I had read the editorial and I agree with it %100. I'll say it again, in the Chesapeake area, one of the most successful forms of racing seems to be the weeknight PHRF races. But there is also healthy one-design, from dinghies to keelboats.
In our area, the weeknight cat scene would seem to be limited to my Fleet, WRCRA, and the Southern Maryland Sailing Association (SMSA), who races on Thursdays I believe.
I truly believe one-design is a great thing. But the ability to participate in racing in the low-key manner depicted in the editorial is more likely to build the ranks of sailors. I believe we need to start building up local clubs that do these kinds of low-key events to build ranks. From these ranks will come the sailors and support to build back the one-design Fleets.
To build up the sport of catamaran sailing, we need to add new sailors and convert mono sailors, not shift the existing cat sailors around from class to class. Most of the current range of new boats being pushed are wonderful machines better suited to people who know what they are doing and really want to race. They are focused on racing, in one class/formula or the other. I think they can be overwhelming for the newbies from a skill and price perspective. You'll be making a good-sized payment on something that is only going to scare the crap out of the family and possibly be too complex to learn quickly. I also think that the plastic beginner boats from Hobie and others, as good as they are, may come off as resort toys to people wanting to start out in cat sailing with the intent of competing at some point (maybe I'm wrong). Used boats are then a wonderful and cost-effective way to get people in and hooked, as are the boats nobody seems to market/push/advertise much anymore to a lesser degree. As used boats come in a variety, the "run what you brung" mix of the Open/X-Class Fleet offers a great venue without forcing sombody to buy boat Y in order to play.
Our regular Fleet currently has one ARC-22, one SC-20 (and another being prepped...), one H-16, two H-18s, one H-20, one P-19, three N-5.8s, two Tornados, one P-18. We have the prospect of adding an I-20 or two, and maybe another H-20 or two. So we've got higher and lower end. Most of our recent additions have been the used boat and come on out route. We've been adding to our ranks a couple of teams a year over the last couple of years, so while we're not huge, but we're here. And what does this mean for other organizations? From our base of operations sailors are traveling to some degree to events run by other groups, like CRAC. It's possible some of these teams would not be sailing at all under other circumstances. We're not flooding these events, but a more than a soul or two have been added to the fray. So, when one group does well, we all do well.
We're truly low-maintenance as well. When things are good we have somebody to be committee. A lot of the times we run our start from the water (one lucky boat runs the horn), and everybody keeps their own times. We use the permanent marks set out by the Wednesday night keelboat PHRF fleet and nav marks to set the course, so we don't need a boat to set marks. We'd rather have all the boats on the water than sacrifice a team to run committee. Our format is more like a weekly mini-distance race. Our big attraction is probably that we have a storage area, and the boats stay rigged. But, as laid back as all this sounds, we're all out there with the aim to improve, and we're competitive, just not to the point that takes the fun out.
I'm not saying all this in to shamelessly promote my club (well, maybe a little...), but to show some things that can be done to get a low-key but competitve group together without having to put a lot of work into it, and how these kinds of groups can benefit the sport overall. And this plays into what the editorial had to say, IMO. Support the one-designs, but also support the mixed fleets that have a better chance at bringing people together, getting people hooked, and advancing participation.
Also, it's a bit sad to me that the emphasis in cat-sailing seems to be racing, racing, racing. Maybe that's just a perpective gotten from being on this forum a lot. Wouldn't it be great if we could promote the "just get out and sail" aspect of Fleets and boats, with the added "oh yeah, join in the races too" aspect thrown in. I think this may have been little more the way it used to be. A family outing on a boat that's good for that on the weekends would go far to getting the youngsters hooked on sailing, and if you can join in on a weeknight with that same boat and have competition and fun, even better. You don't need an Inter-20 for this - maybe a NACRA 570 with wings, or a H-18, etc. Maybe even hunt out the one-design races when you feel like it.
Keith
