I have a vague idea of what Mr. Moms out there face (I'm Mr. Mom on weekends), which is why I'm not sure how Dub gets all the free time for regattas, travel, USsailing, etc. He puts in an unbelievable amount of time (as do others)to not only sail, but to promote the sport and various classes. And his kids aren't that much older than mine....

Guess I need to work on my time management skills.

And as for putting fatty up front, I agree that the driver should be the smaller of the two crew, but most boat owners like to drive, and around here, most owners are a bit on the heavier side...

What if you're like us... two fatties. We sailed the Tybee at about 450#.

I just assumed that if the weather got really bad I could sacrifice my crew to calm the seas, for that you need big crew, little folk like jake would just piss Neptune off.

Little folk,I like that.
More like an appetizer than a meal!

From, Frenchies Run


Chesapeake Bay clubs decided a while ago to back off enforcing YC membership in order to race. They made it clear that YC's offered reciprocal racing starts to members of YC's only. Their patience paid off! Eventually, most of the sailors joined one of the five cat friendly YC's. The majority of sailors now belong to a YC.

Paul, are the F18's joining these YC's to get racing privileges and do the YC waive the standard requirement of being a YC member for the Hobie Only sailors at the F18 events as well?

In Southern California most of the Formula 18 guys are members of Yacht Clubs. There are still a few taking advantage of not being asked for an affiliation but they are the exception. There are other fleets (monos) as well that take advantage of the situation. Here you do not even need to be a YC member there are sailing associations that qualify.

Yacht Clubs here are really friendly to allowing the Formula 18s to race in their events. We have many regattas and could put more on the menu if we needed.

Later,
Dan

I am not sure what your question is asking. I especially do not understand the Hobie Only comment.

Only 4 sailors out of all the teams (roughly 36 sailors) are members of Yacht Clubs - Andy and I are members of both SYC and CYC. Two of the Tiger owners are members of SYC (and finished 1 -2 at the PNW Champs).

You do not have to be a member of a YC to race the F18 events you just pay a bit more at the Seattle Fleet Champs at CYC, there is no additional fee at any of the other events.

We specifically worked with YCs since that is the model I am use to - I can't remember ever sailing a Tornado at a beach event. I would rather pay the YC or NOODs to run the event and set the schedule so we never overlap with Hobie events - F18 and Tiger OD events are mutually exclusive. We have enough races during the season to do either or both, last year we sailed 12 multi-day events.

I do not want to derail this into a YC discussion but I belive in YCs - I grew up at CSYC and BYC in Detroit and the dinghy sailors and dinghy community were a critical component of my sailing and the primary reason that I sailed over 20 national or junior nationals by the time I was 21 - that is why I support 2 YCs and their junior programs. I have never understood the discussion that YCs do not support cats.... Without the amazing support of the CSYC Tornado, Thistle, Lightening and Snipe fleets and Doyle/Boston Sails in 90,91 and 92, we would never had had the great learning experience we did sailing the Tornado.

This is the number I was asking about..

4 out of 36 teams join the system.

It's about where we started on the Chesapeake. The YC's would gently remind me each year (since I had arranged for the start) that they loved the cat's racing at their event AND it was privilege extended to YC members to race at their event. Please join a member club and support the sailing program. We eventually got there.



The Yacht Club member waiver in the Frenchy NOR caught my eye. We never saw that system on the Chesapeake. The Clubs on the bay did not want to charge more for us non members. They felt very strongly that the volunteers who ran the events did so for the good of the whole racing scene provided by the associations Yacht Clubs. They did not want to feel like they were selling a service. The expectation was that racing sailors would reciprocate by running their club's events and members of other Yacht Clubs would be invited. (The clubs had money... the wanted participation and energy and members to keep the sport going)

When we got started having events at YC's... they still had enough cash to compete with each other for who had the best party! Cambridge's fee was 5 bucks for racing and the all you could eat steamed crabs and beer for 20 bucks and they had a band. I still miss that crab feast.

