Fireballs still blazing

My suggestion a month or so back that there are too many World Championships in the sailing calendar ruffled a few feathers in some quarters - which of course was partly my intention. When Andrew Davies, secretary of the International Fireball Class Association, received a few faxes of my Roll Tacks column, he was prompted to send me a robust rebuttal to my suggestion that the Fireball was one of a number of classes that "operate at the margins of world championship status". Andrew is an old friend from my own days in the Fireball, otherwise his response might have been a good deal more than robust! Here was his measured reply to my article.

"The Fireball is a long established Class that more than meets the ISAF criteria for its International status.  Much has been said about the established non-Olympic Classes and their ability to compete in the 21st century.  Fireball is meeting the challenge head on. ISAF's numerical requirements to be an International Class are straightforward.  For an International Class, you need 20 active boats per country in a minimum of six countries and a minimum of three continents.  Fireball International (FI) is confident it will continue to retain its international status.  FI has at least six, 60+ boat fleets (GBR, FRA, SUI, ITA, CAN, AUS) and many 20+ boat fleets all over the world; has fleets in five continents; has built over 200 boats in the past five years (we're up to boat number 14,950); has professional builders in GBR, SUI and AUS and is looking at licensing builders in CAN, CHI and south-east Asia in order to meet the demand. If that places the Fireball ‘at the margins of world championship status', the margins are pretty close to the centre.

"An important issue with any International class is high profile major championships, Fireball is no exception.  Some years ago the membership proposed changes to the format of major championships, which, FI was delighted to incorporate.  Fireball now has more races, more discards, fixed lay-days, open championships and most importantly holiday venues.  This formula has proved popular with all, sailors, their families, and officials.  By concentrating on inclusively Fireball constantly sees more and more new faces on the International circuit.  Since 2000, the Fireball class has held major championships in Thailand, Italy, USA, Kenya, Australia, Shetland, Great Britain, Slovenia France and Canada.  Future championships are being considered in Croatia, Thailand, and the Caribbean.

"2007 is ISAF's 100th anniversary, and it also marks the 40th Fireball World Championship, which is being held at St Moritz, Switzerland.  The Fireball class is always happy to welcome anyone who wants fast, fun and friendly racing."

Fair enough, Andrew, and all other Fireball sailors who took umbrage at my article. I stand by my original assertion that there are too many World Championships, but I stand corrected on the status of the international Fireball fleet, whose global reach certainly puts the Fireball World Championship in the bona fide category. One of the things that the Fireball class does so well is keeping all its members engaged and interested in their sailing. As Andrew pointed out to me, the winner of the World Championship will enjoy the regatta wherever it is held, so the priorities in selecting a sailing venue are first and foremost to ensure that it is a good fun, family-friendly venue, with the second priority being that the sailing is fairly and professionally managed. Of course the aim is always to achieve both, although that can sometimes be a challenge in some of the far-flung places that the class travels to, but Andrew believes it is worth the effort. Next year's Worlds are in Thailand, for example. Not too shabby.

Hikers Unite!

Following in the footsteps of the Fastsail organisation, which over the past few years has coordinated multi-class regattas for trapeze boats with conventional spinnakers, there are similar initiatives springing up for other sectors of the dinghy scene.

For the ‘no pain, no gain' brigade, there is a new event on the calendar, the Symmetric Hikers Challenge, which is due to be held at Rutland SC over the weekend of 14/15 July. The Symmetric Hikers Challenge will be open to non-trapeze, symmetric spinnaker dinghies with a PN less than 1200. The event will be a great chance for people from similar classes to get together for a fun weekend sailing and socialising and, at the same time, enjoy good competitive racing on the water.
The event press release says: "Despite the influx of new boats, the traditional classes such as Merlin Rockets, Larks, Scorpions, GP14s, Wayfarers and Kestrels etc are still maintaining strong followings with excellent open meeting and national turnouts. The event will be another chance to showcase all of these classic boats and maybe even to prove which class is the best supported and has the best sailors. Based on the successful Fastsail Symmetric Grand Prix, the new event is designed for sailors of all levels and experience, from international sailors down to club sailors at their first open meeting." Five races are scheduled for the weekend, and a mix of pursuit and handicap races should help to even out the advantage of clear wind for the slowest and fastest boats in the fleet. We'll bring you further news on this new event when it appears.

