Mark - I think that there are people on both sides of the travel vs. mast-up storage issue. For the core group of sailors, nothing beats the travel to different sites. Each regatta has an aura of its own...the venue, the people,etc.
We are lucky enough to sail on different parts of the Great Lakes in different states and in Canada. Sailing on the North side of Lake Erie is very different from the South side. We have the opportunity to both every year.
For some of our members, they would love to be able to keep their boats mast up and dump them into the lake and go. We are affiliated with the Anchor Bay Yacht Racing Association (ABYRA), and North Star Sail Club. They made it possible for us to race on Wednesday nights with the bigger monoslugs this year. Having race commmittee and courses already in place made it an easy thing for us to take part in as a fleet restarting itself. We are thankful for what they did to help us this first year.
To give you an idea of the attitudes of the core group of this fleet, we arrive at a paved state boat launch, set up our boats, hit the start line by 6:50 p.m., race one lap around a triangular course, and return back to tear down. 40 minutes assembly, 40 minutes sailing, 40 minutes tear down and pack up, and 40 + minutes for a burger and beer or two...
Its not the best scenario. but it gets us out in the middle of the week, like a golf league. Next year, we will probably participate in some of the ABYRA weekend events, depending on how they fit in with our Div. 10 and Div. 16 schedules.
Lake access is difficult for many sailors in this country, so we have little to complain about. We make our fleet work by offering something for everyone. If you want to come sail for one day...a fun sail on a Saturday for instance...then we would love to have you. If you want to pack the car and head to Buffalo with us, that would be great too.
Everyone has their preferences and we're still coming up with ideas to get to the folks who have boats, but haven't brought them out yet. Cause once we get 'em, they'll come back. This group of people have contagious personalities...for that, I am thankful.
Jeff
