Hello new
It is confusing but here is one spin on it.
The Hobie Division structure has evolved over time. The name trade name,"Hobie" does not accuratly describe the situation on the ground in 2004 in many areas. Today, each division is a defacto regional sailing authority for cats (more or less), much like the CBYRA which serves the Chesapeake bay region for Big boats and dinghies. The Hobie Divisions are composed of clubs which are named hobie fleet xx but today they really serve as paper yacht clubs for all beach cats. These paper clubs have both hobie members and non hobie brand boat members. In addition to the Hobie yacht clubs... you also have other cat clubs which use more generic names... eg CRAC or WRCRA. CRAC has been an associate member of Hobie Division 11 in the past but in any event the organizations work to coordinate a schedule for the mid atlantic.
What is happening is that the Hobie Corporation and the Hobie International and the North American Hobie organizations have decided to turn back the clock, and reserve their trademark "Hobie" for events that are truly Hobie only.
So yacht clubs/Hobie fleets are being forced to make choices on how they run events. In an ideal world this probably could work out however, the reality is that clubs are small and they are now faced with hosting two regattas instead of the one they normally run if they want to serve all of their members. The Tornonto club, for example, would need one Hobie only event and and one Open only event instead of their one combined event. That's tough to do when the number of volunteers is low and the amount of work needed to run an event for 20 boats is the same as it would be for 40 boats AND you only have so many weekends in the sailing season to choose from.
So, This is forcing yacht club/Hobie fleets to choose their future.
One outcome of this debacle is the discussion to establish another set of regional sailing authorites under the NAMSA banner. (Thus the map).
The most important role a RSA serves is the coordination of the areas schedule. When everyone wants the same dates on the calander the RSA is usally the final word. In CBYRA, this is managed by the term Sanctioned... the Collection of Clubs, aka CBYRA, cannot stop you from runnng your event in conflict with someone else, however, they won't sanction you... keep your scores posted, include your results in any of the regional year long series etc etc.
I have no clue how a new RSA under NAMSA and a RSA of Hobie only Divisions will benefit the rank and file cat racer.
In a perfect world, each Hobie fleet or Cataraman Club would join their RSA, In the Bay, this would be the CBYRA, under this umbrella, the clubs would organize the schedule, set rules for high point, etc etc and serve the various classes in their club and region. In this kind of organization each class formulates a strategy for their season and their class president works it out the yacht clubs for starts at the sanctioned regattas.
In the good old days cat sailing was large enough to go their own way.... Today, cat sailing should try to integrate into the mainstream of sailing while maintaing the unique flavor (Hobie way of life, etc etc)they have developed over the years.
Just my spin.
Take Care
Mark
