Hi Mark,

Yes, my boat that I referred to was a Hobie 16. There are several other Hobies (including 16s) that race regularly that have sponsors, including at least one Youth team. The Puerto Rican and Brazilian teams always have sponsors so they can attend NAs.

The only year that special provisions were made for NAs (that I'm aware of) was 2005 when the H16s were in Ventura on supplied boats. The Worlds are also supplied boats (Coca-Cola, etc.).

We just want more boats on the water. No one has come to an event with lots of money and a new (sponsored) boat, and won the event. Even if that happened, I don't think anyone would reject them, I think they would see that as a reason to figure out why they got beat and try to win the next time.

I'm talking about non-H16 "pros" here, not Enrique, who comes in with Red Bull and Suzuki and kills us on a charter boat. Even if we gave him a 1983 boat half-filled with water, he'd probably kill us. And that's the point. On most of our boats, you need time on the water in the fleet to win. The rest is just extra weight and drag...

Pat, BRU Cat made ME dizzy! And, it was almost always at the back of the fleet, so if you were finding me near you, chances are you were getting killed too... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mike