See this gobbledygook from ISAF for an explanation.
Australia's Brendan CASEY came out on top of the 62 strong fleet at the ISAF Grade C1 Laser North American Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Michael LEIGH (CAN) finished in second place to claim the title of Laser North American Champion.
I don't get it. Is this discrimination against Australians?
11 comments:
Perhaps they should word it "champion in North America" and "champion fromm north america".
It's going to be like boxing soon with people wearing their championship harnesses from all the different organizing bodies. I feel for you racers.
That's silly. If you win the North American Championships then you are the North American Champion.
And people wonder why I don't race... Hmm... how can you win the championships and not be the champion. Very strange...very odd. Now, if he were French, I could see them doing this... but he isn't.
Yeah. But it is true that the Aussies discriminate against international visitors at their major regattas. The NOR for the 2007 Australian Championships specifically states that only Australian residents will be eligible for cubes and perpetual trophies. (The official trophies at major Laser events are cubes.)
See http://www.ryct.org.au/pdfs/2007%20Australian%20Laser%20Championships%20NOR.pdf
I can kind of understand having a rule like this for perpetual trophies - after all they might never get them back. But to my mind if you win a championship you are the champion.
It's a tough one Tillerman...
The Laser Radial Worlds are in LA - does that mean if a German won they are not the World Champion because they are not from the USA?
Casey should still be known as the North American Champion, and I don't see it being a problem with leaving the perpetual trophy behind, just as long as his name goes on it.
I think this varies from fleet to fleet.
I remember in the Optimit fleet back in the '80's events like the Midlan Areas had a Midland Area Champion and a Midland Area Open Champion. If say an Ozzy was over practicing in the UK and won the event they would get the "open" trophy and the next best "Midland sailor" would become Midland Area Champion....
Currently in the Enterprises the areas can and are won by anyone...
This rule was actually set up in Australia to protect the class when we became Olympic, to keep district and national championships interesting for the non-professional sailors.
The understandable fear was that without the rule, a group of full-timers would travel the world claiming every trophy along the way, and the rest of us would stop showing up for championships, because we wouldn't have anything to compete for. The choice was to target the regattas at the "elite", or at the grass roots.
Noble aims? Yes, I think so. Ideal solution? Probably not, but I don't have a better one...
OG - I think that if a German won the Radial Worlds in the USA they would still be the World Champion because last time I checked Germany was in the world.
But if a Martian entered ?????
I thought the Australians were the martians...?
We come from a land far far away after all!
That explains a lot. Tillerwoman was born in the land down under where women glow and men plunder, where beer does flow and men chunder.
Just so long as nobody gives me a Vegemite sandwich.
I remember a Chas Addams cartoon, from a verry long time ago. The judges and emcee are preparing to deliver the tiara, bouquet, and "Miss Universe" sash at the end of a beauty pageant, and some factotum has come up to whisper in the emcee's ear, "Don't look now, Pomfret, but I think we may need to rethink this," as a flying saucer descends in the background.
Yeah, if the championship is called "World," that would mean so long as the winner came from somewhere in the world, he or she would be the champion.
But if the championship is "North American," then the "North American" champion is the best North American in the fleet. The Aussie is welcome to compete, and certainly she or he can lay claim to winning the regatta, but she or he can't be the fastest North American sailor.
Here at Dillon, for instance, this weekend's Snipe regatta is a regional championship, so if a Snipe sailor from Italy were to win, he'd get some bragging rights, but he wouldn't be the regional championships. Next year, however, the Snipe Worlds will be here, so if the same Italian were to win, he'd be the world champion.
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