TASA

Meanwhile, in similar vein but for a different range of boats, there is a new organisation called the Trapeze and Asymmetric Sailing Association (TASA), which seeks to bring together high performance asymmetric classes in combined training and racing events. The brainchild of two young skiff enthusiasts, Alex Ford and Emma Liddell, they saw a need to form an umbrella organisation for some of the less popular high performance classes which struggle to support their own open meeting circuit. So on the website you will find a list of classes such as the Boss, Iso, Buzz, Spice, Laser 4000, Laser 5000, International 14 and Cherub.

This gives the impression that TASA is only interested in supporting those classes that need it the most. Such an approach would be a mistake, in my view, and I was encouraged to learn from TASA's commodore Alex Ford that his intention is to make it a much more inclusive organisation, which also welcomes the larger high performance fleets such as the RS800 and 29er. Indeed Alex's own boat is an RS800 so he is hardly likely to exclude himself! So if you go to www.tasa.org.uk and find that your class isn't listed there but you believe it fits the profile of a TASA boat, then get in touch with Alex and see what he says. Perhaps it would help for TASA to come up with a tight definition for which classes they seek to represent, but the understanding I get from Alex is that it is for any asymmetric trapeze dinghy faster than a Buzz (Portsmouth Number 1005).

The aim is to organise four or five TASA events during 2007, beginning with a training/coaching weekend at Weston Sailing Club on 17/18 February. Top International 14 sailor and seasoned racing coach Julian Pearson will be leading the training with Alex and Emma assisting, and asymmetric sailors of all abilities are welcome.

I'm delighted that TASA has recognised the importance of providing coaching for sailors of high performance boats. So often I've heard sailors say they'll learn to sail their 49er or International 14 up to a reasonable standard before they go on the open meeting circuit, because they don't want to humiliate themselves or get in the way of the competition. This is completely understandable but completely mistaken. The best and quickest way to learn how to sail a high performance boat is to watch the best in action, and to badger them with stupid questions afterwards. In the 49er, for example, you might find yourself racing against Olympic or World Champions but you will also find that they are more than ready to answer your questions after racing. The truth is, there are no stupid questions.

But despite what I've just said, the reality is that many people will remain too daunted to blood themselves in competition until they've mastered the basics of the boat, and so TASA could well end up providing a vital service to those fleets without a training programme. It's no coincidence that the most thriving high performance fleets in the country - the RS800, the 29er and Musto Skiff - all have excellent training programmes in place. And it's no surprise to hear that TASA has been well received by every class it has approached, with the notable exception of one class whose representative faxed back TASA's letter with a couple of spelling and grammatical errors highlighted in marker pen, but no actual response to TASA's proposal. Apparently, this is a class (which I won't embarrass by naming) that believes it has nothing to gain or learn from anyone else and that 19 entries at last year's Nationals is a riproaring success for a boat that is more than 40 years old. Hopefully, though, the snooty reaction that TASA received was the reflection of just one individual and not of the wider membership of that particular fleet.

Another idea that Alex and Emma are exploring is the possibility of introducing personal handicapping to their events. I've seen this proposed a number of times but I'm not aware of any real examples of this happening in sailing at the moment. Personal handicaps are of course the bedrock of amateur golf the world over, so why couldn't it work for sailing? There are two aspects to this, both of which are relevant to TASA. Firstly, there is the benefit that every handicap golfer enjoys, which is that you have the chance of winning even if you are a near-beginner because it's all about how you rate against your own previous performances, not those of your more talented and practised rivals. Secondly, for a few hundred pounds you can buy an old International 14, Boss, or even a one-off skiff of unidentifiable origin and start racing it in the TASA fleet. Lord knows, every boat park in the land is littered with long-neglected but perfectly raceable boats which only get wet when it rains. In a strict one-design fleet you have to have the best gear if you're to stand a chance of winning. That's going to cost you a few thousand pounds. In a personal handicapping system, you could win in a boat from the ‘£1,000 or less' section of the Yachts & Yachting classifieds. Now that's got to be worth something, hasn't it?

If you want to find out more about TASA, go to the website or get in touch directly with Alex on 07824 378985, or at: commodore@tasa.org.uk.