R,
"As Chris was leaving last Saturday, he introduced me to another Nacra sailor, who suggested I get on their crew e-mail list. Is there a Nacra-specific distribution list? If so, how can I get on there to see if anybody can use last-minute crew for Tuesday evening cat sailing?"
This "Chris" you speak of, was that me or one of the other 4 or so Chris or Kris-es at our club? If you want on the N20 email list then PM me and I will add you to the list. The Tuesday night racing email list is controlled by Keith, PM him.
"Looking at the rules for joining WRSC, to become a full-fledged member you have to own, outright or as a share, one of the OD fleets that are part of the club. Do I understand that correctly? But during one of the rare breaks on the RC boat, Peter mentioned that there were other options for boat-less membership. So I'll have to investigate that as well."
You don't have to own to be a full voting member, we will take all the money you want to give us. There are cheaper way to join. Once you PM me I'll give you my tele number and I will walk you thru the options.
"partnership"
Perhaps a better word is co-owning. This can be a very good way of getting the most out of your money. You should have an agreement, this doesn't have to be difficult to do, "the Yachtsmen Guide to Co-Ownership" has a sample agreement that could be used probably verbatim. I've co-owned and can tell you the good the bad and the potential ugly of it. We have some examples of co-ownership within our N20 fleet that seem to be working out really well.
When are you leaving? How many kids do you have? The whole Hi-tech thingy isn’t the argument for me. Its more important what mother nature is doing than how advanced or “Hi-tech” the boat is. Its about Power management. In my opinion, a higher-tech boat will be easier to manage power. We are not blowing thru sails even on a yearly basis.
An aside about the one day that I decided to NOT take my kids out on the N20 last year: Sunny, really warm, club packed with people and families, great day to show all these half boaters what a full boat can do, right? I stood by the launch ramp with my then 6 and 8 year old both fully stoked about it just being the three of us goin’ out on Gerite. I stood there for probably ten minutes, looking at the water and wind with sweat just running of me. To my kids disappoint, I declared we were going kayaking instead. My 8 year old son, who, lets say speaks his mind, pretty much called me out as being a big pussy. He stomps off with my 6 year old in tow to go and get the kayak paddles. Enter laser guy. Nice enough guy on the whole, he has his family there and is just amazed with my decision to not sail. Apparently, amazed enough to actually question my decision, with “are you kidding me, this has to be the greatest day for sailing I’ve seen on the bay.” I tried to explain to him that I actually like my kids and wasn’t going to scare them. I was significantly lacking crew weight and crew experience for those conditions and that although my boat is easy to depower the wind was simple blowing to hard. Even if I had another adult with me we wouldn’t have gone. That was not the conditions to be taking a N20, Blade or probably even a hobie 18 with kids on it out sailing. Race in it, you bet! Go yahoo sailing with experienced crew sure, but not with kids. He questioned me again about disappointing my kids, blah blah blah…. This was becoming a scene…I ended up cutting him off with I’ll ask for your opinion next time I desire it kind of statement. As were shoving off …now his wife is offended and tries to come to her husbands aid, blah blah blah… I think perhaps I was to direct but I asked her if she had ever been around the forestay? In there ensuing confusion, we had a great time kayaking, we went down wind seldom paddling then I ended up towing them both back; that was great exercise. We get back to the beach and there is laser guy trying to straighten his mast at one of the picnic tables. Me boy started to question him, and I stopped him, leave him alone he is gaining experience.
