Hi Mary -

When have I ever done a "press release?" I only wish I were that officious.

Here's the deal for real. First, no manufacturer ever supplies anything for free (sorry Wout). We court the boat makers, and we pay a charter fee. Thanks to the efforts of past Chairmen and volunteers, and the financial support of one major donor, the charter fee is not passed along to the competitors, making the Alter Cup the least expensive of the adult championships per sailor per day by a very wide margin. So next time you see him, thank Mr. Bill Jolley for making the Alter Cup what it is today.

To be fair, while we pay a charter fee to the manufacturer (or sometimes a specific dealer), the fee is very, very reasonable and that constitutes a financial contribution on their part. It also reflects their commitment to supporting multihull sailing. It takes a lot to woo those factory guys and dealers who subsequently have to commit to selling 11 slightly-used boats in a specific region - not always an easy task in today's market. I've been a real PITA working to make sure each "next" event would happen - ask anybody at the US factories, and see if they don't roll their eyes when you mention my name. That's another reason I'm stepping down - they're all tired of hearing from me.

Secondly, Mary, there was only one other club that was considering bidding for 2007 and they were not able to work out something with a boat maker, so they did not bid this year - I hope they do for 2008. It is the clubs that do the real work once the boat issue is sorted - I know that anyone who has hosted an Alter Cup will agree that is it NOT easier to run an event that "only" has ten boats on the water. Running any championship is difficult - the Alter Cup comes with unique challenges in format and race management.

So, while there hasn't been a press release, you can expect the Spring meeting minutes to reflect an official announcement with dates and venue-specific information. The intent is to let everyone competing in the annual ladder events (the Area Eliminations) know before their event is sailed what the Championship boat will be - this might influence what they will sail in their qualifier, and allows them to select appropriate crew and alternate crew so that their Area entry form is complete.

I suppose we have been fortunate in a weird way - bids to host the Championship are almost always solicited by the committee in charge of organizing the event. We've never had more than one bid at a time that I know of. That means we've never had to tell a club "no." I would feel pretty bad, knowing how much of a commitment it is to host one of these events, telling someone "thanks, but no thanks." That would suck. Sure, it would be nice to have clubs and manufacturers clamoring to get involved, but considering the reality of the market and sailing in general here in the US, this event has been remarkably fortunate to have found such willing and able hosts, as well as cooperative manufacturers.

Still reading? Thanks for hanging in there.