TornadoSport260 Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 All sounds good in theory but remember that the Maricats are the only association with insurance and if you run a try sailing day outside of an affiliated & insured club you are the organising authority and all the liability lies with the associations. This was the hurdle it all fell down on last time this was suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Planet Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Yes I realise that - but it could be 'unofficial' in the sense that any1 who wanted a ride would do so at their own risk... and that would be clearly stated. An upper wind limit of 15 knots could be set to minimise any danger.. Maybe it's time to pool the resources of the 2 associations, and do some proper promotion? I'm not sure if the Paper Tiger guys would be interested though - as their boats are certainly a more race-oriented design... I think we have to acknowledge that anyone interested in either W14 or Maricat is going to generally be a recreational sailor, and then become a racing sailor once they get bored of just hooning around... so to promote the racing aspect of the 2 classes in the hope of attracting more sailors is counter-productive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korwich Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 All sounds good in theory but remember that the Maricats are the only association with insurance and if you run a try sailing day outside of an affiliated & insured club you are the organising authority and all the liability lies with the associations. This was the hurdle it all fell down on last time this was suggested. Maricats no longer have enough members in the association to pay for insurance, therefore Maricats no longer have insurance, hence no titles state or National. Yes I know that the liability rests with the organising body yada yada, but until it is proven in a court of law by one of the other classes (between the widdows and the orphans) that this acutally is the case, I'm not willing to end up sharing a cell with Bubba. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korwich Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 If you organise a try sailing day, whether its official or unofficial, you are still the organiser, if someone gets hurt, you damage something, or worse, the way the legal system and the regulatory systems are these days, there is a good chance of you and bubba spending a lot of quality time together. Either way some one will end up being responsible. I'm not trying to be negative, I hate the way it has become too, but we have to realise that that is the way Australia has become. I personally feel that trying to get Sydney people interested in sailing catamarans is a waste of time, and I came from Sydney and learnt to sail on Pittwater (in a MJ) Lemontree Passage/Tanilba Bay per head of population would have almost 6 times or more the interest in cat sailing than Sydney, there is maybe 2000 residents of lemo/tanilba, we had 8 cats sailing on Sunday just gone, whats the population of sydney, how many cats sailed in all the clubs in the sydney region last weekend? I respect and applaude your efforts Rohan and I really hope that you can generate some interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquoll Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 I like the presentation of "Discover Sailing" http://discoversailing.org.au/ They researched the issues, and present the solution. Go for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Planet Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 The question about how many Sydney Catamaran-based Sailing Clubs had cats sailing is an interesting one. I assume that the 3 biggest clubs are Kurnell, Palm Beach and Concorde-Ryde? I was at Kurnell, and the day was blown out - too much wind - survival conditions. Nevertheless I took sum1 out for a spin who's on the brink of purchasing a 2nd hand W14 – and he really loved it - altho' I was very reluctant to do it... no talk of liability arose - he really wanted to go out for a spin. (There was another W14 there that day - and he stayed ashore - too daunting.) Anyway, it's not a question of how many cats were out that day, it's a matter of how may 14's were on the water in Sydney that attempted racing - or attempted the feat on that day. Only a handful I assume... The comment I heard from the race organiser at KCC was that he would like to see more 14's in the club... so the want is there... it's really a matter of how 14ft sailing is promoted and perceived by the general public. My feeling is that we have to start promoting the simplicity and fun aspect of it... rather than the winning of races and competition. How we do that – effectively – as a combined group is the question. I guess we can all be fearful and negative and worry about what might happen – and continue to see the once strong entry-level plastic-cats dwindle, or find a way to do it... Seems to me that the Discover Sailing thing leaves it up to the clubs - but clubs are too preoccupied with racing - not promotion. Unless of course the major Sydney cat-based clubs get together to put on a day/s under their auspices at a central Sydney location? Might that be feasible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquoll Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 As a Club, we have an Aquatic Licence which gives us rights to use the waterway for the event. We have rescue boat(s) and facilities to support the event. We have several layers of insurance to cover an event; operational insurance, insurance of facilities, insurance of boats involved, and members receive personal accident insurance. We are also incorporated, so no matter badly it all goes wrong, none of us will be personally liable for the Club's mistakes. All events are minuted at meetings, to provide record that they were organised by the Club. All of that admin is to run events at our home lake, and we have no interest in the problematic challenge of running events elsewhere. At Wallagoot we were very happy to coordinate our involvement in Try Sailing Day, as organised State-wide by the Boating Industry Association. I note that we took on all responsibility and liability for our event; so they had no worries. We are now planning for our annual Sailing School, so those who took the bait at Try Sailing Day can now be reeled in and landed into boats. Having a Windrush involved in this school would no doubt help convince a participant that a Windie is the boat they should go and buy. If you were to offer to participate in these events and loan boats, we would very much welcome that support. I'm sure other clubs would respond similarly. We have had an increase in Windrush at our club this year, mostly due to one keen sailor who demonstrated how fast they can really go, and offered rides to interested people. He followed up by brokering deals and selling some excellent 2nd-hand boats to our members. We now have 2 modern super-sloop Windies that can almost keep up with my Paper Tiger, 2 old sloop-rigged Windies that finish 5 to 10minutes later, and there are 2 other working boats in the region that we rarely or never see. I believe there are also 2 wrecks being stripped for parts. The perception that Windies are more durable, easier to sail, and available 2nd-hand, has favoured them over PTs. Keen youngsters who are into racing and looking to step up to a faster boat seem more likely to be PT buyers than the, um, large mature folk who are buying Windies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Planet Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 Hey Tony, I applaud Wallagoot for it's proactive approach - well done. I just looked at KCC's calender - no mention of a Try Sailing Day, or any other learner-focused activities - apart from the Juniors events. So, if the clubs are realistically the only way to get 14's back on the radar, then maybe we should organise 3 events - one at Kurnell, one at Concorde Ryde, and one at Pittwater, where the 3 associations commit to supplying at least 3 of each boat - Paper Tiger, Windrush 14 & Maricat 4.3... It seems that Wallagoot is already doing something - so as much as I'd like to put my hand up, I see that this club is already motoring ahead nicely... it may also be hard to get 3 new Windy's and Maricats down there - based purely on the distance to travel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquoll Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Hosting Try Sailing Day and running a brief sailing school is the minimum we can get away with in order to maintain fleet numbers. Many clubs do a lot more, with weekly training sessions, ongoing junior programs, multiple "discover sailing" events and more. The weekend's Laser State Titles demonstrated that these junior training programs lead to dedicated involvement, obviously on the type of boat used during training. Palm Beach Sailing Club appears to have an ongoing catamaran training program: http://www.pbsc.org.au/trainingprograms.html Concorde Ryde Sailing Club's program appears junior / Opti focussed, also with a family dinghy course: http://www.concordrydesailing.org/Training%20Policy.html Kurnell Cat Club ironically have a junior program in open BIC boats. The Discover Sailing website lets you find events that are already organised, which you (or anyone) might attempt to work with. My suggestion is to participate in these events, demonstrate how great 14' cats are, take people out for joy rides and make available info about boats for sale. Bearing in mind any class association is made up of sailing members / private boat owners from many clubs, none of them have association-owned boats that they might provide. It comes down to the volunteer's efforts and commitment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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