> There's nothing so bad about having more than one OD class.
> No one class will ever suit everyone.
I live in a major (Great Lakes Area) US city that has perhaps 20 people interested in racing. 3 RSX, perhaps a couple more if you drive 1-2 hours. Perhaps 5 ODs, couple of Mistral I think, and about 5 Konas. And several Formulas which may or may not be racing.
So you have 3 RSXs max practicing by themselves, 2-3 old ODs guys dreaming about the old days, and some Kona guys that like racing but claim they can't compete with some other equipment. Net result: a couple of open races in the year with fewer than 20 racers, most of which are not happy being there...
Now 20 woulda been a nice local class, enough to get some serious comp started. But it doesn't work - too fragmented.
Take it one notch up: there were a couple of much larger 'open' events the last 2 years - but same kind of result, just more people, and not that many at that.
> Class of 70 ODs in Oz
This great success is the result of some real great efforts by what seems to be from afar incredibly dedicated people. I don't even race (despise it - sorry) and yet I admire this turn of events. But unless there is this amount of dedication somewhere, there is no unification into a viable class - the idea of racing is too scattered. Which dedication would have to be multiplied now by the number of possible racing classes...
Yes, worlds' RSX and Mistral and Kona are held, but looking at the country participation in the last Kona Worlds, for instance, we can hardly call this a world-wide class championship.
While I don't race, I still would like to see the racing community arrive at some sort of agreement on a way, but frankly I don't see how. I thought the Olympics would have fixed that a long time ago, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Meanwhile, local successes like the OD class in Australia and Kona in Sweden are way satisfactory in my book.
My recession-deflated 2 cents.
@pierrec45 - you make some good points there. It is a little bit fragmented in Australia as the racing/competing (yes, I'm including wave guys) population is distributed over many different classes. I don't think this will change anytime soon (or ever) as it mostly relates to what gear the dealers in the local area sell/promote and what classes those *small few* super dedicated (volunteer!) people in their local area who organise/promote events are sailing themselves.
As the coach of Bic/RSX in QLD, I like to promote the aspect of 'pathways' to the younger guys I am coaching. From NSW there is a document floating around with the different pathways available for sailors coming out of Aus, whether they want to race OD in Australia only, or do PWA Freestyle. The roots are always the same in my opinion, it doesn't matter what class you start/compete on in your early development.
My role as coach is to get QLD sailors on the Australian Sailing Team, however that's a very specific pathway that usually goes along the lines of - train on a BIC (as a youth) then on the RSX (with 8.5 youth sail) then again on the RSX (with 9.5 mens sail *if a man*) then on to international competitions and qualification events etc etc. Not everyone is suited to that pathway but going down the Olympic path at some point gives you access to coaching/funding which is not available in any other classes in Australia at the moment. So the skills you can learn there will translate to other classes (I know 2x top Pro PWA wavesailors/freestylers who sailed IMCO for many years).
Probably there needs to be much more incorporation of classes at major windsurfing events. I know the performance differences between the OD classes is quite a large gap, but as long as everyone is aware of that you can just sail the race against the guys on the same gear. In NSW, we are incorporating (with the help of Jessica Crisp) the BIC sailors at the NSW Windsurfing Series events which were traditionally formula/slalom only. I can foresee RSX being included as well down the track when the numbers increase ... it's a start. There is no easy road ...
Ps. In regards to the earlier posts about the BIC Techno 293. It's not really a board for adults; it's a bit small. You have the option of a 6.8 / 7.8m sail. When I jumped on it (I'm 78kg) I could barely go upwind in <15 knots as their isn't enough power in the sail ... It is a great youth/junior board at the price and availability, but I don't think it would suit an adult racing class - I may be corrected however; I only jumped on it once ...
A Good start would be to put the australian events for the Bic techno and rsx Class on the windsurfing Calender the AWA will not do that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As we discussed in earlier threads, its because the RSX Class Association is a separate entity and not affiliated with the AWA; the AWA only puts its own events on its own calendars ... You can find all the RSX events on the YA calendar on www.yachting.org.au.
The BIC class doesn't currently have a class association at all; we're looking to get this setup in the very near future and for them to come under the AWA banner (in which case they will have their events listed on the AWA site) ;) Apart from the Youth Trials in SA coming up in January I don't know if there are any other official Bic events currently?
as i said before why is the master sailing games listed. the bic techno is the chosen youth Board for the youth Olympics so it would come under the AYA so the events cant be listed on awa calender
"why is the master sailing games listed." - At a guess, because someone requested it be!
..."The bic techno is the chosen youth Board for the youth Olympics"... - So what!
... "so it would come under the AYA" - This does not follow - read Seans post below. YA does not own Bic Techno, the Bic techno class association will make their own decisions when it is created.
..."so the events cant be listed on awa calender" - Wrong again, there is no reason why they cannot be listed, I think you will find that the AWA will list any event if notified - regardless of the organising authority. It is not listed because YA have not informed AWA of the events for inclusion in the calendar.
in the end I am sure logic will prevail and you will decide it is a Formula/Starboard problem again.
Or even better still, why doesn't Windsuffering contact Yachting Australia directly?
