I think intimidating may apply better in some cases. As our local fleets dwindled, we're left with a large majority of "serious" sailors; national champions, tybee sailors, and sailors with fast new(er) boats. The last Catapalooza - while not the highly organized and polished event it could (but will eventually) be - opened my eyes a little to those sailors that are around us. They're out there. There is just some trepidation about showing up with a rusty-dusty and some inexperience at our regattas. The truth is, none of us really feel any disregard for these sailors and I promise you we will be most helpful if asked...but we need events like Catapalooza to break down some of those barriers and rebuild the critical mass of newbie sailors to make the events seem openly welcoming to other newbies.