Sport Today

>   The United States Windsurfing Association (US Windsurfing)announced
> today that the term "port" will become the direction of right of way
> for all of its Nationally sanctioned races "because it's easier to yell
> "PORT" instead of "starboard" " declared Nat Siddall, Executive
> Director of US Windsurfing.  He denied that there was any involvement
> from Mistral or Neil Pryde in making this decision. "For years we have
> been deluged with letters and emails from racers who want faster
> warnings and quicker response times on the course.  Two syllable
> warnings take twice as long to announce and perceive so we are going
> with the shorter term."
>    Defenders of retaining the "starboard" term maintain that certain
> board manufacturers resent the "free advertising" that Starboard is
> getting from sailors in their casual- or e***d- references to that
> right hand forward direction.  KISS, or Keep It Starboard-Stupid,
> alledges that even Neil Pryde- the company that will be making the new
> Olympic board-is feeling the effects when naive sailors yell
> "starboard" on the approach of their new race board.
>     Siddall, despite sailing a Mistral, maintains that the
> organization's decision is influenced by our modern society and its
> instant messaging mentality.  He cites tests on the water that
> demostrate that a sailor can tack off in 33% of the time when they hear
> "port" as compared to hearing "starboard".  Siddall continues" if it
> takes only one third of the time to react to "port" and you can see
> that it takes half as long to say "port", then it is obvious that right
> of way on a race course can be maintained in less time than you can say
> "Do a 720.""
>     Many proponents of the change to port rule are former British
> sailors who welcome this left hand prominance to their sailing sport.
> American sailors who have been testing this switch are comfortable with
> its ease of use and think that it will go beyond the race course and
> help define right of way issues in all sailing venues.  Siddall agrees,
> and is looking into other single syllable solutions to make windsurfing
> more user friendly.

>Happy April Fools, Marc!

>Alan

>--
>Windsurfing Club: http://SportToday.org/

>>   The United States Windsurfing Association (US Windsurfing)announced
>> today that the term "port" will become the direction of right of way
>> for all of its Nationally sanctioned races "because it's easier to yell
>> "PORT" instead of "starboard" " declared Nat Siddall, Executive
>> Director of US Windsurfing.  He denied that there was any involvement
>> from Mistral or Neil Pryde in making this decision. "For years we have
>> been deluged with letters and emails from racers who want faster
>> warnings and quicker response times on the course.  Two syllable
>> warnings take twice as long to announce and perceive so we are going
>> with the shorter term."
>>    Defenders of retaining the "starboard" term maintain that certain
>> board manufacturers resent the "free advertising" that Starboard is
>> getting from sailors in their casual- or e***d- references to that
>> right hand forward direction.  KISS, or Keep It Starboard-Stupid,
>> alledges that even Neil Pryde- the company that will be making the new
>> Olympic board-is feeling the effects when naive sailors yell
>> "starboard" on the approach of their new race board.
>>     Siddall, despite sailing a Mistral, maintains that the
>> organization's decision is influenced by our modern society and its
>> instant messaging mentality.  He cites tests on the water that
>> demostrate that a sailor can tack off in 33% of the time when they hear
>> "port" as compared to hearing "starboard".  Siddall continues" if it
>> takes only one third of the time to react to "port" and you can see
>> that it takes half as long to say "port", then it is obvious that right
>> of way on a race course can be maintained in less time than you can say
>> "Do a 720.""
>>     Many proponents of the change to port rule are former British
>> sailors who welcome this left hand prominance to their sailing sport.
>> American sailors who have been testing this switch are comfortable with
>> its ease of use and think that it will go beyond the race course and
>> help define right of way issues in all sailing venues.  Siddall agrees,
>> and is looking into other single syllable solutions to make windsurfing
>> more user friendly.

> Alan you could have let it go a little further before busting
> it......some of the typo's in "the press release" are dead give aways
> though

> lol

> On Fri, 01 Apr 2005 15:39:37 GMT, "Alan"

>>Happy April Fools, Marc!

>>Alan

>>--
>>Windsurfing Club: http://SportToday.org/

>>>   The United States Windsurfing Association (US Windsurfing)announced
>>> today that the term "port" will become the direction of right of way
>>> for all of its Nationally sanctioned races "because it's easier to yell
>>> "PORT" instead of "starboard" " declared Nat Siddall, Executive
>>> Director of US Windsurfing.  He denied that there was any involvement
>>> from Mistral or Neil Pryde in making this decision. "For years we have
>>> been deluged with letters and emails from racers who want faster
>>> warnings and quicker response times on the course.  Two syllable
>>> warnings take twice as long to announce and perceive so we are going
>>> with the shorter term."
>>>    Defenders of retaining the "starboard" term maintain that certain
>>> board manufacturers resent the "free advertising" that Starboard is
>>> getting from sailors in their casual- or e***d- references to that
>>> right hand forward direction.  KISS, or Keep It Starboard-Stupid,
>>> alledges that even Neil Pryde- the company that will be making the new
>>> Olympic board-is feeling the effects when naive sailors yell
>>> "starboard" on the approach of their new race board.
>>>     Siddall, despite sailing a Mistral, maintains that the
>>> organization's decision is influenced by our modern society and its
>>> instant messaging mentality.  He cites tests on the water that
>>> demostrate that a sailor can tack off in 33% of the time when they hear
>>> "port" as compared to hearing "starboard".  Siddall continues" if it
>>> takes only one third of the time to react to "port" and you can see
>>> that it takes half as long to say "port", then it is obvious that right
>>> of way on a race course can be maintained in less time than you can say
>>> "Do a 720.""
>>>     Many proponents of the change to port rule are former British
>>> sailors who welcome this left hand prominance to their sailing sport.
>>> American sailors who have been testing this switch are comfortable with
>>> its ease of use and think that it will go beyond the race course and
>>> help define right of way issues in all sailing venues.  Siddall agrees,
>>> and is looking into other single syllable solutions to make windsurfing
>>> more user friendly.

> could we make that "Coriolis" the next time around? Just for the
> purists, of course.

> Yes, well, spelling has never been my fortay.

> -Dan


> > could we make that "Coriolis" the next time around? Just for the
> > purists, of course.

> Too much ' Corona' effect.

> Alan
> --
> Windsurfing Club: http://www.ibscc.org

> By the way, the Gear Demo in Baltimore was cold and windy.  I got
> plastered on my 5.3 but I was smiling all the while)