Mark, you hit a raw nerve with the typical blind comments that are made following HCA meetings. Happens year after year, always by people who weren't there, and usually aren't members.

You don't have to own a Hobie to be a member. You shouldn't vote on Hobie issues if your primary intent is to promote Brand X sailing, but that is a different matter.

What I said wasn't out of the blue. Actions and words have not been aligning, and that needs to happen to move forward (again, just my opinion). The case can be made that this is true for all sides, but I was speaking solely for the HCA, because it was approved by HCA (after a lot of discussion).

I do agree with the importance of your two last questions, although what you might believe are the correct answers may not be agreed by the class.

In any organization, ultimately votes are held and decisions are made. If one is not willing to go with the group decisions, maybe one just is not meant to be in any organization. If one's personal opinion doesn't carry the vote, one can go away, but will that really make one any happier, or the class any stronger?

You still owe Chris an apology. He is the one who (wisely) moved to table the F18 discussion so it could be given plenty of time for discussion. No one at HCA is interested in tabling it without a discussion and vote.

Mike