District Secretary - A King without a crown
by Andrea Serpieri - District 14 Secretary
According to the Star Class Log, the District Secretary (DS) should have a quite simple role in the Class: act as a general supervision over all Star activities in his/her district, be responsible for checking entries in sanctioned events and approving Star race committees conducting championship of his/her district. But what does that mean? Does it mean that everything done in the district should be approved by the DS? Should it mean that if one wants to do something for the Class he has to ask the permission of the DS? The general supervision of all activities is a very generic definition, since it could mean all and nothing at the same time.
The Star Class was founded on the fleet concept, i.e. the fleets were the only entities entitled to vote, organize and decide the future of the Class. The Fleet Secretary "keeps together" the sailors of his fleet, taking care of documents to be sent to the Central Office and deciding the site of the fleet qualifications. He is the local reference for a sailor, but most important for the Class, he collects the money. So he does not have anything to do with the District at large. What does a Fleet Secretary need from the DS? Sometimes help communicating with the Central Office, possibly help if he has a boat shared with another fleet by mistake; but for the rest, he is perfectly free to establish dates and places for regattas, make agreements with yacht clubs, and remain independent from other fleets.
What happens then? There is no connection between one fleet and another; there is no common "view", no common agreement, and no common effort to promote Class activities. There is nothing in common, except, of course, the boat! Everyone acts independently, and this means no homogeneous effort, and people going in different directions. How then, can we make sure that all fleets in a district talk to each other and establish regatta dates which do not interfere with one another? How can we have some control over the activities of all fleets in a district? How can we be sure that the quality of regattas, along with the behavior of the sailors, will remain at the top level?
The solution may be letting one person coordinate the activity before and during the season so there is a common reference point. Maybe that person could be titled the District Secretary; and if he has such an important role in the Class, may be it is better if his role is specified in the Log, so that every aspect of his job is clearly explained to minimize doubts and conflicts.
Inside a district there must be a reference person who is in charge of establishing the best way to promote the Class. This includes talking to federations, media, and to new sailors interested in sailing this beautiful boat. There must be a single person at the helm to create District unification, or the Star Class would merely be a mass of individual fleets, spread out over a wide territory, with no captain to follow.
What then, according to me, should the District Secretary do? Let's go by subject by subject:
Regatta Schedule: The regatta schedule is probably t e most important duty for the DS. He shall start contacting all yacht clubs early in the year so that everyone would evidence the preferred dates for his regattas. He shall start coordinating the schedule, keeping in consideration that all yacht clubs must have suitable time to perform their regattas, but that two regattas in two different places which are close in proximity would probably result in low numbers of boats at both regattas. Hence, it is important that he convinces all yacht clubs to cooperate in issuing, early in the year, a calendar which would permit sailors to attend all important events without having to sacrifice one regatta for the other.
Personally, I've found that talking to other secretaries whose districts are near mine has been a good idea. In fact I discovered, for example, that some sailors from Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany wanted to attend certain District 14 regattas, but were consistently unable to because there as an important regatta in their district on that same weekend each year. By talking to their District Secretary we were able to find a suitable date which allowed everyone the chance to come to our regatta. Of course it was not easy, but it was not impossible either.
Communication with Federations: The Star Class is not like any other sailing class. Its history, its sailors and its "gentlemanly behavior" make it a special class. Not everyone knows this, and most of the time, sailing Federations consider us just like any other class. But we're not! Star sailors are a different breed, not because they are special, but because they think differently. This makes a lot of difference in deciding whether or not to attend a specific regatta. A Star sailor usually wants to go to a regatta where there are a good number of boats and strong sailors. A Star sailor usually wants to fraternize after the regatta with other Star sailors, as the comraderie is as much a reason to attend as the competition. A Star sailor typically is not a young boy, and his age is much closer to the 50s than the 20s. Often he has a family with kids. Of course, this makes a considerable difference when deciding to leave for a regatta, which may be 3-4 days in duration. This reason usually is not understood by Sailing Federations, which consider the Class just a "normal" class. When it comes to decide the site for the national championship, it is always a problem. Should we stay with all other Olympic classes, which often means accepting dates and places which might not be ideal for a Star sailor? Or, do we ask for a separate championship at a different time and place? If on one hand, it is important that we stay with all Olympic classes, on the other hand it is important that we respect the needs of our sailors. Achieving a balance is often quite difficult.
