from SA.
252 boats registered for EUROCAT.... What a regatta!!!

F18 - 87 entries.
C1 Division - 67 entries (26 of these are VIPERS... and at least another 5 F16's) (All other spin classes on SCHRS)
C2 Division - 84 entries (All sloops on SCHRS)
C3 Division - 14 entries (All junior boats on SCHRS)

Would US sailors be interested in a national championship like this?

I'm game for most anything.

No offense... but that answer won't cut it.... The EU sailors put this event on their calendar and make it happen.

Would US sailors put this kind of event on their schedule and make it happen?

I'm just one person. I'll do my best to support anything catamaran sailors, as a whole, can get excited about.

But, Yes I would support that format.

This is my personal insanity... obviously, I think it has merit... and I love reporting the eurocat numbers at every turn..

BUT... the overwhelming local feedback I get is ... NO... a handicap championship is simply not interesting to me. Would not support such a thing.
So... what's the point of view outside my bit of the world?

sounds like a scaled up version of T-winds in the Keys...

Except that there is very little handicap racing at Tradewinds.

or spring fever for that matter

I think CRAM and CRAW (Michigan and Wisconsin) are the last two regions that have a big handicap fleet (plus split out one design results)

Distance race are not included....

Just Curious... any other regions that have a routine (or large) handicap start in the US for buoys???

I thought Open spin and open non-spin were handicap classes... maybe I didn't see how they were classified.

I'm almost certain that if enough boats of any type showed up, they'd find a way to score them appropriately. I know it sounds weird, but some of us show up to sail and aren't as worried about what happens on the podium as much as what happens on the beach, course, and bar later...

If I dropped as much coin on those new shiny boats (or lessons/training) maybe I'd worry more about dishware and who's taking it home..

I may be mistaken, but I believe C2 Division is F18, so they are racing on line, not handicap. And any class with more than 20 boats gets results broken out separately.

To answer your question I would certainly support this kind of event and made a similar point in my survey response.

BTW I'm from CRAW so I'm used to racing D-PN. Up here we love it. Sure it has it's limitations, but I think it's more fun for everyone to be racing everyone else. And we're all about having fun.

While I'm at it (sorry thread hijack, but since you mentioned CRAW/CRAM...), Catfight/Racine this year will be a three day CRAW/CRAM Portsmouth event, Aug 10-12, with optional 2-day scoring like Spring Fever.

And it gets better...The preceding weekend, Aug. 4-5 is the Al Henning Memorial Regatta run by the Racine Yacht Club and all cats are invited. Plus Robbie Daniels will be running a clinic at Racine Tues-Thurs in the week between these two events. So in the space of nine days, there is going to be a whole lot of sailing happening on the beautiful waters of Lake Michigan.

Is there even 250 active catamaran sailors in the US?

And Ontario where we are getting up to 50 boats a regatta...

We divvy up the boats by high portsmouth and low portsmouth with high being all the non-spin boats (except A class and C class) and low portsmouth all the spin boats +A&C..This format works well.

Also one additional thing for you to consider is having one of the days a long distance race, maybe 30-40 miles..

I'd be interested in a Raid/distance type event on inland water. Maybe on the day prior to the weekend race. Jus' sayin'...

yes exactly what I would recommend.

There are more than that number of active racers in the Hobie 16 class alone.

As long as threads are getting 'jacked, should mention that there will be more Lk Michigan goodness in August. CRAM will be holding a 3-day event Aug 24-26. Friday will be a short distance race (~25miles round trip) followed by standard buoy racing Sat. and Sun. Venue is Muskegon.

We'll likely split the fleet for the distance race - slower boats getting 40-60min head start.

We're using this as an outreach event and are expecting a large Portsmouth fleet turnout in addition to the usual F18, F17 and A fleets.

It's the same as Tradewinds, but with a distance race by handicap mixed in. It's a tuneup to see where teams stand and what they need to work on during their training for worlds.

I guess I should rephrase. Is there even 250 catamaran sailors that go anywhere?

And it'd be more like 500 sailors as well.