Jake, I don't know exactly when the Tiger Worlds were first scheduled - I know it has been in the planning stages for well over two years. A lot of things go into the selection of the date - and it's usually one of the first things that's decided upon.

The fact that the charter boats for the worlds will be used at the Alter Cup probably had something to do with it, though.

Was it intentionally scheduled to conflict with Spring Fever? Please! Not everybody pays attention to when Easter weekend is - especially since it moves around every year. You imply some sort of malicious intent that just isn't there.

Is it unfortunate? - yes. Will some people choose one event over the other? - you betcha. How many Tigers will Spring Fever lose to the Worlds? Probably only a very few - maybe a half-dozen at the most. Santa Barbara is a long way from Georgia (almost 2,500 miles).

And just to set the record straight, the Hobie Class Association is running this event, not the Hobie Cat Company.

BTW, the Tiger NA's did not conflict with the F-18 NA's last year. The F-18's were July 6-9 and the Tiger NA's were the 19th-23rd. Admittedly they were close, but there were a few people that competed in both events.

The bottom line is that events will always have some conflict. People will have to choose which ones they want to or can afford to go to.

Personally, I would love to do the Tiger Worlds, but I won't be able to because I can't do that AND qualify for the 2006 Hobie 16 NA's AND go to the 2005 H-16 NA's (in Ventura and already pre-qualified) AND go to all the other regattas AND participate in my daughter's Bat Mitzvah (which killed my chance to go to the 16 Worlds in South Africa - since it's the day I would be flying back )

Sometimes, something's got to give.

Matt