My e-mail sent to [email protected] :

Mr Jobson:

My name is Karl Langefeld and I have been a sailor all my life, I grew up in a junior program out of the Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club in NJ and went on to be a collegiate sailor at the University of South Florida. After college, I spent years sailing all sorts of different boats from lasers to off-shore race boats. All through this time, I have also been an active beachcat sailor. I currently own and campaign a Formula 18 catamaran, one of the biggest catamaran fleets in the world. Last year, I was honored to be selected to compete in US Sailings Multihull Championship, the Alter Cup.

I have been a member of US Sailing for several years and have always beat the drum for my fellow sailors to join US Sailing. Many in the beachcat community have been reluctant to do so, feeling that beachcats do not receive recognition or support from US Sailing. I have always felt that sailing was bigger than just the fleets I was sailing in and used that as my argument for others to join. Race official training, youth development, providing the rules we race under, etc. This was my argument.

Yesterday, I received an online survey from US Sailing and took a couple minutes this morning to complete it. Upon completion of the survey, I was extremely disappointed that beachcats and multihulls were left off the survey completely. I could only check "Other" as the type of sailing that I am involved in. In addition, I could only check "Other" in regards to media sources used as all beachcat sites and publications were left out (if you are unaware please check www.catsailor.com as this is the largest of the media outlets for beachcat sailors). I can only assume that surveys of this type are used by US Sailing as a tool to determine the allocation of resources. If beachcats are not included, how can you determine what resources to allocate?

Sincerely

Karl Langefeld
US Sailing member #408203P