Add in the decent sized Hobie 18 Fleet... again... a spin class event is not interesting or important to them.

The A cat fleet does not see the two man championship on spin boats as interesting or important.

The F16 fleet is primarily single handed in the region... again the championship is not interesting or important.

The Chesapeake Nacra 20 fleet does not travel, especially to a buoy race. (see NA attendance). Buoy races are not that interesting or important to these guys.

OVERSCHEDULED??? relative to the interest in attending the area championship... ABSOLUTELY....

We also had a conflict with Special Olympics this weekend and Wildwood (Hobie) and Bristol (A cats) the following weekends... (Our most dedicated racers also make the Special Olympics happen.)

Unless the one design classes agree to exchange one of their OD events for the Area Championships, we will be over scheduled.

By design.... each OD class is scheduling the number of events that they believe they (the OD class) can optimally support... Add one more event like the Area qualifier and you are over scheduled!

We need to restructure or punt on the championships in my region

(Area C includes Va Beach, Hampton, Annapolis, Washington DC, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia and up through North Jersey just south of New York City.)

US Sailing Areas:

The Championship is sailed on whatever boat the manufacturers or dealers are willing to provide at a discounted charter fee. Anyone who thinks "we" get to pick whatever boat "we" want is mistaken on that point... in the case of the last several years, two-up spinnaker boats are what has been available. I conclude that the manufacturers are providing the boats that they know they can sell after the events.

Please don't underestimate the level of support that Hobie USA or any other manufacturer has provided since the Alter Cup's inception. The small charter fee available from the Alter Cup committee does not offset a builder's costs to support the event. Nobody (including Rolex) has done more to support the Championship financially than the builders.

So what changes are you recommending?

Not likely, since the US Sailing Areas are for all sailors, not just multihulls. We've already made adjustments by combining Areas A and B, and splitting Area D - just for this event.


Since Hobie 17s are out of production, that's a moot suggestion.

Hobie 16s have been used (as recently as 2004) and were not well received by the top competitors, as evidenced by many area champions declining to race in the finals. There were a record number of petitions granted that year.

There was a plan to use Hobie 16s in 2009, but the deal fell through for a variety of reasons.

The Hobie 16 will be back as the Alter Cup boat - possibly in association with another major 16 event in 2012.

I have to agree with John .., and this is what I said from the very beginning of expanding to twenty teams, so all the “buds” could get in on the Championship.

Stick with the ladder system that way it started -- 10 areas, 10 qualifiers, and 10 for the duration of the round robin event.


The craze for more teams was created by the Californians who felt they had more high-caliber sailors than Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Florida, etc. However, the ladder was designed to take the BEST sailor for EACH area and compete. They lobbied that CA had 6 great sailors and they should ALL attend.

Hence the new system. I fought it from the very start and still feel it has created a mess.

And no mfg. is going to supply 20 boats, so consequently the convoluted round robin system had to be invented, leaving half the fleet going home early.

And yes, those usually are the Area Reps – they just got outsailed by the Rock Stars.
It is great to sail with the Rock Stars, but one should be from each area.

I think I know what my next editorial will be.., and I bet it won’t be gladly accepted.
Answer to the Problem is build stronger Areas and promote them more. Forget the invitations to the Elite.

We put in measures in the last several years to help promote the qualifiers. We changed the allocation for one of the AC event spots to be available to the largest area qualifier - that qualifier gets to send it's two top teams instead of one.

The event itself also NEEDS 20 teams to be able to afford all of the expenses of the event - maybe the 20 team effort was started so all the "buds" could compete, but today it's necessary to put on a quality event. Even with 20 teams, the entry fee is pretty high...with only 10, it would be higher or the regatta benefits - that we've all become accustomed to at week-long events - would be reduced or eliminated and would probably be to the detriment of the attendance event.

I'm personally in favor of reducing the number of petition slots available...but it's hard to get the people that are nominated or even in some cases, qualify, to attend the championship. To reduce the dedicated petition slots may be pointless as you're going to have to draw from the petition pool to fill the slots that others have left vacant.

PS - we don't use a round robin format anymore...it's promotion relegation and everyone sails to the last round. In the three years I helped with the event, I only heard minor complaints about specific details of the rotation (number of throw-outs, etc.) - my impression (myself included) people like the promo-rele system.

Why can't you just "run what you brung"?

Because then EVERYONE bitches about the ratings, some people will dust off and sail rating beaters, and nobody feels like you had a true championship.

If you run classes, and designate each winner as the "USS Class Champion" there is no handicap. Simultaneously you can designate the "Alter Cup Champion" from a particular class.

Example: registration on Monday, Class races Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Alter cup Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Any of these races could be run on privately owned boats or chartered from the builder.

In my particular case, I'd come for the class racing and stick around to watch THE AC.