Todd no matter how many times I tell you you don't seem to comprehend that you are not speaking for the majority of F18 sailors when you comment that F18 sailors are scared of scratching the bottom or damaging the boat. In addition, it's not that we're not "bitten by the bug" it's just not our priority and there isn't time or money for all of it.
Catacup is a perfect example, those beaches are not at fine at Florida's yet most of the teams drag their boat on the beach. There are also a lot of breakdowns here, more than I ever saw in Tybee (though there are more boats).
Steeplechase is another example.
The majority of the reason is that we are all focused on the bigger picture which is "marks racing". We all only have some much vacation time and money, we chose to use it for big events such as NA's or Worlds. When we did the Tybee that was our focus for the year, now it's the Championship events.
I would really like to do a Worrell and I think there are quite a few other people from our fleet that feel the same way. It would require enough notice (maybe a year and a half - 2 years) for us to allocate our time and funds to be able to do it in addition to any championships or make a decision way in advance to not attend the championships that year. But then again, how can you guarentee we will all still be sailing catamrans in a year and a half - 2 years.
It's funny that you should respond about scratched bottoms, you were the one that told me that.
Either way the track record of commit vs. follow through is pretty lean. That's why the Tybee is on hiatus.If I was organizing a race I'd be pretty hard pressed to trust that the follow through would be there in 2 years. " Oh cool, worlds are here, screw the distance race" Your remark about the "bigger picture" just reinforces my point(actually your whole post reinforces what I said), the passion is not there for distance racing. You can cry about time off all you want. People made it happen in the past (2 1/2 weeks for the Worrells) and still did their nats and stuff. If it's not your priority, then you are not bitten by the bug. Plain and simple.
