I love this event both Nationally and Regionally. Florida enjoys a very strong area with many competitors eager to qualify. Other Areas are totally different with possibly only 2 or 3 teams that are really interested in qualifing. This is the real problem.

In order to make a regatta work you need to have at an absolute minimum 10 boats.

Altercup Qualifiers are required to have a Certified Judge and PRO. In some areas there are no local people to fill this role. Getting them to travel is very expensive and with a small fleet cost prohibitive.

The Qualifier requires both Skipper and Crew to be members of US Sailing. For the weekend warrior this is to much of a burden for a single regatta. Many skippers don't have regular crew and crews aren't eager to join US Sailing. So entry fee becomes Skipper and Crew US sailing membership $100.00 plus regatta of $60-$80 and you have a $180 regatta which people lose interest in.

The largest single factor which would greatly help the Area Eliminations would be to remove the requirement of a US Sailing membership for the crew.

It didn't help that US Sailing removed the Catamaran from the Olympic status on the last submission. Luckily that decision has changed thanks to the many people that helped make that happen. Hopefully this didn't damage to many peoples view of US Sailing. However it didn't help the image any.

When scheduling a qualifier you have to work around the Hobie schedule, Nationals schedule, Judges Schedule, Yacht Club Schedule, PRO Schedule, .... It's really hard to put it together. I know I did it for quite a few years.

As the Area Rep. You often feel like you are between a rock and a hard place because of pressure put on you from many sides.

I'm done,
Mike Hill
Former Area K Rep.