John,

Your idea sounds great. The only potential "problem" I can see is that I think everyone who participates in an Alter Cup Qualifier has to be a paid member of US Sailing. This requirement seems to have been a drawback in the past as far as getting people to participate in the qualifiers -- if they are not members of US Sailing, they don't see why they should pay the extra money to join just so they can sail in this one event and take a chance that they might win.



I am not really clear on whether you are planning to choose the winner from a group that belong to US Sailing and are signing up specifically for the qualifier or if you are planning to choose the winner of the overall group, many of whom may not be members of US Sailing. In the latter case, would it be "legal"? And what if the winner is not a member?



In the early days of the Alter Cup, I think some of the areas were a little more loose about the US Sailing membership requirement, and the winner, if not a member, was allowed to join after the regatta was over.



Area Reps in the past have sometimes tried to include the Alter Cup Qualifier within bigger events, but it didn't usually work too well because the sailors had to make a choice as to whether to sail in the Qualifier or sail in their usual one-design class or in a much bigger open Portsmouth class.



Personally, I think everyone who races should be a member of US Sailing; and it would make it a lot easier to do these qualifying events. But, unfortunately, that is not the case.



Maybe you already have this situation covered.



The BIG problem regarding the Alter Cup has always been general apathy. There just is not a lot of interest in it and there is not much publicity and hype to get people interested. It would be great if we could get ladder events going throughout the various US Sailing Areas, just as the monohulls do, leading up to the big qualifier event and ultimately to the championship. But, again, we run into that problem of US Sailing membership.