More outside-the-box thinking here, brace yourself and try to digest before shooting it down...

Would it be helpful to have a national umbrella organization (cough, cough... USSA MRC) serve as the "5 families"?

What I see is a national situation extremely similar to what we had/have in the northeast. There was a time when all the classes worked well together (in terms of scheduling and hosting regattas), under the umbrella of HCA Division 12 and the Hobie fleet structure.

Yes, that caused issues (non-Hobie sailors using the Hobie name, etc.), and yes, I was a staunch supporter of the edict about 5 years before it happened. However, by the time of the edict, it was too late to help us, and had the opposite effect: it effectively killed all organized racing for Hobie sailors in New England.

I am NOT trying to stir this up. People acted with nothing but the best intentions, and there are large parts of the country where this is perfectly fine. And, I totally agree that HCC and HCA (and any other class and manufacturer) have every right to spend their money and energy as they deem appropriate.

But, I think we can (and should) have an umbrella organization that can allow us to work together more formally, and complementing the efforts of the classes without crossing boundaries of how the classes do their jobs.

This would also give a new purpose for Area reps, now that the qualifiers are gone. They would serve as the regional leaders to set up meetings, coordinate communications, etc. Maybe we could even come up with US Sailing area multihull championships/festivals (a title and concept to enhance existing regattas, not necessarily new events).

EDIT: Yes, this could be done as NAMSA. But, there are a lot of good reasons to do this under US Sailing. We have a recognized body, with an approved regulation, with the purpose of providing a "forum" for sailors and manufacturers to work together. It's already there, waiting for us to transform how we organize ourselves...

It's April 2 (this is not a prank)...

Mike