The North American Multihull Sailing Association, Inc (NAMSA) has been officially reborn and the movement is well underway. This resurrected organization has again hoisted its mainsail, set its jib, sheeted in its chute and is now flying toward its goals.

And here are just an initial short lists of goals – some of which are already underway:

* Unite multihull organizations, and classes under one, strong umbrella organization with dynamic and effective lobbying capabilities (This means that such independent groups as CRAM, CRAW, OCRA, TBSCA, CABB, CRAC, SHBCC, MSA, et al.., and classes such as A-Class, Tornado, Nacra, Prindle, Hobie, Wave, Mystere, Taipan, Dart, G-Cat, Isotope, Inter, Supercat, Formula Classes, et al will form a powerful and productive alliance). NAMSA will create an alliance that will unite all of the multihull sailors & organizations, and boat classes, large or small, skinny or fat, or whatever

* Develop a campaign to acquire sponsorship of events and programs. A strong NAMSA will have more chance of landing sponsorship than individual islands of fleets, clubs and associations.

* Establish an infrastructure for sailing events throughout North America, and Sanction multihull events of all kinds (both racing and fun) around North America. Additionally, NAMSA will sanction and sponsor major championship races, develop a NA Schedule of events for multihulls, and publicize them to ALL media and to ALL the sailors.

* Establish affordable insurance programs for NAMSA sanctioned events, as well as group health, auto, boat, life insurance, etc.

* Lobby for beach, lake, open water and launching access, and to address and educate such event organizers that heretofore have barred or banned multihulls and strongly urge them to OPEN their doors to multihull sailors.

* Have available a uniform, Windows-based scoring software that can be used by all North American Chapter Members, plus offer tech support and instruction on its use. This software will be able to submit results in a media-friendly format.

* Have an all-out war on getting multihull Youth Sailing on an even ground with monohull sailing

* Develop a good, year-around training program for higher level sailing and Olympics.

* Make suggestions to rating organizations to make a more level playing field for handicap racing and develop a uniform, national handicap system for cruising/racing multihulls.

* Establish and make available uniform documents, such as NOR’s, registration and scoring forms, course stickers, etc.

* Train and Sanction Race Officers and Judges with an emphasis on multihull sailing.

* Each Chapter (Organization) will have a seat and voice on the Council – each organization will have a say in the issues before NAMSA.

* Each Individual Member will have FULL voting rights and privileges – each sailor will have a say in issues before NAMSA. Every sailor will be able to contribute. This is an organization for the sailors and run by the sailors.

* Offer consultation to questions on sails, sail materials, boat designs, rigging components, construction materials, how-to, etc.

* Offer a Forum for all multihull sailors – a medium of exchange amongst all multihull sailors (large, small, big, old, new, or whatever)

* Offer a Forum to bring together multihull manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers in order to have a dialogue with the sailors

* Establish a strong Internet presence and website that will be comprehensive and have available all of the services and perks offered to multihull sailors

* Offer a regular news reporting service.

* Provide a strong communication link among all our many little "islands" of organizations that now exist all alone.* Develop an integrated racing program and a strong infrastructure within North America* Give multihulls credibility in the sailing world.



We all love sailing our catamaran, or trimaran, or whichever multihull that gives us those thrills. But have you noticed that we all seem to be treated as second-class citizens by most of the monohull-dominated sailing world.., and have you noticed that lake, beach, water and mooring access is dwindling.

Organizers felt that in order to gain the respect and to have a powerful voice in the overall sailing world we all need to unite into one, strong alliance. As the old saying goes, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." It is time to unify!

Just look at the "Great Links Page" of the www.catsailor.com site – you will notice there are between 150 and 200 various and individual multihull clubs, classes, and/or associations. That is just for starters. Now look at the Portsmouth Handicap Tables and notice that there are hundreds of different classes of cats, tris, proas, etc. All of them doing their own thing, all with similar problems, all with the same desire to get others to enjoy the wonderful life of sailing that they enjoy.

These organizations are all like little self-contained islands. And they are all dealing with similar and like problems – like dwindling membership and diminishing beach access and increasingly restrictive government regulations to name a just a few.

Now is the time to again join them together in the North American Multihull Sailing Association (NAMSA).

There are still a few of you out there that may at this moment be saying, "What the heck do we need THAT for — don't we already have enough organizations?" And some of you may be asking, "Isn't that what the Multihull Council is for?"

In answer to the first question, there are a lot of organizations, but none of them do what NAMSA can do for you – unite all of us to speak with a strong voice to US Sailing, ISAF, and other organizations – organizations that shun us, that have not allowed a multihull Youth boat, that will bar us from venues because of our multiple hulls, that will not allow affordable insurance, that will not heed the problems of multihulls when writing rules, and the list goes on. Multihulls, both large and small, have no central organization that can and will speak out for them. We are all tiny voices.., unheard by the thunderous roar of the monohull world.

