What irks me right now is that most of you performance racers seem to be sucking the oxygen out of the sailing/regatta scene. I don't care if you bought the cat equivalent of the F16 with the laser guided bombs. Good for you. Nor do I care if you race at Tybee or the World Champion Wahtever(gasp).

If I recall correctly, didn't Nacra in the beginning want to build boats for a professional racing circuit? How did that survive, eh?

Not that there isn't a place for performance racing, but not everyone wants to do the NASCAR thing on the water right off the bat. It is tough setting up a performance boat out of box. Or, rebuilding a used boat. It requires a lot of technical know-how and patience...

So, IMO, two things really need to happen: First, sailing events need more "pro/am" offerings -- creatively, as long as its safe fun, the sky's the limit. Like Catapalooza, for example.

Two, the boat builders/manufacturers have got to have more and better particulars on what they have to offer and on how to set up the boats! It is not primarily their business (moneywise) to set up competitive classes...or whatever. This is just too simple. Look at Hobie as an example. All the cookies on the bottom shelf. Parts layouts right there on the Web! My gripe with them is that their setup instructions still have some weaknesses and their parts ordering system, in a perfect world, could be patterned more like Murrays.

I have both a Wave and an FX One now. (I was very interested in a Nacra 5.0 or 17 but that's another story...) Of the two boats the Wave was sweet to assemble, the set-up information was clear and articulate.

Geez, I got to stop... I am starting to release my Inner Troll...