| Scuttlebutt Forum |
For all your commentary, questions, and updates.
Click here to view.
|
|
|
|
Scuttlebutt:
Vanguard Sailboats helping events with charter boats
When a junior regatta requires traveling on Christmas day to attend, it must be a pretty good one, and that is exactly what the Orange Bowl in Miami, FL has become. With 100 420s, 190 Lasers (of various types), and 288 Optis competing in 2006, you have the kind of numbers deserving of national or international championships.
2005 ICSA/ISSA Singlehandeds in Hawaii. Photo by Vanguard. |
But with school schedules permitting minimal travel time, the logistics of moving boats around the country had to be solved. Enter Vanguard Sailboats. With the support of Vanguard’s local dealers, they provided new charter boats for a fourth of the 420 fleet and nearly a third of the Laser sailors.
The disadvantages of chartering boats over using personal equipment are largely negated by the uniformity found within classes like the Laser and 420. By eliminating the need for costly cross-country ground transportation, charter programs like the one coordinated by Vanguard at the Orange Bowl helped the event gain participants that either don’t yet have their own boats (many junior sailors use boats belonging to their club) or might not have attended due to tight school schedules.
It is the success Vanguard dealers have had in selling previously chartered boats that has enabled them to provide this program, and further expand it to additional events. This year, their charter program will be in place at the Laser NAs, Buzzards Bay Regatta, Laser Midwinters East and the C420 Midwinters. Additionally, there are many US Sailing Championship events where charter boats will either be available if desired, or the event will be exclusively sailed in charter boats, which might include V15s, C420s, Lasers, and Laser Radials. In 2007, Vanguard is supplying all the boats for the US Olympic Laser & Radial Trials.
2005 ICSA/ISSA Singlehandeds in Hawaii. Photo by Vanguard. |
Vanguard’s commitment to the sport and to developing high-quality sailing programs led to the formation of the Vanguard Sailing Team as a way to support various North American sailors with opportunities to sail with new equipment, receive funding assistance to compete, coaching and organizational support. This concept also has helped Vanguard with one of the hurdles in being a provider of youth products: getting valuable feedback. Team members become part of Vanguard’s technical development team, where they advise the factory on equipment, technique, and trends.
So while the sailing season is just starting in many parts of the US, it might also be time to begin thinking about what to get your young sailors for Christmas. A plane ticket to the Orange Bowl Regatta and a chartered boat aren’t exactly stocking stuffer items, but for the committed youth sailor, these items could likely take care of the hassles of holiday shopping. Heck, considering Miami’s warm December weather, this might be a junior event that attracts the whole family. Happy shopping!
Additional information at Vanguard Sailboats.
|
|
|