Good sailing in the PNW

I think some of you guys are clueless on the YC affiliations. Frankly they love US, in small doses. It brings attention to the Clubs, helps attact new sailors, and gives them a social event. But it takes work and participation, not just showing up and using someone's facility as a guest.
Problem is More the planning and timing so not to conflict with their vaious events, and not wear out the volunteer help we get from them.
A Bigger Problem is simply BEACH SPACE. We can fit 20-25 Cats on our beach at CSC. And many more on Trax in the parking lot. Cats on the Beach Better like each other, same way sardines do. Other Clubs I've visited have Even less Beach space.
WE all have to develop and nurture these relationships to keep the sport going. I Pay my dues even though it is easier for me to launch my cat and my Mono from my house ... I have the membership just to keep the relationships open for the catracing sport. Mebbe if more than just four of you did the same sort of thing, we could help to build it back. Hard to have a regatta launching from a trailer, and for all our whining, I don't ever remember a facility/location dedicated exclusively to beachcats ANYWHERE, And even the 900 Pound Gorilla doesn't have a test pond to host their SMOD events.
So here's the real question . . . .
WHERE ELSE YA GONNA GO????

900 pound gorilla?? you talking about Strickland??

Ha! I kid I kid.

Chris:
I'm pretty sure if Batman weighed 900# He'd never reach escape velocity . . .
You got Corrector weight in that cape or what??

I haven't looked at YC memberships lately, but last time it was something like $25,000 USD per year + monthly minimums. Oh, and you had to be sponsored by 4 members. And dress code after 18:00 is blue blazer (with emblem) and white pants (YIKES)

But, things are weird here in my area. Most likely don't represent YC sailing in general. I mean, I only see TWO masts tied up at the "Yacht Club". The rest are monster-mega-ginormous powerboats. You know, the ones with their own dual-doppler radar stacks, and hot tubs on the promenade deck?

I think the yacht club likes those better because they make $$$ on fuel sale. Sad, too, since those docks are actually wide enough for most of the larger cruising cats (docks look about 20 feet wide)

The local sailing club (no clubhouse) seems active. Probably saw about 12 boats bouy racing last Saturday... No beachcats though..

I think you are looking at the wrong kind of yacht club.

I would hope so. There are four "yacht clubs" that I know of in the area. Two of which are like I mentioned (Naples Sailing and Yacht Club, Yacth Club of Marco Island).

Two others appear to be rack boat storage facilities with a clubhouse/pool. No trailer/mast-up storage at any of the facilities.

The sailing club that looks active sounds like my best bet. No facility, membership is like $50/yr, and they could probably use some beachcats...

I don't know many yacht clubs like what Waterbug is talking about. I can probably count those clubs in the US on one hand.

The Clubs I know have Dinghy sailing and Cat sailing and Cabin sailing all at the same club. They offer membership to anyone. They are short on boats and members and need more to pay the bills.

These clubs host regattas for all different types of boats. Most require a sponsor for a regatta from a member of the club so that they have a go to person to be a liason. They like racing and wish more people would race.

I've raced out of some pretty nice clubs and they are very open. Chicago Yacht club is pretty nice. No cats there but they don't have a facility for cats.

NY Yacht club is the strangest. It's landlocked!!!

Miami Yacht club is awesome. Very open to cats and members. I love it.

Last weekend I was attending a Hobie Points regatta at SPRAY BEACH YACHT CLUB in Spray Beach NJ. A very friendly yacht club w/ a few large power boats but mostly small-med sized bower boats in the marina and an equal number of "dingy" sized sailboats, opti's, sunfish, lasers, beach cats etc.

The yacht club I'm a member of, Rock Hall Yacht Club is also a friendly yacht club geared towards small sailboats and our "Proper Dress" from Nov-March is 'Shadow Grass Camo' ... there is a duck blind 50' from the launch beach and a couple of deer tree stands in the woods. There are an additional 4 duck blinds with-in sight of the deck/patio of the clubhouse, that YC members from the "Blue Blazer" YCs rent to hunt ducks/geese out of. So the "Blue Blazers" smile when I say I'm from RHYC ....

Harry Murphey

Yes, Mike, the phrase "yacht club" here seems to carry a different meaning than what I am accustomed to.

"Sailing clubs" seems more appropriate here, although none have actual facilities. Usually just meet up at the boat ramp or start line...