Communication with media: The Star Class has always been considered the queen of all Olympic classes, as well as the most difficult and fascinating boat. But how many of you have seen nice pictures of a Star, along with results of regattas, in newspapers or magazines? Very few. Magazines usually do not publish our pictures or our regattas results. Why? Maybe because they are not interesting, maybe because they are not well done, or maybe simply because nobody supplies them with pictures or articles. I have found that assigning one person in the district to talk to journalists, collect articles and pictures and be responsible for all communication from the district to the media is the only way to get things moving. It is a tremendous load of work, and requires passion and will. I feel very fortunate to have such a person in my district. Since he started doing this job, I've noticed articles, pictures and final scores published in magazines; I've seen increased attention being paid to the Star Class; but, most of all, I've perceived a better knowledge of the rules of the Class. This is a direct result of the great job being performed by one person: Giuseppe Leonetti. Thank you Giuseppe! I want to officially express my thanks for all you have done so far, and all I'm sure you will do in the future. District 14 is proud to have you with us.
Communication with new sailors: You would probably be surprised at how many people called me over the phone or sent me an email during the past year to ask for information: Where can I get information on my old boat? What kind of boat should I buy? Do you know of anyone selling a good boat? I have an old wood boat and I would like to repair it, what should I do? I'm a sailor interested in sailing a Star for the first time, where should I start? Is there a yacht club near me? I spend quite a bit of my day answering questions such as these. I'm more than happy to do it. When I take the time to help a new sailor and encourage him to join the ISCYRA and then, after two months, see his application forms and hear he purchased a boat-- I feel I did my job. It gives me satisfaction to know that, in all likelihood, a new person joined the Class because of the attention I paid to him. I believe this part of the District Secretary's duties is probably the most important of all. When a person willing to join a Class feels his interest is reciprocated, it makes an impression on him and encourages his desire to be part of something bigger.
Communication through Internet. A year ago I felt the need for our district to have an official web site in order to share information and documents with all other Star sailors. I decided to register www.star class.it. I had someone redesign the site (previously designed and maintained by one of our Star sailors thank you Andrea) and began inserting information, documents, pictures and everything I felt was necessary for our Class in my district. Good or bad, it has become a reference place for sailors or journalists to find official news from the Class, the official calendar, information on how to get to the regattas, hotels near the yacht clubs and last minute communication from the secretary. Far from being complete, it has become a major tool for the sailors in our district to feel unified. It is also a way to communicate without the need to send letters by mail, which not only is very costly for a single communication, but also takes a lot of time to reach its destination.
In our district, we decided that the maintenance of a web site was a top priority, and we decided to continue its development by asking all yacht clubs to construct their own sites. Having the opportunity to find information on time (even at the last minute) on where to go, which hotel to stay at and how to get there, often means the difference between going to a regatta or staying home.
Respect of Star Class rules and behavior: The Star Class is meaningful to us and to all the sailing world. Since the beginning, it has been considered the queen of all classes. Star Sailors were always considered "Gentlemen sailors," and were highly respected. This was due to their behavior on the water as well as off the water. Time goes by and habits sometimes change. I personally mediated a discussion between two Star sailors where one was asking the other, off the water, to informally settle an incident which occurred during the regatta, where one boat hit the other, causing minor damage. The other sailor stated that if he wanted to settle the damage, he had to write an official protest and then go the jury and discuss it. The first sailor became angry and walked away screaming that the old gentlemanly behavior did not exist in the Star Class anymore. If, on one side, I agree that if something happens during a regatta the best and only thing to do is to raise the red flag according to the rules; on the other side, I feel saddened to think that the old sailing manners have become obsolete.
At a different time, a situation arose in which I felt I had to. A helmsman who forced passing around a mark, putting himself and other sailors in a dangerous situation. Finally, it happened-- the disaster. Being right, he forced, once again, a situation and his crew was severely injured as a result. Everyone condemned the behavior privately, but nothing was said directly. I felt I had to do something to stop situations like that from occurring again. I decided to write personally to the sailor, reminding him of his responsibility to conduct a Star boat so as not to create situations where the boats and the people in them would suffer severe damages, but rather to maintain a gentleman's sailing behavior. The sailor in question was offended by my letter and did not understand the meaning. Some sailors in my district agreed, others did not. The result is that the cited helmsman did not put himself or others in dangerous situations, but he does not talk to me anymore. The goal had been achieved, but the question is .... was I right in my position to do it? Should a District Secretary have the right to act in cases like this? And if he is not the right person, who is?
After being a District Secretary for one year and being reelected for the following year, I've found that in order to really serve the Class and make improvements, a lot of action is needed. It is not sufficient to do only what is stated in the Log. The DS should be the common link between all fleets secretaries, sailors, media and sponsors within a district. Therefore, a DS should officially have all the duties and power to truly be the reference for the Class in that district, with the opportunity to control the activity and making sure it reflects the desired standards. Up to now, all this was left to the individual effort of each person elected. However, being a real District Secretary should be more than just an honor, it should be a challenge.
All this is very difficult if we do not entitle him to do what is necessary. Let's give him the crown and let's ask him to be a king.
Maybe we will have a kingdom.
