To begin, a temporary committee of three conducted/chaired the meeting and until I get a copy of the minutes, names and finer details will have to wait although both Darren Bundock [Bundy] and John Goldsmith were at the table. Most of the 30 odd attendees were sailors from clubs, some involved at management level. Phil Jones and the Head of Training [don't know his name] represented YA.
There was a lot of discussion about a lot of issues although there were two main and differing agendas. They did overlap to an extent but the cross enthusiasm for each was more than a little unbalanced as I saw it.
On the one hand we had a lot of cat sailors, club managers etc., who's main focus and enthusiasm was for developing cat sailing/racing to a point where it becomes more popular, and more fun for us all with bigger fleets and better organised clubs and regattas, and to a lesser extent, making it less likely to be ignored by YNSW, YA, ISAF and the IOC, with the ISAF/IOC component a secondary issue. On the other hand there were those [YA reps and Olympic hopefulls] who's main focus was/is on having catamarans re-instated as an Olympic discipline. On this issue, the driver for YA and ISAF is that if cat sailing is not reinstated, sailing in general [monohulls] is in danger of being eliminated from The Games due to it not fully complying with IOC criteria, i.e., not well supported by a majority of Nations, not spectator or TV friendly, and not very exciting [Finn/Star/Laser etc.]
Interestingly, a poll taken during the meeting asking which boat out of the F18, H16 [no spi], A class, and Tornado would be preferred by those present as the Olympic cat revealed a preference for the F18 Tiger. Sadly, the F14 or F16 [my favourite] were not listed as an option.
Much of the discussion from the sailor's and club manager's group was about ways to improve numbers at the clubs and from that it was pretty much unanimous that clubs need to focus on youth training. Darren Bundock was very much behind this idea and keen to get involved, even to the point of jumping on a Maricat once a month and racing at selected clubs, wooo hoooo. There were plenty of different ideas on how to achieve this but the discussion was deferred for a later time when the council is fully formed and legitimate, and in a position to get some serious work done.
The most disappointing [but not unexpected] revelation was that, while YA needs us, [cat sailors] to be progressive and supportive of their endeavours to have the Tornado, or some other exciting catamaran reinstated and retained with IOC status, they really don't seem to want to have very much, if anything to do with helping us make it happen. I'm not even sure what it is they would like us to do other than maybe provide our vocal support for that endeavour. That part isn't clear, not to me anyway, but what was clear is; YA think CRA [potentially a National Body] should conduct all it's operations under the control of the state bodies, YNSW, YVIC, YSA. etc. Now as I see it, those bodies have no teeth whatsoever when it comes to negotiating with YA. These state representative bodies have no members as near as I can tell. With individual sailors now paying their fees directly to YA, they are in essence members of YA not YNSW etc. So, I'm very confused about the fact that YA want our help, and are prepared to help in an advisory capacity, but beyond that, they suggest any significant input/help we seek, in particular funding, must come from the State bodies.
Now given that we as cat sailors, until now have never been shown any interest from YA, and even less interest from YNSW et al, my question is; what's in it for us, the ordinary week end jocks? I can see how having a cat in the Olympics could be helpful in attracting young sailors who have an ambition to race for gold, and I don't in any way want to minimise the importance of that more than it is, but really, even though Darren and Glen are very nice blokes and I'm in absolute awe of their abilities as sailors and their Olympic successes, and I think we should continue to support their efforts in a reasonable manner, will it make any difference to the blokes at CRSC or Mannering Park, or Kurnell or Koonawarra Bay, or Great Lakes Sailing Club etc., or the Taipan Assn., if sailing is dropped altogether from the Olympics???? I don't think it'll matter diddly, but I could be wrong.
Na, we need to be shown more respect, we need to be treated with more dignity than to be told, "we need your help desperately" but, "sorry guys, there's no help available here, not from YA" [and this came from the head of YA training/coaching], and probably, if history is any judge, 'not from your State bodies either' he should have added.
So, what to do?
Personally I think we should get behind this new CRA venture 100%. We are going to need people to put their hand up for committee positions so there's a commitment to be made there. I'm not sure how that will happen amongst cat sailors. We're not too good at that but I think we really do need to build cat racing into a more credible and viable enterprise so that we are more professional and have some influence and some decent dollars to spend on ourselves etc., etc.,
Like it or not, the language in the world of viability and credibility is $$$$$. Then if YA, ISAF, IOC want a piece of our action, [or if coincidentally they benefit from our success] well and good, and if they don't, then maybe Darren and Glen will need to jump on a Star. ;^) .................Just Joking Bundy!
Bottom line is, I think we really need to do this for us!
;^) .................Just Joking Bundy!
