"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
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.

By the time you discover you're knee deep in a good old boy system, it's
usually too late. But the old adage, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me
twice, shame on me" is applicable.

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.

That's not quite as simple as it sounds. I reported the incident to SCIRA
(it was the Snipe Junior Regionals), to the Executive Secretary, a man named
'Buzz' at the time, and he promised to take some action on the issue, which
of course never happened. It was always my suspicion that the kid's old
man, who was very well-connected in a great many circles, probably
threatened Buzz as well, or perhaps Buzz took the bribe. I was asked the
following year to step down from the job of Snipe fleet scorer, which was my
first experience of just how whistle-blowers are regarded in our modern
society.


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 never relied on fleet competitors to provide us with regatta results. Oh
sure, I listened the following weekend while they boasted or complained
about their finishes, but took the results from the SCIRA monthly magazine
as gospel. Today we'd simply get the results from the class website.

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.

Good advice. When rounding marks in a crowd when I have the inside line, I
generally stand up at the helm position and point at individual boats
telling each if they have rights or not w/r/t me. It ****es some folks off,
but it has been 100% effective in preventing BS and protests. One sailor
approached me after a race and said, "You sure take your sailing seriously,
doncha?" I responded, "Not really. I do, however, take nonsense
seriously."

Max