"I'm not sure what resources we are talking about sharing Pete, can you please explain that a bit."
Our only real resource is people. Have we ever tried to conduct a census and establish a budget? If we determine who our participants are, we might discover their preferences and limitations. For instance, an increasing number of people favor three day events. But that presents a hardship for working people with families. At least one sailor of my acquaintance opted out of Tradewinds because he didn't want his children to miss more school. Weather played a part in that decision as well. I'm not suggesting we ask Rick to go back to a two day format, but we might want to try and rework the format of an existing regatta to accomodate families with children.
Imo, the A class has executed a brilliant marketing strategy by teaming up with the 505s for a regatta. That exposes them to an entirely different segment of the boating public. Can we identify a similar opportunity?
Pete, nobody can in all good conscience use the three day format as a reason to opt out. There is a provision that allows you to race only two days if you wish and you have the option to sail Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun. I don't have an issue with doing what it takes to make event more doable but I don't want to waste any energy chasing down red herrings and the "I didn't do Tradewinds because it's 3 days" is a red herring.
I can tell you this regarding budgets for the paper clubs like SCCA the regatta price reflects our cost. Now, from time to time we might get lucky and make a few bucks and I'm talking just a few bucks, it's not uncommon to overrun as well. If we don't get our break even numbers we are screwed. If we get a bad weather weekend we are going take a bath, so from the SCCA point of view there is NO wiggle room and it's always a nail biter until everything is in the books.
New regatta's with mono's:
Agreed good idea but look at the exchange. The A-cats (at least my observation) are tending towards doing more venues that do not include other mulithull classes. I'm not saying it's good or bad but the point is the A-cats didn't attend Tradewinds because their regatta prior to Tradewinds and won't attend Charlette Harbor because of the Ft. DeSoto regatta. Look at the current FL schedule, fall, winter and spring are packed with regattas, we cannot keep adding regattas and expect participation to stay flat or rise. There are only so many regattas the sailing community can attend in a single year. So, hard choices have to be made, if you add another event then you know the weaker regattas will suffer and possibly go away because they are no longer financially viable. To be a bit cold hearted about it, maybe that is what needs to happen.
In all honesty this isn’t the first time we’ve been down this road. It’s tough decision time, I have a pretty good idea what has to happen but I aint putting it on an open forum.
