Perhaps I misunderstood.

You joined Dave Ingram in a support of the notion... "just say no to open class racing." I added the rest of the thought that must naturally follow from this philosophy.

Perhaps you want to modify your position on how clubs run races and balance one design and open classes. "Just say no to open" is untenable in most of the country. I know that you personally don't like open class racing. The next quesition is: How valuable is it to have a 3 or 4 boat one design fleets? Is this a winning strategy to grow clubs and participation? How do you see it working?... Where has this happened? I don't know your position here. I am guessing that you would answer YES.... they will work to get the next boat out etc etc. What support do you have for this notion... It hasn't kept the hobie classes going very well.

In the end you then wind up like the the Hobie Class Association and deliver a mixed message. If its "we are about one design racing "... then.... you should not have any handicap racing ... AND they and you should enforce the 5 boat minimum so that a one design designation means something. (That is what one design dinghy clubs do!)

If NAHCA wants to say... This association supports anything with an H... That's OK too. However... they should moderate the one design rhetoric a bit to match their mission.

I raised this issue to measure What if any negative outcomes were realized.

So far... the damage looks minimal (a bit of surprise actually). I haven't heard anyone claim.. Because of the Hobie policy... I only have 1/2 the races available to me in my region sailing my X boat.

In the end... they will net the costs and benefits and see how they do. They stated they expect to loose fleets but they viewed their actions as good for the long run.. Time will tell. They havent made a convincing case to me.

I look forward to hearing from you on how 2 3 and 4 boat one design fleets are good for the sport and the growth of cat racing.

Take Care
Mark