http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_Sports_Act_of_1978

The Act charters the US Olympic Committee, which in turn can charter a national governing body (NGB) for each sport, such as USA Swimming, the United States Fencing Association, the United States Ski Team, USA Track & Field or the United States Figure Skating Association. Each NGB in turn establishes the rules for selecting the United States Olympic Team and promotes amateur competition in that sport.

http://about.ussailing.org/History.htm

According to the original constitution, NAYRU's authority stemmed from consent of its members and member associations over which it exercised jurisdiction in an advisory capacity. Today, its authority comes instead from an act of Congress (the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978) and a much broader charter to serve America's sailors directly.

The Stevens Act has to do with the Olympics. If your aren't an Olympic athlete are trying to become one it has no explicit control of your sport. There simply are no "sailng police".

It seems to me USS said, "Okay, we have broad powers regarding the Olympics, let's just take over everything until someone challenges us." The USS claim of authority over beach cat sailing is bogus, imo.

US Sailing claims no such authority. US Sailing is also an MNA under ISAF, which gives it certain clout with respect to organizing regattas.

No one is holding a gun to your head to sail under RRS, or US Sailing.

Where is the grass greener, exactly?

Mike

"Today, its authority comes instead from an act of Congress (the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978) and a much broader charter to serve America's sailors directly." I think this is where the wheels come off your argument, you're collecting membership fees under guise of the "broader charter" and not dealing with the beach cat community in good faith. It appears to me the old prejudice against multihulls persists.

In any case, the manner of electing the board and officers smells. It is hard for me to rationalize that very closed system with my understanding of the law of the land i.e. one man one vote. The whole thing smells.

"The Act requires that active athletes (defined as amateur athletes who have represented the United States in international amateur competition within the last ten years) must hold 20 percent of the voting power of any board or committee in an NGB". I think this deserves a closer look.

Errr...US sailing has claimed no authority over beach cat sailing. US Sailing is simply the major organizing body in the US for sailing - and we "sail"...so.....

There's no conspiracy (not on an organizational level anyway)...

Pete, please come back to the shallow end.

USS claims authority over everything that moves on the water! It's about collecting money.

not true! We don't have to use or be affiliated in any way with US Sailing. They are the conduit to the Olympics through the ISAF (just like all other Olympic disciplines have)...but that's about it. We are free to start our own organization, establish our own rules, etc. etc.

Go ahead and look, Pete. You'll find that the Board of Directors of US Sailing has way over the number of required number of Sailor Athletes. Only certain committees are required to have the 20% representation (explained here: http://about.ussailing.org/Directory/Councils/Sailor_Athlete_Council.htm).

If you call up any list of committee or council members on the US Sailing website, you'll see an "SA" column that shows the person's sailor athlete status. The only problem is that not every member who races has registered their sailor athlete status (takes about 5 minutes: http://www.ussailing.org/sac/athletes/register.asp).

As far as the election process go, what "elections" are you referring to? US Sailing Board of Directors? Multihull Council? None of these are "secret" processes. Some aspects are confidential - they have to be when you're talking about people's qualifications and capabilities, but the process isn't secret.

"The law of the land i.e. one man one vote?" W-T-F are you derping about? Do you think you actually cast a direct vote for the President of the United States? If so, you need a remedial course in government.

US Sailing members can vote for candidates to the board of directors - every year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_v._Sims Just a thought, not that it is (or isn't) relevant to the topic at hand.

The nomination process for BoD is anything but open, I'm thinking that contaminates the voting process.

Reynolds v. Sims has to do with state legislatures and is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

The nomination process is not a secret. The US Sailing Nominating Committee works just like any other nominating committee. Just because you're unaware of the process doesn't make it secret.

Let me enlighten you:
There are 13 members on the Nominating Committee (http://about.ussailing.org/Directory/Committees/Nominating_Committee.htm). I've been on it for 2+ years now, first as the One-Design Class Council Rep, and now the Multihull Council Rep. John Williams was the Multihull Council Rep before me.

Each committee member is free to nominate as many people for the board as they'd like. Nominees' names are put on a spreadsheet that also lists their attributes - where they're from, what they do (professionally and in sailing) and a host of other things. Right now, the spreadsheet has about 50 names on it.

