Yikes! Karl was right. No matter which of the venues being discussed is chosen for the F16 Nationals, Karl will be driving a LONG way! God bless him, and all those hearty sailors who log such long hours on the road to be a part of the sailing community. Since 2011 Nationals will be in Annapolis, and so far on this thread both Rowayton, CT and Panama City, FL have been floated as possible hosts for the 2012 F16 Nationals, I put together a chart showing the driving times between those locations and many of the locations where I am aware there are some active F16 class members. (I realize this doesn’t cover all class member locations, and may not even cover most of them -- these locations are just the ones that I happen to know about.... I also didn’t list distances separately for any location that was within a few hours drive of either Rowayton or Panama City.)
DRIVING TIME BTW Annapolis, MD Panama City, FL Rowayton, CT
Annapolis, MD 0hrs 16hrs 4.5hrs
Atlanta, GA 11 hours 5hrs 15hrs
Clearwater, FL 15.5hrs 6.5hrs 19.5hrs
Lake Hartwell, GA 9.5hrs 7hrs 13.75hrs
Memphis, TN 14.5hrs 8.75hrs 18.25hrs
Merritt Island, FL 14.25hrs 7hrs 18hrs
Miami, FL 17.25hrs 9.75hrs 21.25hrs
Minneapolis, MN 18.25hrs 21.75hrs 20hrs
Panama City, FL 16hrs 0hrs 20.25hrs
Rowayton, CT 4.5hrs 20.25hrs 0hrs

I did confirm with the board of the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club that the club would be happy to host the 2012 F16 Nationals should the F16 Class decide that it would alternate geographic locations and have the event in the south in 2012. Indeed, when asked, the board voted enthusiastically and unanimously in favor of offering our club as a possible site. If you are unfamiliar with Panama City, we are located on the Florida panhandle approximately 2.5 hours east of Pensacola and 1.5 east of Fort Walton Beach. The St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club (www.stabyc) is located on the large, protected waters of St. Andrews Bay. We have a full club house with separate full service dining room, bar and locker room facilities. We have a swimming pool and a separate sailing loft and sail yard. We have plenty of room in our sail yard and on a large grass lawn for launching a large number of boats. In the past, we have also made room in the sail yard for campers attending a regatta.