Hi:

Belonging to a YC costs money. No doubt about it. In the case of PPYC, a negative is that PPYC is a for-profit club that exists to make money for the owners. In a perfect world I'd like to swear allegiance to a racing club whose facilities were owned by the members. PPYC doesn not have existing racing programs. That doesn't mean that they couldn't. CRAC certainly has the expertise to set one up, including junior programs. I've come to believe that if we cat sailors want to belong to a club and have a club cater to our interests, we're gonna have to find the place best suited to our boats, then get active and by doing so guide the club toward our interests. While PPYC is for-profit, it is still the best raw facility around. While it doesn't have a racing program, we could start one. Then PPYC would become a great resource for cat sailing. You guys are doing almost the same thing in Galesville. The facility is pretty rudimentary in that it is a vacant lot. But you guys have a racing program that is growing. If you all could buy that lot you'd have the beginnings of a real cool club. Maybe it would never be perfect (I understand that the reason that lot is vacant has something to do with running water issues), but I imagine the other clubs in Annapolis started in a similar way, just earlier in time, when things were cheaper.

I've always wanted to find some bit of land in some depressed part of the Chesapeake (read Eastern Shore) and buy it up with a group of sailors, to start a club. I've come to realize that while doing so could help insure that the club wouldn't disappear due to land use issues or ownership issues, those issues ain't show stoppers. Other clubs with very active multihull communities such as Miami YC and Cabrillo Beach YC are built on leased or rented land. It's really the members that make the club, and not necessarily land ownership. Such a club could exist in Annapolis if we so chose. I can see myself getting involved in such an effort once our Olympic campaign is over.

-Greg