SEN 1266 - 24 Nov 2008

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Table of Contents - SEN 1266 - 24 November 2008

  1. This is F1
  2. GB and MM update
  3. Extreme Faust


This is F1 isn't it?
Or
Is it really about the finals, then what, is Nick Bosdet right?
 
After the USA finals there has been quite a lot of discussion about the format. But let’s not forget that no matter what the change in format; still only 3 people make the team. Looking at F1B, we in the USA could easily field at least 4 teams that would all do well at the World Champs. I was interested to look at the current Americas Cup standing and saw that the top 3 in F1B were Paul Crowley, Blake Jensen and George Batiuk, all strong sportsmen and could do just as well as Charlie, Walt and Alex.  I was talking with one good F1B flyer on Saturday and he was very disappointed because he felt that he had prepared very well this year and did all the right things but dropped the early morning round because of unlucky air conditions. So he did not want selection to all depend on the one contest, and felt two years had been wasted until next time. Maybe he’s right but the problems is that not matter what the rules are only 3 people are going to be happy and there is always going to be some hard luck story.
 
Here in the USA, it’s a bigger deal because we do not have a Euro Champs like many of the other counties have. Clearly if we got out act together we could organize a continental championship with some of the other non-European nations. Here the issue is one of number of nations and cost of travel. The Euro champs are almost as big as the World Champs with 30 + counties – they only miss – Argentina, Canada, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Korea. We make such a performance of picking our team for the World Champs, could we manage that every year?
 
There is much ill-feeling outside of the Europe about non-Europeans not being able to participate in the Euro champs. That’s the way the rules are and the Europeans are naturally selfishly un-sympathetic. Maybe that’s not the answer anyway. There are a small number of non-Europeans with dual nationality that manage to compete in the Euro champs having decided that it’s easier to get on the Utopian team that the US, Canadian  or Australian for the World Champs and they get the added bonus of the Euro champs. Are these professional sportsmen headed in the right direction?
 
I’ve seen a proposal by some Canadians to hold a Pan-American Championship at Lost Hills between the Ike and Maxmen. [After all, what is there to do for those 3 days except eat at Denny’s?]  This event proposes self selected teams. 
 
We’ve seen the Extreme Americas Cup proposal. Now to have that event replace the Americas Cup is probably counter to the Americas Cup Objective but to have something that calls out as “Top Events” that encourage expert participation is maybe not bad?
 
So what’s all of this got to do with Nick Bosdet? We’ve seen some ideas from Nick on how to motivate beginners and people just getting started. We need to keep working on those. But maybe it’s just as important to do something to keep the existing people motivated. So summarizing the above here are 3 ideas
 
Have a Non-Europeans Champs for the non-European nations to balance the European skew in the FAI nation structure
 
Have an extreme Americas cup with more status for a limited number of events that would enable those with limited ability to travel to focus on the top events with the prospect of more financial reward or recognition.
 
Have a selected number of contests – say 4 in a year thruout the world like the Pan American where teams would compete for both individual and team prizes at the event and for the year. The teams could be nations, club, commercial or just good friends. For example the UK team, the SCAT team, the Stamov factory team or Henning and the Vikings.  Not unlike the Motor Sport Formula 1 championship.
 
What do you think?




Update from George Batiuk and the Maxmen

Hi Roger, just a couple of annoucements:
- I am no longer using the charter.net email account. My new address
is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
- the dates for the Maxmen International are Feb. 13 - 16, 2009.
Thanks, gb
 
Faust's Extreeme Comments

Faust Parker <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

SCAT,through the Americas Cup program, has developed an incredible nation wide contest circut made up of both large and small events. These events represent both pure FAI and mixed FAI/AMA formats. The value added by the A.C. has been responsible for increased participation and financial viability for many of these contests. Having said that, I think that SCAT has a responsibilty to not pull the rug out from under these events, especially the smaller ones.

Would it make more sense for SCAT to maintain the AC as is, and have a separate category for the Xtreme entrants at the same contest? Contestants could be scored by the current system and by the proposed Xtreme system for the designated events. At then end of the year you could recognize the small, large and Xtreme champions. This could be phased in over time and would give SCAT a chance to "test the waters" before diving headlong into a format that might or might not work.

The problems I see with the Xtreme concept are numberous. First the contest should be evenly distributed across the country (a problem?). For those of us still working, making it to 4 events requiring significant travel (1.5 - 2 days driving each way) is a issue. I have determined that air travel with F1C's is no longer an option for me because the skies are no longer "friendly". So my current schedule allows for 2-3 long and 3-4 short trips ......
 
note Faust's message was truncated







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Roger Morrell