To some extent, that's always true isn't it? Life is a popularity contest.


Maxprop wrote:
Of course. It's not what you know, it's whom.


Or what you know about whom.

Actually, facts are very powerful. You just always have to
remember that facts & logic can be trumped by stupidity &
nepotism; and try to either avoid those situations or only
get into them where you are likley to be favored.


Fortunately I was the fleet scorer for both our Snipe and Laser fleets. I
was approached by a parent on one occasion in an effort to get a kid's
finishing position changed in one race in the junior regionals. It would
have made the difference between second and third overall for his kid. When
I rejected his attempt to "reason" with me, I was offered cash. When I
rejected that, I was threatened. A predictable pattern.


That's really low. That's worse than anything I've heard of,
although I've seen a fair number of scoring errors and/or
inexplicable final placings. If I knew of a sailor who tried
to bribe the scorer, that would be an issue to tell USSA
(and the region) about.

At one point, as a club officer, I handed over a very nice
perpetual trophy to a sailor whom we later found had faked
printed regatta results to show that he had a regional high
point score. Pinhead! He never lived that down and gave up
sailing the very next year. A shame really, because he was a
pretty good sailor.


I suspect similar stories are played and replayed at yacht clubs throughout
the world. I gave up showing horses many years ago when I discovered that
the politics of that particular activity were no different or worse than
those in most other hobbies or sports. I still race, but I've mellowed
enough to find comfort in the knowledge that sailboat racing just ain't
important enough to get upset about. Larry Ellison might disagree.


The thing to do is 1- enjoy it no matter how you place 2-
stay away from entanglements with other boats that will lead
to protests 3- work hard to get so good that you blow
everyone's doors off and there's no question whatever over
your score. If you ever get to 3- it's time to move to a
more competitive class.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King