2 to 3 board positions are filled each year. The Nominating Committee tries to keep the BoD balanced - not all from one region of the country; not all professional sailors, not all coaches, etc. That's the first filter applied to the spreadsheet that produces a "short list" of 10 or so people to contact to see if they're actually interested in being on the board. (Up to this point, they may not know they've been "volunteered".)

The real problem is that most people aren't interested in being on the board. It's a huge commitment in time and money (board members are expected to pay their own way to meetings and to contribute to the US Sailing Annual Fund). Some people don't want to be exposed to the possibility of losing an election. In the time that I've been on the NC, nobody has actually volunteered on their own to be considered for the board. Getting nominees to commit often requires considerable persuasion.

At the end of the day, we're lucky to have a handful of candidates to fill the open positions. If you (or anyone for that matter) is interested in being considered for the US Sailing BoD, just let me know and I'll be glad to put your name on the spreadsheet.

You've no idea what is relevant or irrelevant, that's the purview of courts and judges.

I didn't originate the notion of a legal challenge or coin the term "US Ailing". Yet, there is imo an unusual amount of discontent with USS. If they can't fix it perhaps they should just fold their tent. Or, focus on their mandate of Olympic sailing and leave the rest of us alone.

fwiw, I'm a member of USS to support the RRS and race officials (though I hear complaints even about that).

people will complain about anything. The RSS are actually quite well done. The system adapts and is very well reviewed. I find it astonishing that they put as much energy into including special rules for remote control sail boats as they do. I pity the fool / organization that would try to do better when it comes to RSS. It's a very fine balance between simple rules that still cover all the basis and there are undoubtedly the foremost experts involved in writing / modifying the rules within the ISAF / US Sailing.

That said, there are a couple of judges I think should have their accreditations yanked...but you'll find those in every crowd.

There is a sense of continuity with the RRS in that there were previous versions that have been amended as the sport changed.

This is a very good point. Does anyone know if there is a review process for accredited judges, or race officers for that matter? It would also be nice if reviews of judges and race officers were published on the US Sailing website. Knowing how many times a judge's ruling has been overturned by appeal and how many races have been tossed because of decisions made by the PRO has value. Most of us don't know the judges and race officers in our respective areas personally so we often have to select blindly and hope for the best. The informationg could also be seen as the MNA providing a service of value for its memembership.

just curious.... How many protest hearings are held at cat events in the south?

I have personally been involved in 2 in the past 12 months. One as a competitor, and one sitting on the PC. So I can say that they do happen.

Really Mark, are you still trying to have a go about that?

Karl, I'm pretty sure Mark was taking a shot at us based on the whole Steeplechase thing. Someone get me out of Mark's head... this place is freaking me out!

Does an organizational table exist for USS?

Grievances regarding race officials can filed with the Review Board (http://about.ussailing.org/Directory/Committees/Review_Board.htm) or you could bring your grievance to the attention of the appropriate committee (Race Management, Judges, Umpires, or Race Administration).

There has been talk of a rating system for race officials, but nobody's been able to figure out a way to not make it a popularity contest. Race Officials are asked to make difficult decisions that may not be popular at the time they are made. Have you ever known the person who lost a protest to be happy with the decision?

Cases overturned on appeal / abandoned races etc. are poor parametrics of overall performance. Often such things are out of the person's control (for example, having to abandon a race because a mark came loose). US Sailing would rather have the certification process weed out the unqualified individuals. No longer are race officials granted their certification "for life". We must renew our certifications every four years. ISAF certifications must be renewed every 2 years once you are over age 70.

NO... i did not want to start another go about Steeplechase.

It is an honest question. How many cat events and how many protests are heard in a year in your area. ... 1? 5? 10?

Again, up here... the Yacht club may have a member who does judging... otherwise the Head Judge will happily discuss your event and assign you a judge. The head judge makes sure that the his crew is up to date and certified. I am not sure why you would need a list... published someplace.

In my sailing region... I can think of only one protest in big multi's. Now juniors are another story... they have lots of protests that don't get settled on the water.