2013/14 IC World Championships

[Christian AUS]

If all goes well Nicole and I will be in Thailand in May for our honeymoon, and this could be a great time to check out a venue for a future IC World Championships (Nic is cool with this ).

So, are people interested in a Worlds in Thailand after Germany in 2011, and is it worth me approaching the Thai Sailing and Canoeing fraternities and putting together an official proposal to the ICF Sailing Committee?

We would not be treading new ground here, Fireballs (2008 Pattaya), Tasars (2007 Phuket) are among classes that have paved the way. And I'd be happy to organise another worlds if people are interested.

So what do you think? (some feedback would be nice)

[Christian AUS]

So, despite positiveness from the Fireballs and Tasars on racing in Thailand interest is extremely low?
Fiji, Vanuatu, even French Polonesia all look like fun places that look interesting as a challenge to organise. Or do people prefer to stick within the safety of the standard IC sailing countries?

[petermclaren]

Thailand sounds great to me. Haven't been there yet, so maybe Worlds 2011 is the excuse I need.

Peter
P.S. Nearly voted as Too Old by Then!

[Christian AUS]

Thailand sounds great to me. Haven't been there yet, so maybe Worlds 2011 is the excuse I need.

Peter
P.S. Nearly voted as Too Old by Then!

Cheers, though 2011 is Germany, I'm actually looking at the Worlds after that Peter.

[petermclaren]

Um, yes I mean 2014. Put it down to another senior moment.

Peter

[bob]

i feel in the true spirit of the class we should be supporting existing and emerging fleets, as there are no canoes sailed in thailand we should be supporting the us fleet

[TimClark]

From a younger point of view, at that time, I and my friend who has recently been introduced to canoe sailing will be in college/recovering from the financial burdens of college. While it would be nice to visit Thailand, I think it would wind up being fairly expensive/inconvenient with the time it would take up. I think that having the Worlds in Thailand might shrink the fleets a bit as it is somewhat out of the way for many people. I agree with what Bob said about supporting the existing fleets, and I think that going for the US or another country with a canoe fleet might benefit people the most. Just my .02 cents...

TC

[Christian AUS]

i feel in the true spirit of the class we should be supporting existing and emerging fleets, as there are no canoes sailed in thailand we should be supporting the us fleet

Do you grow a fleet by coninually visiting the same places, or trying new venues and testing the local interest?

And to tims comments on price, all World Championships are expensive (even local ones), (my logic is that you might as well go somewhere tropical if you can).

[TimClark]

I understand what you are saying about how every WC is expensive, and how it would be nice for it to be in a tropical area. I think it's a great idea, the problem for me is how to get the money/time off to afford it!

TC

[Ben Fuller]

There may be another option. The ICF is thinking about a canoe world games in 2014. I think they are discussing Spain or Italy, in both cases places where there are salt water venues near the other venues so it would be possible to do worlds there.

[Christian AUS]

There may be another option. The ICF is thinking about a canoe world games in 2014. I think they are discussing Spain or Italy, in both cases places where there are salt water venues near the other venues so it would be possible to do worlds there.

That could be pretty cool, lets hope we still have an International fleet of IC's

[Willy Clark]

Real late, sorry I'm just catching up with the forum,

While I definitely support trying new venues with the intention of getting new people involved that tends to work best in an environment in which the new members have other boats to sail with. The problem with Thailand is we would be there for a week and then any prospective sailors would, in all likelihood, never see us again. A worlds in Thailand would probably produce some short lived enthusiasm for the class but, as there are no other canoes in that part of the world, this enthusiasm would most likely fade to the back of their minds in the weeks after we leave. While we might attract some new members during the worlds, we would have no way of keeping them involved and they would end up losing interest fairly quickly.

A worlds in Spain or Italy makes much more sense because, while there are no canoes in those countries, there are in countries close by. Having multiple involved countries in close proximity to one another helps build local fleets and keeps the class international at the same time. Getting the west coast of Europe or the Mediterranean involved would be huge for the class. I'm all for the worlds in Spain or Italy in 2014!

Also, in regards to the Thailand possibility, not having a local fleet to draw off of would very likely result in a smaller turn out. The best part about having a worlds in a country with a strong local fleet is that you can rely on having a good local turnout which boosts the number of entries.

In hind sight this has been a very negative email. I apologize for departing from my usual enthusiastic tone and sound so skeptical.

Calling it like I see it,
Willy

[Willy Clark]

Also,
Are we discounting the option of Sweden in '14. While the Swedish fleet may be struggling a little bit I'm sure they are still more than capable of hosting a worlds. In fact, a worlds in Sweden would likely be a huge help to the swedish fleet because nothing boosts interest in the class like having a big international regatta in your back yard. I bet a lot of the Swedish sailors, who may have become less active over the last couple of years, would haul their boats out the garage if given the opportunity to sail a worlds in their home country. There is probably nothing that could help the Swedish fleet more than having a worlds there.

That being said this is obviously not my field and it is really up to Ola, Max, Johan, and the other Swedish sailors to say what Sweden can and can't do.

Willy

[H Virtue]

Some other "new" venues to consider could be;
Canada
New Zealand

I think Willy makes allot of sense, Spain and Italy are countries I haven't thought about.

While we as a class have been to Germany before I haven't so I'm looking forward to the next Worlds so having the Worlds at the same country as once before as a class is a new venture for me. The same can be said for USA, Ive only been to San Fransisco I missed Bristol (spewing) so another Worlds in USA somewhere interests me. The big difference between Port Stephens and McCrae basically make it like visiting a different country anyway.

I'm for supporting existing fleets, when all our fleets are strong enough to get container loads to consecutive Worlds then when should consider out of the way non canoe sailing countries. However I personally don't like tropical venues, hot and humid conditions yuk.

My suggestions for future Worlds beyond Germany are
2014 either Sweden (one of the most enjoyable regattas of my life was the 99 Worlds) or USA (San Fransisco personally appeals as the venue kicked my ass last time)
2017 New Zealand
2019 Spain/Italy (hopefully we have had enough class growth by then shorten the gap between worlds)
.....guess we are getting ahead of ourself but it would be about time to go back to sunny England by then.

Just some thoughts....

[Christian AUS]

Have any countries put their hands up for 2013/14, it's getting hear that time (about 4 years prior) that you need to start doing the prep work and having the documents into the ICF Sailing Committee with enough time to review and approve....