Carnage at the Sunfish Worlds II: The Calm During the Storm

Sunfish aren't supposed to launch like rocket ships are they? Hopefully things will be calmer tomorrow.
Photo by Sue Ingram Keller

After two days of no racing due to the remains of Tropical Storm Karen, news out of the Sunfish Worlds has slowed considerably over the past 2 days. That changed early this morning with an update by Sunfish Class President Paul-Jon Patin:

We accepted a bid from Camp Seagull (near Oriental, NC) to do the 2014 Worlds and likely the Youth Worlds the Thursday-AM Saturday before. Unconfirmed but the hope is to have the dates fall about the second weekend in October. There is a plan in place to have a large amount of charter boats or potential for a "supplied boat worlds." The facility and sailing venue is extraordinary for Youth and a World Class event.
*DO NOT COUNT ON A WILD CARD LIST, the World Council all agree and will work to properly reorganize the registration and entry process for 2014.
Peru looks to do the South American Championship in November 2014 at the tail of the J24 Worlds for Jury consolidation. We are in the final stages of figuring out logistics but far along on their bid to do the Worlds in Paracus, 2.5hrs South of Lima in Mid October 2015.
Lastly We have interest from Colombia for Cartegena in 2016 as well as Jonathan Martinetti (2010 World Champion) last night expressed interest in Ecuador producing a bid as well. I will speak to Laser Performance in a few weeks in Portsmith to discuss their involvement moving forward (as they are the manufacturer and copyright holder of the Sunfish) and we will discuss previously mentioned potential interest in Europe.

The return to a "supplied boats" worlds is big news.  South America has long been a hotbed of Sunfish activity.  Our local superstars, some of the best in the world, scratch their heads when trying to explain how the South Americans manage to win so much. Having a Worlds in South America is a great thing for the class.

It is also encouraging to hear that boats may be supplied for the next Worlds. Up until very recently, the Sunfish Worlds were run using brand new charter boats supplied by LaserPerformance. The past two years or so has seen a pullback by LP, and boats have not ben supplied for the last two years.  The 2011 Worlds saw almost no support from LP, meaning that racers were forced to haul their own boats or borrow boats.  This made it very difficult for participants from abroad.  Attendance was down considerably this year, which may be attributable to the lack of available boats or the difficulty of bringing your own boat.  LP is involved in a messy legal battle over the Laser, and have been shifting their attention to some of their other boats lately. They have been making waves recently with a new version of the 420, and they supplied sails for this year's Worlds, and maybe some Sunfish promotion will be in the works in the future.