--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==Ahoy D-24,
I’ve followed the discussions on increasing participation and retention with interest, and I’d like to put in my masters-centered two cents. Feel free to skip to the end for some concrete suggestions. (Disclosure: I live in Oregon now)
First, let’s just acknowledge that sailing is specialized, expensive and difficult. You need waterfront access, lots of specialized parts and it can take years to learn how to simply keep a Laser upright in many west coast venues (I’m holding my hand up here). Compare a day of going sailing to going for a bike ride…similar levels of gear but if I want to go mountain biking, even if I want to drive, it’s a change of clothes, throw the bike on the car and go riding. Sailing, on the other hand…I have to load up the boat and gear on a trailer or car-top, not forget a single item, have a duffle-load of clothes, drive to the water, unload the program, rig, and go out…then repeat the whole process when coming in. In order to practice you pretty much need a boat based at an easy launching spot, which is not always easy to find and additional expense as well.
And because we’re dealing with reality, let’s talk about expense. Sailing has never been cheap and it never will be, but there are some irksome costs. One, the class/ association/US Sailing fees. Two, the sails. After over a decade flailing away with my Laser nobody has given me a good reason why my ILCA sail is so much more than the cost of a another sail that fits my boat. I may have the money to deal with these discrepancies but in truth there is a principal objection here, and I know others feel the same way. To illustrate how this matters, I have a perfect target for a new Laser sailor that lives close to me - already a champion dingy sailor and ex-pro big boat guy - he’d like to get back in to it and has the money and time. What tips the balance for him? As a “one-time” sailor, just to test the ILCA waters, if he wants to borrow my boat and go up to the Gorge for one event, he has to pay the entry fee, the US Sailing fee, and possibly even join ILCA. Plus travel, camping, parking, boat storage…and beating up one of my class sails.
My point? Sailing has some real obstacles to participation. And, there’s a lot of competition for people’s time. So to get bigger fleets we have to try harder.
Since transitioning from big-boat only sailing to dingy sailing, I’ve been an owner and active in two west-coast fleets - the Vanguard 15 and ILCA. I can confidently say there are a few things that really work to keep people engaged.
• Communication and “cheerleading”. The D24 email setup is a great example of both, and I think every fleet should have such a list. I am physically closer now to Seattle and Portland, and how many of those events have I attended? Not counting the Gorge only ONE, yet I’ve come down several times for D24 events. Why? Because I know about them. I’m not always an especially motivated sailor and I have other things vying for my time and money, but when I get a reminder email about an event from Tracy, Emilio, Stephen or whoever it makes me check my schedule to see if I could make it.
• After race socializing - Great way to build relationships, debrief, learn…our V-15 fleet was great at this, and lately at Skamania Coves it’s top notch. This group bonding is a draw, especially for sailors who aren’t that competitive.
• Being open and friendly on the race course and in the rigging area, especially towards new people. Hyper competitiveness just drives people away, and a welcoming environment can go a long way towards getting people to return. We are all responsible for this.
• I’ll second the recommendation to read Bill Symes’ article on fleet building.
Finally, I’d like to offer some suggestions.
1. ILCA should set up an email list just like D24 has, for every district fleet.
2. Tied in to this should be a consistent web calendar…every fleet gets this to fill out with their events, easily accessible from the email. Also the secretary contact. All in the footer.
3. US Sailing and ILCA could offer a “tryout” membership at a cut rate for sailors that are only going to do one or two events.
