Don’t let the perfect be the enemy
of the good – Voltaire
Or, put another way, things that are worth doing are often worth doing badly. Ken Read argues that the changes needed for sailing to adapt to today’s time-greedy society are not so difficult… if we can stop obsessing with creating the perfect race, replacing it with the objective of maximising the time competitors spend racing
As I watch the dying embers of another sailing season I feel excited and worried. I am excited for the high end of the sport… the Imoca fleet, for example, as we have
56 SEAHORSE
watched them push themselves, and each other, in new, cutting-edge ‘fliers’ across the Atlantic. The America’s Cup – these boats are going to be fast and furious and who knows what is going to happen with these crazy new machines. The Moth Worlds will probably show us a form of singlehanded sailing with radical new top speeds in the big breeze off Perth. And of course another round of the 100-footers battling in yet another Sydney Hobart. Last year was a nice ‘easy’ Hobart so does that mean we are in for a nasty one this year? I could go on and on and on, there is lots to look forward to and so much going on. But I feel compelled to write about some-
thing more fundamental which I am really worried about and affects all of us who sail as a sport. Time is of the essence, not just for change to our sport but substantive change that can allow people to enjoy rac- ing but at the same time not feel as if they are wasting precious time that could be used far more productively. How do we buck the trend of declining participation and make sure we are inspiring the next generation of kids into the sport? Because at the moment we are losing the fight for the future. My simple view? Perfection is killing
sailboat racing. We are negating our momentum in search of perfection and it’s happening everywhere. Every one of these following measures can be done this year, next summer, any time by any yacht club, sailing association or world championship
race committee. All you have to do is have an open mind and try. The basic premise? Sailing takes up way
too much time. Time that we could be spending with our families, working, play- ing, relaxing and so on. Activities like sail- ing battle for our precious time. In modern society time is proving one of
our most precious commodities. There is no one golden bullet, but if implemented we do have options for a quick fix as the sport has to compete for time in all of our hectic lives.
1 Flex scheduling There is more good weather information and weather apps for a given sailing area than ever before in history. And it is easier to communicate to large groups than any time in history. So use them both. With the goal of having better sailing
and not wasting people’s time, the night before a race day send out a note to the entire fleet telling them when racing will start and probably conclude the next day. A 9pm announcement every night before racing the next day. Instead of everyone showing up and automatically heading out for an 11am start that everyone knows isn’t going to happen because the sea breeze isn’t going to fill until 1300… tell people to stay in bed! Change the rules to work out a ‘live’
window the night before for racing the next day. For example: ‘Racing starts at
IAN ROMAN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122
