Tom,

First of all, NACRA offered to make their North Americans the North American F18 Championships for 2005, but with the proposal from Virginia Beach, withdrew the offer. The withdrawal was from the event organizer, not NACRA (Why bring the NAF18 North Americans to Traverse City again when Virginia wants to host the event?). NACRA invited NAF18 to their North Americans in 2002 (Traverse City) and 2003 (Pensacola Beach). I'm pretty sure you attended the 2003 NAF18 North Americans at NACRA's PRW in 2003. I don't recall ever getting an invitation from Hobie to host the NAF18 North Americans as part of their Continentals. I'm not holding my breath, but I am not flaming Hobie for not offering. I think NACRA should be applauded for being open to hosting NAF18 North Americans as part of their North American Championships. Don't even THINK that NACRA isn't embracing and inviting the F18s to its events...it has consistently supported NAF18. This has not been the case of any other manufacturer to date (other than a few hundred dollars in advertising). To accuse NACRA of excluding Tigers is wrong. NACRA's actions prove otherwise.

BTW, don't think that F18 attendance at PRW at Tybee is any indication of what will happen at Traverse City. Already, 16 NACRA F18s have indicated they will be at PRW in Traverse City in September 2005! This does not include any of the Australian teams and only one of the European teams. Both Europe and Australia have indicated they would bring a large group to the World Championships for the NACRA F18 in Traverse City next fall.