Hi Jake and Mary -



You are correct - US Sailing membership is required to sail in the Qualifier. I was trying to avoid placing an add for membership on the Forum - suffice it to say I will be at the registration table in Clearwater with some goodies, and explaining to anyone who's not currently a member what all the benefits (monetary and otherwise) of joining are. Benefits are year-'round, not just for the one regatta. Great Juniors membership option, too. If anyone is interested, please take a look at the Golden Anchor program at http://www.ussailing.org/multihull/ga.htm. 'Nuff said.



Regarding the way that the Clearwater folks are asking me to score the Qualifier/Fla Champs in November - there will be breakouts for one-design fleets, the Qualifier, and overall. Only US Sailing members will be scored in the Qualifier - there's a place on the entry form to indicate if you're sailing one or both fleets. There's no extra registration cost to sail in BOTH events. US Sailing membership is encouraged, but IS NOT required to compete in the Fla State Champs. That's the difference from years-past - you don't have to choose one or the other! Do one, or do both!



I like the idea of ladder events like the big boats do - I have gotten a number of e-mails on that. The trick will be, just like with the Qualifier, convincing a club or fleet that its not a big deal to designate an existing regatta part of a ladder. The regatta schedule looks very full - without use of existing regattas, I don't see how a series of new events could be built without stealing participants from someone else's event. That's counterproductive! Something to look into as the season winds down - thanks!



John