I’m not quite sure if the “disgruntled member of the ‘losing’ faction” is me or Dan. Anyway if someone wants me to delete my post just ask. I’ll delete it. I just hate to see these forum discussions spin out of control when no one knows what the heck they are talking about. At least now we all know what’s being discussed. We already have claims of lies and inaccuracies even with it all out in the open. Imagine if it wasn’t. Anyway, like I said, just ask.
So… you didn’t think I could go this long without expressing my opinion did you?
I sent the following to the Board of Directors (of which I am still a member, by the way) last week.


Dear HCA Board of Directors

It was interesting to listen in on the discussion last night and it's great to see that there is a clear line of communication between the class leadership and local sailors. Our class certainly has some work to do going forward and there were lots of good points made about how best to do that.

Personally I think that accepting this proposal will help our organization in the long run as we transform into a smaller class after more than half of our one-design boats have been discontinued. While I think that inviting Formula 18's to some of our events, as a guest fleet, is a good idea I don't think that we should be doing it in such a way as to require a change in our bylaws. By changing our bylaws to accommodate F18's we would be bringing an F18 fleet into the Hobie Class as a part of the class association. Formula 18 sailors already have their own class association as do we and there is no need or desire to combine the two organizations. In fact the IHCA has final approval over any bylaws changes we make and you can be sure that they would not allow such a change.

There is however a benefit to be had by the two organizations working together so that regatta attendance can be maintained at a level that allows the events to remain viable. In fact this is exactly how every Regional Hobie Class outside of North America operates. No part of the HCA or IHCA bylaws prohibits this.

While there is a need for the Hobie Class to keep its regattas viable by increasing the number of participants it is clear that we don't want to go back to the open class problems that we had in the past. I think that inviting the Formula 18 class to events and stopping there is a perfect middle ground opportunity for us to maintain viable events. The fact that the Hobie Cat Company manufactures two boats to the F18 rule makes this a natural partnership.

In my view this partnership would be in the best interest of the Hobie Class and I believe that it already conforms to our current bylaws. I have spent many hours reviewing our bylaws first as a member of the bylaws committee and later as the HCA Chair and most recently with regards to this proposal. I can assure you there is no conflict.

Sincerely,
Bob Merrick
Past HCA Chair