4. Class legal sail price…I’m just sayin’.
See you on the water,
David
On Sep 19, 2022, at 4:25 PM, David Lapier (dlapier) <dla...@cisco.com> wrote:--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==--++**==FYI –I just ran into the following on fleet building from Bill Symes. https://internationalsailingacademy.com/thoughts-on-fleet-building/-- David LFrom: laser-class-d24 <laser-class...@lists.stanford.edu> On Behalf Of laird henkel
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:02 AM
To: laser-c...@lists.stanford.edu List <laser-c...@lists.stanford.edu>
Subject: D24 survey results!Hi all-Thanks to everyone who filled out the D24 survey regarding boosting participation in future D24 regattas. The results are attached here!Everyone should take a look and draw their own conclusions. For me, the main takeaways are that a lot of people are excited about participating in D24 events, and at least among respondents, there is quite a bit of diversity in what people are excited about.Hopefully this will spur a productive discussion here on the D24 email list, and perhaps at future D24 get-togethers.Laird Henkel
laser-class-d24 mailing list
laser-c...@lists.stanford.edu
https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/laser-class-d24
laser-class-d24 mailing list
laser-c...@lists.stanford.edu
https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/laser-class-d24
Al:
What do you mean by
“And our D24 listing goes to our outdated MyFleet page”
Outdated? Though I did not add the fall dinghy results, it’s current and has been kept current all year. Where should the district listing go, if not there?
BTW, as I told Stephen, this will be the last year where I will keep it updated. I think I did it for > five years?
Somebody needs to step up to do this and yes, it would be nice to move to a different/ better page but the main thing is that it needs to be done.
Couple more comments about participations and lists. Currently there are 4 lists I know of:
1- Old Stanford list
2- New google group list
3- A text phone list for practices at ACSC
4- An email list for RYC
The RYC list was created during covid as the club only wanted members to be sailing but from now on, it will just go to the regular list. So, we’re down to 3.
I hate phones and whish the ACSC phone list would disappear and the posts moved to the regular list (there might be reasons to keep them separate, I don’t know).
It would be nice to move to a single list.
It would also be nice to know when the juniors at the San Francisco YC plan on sailing around South Hampton and whether they would mind if some creaky old geezers would join.
BTW, planning on sailing Saturday at RYC and Sunday @ Alameda, if it’s happening.
E
Emilio Castelli
--
Discussion forum for International Laser Class Association - - ---District 24, covering northern California and Nevada. Topics should include all things (ILCA) Laser and not idle chit chat which should be taken offline from this forum. This site is rated PG.
To join this group, email international-laser-class-ass...@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "International Laser Class Association District 24" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to international-laser-class-asso...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/international-laser-class-association-district-24/CAP8fJnwVmcNReVkOCmFuE2HZyLKB4%3DA0rO1kDNXDhsSNcHBuZg%40mail.gmail.com.
Al:
I don’t think there was a Grand Prix in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID. Grand Prix page is current as far as I know.
I think the main function of the mailing list is to see “who’s sailing this week end and where”.
What else should it be used for?
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/international-laser-class-association-district-24/CAP8fJnzAMb1KdEd8YYiBR1%2BYf5QYgPTLDQmy7qa-ay%2B00trTqg%40mail.gmail.com.
Al,I think that’s a good way to put it…the mailing list is where the action is. Great example from the 505s. Even more reason for ILCA to take some of our fees and centralize communications for sailors. I realized today that one reason I went to worlds was because Tracy put out an email alerting us to the registration opening up. If it wasn’t for that it’s possible I would not have even heard of it!And that leads in to calendars…I have not looked lately but it seems like even for the west coast, there’s various calendars, all in various states of updating. Again, here’s something for ILCA to address - Email list, calendar, and secretary contact all in one consistent spot.David
--
Discussion forum for International Laser Class Association - - ---District 24, covering northern California and Nevada. Topics should include all things (ILCA) Laser and not idle chit chat which should be taken offline from this forum. This site is rated PG.
To join this group, email international-laser-class-ass...@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "International Laser Class Association District 24" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to international-laser-class-asso...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/international-laser-class-association-district-24/CACU-PQNm_YdPww45vgUwX_w8gRQfcBWPP7NW3--c4FJ07Ygj6g%40mail.gmail.com.
Sounds good. Thank you for doing that.
--To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/international-laser-class-association-district-24/CAHrQ%3DkqX4HYxr1vqgwz1JeaXOikp2H8AB8%3DM%2B3RhGc%2BhfE1FGA%40mail.gmail.com.