MR360° News: Rankings
Many famous match race skippers have made their start this way.
Flexibility may be the most important trait to have when
hunting for invitations, because when an opportunity does present itself, you must be ready to commit. Te opportunity might come as much as a few months away or just a few days. Since this often involves travel, you’ll have to factor this in as well. Being organised is critical: map out a strategy for what
events are on your list, download and read their Notices of Race, get the right contact data for who to write to or call, and take notes on the conversations, as you may forget any nuances later when you’re time may come. Also track your own ranking as it changes through the season so that you can inform whoever you are writing to with the latest information… don’t make them have to take time to hunt this down.
And while its a great feeling to get a start up the ladder on
the rankings, be careful also not to lose what you’ve worked so hard to gain. One of the fastest ways to do this is to commit to attend an event and then back out within two months of the start: besides being discourteous, the ISAF Regulations say this could earn you a zero-point result for that event unless you have a very good excuse. Also, remember your ranking points do not last forever, but
decay in value with time: current year points are multiplied by 6; they reduce to 3 after one year, and in the third year get no multiplier at all.
Go to
www.sailing.org/4891.php to get all the details on calculating points for the ranking list, and
Photo by Chris Davies / Alpari World Match Racing Tour Another tactic is to be political: get to know some of the
big-name skippers, and ask them for advice or any contacts or any leads that may arise. Last (but certainly not least) is besides having yourself ready
to go, you must also have your team ready. Tis is really difficult, because your crew have lives too and may not have exactly the flexibility that you have. But organisers know this, particularly for the bigger boat
regattas, and thus may have some local talent to help round out your team.
MATCH RACING 360° | page 17 | March 2012 Good Luck with your climb!
Another way to help organisers (and the public) know who you are is to use:
• a good website for your team - essential for updates on your team’s progress
• social media, like Facebook and Twitter to give real-time info
• regular email updates to your mailing list of sponsors and fans
In the next issue: How to use social media to move up the ranking
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