Pete, if a person is not interested in actually racing in the Alter Cup, or knows they have little chance of winning the Qualifier, why would they go to the qualifier in the first place? I'll go to any regatta if it's:

1. a short drive (2hr. vs. 10hrs.)
2. I can get the days off
3. there will be a good turnout for my class

But I figure if I have no desire (or chance) to do the Alter Cup, (especially if it's on the west coast) if I show up at the Qualifier, I'm just "in the way" of the those who are real Alter Cup contenders.

Perhpas that's why there was so little turnout for Area C? Maybe the regular guys who race in that area have no intention of doing the Alter Cup, so what's the point of doing the AC Qualifier?

My own personal view is, the Alter Cup should just choose the N/A Champions from every class that runs a N/A's, and then fill up any empty slots with pettitions. The whole "Area Qualifier" concept is lost on me, especially if it's going to be a P number regatta. But I guess for the sailors who sail "dead boats" a P number regatta is the only way to get in?

"May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your...". Clearly you've never eaten Murph's fish.

Timbo,

Personally, I've never had a realistic chance of winning the Area"C" Eliminations .... but if you want to get better at any sport .... you need to compete against competitors better then yourself .....

And I get the chance to race against those that I usually don't get to compete against usually, since they have a different O/D boat then I do ....

Those are the main reasons I have done numerous Area"C" Eliminations over the years ......

Harry

Tim, I was just kidding about the fleas.

You travel so much I can see why you wouldn't want to do a lot of unnecessary driving. But most people don't travel so much and I can't understand why they don't come down to the beach just to see what's going on.

Money is always a problem for the organizers. So even if you didn't want to sail you might buy a hot dog or contribute to some other sort of fund raiser.

There are lots of reasons to hang out with sailors that don't involve getting your feet wet. At Gilligan's it was a hoot attending the fish fry and listening to the war stories from those that fought the surf (a few lost that battle!). And, I had a very nice dinner, as well. Another time I remember hearing about some guy dragging his boat through mangroves at 1:00 in the morning...

Correct... A census is a start... The powers that be probably have an accurate picture of the large and small boat multihull scene...the rank and file... not so much. But running a very public census and information gathering process will get you some buy in and comprehension from the rank and file when they look at the data as well.

Do I expect a vigorous response... NO... it' just the way of the world. (Ask the OD classes how much feedback, etc they get). BUT if the MHC listen's hard enough, the national agenda they set will get broad support from the rank and file... The USSA Membership tax will be worth the money.

The MHC sits above the level of organization of Catamaran One Design classes. The idea is that if the OD classes can form a consensus around a common agenda on issues larger then a OD classes concerns. Then, we can improve the sport in our niche of the sailing world.

For example, Coastal distance racing on beach cats is such an issue. Organizing authorities are concerned about safety and safety gear requirements. All OD class sailors would benefit if the Official USSA gave a good house keeping seal of approval on a set of regulations that the OA could just reference for this kind of racing. Good News... It's in the works.

Answers to questions like.. Do your events use certified race officers and judges? How many etc etc.
At the local level, you could make a difference in Race Management and Judging to get good events. USSA has taken a good old boy network of retired racers who volunteered as judges and replaced it with serious active sailors who stay current on rules and work to improve the conduct of the sport as judges. The MHC needs to encourage and support the regional MHC of OD classes and DBS and support the host YC's in making sure they use the USSA system to the fullest. Bottom Line... USSA has Eric R's around the country.... They may not race Isotopes or any small cat... but your club can use a guy like Eric to make the game fair, fun and run smoothly. (Cats have an old culture of we don't need this official organizational BS... and/or we will do it our selves.)

Answers to how many events and venues and turnout numbers can be used to coordinate and strengthen the racing. Are we overscheduled? Can your region benefit from some coordination between the One Design Classes and the unorganized DBS? Coordination comes about when you get people in the same room looking for good answers to make great regattas.

In my area... the dinghy one design classes have completely given up on coordinating activity years ago. (Hey... they will just worry about their own class activity with each YC).. One of the outcomes however is that the host YC's are looking at small turnouts and so they cut back on the social and the vicious cycle downwards continues. Now the YC are just dropping their regattas. Miles river YC killed their annual event and Severn Sailing Assn is left with running many weekend regattas (which are now just one day regattas) for 10 boats.... Hardly, a memorable regatta experience.

Perhaps some areas can maximize the fun at the local level by fostering strong well run regattas at the right YC's with multiple OD classes or several PN fleets or whatever works.

Well if I'm going to take the time and spend the money, I'm going to bring my boat and race for sure. While you were doing the beach patrol at Gilligans, I was flying to Tel Aviv.

Right now as I type this I am sitting in the Atlanta pilot loung headding to Dubai tonight, so I might get a shot at picking up some Camel Fleas, no doubt! Flying 5 on, 2 off doesn't leave me much time for sailing, I haven't even been out in my back yard in two weeks. I just hope my mast is still up when I get home from this trip! Some big storm we had last night in Sebring! I've got the boat all tied down to trees...so as long as the trees don't fall down on it...

Murph, I agree about racing against better tallent, seems everytime I race I learn something. But us guys who are not -retired- don't have as much time as Pete does to sail, or go to the beach, etc.

All we really need is just two things: More time off and more money!

Well I must be half way there ..... w/ this economy ... I have plenty of time off ..... I just don't have the "money" part ........

Harry

See, that's the problem right there, when you have the time off, you don't have the money, and when you have the money, you don't have the time off! I was out on disability for 9mo. last year (a bug I picked up in Kuwait City)...but couldn't afford to go to a movie, let alone a regatta!