We searched most all of the Annapolis / B'more area for a club that could accommodate a bunch of Tornados a few years back. West River Sailing Club and others were plenty interested in a one design fleet coming to roost, but space issues were clearly a problem as were launch facilities for nearly all Annapolis clubs. Severn Sailing Association and Eastport were interested but there was no way you could get sail a Tcat out of there. Most clubs here just aren't set up for launching cats.

On the other hand, Podickory Point Yacht and Beach Club, north of Annapolis, has great facilities and plenty of space. We train out of there when we are not on the road. PPYC would love to have more cats there, so I don't see what the problem is in Annapolis. I will say that most cat sailors are pretty cheap in my experience and are not willing to pay for yacht clubs. It costs around $115.00 per month to be a PPYC member and keep your boat there. That's a fair chunk of change to fork over in one lump sum. On the other hand, you get a place to store your boat, electricity, fresh water, showers, a pretty damn nice clubhouse, pool, tennis courts, etc. Seems pretty reasonable to me. I really appreciate having showers and fresh water available.

We have found Annapolis / Balmer clubs to be extremely cooperative and cat friendly. A few years ago, when the Baltimore Sailing Center at Rocky Point was operating, one of the baltimore clubs gave us open class starts in their races. They were very friendly and quite impressed with the speed of our boats. Eastport Yacht Club co-organized the 1997 Tornado National Championships with CRAC. Their RC expertise was extremely helpful and professional! Eastport has given us starts in their regattas over the years. And anyone who races in the Annapolis area certainly must know of the welcoming attitude of the Cambridge Yacht Club, who include us every year in their annual summer regatta. Miles River Yacht Club used to give us starts and hosted the area C Alter Cup elims twice if I'm not mistaken. For the last two years, cats have been welcome in the Annapolis to Oxford Race.

I don't think it is fair to say that we are not welcome. I think it is true that we have unique space and launching issues. In Annapolis, most clubs were built without considering such needs. This was reasonable at the time the clubs were built. Projects that I have worked on, such as the Tcat nationals, were well received by local clubs. Seems to me that for the most part, local clubs here ARE interested in promoting sailing.

If cat sailors were really interested, they could have a cat club in Annapolis. PPYC could become a cat oriented club just by having lots of cat people join. It's that simple. And there is a club of sorts in Galesville. There ain't no facilities, but there's a bunch of boats on a piece of property there and that's a start ain't it? Didn't most of the existing clubs start out that way?

-Greg Scace