And to the second question, that is NOT what the Multihull Council is for. The Multihull Council of US Sailing cannot actually do anything except give input to the board of directors of US Sailing. We now have a Multihull Committee in US Sailing, and it has a small budget which makes it possible to administer the Alter Cup Championship and the Fast & Fun program. Neither of these multihull entities has the power, the mandate or the resources to create an overall infrastructure and support network for the multihull community. Put aptly and briefly by retired Multihull Council Chairman, Gordon Isco, "Just think of US Sailing as Washington and the Multihull Council as a representative from one state."



While some multihull organizations are cozy with what they already have, there are many other suffering. Here are some of the reasons why NAMSA has been reincarnated:

* There are getting to be more and more different types of multihulls and fewer regatta venues that will welcome them to race as one-design fleets even when they have enough boats. Many boats do not have strong class associations -- or any class association at all.

* There are a lot of multihull sailors out there, but no network that pulls the whole multihull world together.

* How do we all help each other if we are not united in some way? Some of our little "islands" are isolated from the rest of the multihull community and most are isolated from the mainstream sailing community. We need to build bridges.

* The Hobie Class Association is set up to serve people who own and sail boats manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company. But actively sailed Hobies are only a part of the overall multihull community.



A Democracy and a Republic

NAMSA is set up to be a completely democratic organization, and every sailor who is a member will have a vote on issues that are important to the whole multihull community. The power of the VOTE is something that we have not had through the most multihull classes, nor through US Sailing.

Also, each organization that joins will become a sanctioned Chapter and will have a representative in the Chapter Committee. Each Chapter will have a voice, not matter how big or small. There will not be the "little guy" syndrome in NAMSA.

NAMSA already has enthusiastic Board and Committees working on various aspects of the organization. Now all we need is members. The only way to make this work is to get as many multihull organizations, fleets and classes as possible to join NAMSA and, in so doing, also make every individual sailor who belongs to those organizations a full member of NAMSA.

Please look at the Frequently Asked Questions in the sidebar for more information.



The Costs

The founders and the Board of NAMSA want to make this all happen as painlessly as possible, and to give the membership a lot of bang for their buck. So, here is the cost structure:

Chapters:

An association, club, fleet or whatever can join NAMSA and become a Chapter, i.e., CABB Chapter, or CRAW Chapter, or NAHCA Chapter. The annual dues would be $10 for each member of that organization. This should not be optional for the Chapter members. Each of the individual memberships of the Chapter would get a Membership Card and have full membership rights.

Some of the associations are raising each of their members dues an additional $5 and then matching each from the association’s funds. Others are simply raising the dues $10 per year. Whatever plan your association adopts will be fine.

Worried about paying such a steep cost for getting so much? Just analyze your costs of stopping at MacDonalds, or Pizza Hut.

The association simply needs to contact NAMSA and fill out a form with all the members names and information, or, if your organization has the info on a computer, we can use the data in Access or Excel format..

There are also cases where sailors may be orphaned and not belong to any association of any kind. In that case we do offer a Membership at a cost to be determined.

There are still many folks that could be considered orphans but have just not had an opportunity to meet others in their area. In this case we highly suggest that these folks get together, form an association, and then join NAMSA and become a Chapter Member. We really feel that by each association or Chapter needs to get stronger, and by them getting stronger, so will NAMSA become stronger.



Also, be sure to click on attachments in the left column for FAQ's about NAMSA



For information on Joining, contact:

Tami Shelton

514 E. Shore, Kemah, TX 77565

Tel 281-.538-4700, vileine18sq@hotmail.com

or

Rick White

PO Box 2060, Key Largo, FL 33037

Tel 305-451-3287, rick@catsailor.com

Frequently Asked Questions about NAMSA



Please check the Frequently Ask Questions. These are questions from REAL SAILORS and NAMSA’s response:



Is this simply a NOT-NAHCA thing?

The goal is certainly not an anti-NAHCA thing. NAMSA has been in existence for a number of years long before Hobie Alter even thought of sailing. It was the organizing body in North America in the 50's and 60's. The revival of NAMSA has been discussed for years, but there was simply no interest -- after all NAHCA had indeed put a strong infrastructure in place – one that we all have enjoyed. Many of us were not Hobie sailors from the get-go because there were no Hobies. For example, Rick White was first a Shark, then Tornado, then Laser sailor. And back then, National and Midwinter Nationals were governed by NAMSA.

