Asian Sailing Champs 2012 - match racers' wish list

by Morten Jakobsen on 5 Oct 2011 On seeing the notice of race for the Asian Sailing Championship (ASC) in Langkawi Feb 2012, posted on the ISAF web page, we feel that it is worth composing a wish list on what we, as regional match racers, would like to see for the match race (MR) class in this type of event.

The background is also that only six or seven teams raced in the MR class in the previous ASC and Asian Games, which were held with similar event schedules and participation costs. That can not have been a satisfying turnout as there were a lot of active Asian match race skippers listed on the ISAF MR world ranking list, currently there are about 130 active skippers listed from 20 Asian countries.

The wish list from the racers is:

1) Maximize the grade of the event as much as possible. Teams will much rather travel to grade 3 or higher events, as there are more points to gain towards improving the teams placing on the ISAF MR world ranking list. (ASC in Langkawi is registered with ISAF as grade 4 at the moment. The ISAF grading criteria allow this grade of MR events to be held with only local teams in dinghies).

2) Avoid overly long events. Say max three race days for a grade 3 event including practice, registration and prize giving. This will keep the event short, intense and fun for the participants. It will also help by reducing event accommodation costs significantly for each team.

3) Hold the event over a weekend plus a weekday. We are guessing 95% or more of the Asian MR teams comprises of people with regular jobs or students. If racing is scheduled over a 7-8 days like in the ASC in Langkawi, it is likely that few crews can take that much time off and the low participation numbers from the past ASC/Asian Games may be repeated.

4) Keep the total event fees reasonable. All inclusive entry fees for MR events in the region is usually about 400-500$US per team in total. Asking for US$1500 on top like in ASC in Langkawi for 'boat charter' will keep many teams away, as this is not seen as reasonable for an event held in well used Platu25’s (only four-five yachts are required for 12 teams for this event).

5) Aim for 8-12 teams in the event with max two teams per nation. The logic is that 8 teams is the minimum for grade three or four events, and if more than 12 teams are included, experience says that there will only be time to have a few matches for the teams who do not make it into the finals.

6) Have transparent criteria for inclusion of teams in the event. Aim to maximizing the number of countries who participate, and then include first nations and then teams strictly by the ISAF MR world ranking position. The only exception should be if a county have held an ISAF registered qualification event to determine who from that country should be the first entry in the ASC.

7) Ensures a high number of races for all participants; MR teams love to race, so avoid race formats where some teams can get knocked out of the event on the first or second day.

8) Allow MR teams to request invitations directly from the organizers. MR teams are used to organize travel to international events themselves, so it makes sense if they are allowed to request invitations directly from the event organizers, at least if their national sailing authority have failed to register two MR teams from that country by the registration deadline.

9) Use regional standard crew weight limits – The crew weight limit may not exceed 87.5 kg/person for open events per ISAF regulations, so it can not exceed 350 kg for at team of four. To allow teams with lighter sailors to be competitive, it is becoming the norm in Asia that teams are allowed to have a fifth crewmember (and a sixth crewmember for all girls and junior teams), if they can stay below the same total weight limit.

10) MR Party & Hang out spot. – having one MR party organized at events where the majority of the sailors are fleet racers would increase the networking opportunities among the Asian MR sailors. There should also be a natural gathering point where the teams can watch the racing and relax and make friends in-between the races.

11) Contact point – local match racer. It would be great if one of the regular MR sailors from the host nation would be taken on as the contact/coordinator/party organizer for this discipline; using the personal contacts from such a person will almost guarantee that all slots for the event will be filled.

If some of the above wishes are followed for the Asian Sailing Championship; the four MR sailors behind this article plan to join the queue to get invitations to participate in Langkawi. We also believe that a strong MR fleet at this event will help ensure inclusion of this spectator friendly discipline in future ASC’s and Asian Games.

This article is written after consultation with the following active Asian match racers: Marty Kaye and Chin Yew, both HK and Chetan Fernandes, India. The main author represent Thailand and his current match mace world ranking is 207 (or 10th counting only Asian skippers). He can be contacted on morten.jakobs(at)gmail.com or Matchracethailand(at)gmail.com