in the Finn. There was none of the fight to the death that we witnessed in the Laser class between Ainslie and Scheidt, and it was that match race that captured the attention of the public more than any other incident in the Olympic sailing regatta. That said, there won't be any match racing going on in a no-discard series either, although that's probably a good thing. Winning a fleet-racing medal with a match race is a bit like deciding a football match on penalties.
This move is not unprecedented. The Farr 40s and Mumm 30s both hold no-discard regattas, and some major Star regattas do the same. And yet the cream still seems to rise to the top regardless of the scoring system. But this move will certainly pile on the pressure. Do you dare push the line quite as hard, knowing that an OCS could spell the end of your medal hopes? And what about a gear breakage or a capsize? Well, those things should be within the athlete's control and he has no one but himself to blame - unless he is using supplied equipment. But what if someone crashes into you with no rights, or capsizes on top of you on the start line? You could argue that the allure of the Olympics thrives on such miscarriages of justice, it is these cruel blows of fate that make the Games such a compelling spectacle, almost as much as the wonderful success stories that emerge from the fortnight.
The most worrying aspect of this brave move, however, is the added tension that it will bring to Rule 42, the dreaded rule that governs propulsion such as pumping, ooching and rocking. It was interesting to note that Bob Fisher and I both took the same line on this in our respective Y&Y columns a couple of months back. We weren't cribbing off each other, honest, but it seems we both feel the same way about the harshness of this three-strikes-and-you're-out system that is in place right now. More than ever, the international jury members must work more closely with the sailors and bring some consistency to the way they make these on-the-water rulings.
Old Men of the Sea
Talking of discards, it was interesting to see how many of the classes at the US Olympic Trials were wrapped up with a race to spare. In the case of the 470 Men's winners, Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham, they sat out the last three races, such was their dominance throughout the regatta. These guys have won some medals between them. They both won a silver in Barcelona 1992, Paul at the back of a Flying Dutchman and Kevin at the front of a 470. Paul won another silver helming a 470 with a younger crew Bob Merrick, but now he is coming to Athens with Kevin, who is still going strong in his late forties.
All of three of the American medals in Sydney came from sailors in their late thirties to mid forties, and so Paul and Kevin are merely maintaining that honourable tradition. In fact, if you ask Paul Brotherton how many years he has left at the top of Olympic campaigning, he'll tell you: "Well I'm two Olympic cycles younger than Kevin, so as long as he's around I guess I'm good for another two."
The longevity of these sailors and their ability to stay at the top of their game is an inspiration. The longevity of some of the most popular dinghy classes is also inspiring. Gael Pawson was telling me about some of the findings of some research into the national dinghy fleets that will soon be published in Y&Y. Apparently, most of the classes in the 50+ club (ie with more than 50 entrants in the class national championship) are designs that are 30 years old or more.
Much as it seems dinghy sailing has been swept by a carbon/asymmetric/fully-battened revolution these past 10 years, the older classes still hold the upper hand in numerical terms. It surprised Gael and surprised me to hear that, so I look forward to seeing this research for myself.
Lark Secrets
If you remember from a recent Rolltacks, I promised to get a more in-depth look into the remarkable regeneration of the Lark fleet these past few years. The Lark marketing guru Emma Harris has provided some analysis of why she thinks the Association's efforts have worked so well, and they hold some useful pointers for any class that wants to build numbers and enthusiasm.
Emma says part of the problem was when Parker stopped making the Lark in 1999, so the class needed to find a new manufacturer. "Rondar stepped in and made a few boats using the Parker Mk II moulds," she explains. "It was around this time that the Larks were hitting a low ebb - the B14s had grabbed a fair chunk of the Lark fleet and numbers were looking shaky. Nigel Scott, who had taken over as Chairman in 1998 and who has a strong marketing background, put in place a five-year strategy, and, together with his new committee, worked through a SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) analysis.
"One of the main issues to come out of this was that the Lark was perceived as being old fashioned and too expensive to build. So, with Rondar as the new, enthusiastic builder, the Larks set out to redesign the boat with the following in mind:
- First and foremost, the boat must never be faster than a Parker Mk II design
- It must be cheaper to manufacture
- It needed to be stiffer, more durable and look contemporary.
