ICSF WC Flycasting Sweden 2024

[John Waters]

Hi Lasse,

Maybe I am the only one who read it as such but I just assumed it was the cost for a non caster travelling with a competitor. The invites normally mention such a fee and I just assumed it was for that.

John

[Lasse Karlsson]

Not sure Michal, but there's 6 events and many of us will cast all. I would not travel all the way to say Australia for just one event. Would you? I would likely not have done it even if it was in Germany or the UK either. The mix and number of events is an important part of what’s make it fun. And the number of events helps reduce the wind lottery factor that we unfortunately cannot get rid of fully when casting outdoor with light floating lines—whether it is on grass or over water doesn’t matter that much—you may be unlucky in one event but lucky in another.

Hi Nils

Yeah, about that... TD in 2010, no wind and rain, 2012, no wind, 2014 no wind and alone on the platform, 2016 headwind for almost full 4 minutes, had one shot and it tangled. 2018 bicep tendonitis in my right elbow, but fair conditions. 2022 no wind.
Same goes for STD and SD. Accuracy isn't as wind dependant, but it really wasn't fun casting straight into the rising sun in 2022. Guess I am just very unlucky with the drawing of spots for when to cast, half an hour earlier or later usually has very different conditions
Spey I would need to grow old real fast, as in my age group, I won't stand a snowmans chance in hell of being nothing but fill.

It's too bad, I was looking forward to do the comp at the coast. I fish in the area and grew up on the coast, the kind of weather difference one experience in the mountains or middle of a forest don't happen so often. We saw that clearly in 2018, everyone had enough wind and even, not twirling or shifting between rounds. Steady from dawn till dusk.

Cheers
Lasse

[James9118]

James,
Who do you want to revolt against? Is it:
• The few volunteers who are donating their time and effort to organize the tournaments so that we can have fun?
• The host association that are spending their human and financial resources on organizing the tournaments so that we caan have fun?
• Or our seriously underfunded international organization that does not have the human and financial resources to do all the nice things that we want to have happening, and just got a new Board with representation from the fly casting side of the sport?

Hi Nils,

I want to revolt against a massive hike in costs that is already damaging participation in the sport. The inflation between Norway 2022 and Sweden this year is 175% - do you think that's reasonable? What about another 175% for 2026 - is over 1000 Euros to enter a casting competition where most people will get ~ 16 minutes of action ok to you? I think everyone has their own 'affordability' threshold, and the £3000 total cost (maybe more) plus a week's leave pushes Tracy and I well over our personal level.

Take a look at the list of people on here who are already saying it's too much - this is just the tip of the iceberg. I've previously been talking to potential competitors from Spain, France and the Netherlands - I believe they are all out now purely for economic reasons. So that's three teams that the ICSF probably never knew about and probably won't ever know about now. How does that fit with growing the sport?

I believe that the best attended fly casting WCs so far was Cumbria, UK in terms of both casters and teams. That was run over at a fraction of the cost in terms of the entrance fee and over the course of a long weekend. I still can't see how we've got from £20 an event back then to a 550 Euro entry fee for this year. What was missing in Cumbria in terms of the events - I can't think of anything?

My take on this is that teams such as Norway and Sweden couldn't care less what the entry fees are because their respective sports funding will be covering it. However, for the rest of the casting community who are entirely self funded, the charges become an issue at some point or other.

So, unfortunately on its current trajectory, I believe the sport is going to splinter. You'll have the government funded teams in one organisation (Norway, Sweden and the US?) and everyone else competing elsewhere. Incidentally, Tracy and I will be travelling to compete in the Spanish Open this summer - the entry fee there is zero, zilch, nada...

Regards, James

[John Waters]

Hi James,

Where can I find details about the Spanish Open? Dates, venues, events etc.

John

[sms]

I led organizing the Nordic Championship in 2013.
We had fly casting and casting. 57 participants on the participant list (not sure if it was the final, but about correct). Fly casting and casting were not in the same place. There was at least some overlap between participation (albeit only one or two people I think). Two days of competing. About 175 fly casting starts and over 100 casting starts.
Total budget for everything was just under 7 grand (not including competitors’ travel and accommodation).

So it doesn’t have to be expensive.

With the schedule we had, I must admit full start list order lottery was not possible, of course as much as possible, but tweaks had to be made as I think the buffer for any event ending and another starting was 20 minutes minimum for any individual. I think we had to make one adjustment during the comp due to casting events not following the schedule and thus the original slot on fly casting was missed.

[John Waters]

Has anyone got the invite to Cumbria with cost details?

John

[Torsten]

Hi,

I remember the sports official told me something like ~10k€ for the German championship, in this case it was covered by the fishing association. If you're not sponsored the participants have to finance that. 550€ on the other hand sounds really expensive; compared other competitions like classic casting sport WCs or world cups. See the world cup invitations for instance here https://www.icsf-castingsport.com/tourn ... s/in-2023/
I'm wondering about the 7 days, is this because of the here discussed new shout-out format with semifinals etc.?

Greetings,
Torsten

[Paul Arden]

Ok I think the prices will come down. And I think we are also going to have to do some of those things we have talked about here — ie those of us who can, to help find sponsorship.

They don’t want to be out on a limb or in this situation either. They just want to make a great event. They have read this discussion!!

There are two parts to this, ICSF and Sweden.

Cheers, Paul

[John Waters]

I congratulate Sweden, the three tier accomodation option is a great initiative. You are correct Paul about the wish for it top be a great events. We all want that and irrespective of whoever attends or not, the winners are still world champions. There should be no diminution of that accolade, ever. If the costs come down fine, but I would love to see a comparison of the total cost per competitor, per day of attendance, with other WCs. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I paid similar total daily costs in previous years. Of course, we also need to consider if the event ran at a loss, as well as the increase in the price of services in the last two years.

John

[Paul Arden]

Hi John, I couldn’t go to the last one in Norway. Of the five events I’ve attended, accommodation and entry fees were by far the highest for me in the UK. That event broke even. First event in Norway from memory was something like 45 Euros.

Cheers, Paul