So in my e-mail box yesterday was a survey sent out by US Sailing. I took a couple minutes this morning to complete it. I was extremely dissapointed that the survey completely snubbed beachcats and multihulls in general as a form of sailing you could state you participate in. I have been a drum beater for years to get others involved in US Sailing, but this was really disheartening. I know that complaining about it hear really does no good, and I would like to send Gary Jobson a [nice] e-mail that expresses my displeasure and concern regarding multihulls omission from the survey. Does someone out there have an e-mail address for him?

Karl,

I had the exact same thoughts. Everywhere I could mark "other" where it came to "what type of sailing do you do" I did to show my displeasure.

That's what I did too. But I think Gary needs to hear from us about this.

WTF...I didn't even get the email!!!

dont be to "nice"

If you don't do it today, it won't happen. You'll get over being p.o.'d and go on with your life.

Start your response right here right now. I'll chip in my .02 if you allow it. Maybe I already did that?

And I agree with all of you and answered the survey in the same way.

A question I'd like to ask is, "Why are you asking about the Olympics? We aren't allowed to participate. Were you even aware?"

BTW catsailor was not named in the survey as a source of informtion. SA was.

My e-mail sent to garyjobson@ussailing.org :

Mr Jobson:

My name is Karl Langefeld and I have been a sailor all my life, I grew up in a junior program out of the Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club in NJ and went on to be a collegiate sailor at the University of South Florida. After college, I spent years sailing all sorts of different boats from lasers to off-shore race boats. All through this time, I have also been an active beachcat sailor. I currently own and campaign a Formula 18 catamaran, one of the biggest catamaran fleets in the world. Last year, I was honored to be selected to compete in US Sailings Multihull Championship, the Alter Cup.

I have been a member of US Sailing for several years and have always beat the drum for my fellow sailors to join US Sailing. Many in the beachcat community have been reluctant to do so, feeling that beachcats do not receive recognition or support from US Sailing. I have always felt that sailing was bigger than just the fleets I was sailing in and used that as my argument for others to join. Race official training, youth development, providing the rules we race under, etc. This was my argument.

Yesterday, I received an online survey from US Sailing and took a couple minutes this morning to complete it. Upon completion of the survey, I was extremely disappointed that beachcats and multihulls were left off the survey completely. I could only check "Other" as the type of sailing that I am involved in. In addition, I could only check "Other" in regards to media sources used as all beachcat sites and publications were left out (if you are unaware please check www.catsailor.com as this is the largest of the media outlets for beachcat sailors). I can only assume that surveys of this type are used by US Sailing as a tool to determine the allocation of resources. If beachcats are not included, how can you determine what resources to allocate?

Sincerely

Karl Langefeld
US Sailing member #408203P

The survey should have only one heading:
Sail Boat Type: (Please select)
1. Cat
2. Half a cat
3. Cat and a half

Each year gets harder and harder for me to justify paying membership dues. I gotta admit, John Williams beating the drums for us is the only reason I've been paying.

Karl, thanks for taking the time to write him. You must have already found his email but in case you didn't, here's a link to his website:

http://www.jobsonsailing.com

I have written him on several occaisions and he has always replied, so please let us know what his response is.

Thanks,

Tim

thanks Tim, if forwarded the e-mail to the account listed on that site too.

I reached my line years ago, so NO survey for me.

Nice letter ,Karl.

My .02

Dear Mr. Jobson:

This is in response to the survey I received from US Sailing last evening. I was dismayed to find no reference to catamarans in your survey or any reference to www.catsailor.com as a source of information related to catamaran sailing.

I am aware that USS offers many services to the sailing community at large. Excluding catamarans from recognition is a disservice. This exclusion undermines your service mission and re-enforces the sentiment of many that USS wishes to exclude catamarans from the greater sailing community all together.

I believe I speak for a great many catamaran sailors in saying this: the service we value most from USS is the Alter Cup and its regional qualifiers. I will continue to support the Alter Cup and urge others to do so as well, but this latest survey won’t make that task any easier.

Sincerely,

Pete Pollard
President Pro Tem
USF16 Class Association
U.S. Sailing member #389784T

I just took the survey and kind of figured cats were grouped in with the dinghy category. I did list catsailor.com under "other" for my online sailing news information source.

This is exactly the WRONG thing to do. If you a$$hole up with Gary I can guarantee your message will never be heard and will hurt any efforts taking place to further the multihull cause within USSailing. I absolutly encourge you to reach out to Gary and express your disappointment but be adult and courteous in your exchange, anything else will make the situation worse. For those that have given up on USSailing and have nothing but an axe to grind I ask that you please walk away and let those that are actually trying to make things better work the task at hand without having to repair relationships damaged by multihull hatemail.

I have no axe to grind, and my comment was tongue in cheek, but if it helps you make a point as to what may help... then good

Good letter Karl - I wrote him also, but I put in a request for more info about the survey to find out who wrote it. Gary, I'm sure, didn't. It is appropriate to write him, however, and your tone was pitch-perfect. I'll post here if I get anything substantive back.

Agree - it was a bummer. I checked "Other" and wrote in Cat Sailor Magazine and www.catsailor.com to try and get the point across.

I took the survey and accepted the Dingy class for catamarans. Now I wish I used OTHER.

John,
I know this must be discouraging for you, but without you ,I think things would be WAY worse. So keep up the good work.

Same here