Next years youth series and ideas

[sam293]

not that i dont value all your feedback ( it has been fantstic thankyou)

but it would be nice if some of the competitors / those planning to come to some of the events would participate. feels slighty like no one actually wants to enter, if this is the case why am i running it?

[Roly Mo]

Before anyone thinks of suggesting any changes to dates or venues, or thinks about adding any further events to the Youth programme, the programme for 2010 is now finalised and cannot be changed.
RM

[Phil Brown]

Well said Jane

Having a top helm or crew at the front of the boat is invaluable in terms of advice but the finesse and therefore the ability to get the boat going properly is still down to the helm. No amount of chatter into a helms port and starboard ear'oles is going to make a huge amount of difference to that which comes from time on the water learning the skills.

What a good crew can and should be doing all the time is to give confidence to the helm (they can be a bit precious sometimes), provide positive feedback, keep an eye on boat set up, check on other boats positions, check the tactics being employed agree with the race stategy you agreed on before the start (you did have one, didn't you?) keep an eye on wind direction and keep the helm (quietly) updated on headers or lifts, plan ahead for mark roundings, keep the boat and sails trimmed and balanced. The crew can have a wider brief than the helm and all that can leave the helm to concentrate on driving the boat hard - which is his/her job - it's all about speed. The more responsibility for race decisions that a crew can take on, the less time the helm has to worry/think about all the other issues and can concentrate for longer. Nobody said crewing was easy or just pulling on a jib sheet.


Back to this thread. Not every teenager can afford a decent boat. I got my experience by helming in the regular club crews race, at first with the boat owner, then, as he got more confidence in me, with anyone who would crew for me. That then lead on to confidence, on both sides, to borrow boats for open meetings. I would be more prepared to lend my boat if I had first hand knowledge of demonstrated ability and if others felt the same, you might have more participants in the series


I think you overplay the good helm factor. They are more used to receiving information than to giving it and you might find a better performance comes from having a good crew at the front

[Chris Troth]

I think allowing any age of crew would certainly increase the number of under 25s. There will be more access to advice and boats. I don't see the problem of giving these young helms access to newer boats. When you start sailing and racing, one of the foundations are to get hold of the best boat you can. Even if you exclude parents' boats, you will always find someone under 25 who is lucky enough to afford a new(ish) boat. Surely one of the best ways in which the young N12 helms are going to improve is to have someone experienced in the front.

[Chadders]

Just to add to the debate in favour of allowing older crews.  In my opinion this would help numbers no end which is surely what we are about?  A 12 is a tricky boat in which to start your helming but with guidence it should be a good experience, I learnt with older members crewing about 49 years ago and I am still trying to improve.  Without expert guidence I would probably just have got frustrated and taken up Golf.  I doubt if a young novice with an experienced helm for guidence would be any real threat to two competent juniors anyway as most helms are really bad crews as well as too heavy and slow (just ask Philip David, I crewed for him at Tynemouth a couple of weeks ago and we got stuffed by Angus).  No need to change any events now they are fixed but the qualifying rules can surely be tweaked prior to the first event if necessary.  Shame Sam couldnt make the last committee meeting this could probably have been sorted then in the correct manner.  Howard C

[JustRantinAlong]

hey,
i think that having a race where the helms have to find a youth to helm their boat is a good idea, also having a small series for the helms and crews to swap over would be nice.
to have an older person in the front of the boat is reasurring if you are a youth just starting to helm, therefore i think that there should be a few races for that option, but i think that it is also unfair on the people that have both the helm and crew as youths because the youth crew usually wouldnt have the same amount of experience as an adult crew so personally i think that the youth series should be just for youths.

[Martin]

Not sure if it would complicate things too much, but would it be feasible to apply some form of personal handicapping if it was felt that one group had a perceived advantage?

[Tim Gatti]

Thanks to all who have contributed to this topic so far - it's clear we will have plenty of ideas to work through with Sam and Chris at the next NTOA Committee meeting in January. Tim