Hobie Centric?
What did it entail and what was the fuss all about?
A widely circulated open letter by Jeff Alter made the case that Hobie sailors should focus on Hobie 16 and Hobie Tiger Racing in the future (while not excluding their other classes). Moreover, Hobie fleets should discourage (my words) open class boats from participating. Rich McVeigh and the NAHCA board led NAHCA to create a formal policy that sought to feature Hobie classes at Hobie regattas. This policy resulted in the following initiatives.
1) Hobie Corporate funding for Nationals and 5 regional championships (using existing regattas) which were thought to appeal to the Hobie racers who could not travel to Nationals but would be excited about a designated championship level event. This was matched by NAHCA funding and PR highlighting the events in the NAHCA News.
2) Mandatory Hobie class Only participation at the 5 regional championships.
3) Continued NAHCA support for the Guest Expert program which brings in an out of town rock star for a seminar and to spice up the competition on the water.
4) The fuss arose from restrictions that initially sought to regulate Open Class participation. In the end, these boiled down to recommendations (Not hard rules) that non Hobies not been given a start/class outside of open class and that open class races should not interfere with Hobie class racing. And that open class should take care of scoring the open class when its an issue at some regattas. Decisions were left up to the local fleets.
What happened as this policy evolved? One club refused to run a Hobie only event for the 2002 Hobie Midwinters and the regatta was, and continues to be run by the Hobie /Performance dealer. In regions of mixed fleets their was a lots of upset and bad feelings as people lined up behind several positions on these issues. Others just ignored all of the directives from above. By the time the season got going... most of the BS was forgotten and everything ran pretty smoothly. The issue was esentially dead.
Did any regattas throw an open class out of the regatta to become a NAHCA Regional championship? .. NO. The Northeast championship /Madcatter has always been a Hobie only event and it remains so. Have other clubs sought these championships…. Don’t know of any… The Madcatter remains the Northeast championship event in 2003. The Midwinters stayed put at Kirk Newkirk’s place.
Did the North East championship or the last two Midwinters championships draw more boats overall or more boats from outside of the region because it was a championship?
No. A survey of the results of these regattas suggest that only 5 Div 11 racers traveled to the Northeast championship and passed on the local Points regatta on that same weekend (Gunpowder I) which is about normal for this weekend and the size of the party at Syracuse. Attendance at the Hobie midwinters dropped from an average of 50 to 70 boats to approximately 25 boats for the past two years. I don’t know what percentage the open classes made up at the Hobie midwinters before the new policy took hold.
Does the notion of Regional Championships appeal to the Hobie rank and file? Probably not…. Based on the Div 11 final results only 19 of 120 teams competed in enough events to fully qualify for the Division highpoint trophies and so one more event on the calendar may not have much appeal, even if its titled North eastern championship. Moreover, about a third of the racers competed in 3 or more points regattas and so its unlikely that the 2/3 majority of the Hobie sailors were interested in traveling a bit further and competing in a regional championship as opposed to their local regatta. Finally, you don’t see many division sailors on the results lists of Midwinters or the Northeast championships so it is not obvious that the most dedicated sailors see much of an advantage of competing in these regional championships either.
Did the NAHCA policy hurt anything? Probably not. There were no changes at any of the Div 11 regattas that Open class chooses to participate in and the sailors were welcome at all of the events. Attendance was down but that is probably attributed to poor scheduling (5 events on successive weekends) by open class. Some comments were heard about all of the political BS but I personally don’t believe that racers boycotted any events. In the New England, area Nacra 6.0’s remained the largest one design class and participated in most of the Divisions regattas as they have in the past.
Hobie Centric philosophy has probably hurt the growth of the European F18 class IMO. Hobie and Nacra decided to market their Euro Formula 18 boats in the USA two years ago. Ongoing squabbles about sails, boat weights, crew weights, who’s the sanctioning body and lots of maneuvering for market share have plagued the ersatz class.. Regattas and Hobie Tiger sailors can not bring themselves to clearly market their Hobie regattas as Formula 18 events as opposed to Hobie Tiger events. I have been left with the distinct impression “that well… if we ever get 10 tigers… then we will race as a Hobie class and push the other F18 boats into open class.” Since most of (the very few) Nacra F18 sailors in the mid Atlantic region have not been active racers in the past they simply stay home. Meanwhile, the racer’s who would consider the F18 class have taken a wait and see attitude. The lack of clarity does not promote interest in the F18 class from Performance, Mystere or whatever owners because these sailors believe that once Tiger participation reaches a critical point, they will be tossed into the open class against the faster 20’s and F18HT’s.
Does NAHCA believe that regional championships are appealing to the rank and file Hobie racer?
I don’t think so. This year two fleets in the Mid Atlantic have scheduled two other regattas opposing the NAHCA Northeast championships/ Madcatter. Gunpowder I and Madcatter always conflict and are about 8 hours driving distance apart while the VA Beach regatta is about 10 hours away. The sailors in these regions could travel to the championships if it was in their interest. Obviously the championship designation is not enough of a big deal to attract the Mid Atlantic racers or more importantly deter the mid Atlantic clubs from running competing events.
IMO, Bottom line…. much a do about nothing on the east coast … your mileage may vary in the rest of the country.
