First, there is no shortage of regattas in our region - quite the opposite. It’s great that so many people want to host regattas, but as some of you have noted, the calendar is saturated. The folks who continue to race cats have so many choices that the population of active cat racers is spread too thin. Jake does an excellent job of putting events on the schedule. Currently there are 30 of them. They are divided into 10 EMSA events and 20 others "of interest". However, when a bunch of people jump on the yahoo group and start trying to promote a bunch of the "of interest" regattas, the original EMSA events begin to lose their significance. It makes you wonder, “What’s the significance of an EMSA event?” “Why should there be a difference?” Without any structure, organization, or leadership, it’s just a free for all.
That brings up my second point: lack of leadership. I’m not slamming anyone, especially Jake, it appears that he’s the only one putting forth any significant effort at the macro level. Not only does he work hard compiling and publishing a schedule, but he also moderates the CatamaranCrazy yahoo group which is the primary means for communication among cat sailors in our region. But beyond that, we need a decision making body that can influence which regattas get emphasized and perhaps which classes show up where and how many classes show up at a given regatta. Much easier said than done. For starters, there would be no way to make this group of Spranos’ decisions binding on anyone. If ABC Yacht Club wanted to invite cats or a certain class to their event, there’s nothing that says the club can’t do so and nothing that says sailors can’t take them up on their invitation. My impression is that cat sailing in our region, not necessarily just EMSA, has fallen under the spell of a culture that shuns rules and organization. Most of these folks it seems just want to be a free spirits and do as they please, or do things the way they’ve been doing them. Well, we see where that has led. There has to be some structure and organization.
Mark Van Doren
HCANA Division 9 Chairman
I am lucky to live in the Central of the EMSA region and events. All of the events on the schedule are within a 3 hour drive for me and many of our group. That means we can get home in time for dinner on Sunday most of the time. Many of the "interest" races are much farther away. These might be notable class championships or distance races, They are also races that people on the fringe of our area might attend as the drive for them may be prohibitive. I do not recall too much promotion of the interest events, other than telling our group about it. Our group will show up in force to all of the scheduled events. I don't think there is much indecision for a member to choose with race to attend.
I think you may have the idea that our traveling group is larger than it is. I don't think sending boats to a regatta by class is gonna do much for us. I don't have any faith that the people who do not currently travel will start traveling. I also wouldn't trade 3 small open fleet regattas for one large regatta.
