Hey guys,
I'm a new user. I just thought I'd mention that I'm a boat builder in melbourne. I build 37ft bluewater cruising cats and I also sail a Paper Tiger of a weekend. I sit nationally in the top 15 at the moment. I'm looking at building a semi production f14. Something a bit quicker. There isn't much of a fleet of them in melbourne but it will catch on. Often with things like the first regatta of a new class it is best for the club with the highest number of registered boats in the class concerned to put in a bid to hold a title of some sort. This way you know that there will be no less that the locals showing up. Hopefully there is one club in NSW that has enough f14 of it's own to get a race result, and therefore a state or national champion. Once you have established someone to beat next year more people will show up. Often with regattas of this kind there needs to be some other attraction to it, like a great holiday destination. Remember you need people to leave with a smile on the dial so they come back next year and the class doesn't die in the butt. Your first year is your marketing year. you want everybody to hear about how good it was.