Review by the President Masters' Fleet

Dear Finn Masters and families,            

I hope all of you returned back home safely from Punta Ala.

In my opinion we had a great Masters 2011 there. We welcomed 283 entries from 28 countries.

The weather was good, the organization was good, the sailing conditions were perfect (but demanding), the Italian food was good and, very important: the spirit of the sailors was good. Also families and relatives had a good time, as far as I know.

The PuntAla Camping Resort was a good location, where everything we needed was present. Restaurants, a nice beach, bikes for rent, ladies programmes and a good shop for our daily bread and other food. It was not a cheap location, but I think we got value for our money.

The pre-payment system worked well in the Organizing Authority’s opinion, so this will be continued in 2012.

Only a few competitors had to pay the 50% penalty, so at the entry/payment closing date the OA was pretty sure about the amount of competitors.

Sailing away from - and returning to the beach was very hard and we had to get used to it and find the proper way to do it. But after a few days everybody knew how to do it and it worked. In spite of some cracks in boats and bruises on bodies.

The opening ceremony was good, with the nice flag parade and not too many speakers.

But in an event like this there’s always something that can be improved. I noticed that making appointments with people in Southern European countries is different from the way we usual do it in Northern countries. Some appointments we made in June 2010 had been changed. Some in a good way, but some did not. But, in the end, sometimes after some discussions, everything came together again and so we are looking back to a great event. We sailed 8 fine races in very good, but as said earlier, demanding conditions.
 

What I heard ......

I heard discussions about some issues and I will mention some of them:
 

-   first, the € 90,= for the ladies arrangement: for that money the organization promised to serve the ladies
    the same food and drinks that was going to be offered to the sailors. This looked OK, still expensive,
    but, together with many others, we paid it. But there was hardly any supervision to check the wrist bands.
    I complained about this, but it did not improve. Even at the official dinner there was hardly a check. I saw
    many people without a wrist band. Then, during the dinner, I experienced that, short before the dinner it
    had been possible to buy a dinner ticket for € 35,=. I told the management they should have told this at
    registration.
    For those who addressed to me with a complaint: as far as I know nobody received a refund, however rumors
    said something different. This was a lesson for me for future years.
 

-   another thing I learned: in the preparations I have to tell future organizations that Finn sailors mostly
    wear bigger shirts than size M. There have to be more L, XL and XXL sizes and just a few M sizes.
 

-   then about the format: We had a discussion about the format in the Annual Masters Meeting and we
    made appointments for 2012 about this. You can read this soon in the Minutes of the meeting. As soon as
    I receive them they will published on this website.
 

-   I have been advised by many of you that this Masters was very demanding because of the wind speed
    together with eight races. Some of you advised to shift back to the former concept with a total of 5 or 6
    races and a lay day on Wednesday. This will give more satisfaction to the older Masters, but will, maybe,
    not please the younger ones. Like I keep saying: we must continue organizing an event that pleases all
    age categories and that is difficult, but I will do what is in my influence and capacity to reach. But I think it
    may not become a goal to set entry records. The quality counts.
 

-   I know that the Group allocation was an issue for discussions. I do not know what happened, but the
    amount of competitors in the groups was not always equal. Last year I was told that Punta Ala works with
    the scoring programme called Sailwave, but now they appeared to use ZW-Scoring. I happen to know the
    creator of this program, so I will talk to him. People who know something about statistics told me that
    randomly selection cannot work in only eight races, so maybe we must decide to allocate by daily results
    as  we discussed before. For the scoring programme it will be no problem and maybe it is a better system.

-   the discussion about the format will be a continuing story, but when we change the system to the wishes
    of a part of the sailors, another part will come with new (their) ideas, that will please them, but will make
    the other part come with their ideas again. I think the AMM is the place to make decisions and to come
    with ideas and proposals. This year, after I asked on the website and in Finnfare, to come with proposals
    about the format, only one Master sent a proposal and this was accepted for next year, after some
    discussions, with a slight change. You can read this in the minutes of the AMM and, later, in the Notice of
    Race for 2012.

-   I also heard people saying that the measurement was too extensive, but this I dare to decline. Until 2008
    measurements were extensive, like hull weighing, mast measurement and weighing, rudder
    measurement, measurement of centre board depth, sail measurement and stamping. That gave a lot of
    stress and waiting. I remember Bracciano in 2005, where we all had to wait almost a whole day in the hot
    sun with all the gear.

    From 2008 the decision was taken not to measure anymore, but to do spot checks during the
    Championship. Only identifying sails (by stamping) and an overall check of the hull (towing rope, IFA
    sticker, ISAF license sticker and the presence of the correction weights, as mentioned on the
    Measurement Form). And so we did in Punta Ala. I was happy to convince the measurer that it would be
    better when he moves to the boats and not the boats to him. It avoided chaos and was good for his
    condition. Stamping sails went slowly in the beginning, but in my opinion, it improved later.

    I think we can hardly minimize measurements further. Maybe the suggestion to enter some data (like the
    numbers of the IFA sail labels) on-line can help.
 

Items the Masters Committee will think about

      -    Allocation of the groups at random or by daily result (could be implemented for 2012 already).

      -   Shifting the format back to less races and a lay day. This will maybe result in keeping the older Masters
    in the fleet but will be less attractive for the younger ones. To be decided in the AMM in 2012 and
    implemented in 2013.

     -    Keeping the format with eight races. This maybe will result in keeping the younger Masters in the fleet but
    will be less attractive for the older ones. To be decided in the AMM in 2012 and implemented in 2013.

     -     How to make the measurement easier and quicker. Entering data on-line with the entry?
 

Conclusion

We have a lot to do in the year ahead of us, but I am really happy to conclude that we had a very good Finn World Masters Championship in Punta Ala this year and I hope to meet a lot of you in Pwllheli again in 2012.
 

Masters 2012

The website for the Finn World Masters Championship 2012 is on-line already. Please take a frequent look at www.finnworldmasters2012.info. On this website a lot of information for you will be published, for example:

-  About accommodations:  Early bookers have large discounts. Take a look at the 2012 website under the
    tab “Accommodations” and then “Haven Discount”.

-   Information about ferries to the UK will be present soon. Also for ferries: early bookers will have the
    largest discount.
 

Masters 2013

 

I wish you all a very good sailing season in good health, with good sailing conditions and satisfying results.

Fons van Gent

President Finn Masters Fleet

July 4th, 2011

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