Fairlie Brinkley told me that in the southern part of the state (Clearwater down to Miami) the yacht clubs build schedules two years in advance. Many of the PHRF events have evaporated for various reasons, including yc leadership changes in philosophy, available sponsorship, and the general reduction of sailors at events. The loss of sponsors has played the greater role.
Community sailing programs for high school students could be a way to freshen the spirit and build a future. Fairlie has been pushing this strongly in the Dunedin and Clearwater area. Fairlie and Means Davis are strong supporters of the Opti family and the multihull community. Without them, we would have found it difficult for us to improve our race management practices.
Mike, just a suggestion - head south and meet some of us face to face. Work a regatta down here in cat central, and give us a chance to know you. I have been traveling since 2009, and I can say that the acquisition of modern practices is currently playing a role on our bay and within the GYA.
In fact our group takes the Dunedin kids sailing. They started a high school program last year with next to nothing and now have 30 kids.
We take them sailing again Sunday April 13th. We are working on taking them out two times this year. We have 36 kids to take sailing so if your in the area with your boat and want to help PM me. I also have an nice H-16 that someone could use for that event.
