journey to win Olympic gold in the Laser Radial, or the conversa- tions with Iain Percy, Ben Ainslie and Nokka, as they dug deep, sometimes struggling to find the words to describe their friend Bart Simpson; but as I walked away from this latest interview I realised that nothing I have witnessed matched the passion, determination and raw energy of Ame Barnbrook. Blue Robinson
USA Changes ahead for US Sailing…
In this autumn season of annual policy meetings, discussions have been made and plans are being revealed that indicate there are changes on the horizon for the administration of offshore racing in the US.
An internal workshop held in July to identify organisational challenges facing the US Sailing offshore division delivered up a long list of improvements, recommended to make the division more efficient and responsive to the needs of offshore racers and organisers here. It was felt the general slide in participation numbers was due at least in part to some poor connections between rating offices, event organisers and sailors, resulting in unneces- sary barriers to entry into the game.
A part of this has been US Sailing’s relationship with the 75-plus PHRF fleets in the US that handle ratings for what is thought to be nearly 20,000 boats, since all these fleets operate with complete autonomy. The offshore office offers help in maintain- ing a national database of handicaps but has no authority over these fleets, so ratings for the same boat type are often incon- sistent and unco-ordinated between fleets… a problem for boats travelling to national events and also a source of irritation for event organisers.
However, the situation as it has evolved of letting PHRF operate on its own as an ‘entry level’ tier for the US fleets seems unassailable, as is requiring organisation membership to play the game… not even a high-profile personality like the last US Sailing president, Gary Jobson, would touch this sensitive issue here in the US.
So in this environment options have been discussed for revitalisation. These included a plan similar to the relationship in Britain between RORC and the RYA, namely that there is a clear separation between the MNA entity handling the racing rules, Olympics and so on, and the entity that handles issues relating to offshore racing. And so a new entity, rebranded as US Offshore, will henceforth be much more independent in its authority, revenue generation, administration, marketing etcetera. In the final analysis, it was decided to pursue a solution where US Offshore will remain under the aegis of US Sailing, but will operate with more autonomy so as to improve their functionality on the US offshore scene. Besides rule management, measure- ment training and certification, and other related functions, US Offshore will also continue to oversee offshore safety training and requirements.
The other big news is that US Offshore intends to develop a new cloud-based platform to support various important items of information: measurement data, handling crew lists and so on, and integrating tracking and scoring applications for race management. This system would then become the prototype for the Universal Measurement System (UMS) – a joint effort between the RORC, ORC and US Sailing – where all measurements are taken accord- ing to standard protocols on a rating-neutral basis, and anyone can have access to the database of measurements (except when specifically needed to be classified) so that certificates could be generated for any rule of choice.
This is a huge project, and will take many months to build, test and then finally roll out for use, but there is excitement in the air to finally bring offshore IT support in the US into the current generation.
In related news, the office’s technical rules expert Jim Teeters has resigned his post in favour of offering his services on a contract basis to US Offshore. As president of the Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF), Teeters will now be left more free to pursue research projects relating to VPP development of the ORR rule used in the US. Dobbs Davis
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