"lots of people (myself included) were against BYOB"

But someone had to try it just to prove yea or nay, right?

There seem to be quite a lot of potentially good ideas listed by a variety of folk, and the novice would think an amalgam of them might turn out something grand.

Winning the Alter Cup means what?

Do they get to go on to something bigger?
Do they win some financial support for an Olympic or other campaign?
Does it give them "street cred" when talking to private sponsors?
Do they get a free spot in the next iteration of the event?
Is this award the Pinnacle of the Sport?


On the more nuts and bolts of the AC organizing, do the host sites (Yacht Clubs) bid on hosting the event? Does that bid include pro-forma?

Mike H - why would the spring be the best season for the Alter Cup? Isn't that the beginning of sailing season in most of the US (except southern, where it's near the end)?

Personally, I like the alternating Spin/Non-spin idea. It gives me two years to save up for the Cup (unless I sail both classes).

And if this Alter Cup is a service provided to the USS members, how much of my dues is contributed toward it? If another $10 per year was all it took to make the Alter Cup a cheap/free event for those top 10 qualifiers it would make a bit more sense to me (in terms of "what does USS do for my membership dollar?"), even knowing I'd probably never qualify myself.

Maybe it's my naieve "trickle down" theory, but if the Alter Cup (1) was an important award in a sailor's resume and (2) it wasn't financially prohibitive to seek this award, then the top guns would be out there sailing hard for it by attending regattas and feeder-events that I may actually be participating in. This might allow me to improve my skills a little more each of the few times I'm out...?

Personally, I can't say enough about how helpful and approachable most of the rock stars in the multihull universe are. Sure, they shouldn't tell me ALL of the secrets of speed (we all know it's TOTW anyway), but they're usually the first to help me troubleshoot a tactical situation, understand boat settings, etc.

To see them rewarded by a quality and affordable event like Alter Cup seems a worthy use of my membership dollar

Jay - boat builders want their product out in the Spring, and most competitors are tied up in their own nationals in the Fall. That was the reason the Alter Cup was scheduled in the Spring in the past.

There really was a lot of discussion about having an event this year and it was decided to be worthwhile. Once that was determined, it was a matter of deciding how to carry it out. There was no way to plug in provided boats with all the variables/conditions/timing so the only option was BYOB. It's a reasonable conclusion arrived in a reasonable manner given the circumstances.

Interesting point. That it could theoretically benefit southern sailors who have sailed all winter is all the better But I guess it goes back to where the critical mass of likely participants are...

This is a spirited discussion that hopefully leads to a positive outcome and a bright future for the Alter Cup. Please though, be carefull not to trivialize the accomplishment of this year's champion. Sara and Kenny deserve the recognition of their accomplishment!

ABSOLUTELY! Karl, you're right and I apologize profusely for giving the impression that their accomplishment was anything less than remarkable.

+1, and I'd like to add how pleasing it was to see the point spread between the top 5 teams. That made it worth watching. Runaway events can be somewhat less significant (probably moreso to the competitors themselves, but...)

I would not trivialize their accomplishment. Both awesome sailors. Remarkable performance at the Alter Cup. Congrats to them. I've sailed against them both and have seen what they are capable of.

A bigger crowd would have just resulted in a bigger butt-whoopin', domination.

+1000

OK, this is a much better tone, and some interesting ideas.

To Jake's point, 50% of the respondents said they wouldn't attend an Alter Cup regardless of any changes that were made. I don't really know what to do with that; I don't think you throw away their feedback, because as others have mentioned, this is viewed as a benefit to all of our members, and they would like to have a say in what they want to see done.

Running it every two years has been brought up a few times, and could help offset the costs. However, it's been noted by US Sailing and from the survey responses that 10 boats on the water is not a significant event. So, if we tried to get 20 provided boats every two years, the dollars come out to be the same.

If we ran qualifiers every year, take the 20 teams from there only (10 per year from qualifiers, no petitions or invitations), that could make the qualifiers relevant once again. Of course, we'd need to come up with a plan to make people want to attend, or we'll go back to where we've just come from.

