US SAILING’S PROPOSED MANDATORY MEMBERSHIP
by John Slater, SAYRA representative to the Council of Sailing Associations
By now you may have heard that the US SAILING Board of Directors is considering a proposal to make membership mandatory for racing sailors, with some exemptions, which are still to be decided. They plan to incorporate the requirement as a Prescription to the 2009-2012 Racing Rules of Sailing, which will go to press late this summer.
The Board has given the Council of Sailing Associations until May 15 to submit comments on the proposal from the sailing community. I encourage you to read up on the proposal (click here to download proposal) and e-mail your comments about it to both me (john@jennyknob.org) and Area D Director Sarah Ashton. The SAYRA Executive Committee will consider your comments at its May 10 meeting and will adopt a recommendation that will be forwarded to US SAILING. If you don’t have access to e-mail, you can mail your comments to me at P.O. Box 163, Webster, NC 28788, and to Sarah at 76 Pitt Street, Charleston, SC 29403.
Here is the link to US Sailing President Jim Capron's guest commentary in Scuttlebutt News
You can also read what many other sailors think of the proposal in the Scuttlebutt Forum. You’ll find it at http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5935
THE RESPONSE
by the SAYRA Executive Committee
|
| To the Council of Sailing Associations:
The Executive Committee of the South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association has directed me to inform you of its unanimous opposition to US SAILING's scheme for mandatory membership.
The action was taken at the committee's spring meeting May 10. Prior to the meeting, the committee had solicited comments from the SAYRA membership. Written responses were received from clubs, sailing associations, dinghy sailors, PHRF sailors, lake sailors, offshore sailors, high school sailors and even non-sailors who participate on race committees. Ninety-three percent of the responses opposed the US SAILING proposal, citing a wide variety of reasons and offering numerous alternatives for addressing US SAILING's cash-flow difficulties. Several noted that the proposed prescription would be impossible to enforce..
I am attaching one of the more thoughtful of the responses received (Click here to download).
The committee understands that its opposition is likely to have little effect on US SAILING's decision to implement its scheme, but it hopes the final version will include exemptions for local races (in which no boat travels more than 50 miles to take part), races that are conducted for the purpose of teaching sailing, races that are intended principally to attract new participants to the sport, and all ISSA events.
In addition, the committee urges US SAILING to make its membership database more accessible to regatta organizers, who must have accurate, real-time information available if they are to enforce the mandatory membership provisions.
Respectfully submitted, John Slater
SAYRA Representative to the Council of Sailing Associations |
