The general idea on having the events be separate, but close (and using the same equipment) would be that we would not impact the F16 Nationals, but would have boats in the same general vicinity available to charter (privately owned or from the manufacturers who plan to be in the area already for the Nationals), so we can accomodate teams that want to sail the Alter Cup but do not have an F16 of their own. At this time, there is still a very strong opinion within the committee that the Alter Cup needs to remain a unique (separate) event.
None of our decisions have been easy, given the new world we are living in. Manufacturers want way more than even the previous $7,000 to provide 10 boats under the old format. No one has come up with a megabucks sponsor to make that happen, and we needed to make quick decisions, or have no event.
There were plenty of other complications, but this is the gist of this decision.