If we use the qualifiers as fundraisers, we might be able to make this work. $20,000 sounds like a lot until you break it down. Here's a random sampling:

$1,000 each times 20 provided boats = $20,000
$20,000 needed every 2 years = $10,000 per year
$10,000 per year to be raised at 10 qualifier events = $1,000 per qualifier event

That's it. We need $1,000 from each area, each year.

That's really not hard to do; it's a $50 donation per person for a 10-boat qualifier.

So, what realistic chance do we have of getting 10 area qualifiers run every year with at least 10 boats, with an entry fee of $200 per boat ($100 for the regatta, $100 towards the finals)? Yes, all other requirements will be unchanged (pay for your membership now and it won't be related to attending the event).

There are other ways to get there. We could have clinics, where we charge $50 per person to attend, all proceeds go to providing boats for the finals.

The more boats at the qualifier, the less money would need to be raised per person. We could augment with raffles, sail-a-thons, bake sales, etc. We all buy stuff (Girl Scout cookies, etc.) or donate towards walk-a-thons, etc. at the office, we could raise money that way.

Obviously, we have some areas without qualifiers, and would need to address that. Also, if the costs are more than $1,000 per boat, all of the pricing goes up; we'd just need to get more boats to the qualifiers.

Thoughts?

Mike

$200 for a weekend Portsmouth regatta is a big chunk of change for a lot of folks. Add to that the required US Sailing membership requirement (which many people purchase just to participate in this event) and your $200 regatta just became a $300 regatta. If travel is involved for out of towners, it would end up being a weekend costing upwards of $700 once hotels, food, and fuel is added in. I'm not sure your going to get the numbers you require for portsmouth event at that price.


(The following is just me thinking out loud.....)
How about implementing a $10 per boat surcharge to all regatta entries in their respective areas with the proceeds going to funding the Alter Cup? That's less than the cost of a round at the bar after racing!

how many US Sailing members are multihull sailors?

How many multihull sailors would join (again) if they knew the money offset the Alter Cup costs?

$200 per qualifier sounds a little steep for those who'd like to sail one, but have little chance of making the cut. Maybe $200 if it's a 3-4 day event... How does that stack up against the entry fees of other (class, region, etc) events?

And I'd second Karl's suggestion of a surcharge at local regattas (under certain circumstances) as long as it was guaranteed the money would go directly to Alter Cup and not "administrative expenses" or whatnot..

Sorry, my point really should have been clearer. $1,000 per area per year is what is needed, there are a million ways to raise that cash.

Mike

You must either (1) drink very cheap beer, or (2) don't have that many friends... or both?

Malt liquor for my krew

Are you saying +$10 per boat at qualifiers or ALL regattas. If it's all regattas that's nuts. Everyone will pay more money and nothing will be gained for multihulls. Mark my words on that.

Please explain a bit more...? If we're dealing hypothetically that it isn't just graft, I'd think spreading out the costs to a larger base makes sense.

But the reality is probably true. How would USS keep track of regattas and their potential revenue?

Firstly why should every regatta attendee pay extra for a race they most likely, won't do.Kind of like socialism.Screw that.
Secondly, From this threads info it seems the money that is there gets split up to make it less effective already.But who's to know for sure, nobody will come right out and say how it works.
Thirdly, when have you ever seen money arbitrarily charged for a service that has worked fine before the charge, actually work.
I'd say raise the USS dues before jacking up regatta fees. At least then the people who want it are paying for it.

well, I can agree with the USS dues concept. As I said, knowing where the money is going makes me more likely to contribute.

Heck, I kept a membership even with no boat (lapsed this year because I wasn't paying attention). I'm such a Kool-aid drinker that I didn't even expect anything for that fee except maybe a course sticker and support for the Alter Cup...

So you won't toss in another $5 entry fee so the RC can buy a bottle of rum for the winner?

I'm not a socialist kind of guy, but I see this as more of a support the fleet kind of thing. Just wish the Alter Cup "meant" something like it used to.