The Publisher
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Jul 27, 2010, 10:46 AM
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Cost to compete at Youth Worlds
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The 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship was held July 8-17, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, attracting nearly 350 young sailors from 59 nations. Among the nations was New Zealand, which fielded a complete team of 11 sailors for the 8 events. This perennial favorite was one of five countries to win two medals (Boys Laser Radial - Gold, 29er - Silver), bested only by the three medals won by the USA. But competing at this elite event comes with a cost, as detailed here by Grant Beck, whose son Logan competed in the Boys 420 class:
The cost to the NZ Yachting Federation and the parents was about $150,000 for this great event when you include the cost of training back home and any racing in Europe before hand (Yup NZ is a long way away and it’s a big deal for us to compete in Europe).
Only 7 of 12 races could be completed at the 2010 Worlds due to light winds. A similar thing occurred at the 2009 Youth Worlds in Brazil when only 8 of the 12 races were sailed.
The cost of each race to the NZ team is $12,500.00 per race so to miss out on 5 races is a $62,500.00 cost, and, when you consider a similar cost per race to many of the sailors from the other 58 countries, it sure adds up.
Now we all know we can’t go racing when the wind is too light, shifty or for that matter too strong. However, for two years in a row only just over half the racing has been completed. This isn’t good enough when you count the cost in terms of money, time, effort, and the prestige this event has.
Fixing this is easy! Make the racing the absolute priority. Every opportunity should be taken to race; that’s to use the lay days, re-scheduling racing if required and perhaps the addition of a spare day as the marginal cost of providing additional reserve days is negligible as a completed race schedule is the key goal.
Curmudgeon’s Comment: The 2010 event was hot with light winds, and racing was often postponed and ended quite late in the day. I have a hunch that Grant is eyeing the Lay Day as wasted time, and also how the last day provided the best breeze day, but only one race was completed. Also, to clarify the completed race count, three of the eight classes in 2010 completed seven races, with only one class topping out at ten races. Here was the original schedule:
09 July - Training Day
10 July - Practice Races
11 July - 3 Races scheduled (2 to 3 races completed)
12 July - 3 Races scheduled (1 to 2 races completed)
13 July - Lay Day
14 July - 3 Races scheduled (0 to 1 race completed)
15 July - 2 Races scheduled (2 to 3 races completed)
16 July - 1 Race scheduled (1 race completed)
Event website: http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/editions/2010/index.php
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