Nice Smack Down Doug!!!
:-)

CM

"DSK" wrote in message
...
Why don't you introduce yourself. You must work for
US Sailing in some capacity. Please elaborate.


Jean Pudl wrote:
No connection at all, other than having been a member for several
periods. I have, however, been a beneficiary of their work on numerous
occasions, in particular, whenever I've raced.

How so?

I've raced quite a lot, from local clubs to international events, and
didn't feel that I benefitted at all from USSA.

In fact, on at least one occasion, their short-sightedness & nepotism cost
me several finishes. But that's probably the fault of individuals, not the
whole organization.






So you think the clients of ASA are yuppies? That is
funny!


That's the demographic (more or less) of those who are seeking the
keelboat certification offered by both USSailing and ASA. The difference
is that this is the only business of ASA, because that's where the money
is. USSailing, on the other hand, serves the entire boating community.


And does US Sailing offer anything to the 'cruising education oriented'
boating community that ASA does not?

ASA was there first, in fact at one point US Sailing stated as their
official policy that they would rather not get involved in certification
for keelboat sailing & cruising education, since there were so many other
groups already doing this (ASA and the Power Squadron). Then they saw the
revenue potential and changed their minds.




.... And from my point of view, claiming the two organizations are
"identical" is ludicrous.


I don't think the claim was made that the two organizations were
identical. I think that the claim was made there there is small difference
between certifications offered by them... which is true.




The rest of your material is interesting, but misses the point. US
Sailing IS the "National Governing Body" of the sport according to an act
of Congress. That is a matter of fact.

Big deal. Other than changing the rules unecessarily and mismanaging
protests, what do they actually DO? Collect money. Yeah, that's a
"service."


... They are the folks that run the national team, send sailers to the
Olympics,

In other words, they sponge up money from many sources and hand it to
their favorite butt-kisser boy racers.

The last time the Olympic sailing team was decided on the water, by
cumulative series regatta results, a friend of mine ended representing the
US in his class... and the USSA favorites all screamed bloody murder.
Since then, it's been a nepotism system.

Don't get me wrong on this, the U.S. Olympic sailors are great athletes
and very skilled... but I would describe USSA's role in the selection
process as interfering, money-laundering, and playing favorites.



...trains the race committees, etc.

Don't get me started on that. I struggled on correcting their race
committee training for years. USSA has a habit of producing inflexible
big-headed tyrants for PROs.






USSailing IS the "National Governing Body" by act of Congress.

And I guess the benevolent Congress awarded them this distinction out of
recognition for their outstanding service to humanity?

No, US Sailing paid some lobbysits to get it done. A comment on the state
of both the Congress and US Sailing.


The main reason for an individual sailor to join USSA is to avoid their
extortion on regatta entry fees. I don't understand any reason why a club
or class would join USSA, other than "recognition." The cost to benefit
ratio is totally out of whack IMHO.

I've had vice presidents of USSA tell me that dinghy sailing is a dying
sport and they don't want to waste money trying to bring it back. Yet they
are happy to collect money from all the centerboard one-designs! I've also
heard big boat sailors bitch that USSA uses their higher fees to subsidize
small one-design racing. So apparently both camps are getting screwed.

BTW collegiate sailing is directly administered by the IYRA.

If you want the facts, Jean, here they are. I remember when the governing
body for the sport of sailing (ie racing) was NAYRU and it's been downhill
since then.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King