International 14 Mailing List
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From: EALLJR@aol.com
Date: Fri 13 Nov 1998 - 01:15:43 GMT
DRUG TESTING, SPONSORSHIP & PANDERING: my three biggest reasons for passing on
the sailing in Melbourne this time.
Did you know that the International Olympic Committee gives the ISAF $40
million dollars to have sailing in the Olympics and that is why they are
dictating to the ISAF. In fact, they told the ISAF to make sailing a spectator
sport or risk being thrown out of the Olympics alltogether. Could that be the
reason we have the 49er Class? Yuck.
Frankly, the day that sailing is thrown out of the Olympics will be a great
one for me. Then we can get back to amateur sailing without the dreaded need
for DTS &P.
If drug testing had been effect for the last 30 or more years, the names on
some of our more illustrious trophies would be quite different; and that
includes the quest for the "Auld Mug" itself. Will there be drug testing in NZ
next year? I doubt it.
If a shipping company gives us a helping hand to get to major regattas, maybe
some thanx can be displayed on a hat or perhaps on a banner around the
particular compound that benefited from their largess.
As far as having to display advertising in exchange for a cocktail party, i'll
pass on that option also. In my line of business the cocktail parties include
dinner and entertainment that features the likes of Don Henley or Rod Stewart;
and they don't make me wear a bib or even a funny hat. I'll buy my own beer,
thanx.
Pandering is rapidly coming to the forefront of embarassing developments.
Regatta managers go around to various companies extolling the value of
advertising on sailboats because they are so visible and everybody watches
sailboat races; a pretty good lie in itself.
I recently saw a 14er's letter to a boat supply company seeking sponsorship
that intimated that some 6 million people would see the company name on their
sails. And this was under the guise that they couldn't afford the money they
were spending for their campaign. Whatever happened to doing the best you
could with what you had?
Richmond Yacht Club proved that great regattas can be run without sponsorship.
We don't need it and the attendant obligations that it brings. We don't sail
Olympic boats, so let's get them off our backs as well. And let's get back to
Corinthian sailing, which, by the way, includes "amateur" in it's definition.
Alan Laflin, USA 1115
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