Yachting Australia
Postal Address is Locked Bag 806, Milsons Point, NSW 2061
Phone (02) 8424 7400 and Fax (02) 9906 2366
bic techno events the nsw youths were on a couple weeks ago i think at the same time as the awa nsw windsurfing series
"bic techno events the nsw youths were on a couple weeks ago i think at the same time as the awa nsw windsurfing series"
Wrong - The NSW Windsurfing Series is run by Stormriders/Windsurfing NSW.
You forgot to mention that the wallies and raceboards sailed at DAC and Illawarra the same weekend too. I fail to see your point. Are you saying that if there is a gazetted event no other class should be allowed race? Even of they are hundreds of Kms away?
"are the rsx sailors members of the awa" - What has that got to do with anything? They may be, but may not be. The RSX class has NOTHING to do with the AWA, for the tenth time - that are administered by YA.
The sailors may well be members of YA and AWA - who cares? Do you have a point to make? I am a member of a club, AWA and YA. I am also a member of a local travelling dance troupe but I try to keep that quiet. Membership of an association does not preclude membership of any other!
going by what you say why are the world master games on the calender its not even windsurfing, not run by the storm riders,awa,windsurfing VIC SA NSW WA QLD TAS NT .
STICK to the rules.
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Windsufering what do you care, you said one design racing sux and should never be discussed here, now you're all upset over the Rsx and Techno stuff not being on the calendar.
A tad inconsistent?
Just the usual drivel huh.
i started this thread to see if there was a glimmer of hope for one design racing that i experienced in the early eighties, that was a fun period of my life with regular sunday races at wellington point or margate or humpybong.
before open class wrecked windsurf racing. (a sh!zload more money always wins)
one design obviously needs a focus.
i hope some windsurfing body or company or sailing association can sort it. 
Greenie,
The short answer is that at present there is only one One Design class that offers large fleets and relative strict equipment rules, and is not focused on Olympics or Youth. That is the Windsurfer One Design.
They have large fleets, accessible equipment, multiple clubs, and cater for a huge cross section of sailors.
All other classes are not strict One Design classes for the masses.
Jb
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Another option is that you could still have the various "One Designs" race against each other but base the results on yardsticks. This is how dingy/catameran sailing is done every weekend around Australia. That way all the classes of sailing can get together under the single organised event.
Personally I think their should just be one entity promoting sailing, which I think is the same as windsurfing. AWA should be a subsidery of yachting australia that way every one who is interested in promoting the sport has access to the same information and becomes a one stop shop. How easy is that. Then you would just have one calender of events, one insurance etc etc etc.
However all the above may just be too logical which can be such a flaw when being an Engineer........
Pierre wrote; "So you have 3 RSXs max practicing by themselves, 2-3 old ODs guys dreaming about the old days, and some Kona guys that like racing but claim they can't compete with some other equipment. Net result: a couple of open races in the year with fewer than 20 racers, most of which are not happy being there..."
Sure, such fragmentation is bad - but the RSX guys are highly unlikely to sail Kona or OD, and the Kona guys haven't been able to buy an OD, and the OD guys may not want to cash up for a Kona. So it's not as if those 15 guys will ever coalesce into just one class. Peoples' tastes are just too different, and their pockets and locations are different too.
The USA dinghy-sailing scene seems to be more manic about everyone in an area just sailing the major local OD class, so they haven't had many significant new classes in eons and just about everyone has to sail a fairly slow old-fashioned boat. That's fine for some of us, but if we straightjacket everyone by forcing them into a single class, we lose many people from the sport.
So while your point is perfectly valid, the hard facts of international dinghy sailing (which is arguably the best comparison to our sport) seem to indicate that fewer classes = far fewer sailors.
Is there any 'Race Board' activity in Australia? Don't think there is any in Victoria but is there any interest here?
The raceboard class seems like it has some advantages:
-Many brands and models can race. Suits diverse tastes?
-With modern rigs there shouldn't be the old scene on the beach of everyone rigging 3 or 4 sails (at huge expense)
-Race in a huge range of conditions
-Suit all size people?
-Not sure of cost but if limited in practice to one or two production sails it may not be too bad?
Is it potentially cheaper than Formula? (I would have guessed so, but I may be missing something.)
I have very fond memories of 'Raceboard' racing on PPBay in the late '80s -early 90's but then it was too much of an equipment race with 'open' class and custom made Raceboards and light wind Div 11 type customs. Maybe the 'Raceboard' rules have addressed that disadvantage?
Sailquik, the Raceboard class is still active. Dobroyd in Sydney and Illawarra YC in Sydney both probably have 30+ in total, with 10-20 out on race days. There's also smaller groups in Cronulla, Melbourne, Lacapede Bay (SA) and a scattering in other areas.
The class now has a 9.5m limit, but lighter sailors are very competitive with 8.5s.
As far as boards do, the situation is good. The new boards are very competitive with the best of the old boards, but the old boards are still fully capable of winning. There's only one Exocet Warp X 380 around but it's shown a lot of potential. There are a bunch of Starboard Phantoms around and going well. Those who are possibly the top 4 sailors in NSW would be using the following gear;
IMCO with second-hand 8.5 (from a Prodigy hybrid)
Phantom with 8.5 Barracouta
Pan Am with 7.5????
Mistral Equipe Mk 1 (like the IMCO but slightly lighter) with Pryde sail and an alloy mast.
Clearly, skill is what makes the difference rather than gear, but those who like new boards can now buy some very competitive kit. There are some very old boards still winning.
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jeez div 2 boards are very difficult to sail.