"The new Lark (Lark 2000), now comprises two main mouldings - the hull and the deck, rather than the three main ones of the Parker Mk II. The hull is made of foam sandwich, giving it far greater stiffness, whilst the interior is made of Coremat. Rondar also added bulkheads at the key tension points to keep the boat stronger. Whilst redesigning the interior they also widened the decks and added buoyancy at the aft sections - together meaning less filling up on tacking and a lot less water in the boat after a capsize.
"The new Rondar boat fulfils the brief, which was to make the boat more appealing to a market awash with modern high-tech boats. Those looking at a new Lark nowadays wouldn't recognise it as the same boat that they sailed years ago. Since 2000, when the new Lark was built, 55 boats have been sold and Rondar have a full order book for the winter. It's a slow process, but as those who have bought the boat are gradually getting the set-up sorted, and are being seen more regularly at the top end of the fleet, more people are becoming interested in buying."
Emma believes a ‘loose' one-design like a Lark has some advantages over the ‘strict' manufacturers' one-designs being produced by the likes of Laser, Topper and RS. "The beauty of the Lark is that, although a one-design class, there are few rules limiting the owner in changing the boat's systems - meaning they can tinker as much as they like (and some fiddle and faff for hours!). On the flip side, for those who prefer to just step in and go sailing, it's also an ideal choice."
Growing the fleet
Further re-expansion of the Lark class is being achieved through the commitment of an incredibly enthusiastic and loyal committee - led by Nigel Scott, who is in personal contact with a large number of Lark sailors across the country. When asked about why the Larks are going from strength to strength, Nigel says: "The Larks are such a great bunch of people to know and the more that come on board, the better it gets. With regards to our reputation, it's all about how loud you shout - if you have a success, shout about it - then success becomes self-perpetuating."
Nigel's view is also that it's really important for classes to go back to basics and re-evaluate themselves. "It's so easy, in the face of an onslaught from new, faster classes, to change in order to compete, but classes have to accept that their boat has a niche and that, by competing head on with the manufacturer classes, you're never going to win. Instead, focus on the inherent strengths of the class. In the case of the Larks, it's easy - we're a symmetric boat which can be sailed by combinations of men and women, young and old, with a wide weight range, competitive racing and great socials to boot. And it doesn't cost the earth to get involved."
Emma points out that the current resurgence of the Lark is also underpinned by a well considered and hotly contested open meeting circuit (fed by some very strong and active club fleets) and other great initiatives, such as the buddy system run at the Nationals. The committee has also hatched new plans to get younger sailors into the Lark - recognising that it's easy to concentrate on the current sailors, but if you don't support the younger end of the class, the life blood of the future will eventually dry up.
Keep them interested
The Larks are offering prize money to Under-21s who take part in one club series in a Lark either in fleet or handicap racing. The prize money will be calculated on a sliding scale equalling £25 per qualifying Lark. So if three U-21 helms qualify for a series, the first prize will be £75, if five take part, it rises to £125, and so on. The money will be offered to any club but, initially, the clubs approached will be those with regular Lark fleet racing.
The class training officer Steve Cumley has also just completed a training weekend which was open to all but the top 20 at the Nationals, which apparently went down very well with those that came. One sailors said that the exclusion of the best sailors meant you could ask the questions you wanted answered without feeling stupid. It's easy to take sailing knowledge and experience for granted, and to forget just how little you understood when you got into the sport. Keeping the back end of the fleet happy and helping them to improve seems an obvious way of building stability and loyalty in the fleet, and yet very few classes have done this to my knowledge, the Lark and the Fireball being the notable exceptions.
Not that these classes have the monopoly on good ideas. I'll be updating you on a few more interesting initiatives emerging from other classes, that could easily be duplicated for your own class or sailing club. Keep the good ideas coming, and send me an email, even if you think your idea is a bit obvious or stupid. What sounds stupid to you might be inspiring to someone else.
