I helped start OCRA back in 1995 in an effort to address, for Ohio, many of this issues that have just confronted the rest of the country. Before we really got rolling there was a fair bit of communication behind the scenes getting the local fleets in Ohio all lined up and in agreement before we put out our first newsletter and schedule. I have attached a copy of that 1st newsletter because I think it does a reasonably good job of explaining what our goals were back then. I hope what we have done can be of some value to those of you dealing with it now.

First my fleet. My fleet is the catamaran fleet of the Alum Creek Sailing Association in Columbus Ohio. Our fleet captain, as part of his duties, is on the executive committee of the ACSA. We pay ACSA dues, we help run regattas, and we get help from the rest of the ACSA when it’s time to put on our big regional OCRA regatta in the fall. ACSA has enough members to afford a very nice committee boat, a chase boat, insurance, etc.. and we have just started construction of our own sailing facility including docks in the state park on Alum Creek Reservoir. The benefits of being a fleet in the context of a larger yacht club are huge.

Now to the regional associations. I would recommend that as you move forward you take a look at least at OCRA, CRAM, & CRAC as they have each done this yet each in their own way. I am the most familiar with OCRA, reasonably familiar with CRAM, and only limitedly familiar with CRAC. Hopefully someone from CRAM and someone from CRAC will speak up to tell their stories and help some of the folks just getting started to avoid some of the pitfalls and to build the kind of local and regional sailing groups that will best serve the sport.

In Ohio most of the fleets were self-sufficient and several were associated with Yacht Clubs already. Hence insurance wasn’t an issue. Each fleet already had its own. OCRA was therefore formed as a loose organization providing an affiliation between fleets, a common race format, a season championship series points system, a calendar, and quite frankly not much more. I did make the mistake of not getting enough people involved in the early days, and OCRA has tended to stay an organization run by a very few people for the benefit of quite a few.

I view CRAM as one of the premier regional sailing associations. Rather than being an association of local fleets, they are a highly mobile (gypsy) club, with a locality of the whole lower peninsula of Michigan. They have a large number of volunteers, a full slate of officers, their own equipment, and their own insurance. They “wander” around the state parks having regattas and parties with great success. Internally they are made up of a number of fleets. Those fleets can be one-design or Portsmouth. They have fleets for every body of sailors in the group. There is an I-20 fleet, an F-18 fleet, an I-17 fleet, etc.. If there is interest there could be a Hobie 16 fleet, a Hobie 20 fleet, a Hobie Wave fleet, or a Mystere 4.3 fleet. All it would take would be a few boats, and somebody willing to be fleet captain and lead the charge to building that fleet. I believe there is also a Portsmouth fleet for those who race 1 off designs or prefer handicap racing. And by having all these fleets work together they make things like an RC boat, and insurance affordable to all the members. (Remember you don’t need much more race committee to throw a 40 boat regatta than you do to throw a 5 boat regatta.)

I would also like to put in a plug for US Sailing’s on the water and on the beach insurance programs. US Sailing is with a new insurance carrier and they are excellent. Both the rates and the coverages have improved dramatically in the move from the old carrier to the new. If you haven’t looked at US Sailing’s insurance program lately, you need to look again.

Talk to the people out there in the independent regional sailing associations and look at what they've done. Then do whatever makes the most sense for your region, the personalities and demographics of your members and fleets, and have fun while promoting the sport of sailing.
Ohio Catamaran Racing Association