Mary:

I guess you and I were typing at the same time.

I can assure you that all of the Fleets in our Division were promoting open classes in 2004. Everyone knew that all boats were welcomed (with the exception of 204's Madcatter). We were all surprised at the lower numbers. I'm not sure why we have larger Hobie numbers in this area; I agree that the Inter 17s, Nacra 5.8's and 6.0's are super boats, but they have no local dealerships and are just not promoted in this area. There are Hobie dealerships in Buffalo and Syracuse NY.

We tried hard to stress business as usual, and the numbers seemed to tell us which way to go. Most Fleets are run by 20% of the membership and most of these are active racers that want to continue to offer a nice venue.

Wyatt