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Nowhere did I say that we can't have extreme events within a sport. That is very different from changing the major events within a sport to "extreme" events, and to concentrating the majority of the...

It wasn't me who brought up the British motorsport industry. Thank you for not dismissing it, but no one has ever called me OCD before and it's just ridiculous of you to be such an insulting jerk.
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It's a pity you can't actually be honest enough to address the things I write, instead of dishonestly implying I said something quite different.

Jesus indeed. Sorry for actually doing some research - well, make that years of research - into the history of the sport and the factors that motivate people to participate. Tragically, it led me to...

Bringing up the model of motorsport brings home the problems with promoting an extreme, elitist event. Motor racing gets enormous funding from its parent industry and others, who spend about 2.5...

Nothing I said inferred that people shouldn't be able to sail what they want. I have quite specifically said, in these discussions, that if anyone likes watching or sailing foilers then that's...

I didn't say anything that anyone could reasonably think to have meant the AC should be sailed in Sunfish. It's always been a big boat event. However, there is a vast difference between a...

I can understand that point of view, but I don't think any inference that we "haters" are stuck in the past is correct. We may just have a different view of the relationship between the AC and the...

Sure, affordability is a huge issue - which is why some of us reckon that sailing should promote and care for the cheaper end, and that includes re-thinking the sort of sailing we promote.

Around...

I suppose it depends on how much you feel the AC should "trickle down". To some of us, a very small number of boats (including Animal Biscuits, which seems to be more inspired by the original...

The cost of converting a 12, at least during the middle of their time in the AC, must have been economical since it happened to so many of them. As a proportion of the cost of running any boat of...

Depends on your perspective, and also how much you allow for the fact that the 12s were racing on courses with (I think) 5 mile legs and no boundaries, and well offshore as dictated by the Deed of...

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Good post.

The America's Cup would be an incredibly easy regatta to win, if you had a half decent boat.

All you'd have to do is to have someone on shore reading Sailing Anarchy's forum and transmitting the...

I just mentioned the unrestricted pumping to illustrate that I'm very much in favour of restricting pumping, which I think the Laser class does pretty well. I was actually analysing the way we use...

How does one compare excellence in a sport like disc golf to excellence in a vast sport like football (soccer)??

As an analogy, is the sailor who is 16 time champion in the Lower Puddle Punts...

Yes, unrestricted pumping is a PITA, but Lasers are heavily monitored for R42 breaches. Even at Masters level, at the worlds there are on-course judges. It's much more a case of utilising the...

It's not a "rant" when one brings in facts to counter claims that are simply untrue.

No, pros don't have to take the money but we also don't have to shut up when we feel that there are issues with...

But those changes in sport were treated in a completely and utterly different way to the way foiling is being treated. When cycling came in, no one said "cycles are the future of running" and took...

That's very interesting, because yours is the only club I know that has enough money for that sort of investment. And it does underline that once one moves away from what dinghies are great at...

I'm not sure who is on Team Foilhater, but it's arguable that people are just watching from two very different, but equally valid, angles. To some people, it may just be a rivetting spectacle of a...

As noted earlier, the AC hasn't always been about boats that 99.98% of sailors would never see in real life. The figures for the 1930s, which were given earlier, show that plenty of UK sailors would...

Another good one from Pless! Thanks!

Good start by the Milky Bar Kid in race 2. The rest of the race seems to be showing the limitations of an ultra-tight course; there's nowhere to get leverage so you can get back in the race.

Over...

But how can we compare when the 12s were racing on courses that were (if I recall correctly) about four hours long with five mile legs, whereas the foilers are sailing on courses about 1.5nm (?) long...

I respect those who like the foilers, but when I see them I can't get away from the fact that if, as many say, foilers are the future of top-level sailing then the sport is cutting itself off from...

I seem to recall that Kay Cottee's dad had Roiaata for a while, but that may be an error. Cool to see your kids have got her and will keep her going, Hallam!

If anyone else knows of anyone...

One presupposes a certain level of use of common English so please try to exhibit that. In standard English, your phrase implied a total or majority use of the "tactic" by leftists.

Let's use...

My stepdad's stepdad was young when he volunteered for the Royal (British) Navy, despite being an Australian. He was the youngster on B Gun in the destroyer HMS Onslow, the flotilla leader at the...

My great grandfather was a schoolmaster. He was delayed in volunteering because he was working in a godforsaken outback town and his superior thought he was signing up because war was an easier...

My wife just read out a piece by someone alleging that Porter had abused her verbally in the workplace. From the point of view of someone who has taken too many similar statements, it not only rang...

By the way, BB, if you are against socialism could you explain why you think that it's fair that under capitalism some people earn, and have, vastly much more than other people?

You appear to be saying that people should always take what they can get, even when that goes against their principles in some ways. But is that true? Surely one can also say that one should NOT...

No, it's not a "leftist tactic" and it is untruthful of you to claim that it is. For example, a right winger on another forum calling me a "Commie %$#@&" when I may be a %$#@ but I'm certainly NOT a...

I was chatting to a nice older gentleman at a slipway on the weekend. He has a lovely 1947-ish 37 footer with (if I recall correctly) English oak frames, sitka spruce spars and pitch pine planking...

A few years ago I looked out the back door and there was the old Fox Terrier winning a fight with the neighbour's cat. To save a local incident I yelled at the dog, who obediently dropped the cat. ...

I had a 5-6 foot brown on the driveway to the workshop on Friday. You are welcome to come over and collect it any time and I won't tell Customs.

I still remember the night I was moored to a wharf when I heard a scuffle and a rat ran into the cabin after coming down the mooring lines. How the hell do you get a rat out of a 28 foot wooden...

TVSC? I was up there to pick up some Corsair sails the other week. Nice bunch. They come to regattas with ukeleles, guitars and wine.

Yes, Lulworth was a very interesting design; looked (to my eyes) like a cruiser but went like a racer. And how did Whites, a firm not known for yacht designs, turn out something that could rival the...

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Former cutters, modified to schooners and driving hard.

Good call; Merrymaid was a member of the Big Class around that time, when it became a rather loose collection between the end of the Rater era and the start of the 23 Metres etc, but I hadn't checked...

Congratulations, Kath. We just picked up our first electric car last weekend, a used Nissan Leaf. Not exactly in the same weight bracket, but still a very nice little unit.

After my grandfather...

I tend to prefer smaller boats and decry the emphasis on big ones, but every time the America's Cup rolls around I find myself looking into the boats that were pretty much as big and fast as the AC...

I went to the Newport clubhouse a couple of times and found everyone pretty friendly. The NYYC is actually respected amongst racing crews for letting them party on the premises, unlike some other...

Nick, can you stop trying to change the subject? I replied to your claims in that "naval guns were not effective against shore batteries" etc by showing proof of incidents in which they had been...

1- It's hypocritical to start abusive threads and then whine when you cop strong language.

2- No, you were wrong. Any Google shows that the US said that they had used a new type of weapon. You...

The fact is that the Big Class sailed in far more than "six or seven scattered clubs" in deep water. Look for example at Enterprise to Endeavour, and you see much of the chapter entitled "The Great...

Sure - but it also seems sure that we must be able to learn more if we understand in detail why they made those mistakes and how their decisions may have appeared reasonable to them.

I don't think...

Nick, please don't tell me "stop and think". It's simply illogical to imply that someone who has researched and supplied referenced material, as I have done, has not stopped and thought.

At D Day...