By the way, NAHCA’s infrastructure has set a good example for all of us. It has worked very well for Hobie Cats but that is far as they wish to extend that system. NAMSA does intend to emulate just such an infrastructure.., but for ALL multihulls.



Our organization was founded twenty-some years ago. Currently has about 40 members

with numerous types of boats. We are very happy as is, so why do we need NAMSA?

The Shark Class has been in North America now for 42 years or longer and still have about the same numbers you have.., and that is great. While your organization and the Shark Class have long-standing health, there are a number of other organizations that have been and still are struggling with many aspects of keeping a group together.

The big thing with groups like yours is there are a few that are strong catalysts that really glue the group together. What happens when the catalysts loses interest and is no longer there to bond the association? Most groups just fall apart. That is why it is rare to have an association like yours lasting so long.

Our goal is to not only to unite organizations into NAMSA, but to unite more individuals into local organizations. We are not soliciting individual membership, rather soliciting individuals to join their local association. That would make your organization and others like yours even stronger with less chance of failing due to one or some of the leaders dropping out for one reason or another. And we hope to offer any organizational help that organizations might need, i.e., legal, insurance, etc. information.

Do we need an organization to speak for us to US Sailing?

Just a little more about NAHCA. With the 2002 incoming president's views the catamaran world suddenly realized there was a need for an umbrella organization. We all said, "What? NAHCA doesn't want the responsibility for all cats?" Of course they don't! And in one issue of Catamaran Sailor Magazine there was a piece by then Chair of the US Sailing Multihull Council, Gordon Isco entitled "MHC: What It Is, What It Ain't." Therein, he very clearly pointed out that MHC does not want that job either.

So, yes, as an aggregate of all the clubs, associations, fleets, etc. of multihull sailors from around North America, we would have a lot more say to US Sailing. For example, we would be in a position of NOT being denied a cat in the Youth Championships by US Sailing as we have been repeatedly year after year.

Will NAMSA be in competition with US Sailing and Multihull Council?

Absolutely not. We want nothing more than to help the MHC have a stronger voice with US Sailing. NAMSA is in the process now of joining US Sailing, and as soon as the funding becomes solid, we intend to donate funds specifically to the Multihull Council.

Do we need an organization to run national championship events?

NAMSA will sanction events of all kinds, i.e., North Americans, Nationals, Midwinter Nationals (possibly east and west) or whatever. But there will be no interference with all the classes or organizations having their own major events. NAMSA would be happy to sanction major events of various classes, thereby allowing them better insurance rates, and other benefits of sanctioning.

Do we need greater coordination on scheduling in regions? Nationally?

Of course. The only resource now is Catamaran Sailor Magazine – it presently seeks out and publishes schedules from all parts of the country, which is not an easy task each year. Hopefully, NAMSA could take over that task and make those all sanctioned events.



Does the fact that Hobie Fleets organize and put on the vast majority of cat racing in the US and are a monopoly in many areas help or hurt Cat racing?

Many of the organizations that were once considered and named Hobie Fleets, have now combined with other catamaran classes and have formed associations of their own, i.e., Hobie Fleet 36 is now Catamaran Assn. of Biscayne Bay (CABB). At their last regatta only 33% of the 109 boats in attendance were Hobies, and the independent Wave Class made up 33% of those Hobies. So, the question of NAHCA monopolizing multihull racing is in doubt.

Since NAHCA rightly does not want the overall responsibility, we would hope they would be strong supporters of NAMSA and would submit their regattas to the NAMSA schedules. If they wanted designation of "Hobie Only," then so be it – it is certainly their right. And certainly most larger fleets of all organizations would not want open cats at their particular nationals, i.e., the Wave Nationals would not want Inter 20s there, nor H16 want Taipans sailing with them, etc.

Do we need someone to run the handicap system?

No, Darline Hobock of US Sailing does an awesome job for beach cats. And who would want to subject themselves to the torture she goes through. However, with the power of all multihull organizations behind us we could make strong suggestions to the Portsmouth Rating folks.

Also, it might be pointed out that there is presently no North American uniform rating system for larger multihulls. A Corsair or Stiletto might show up in Florida at three different events and get three different ratings, then go to Ohio and get another, and in New England still another. There needs to be developed a rating system that allows boats the availability of know what their rating is before going to a regatta.

Has NAHCA mucked up the cat racing so badly with their actions that we have a compelling reason to bail out of this structure and create NAMSA?

NAHCA has done a fine job over the years and have set a good example for an infrastructure. NAMSA will probably make effort to use that as a guide in setting up its infrastructure.

Should NAMSA form and try to compete with NAHCA for membership and clout in response to NAHCA policy?

Not at all, we want all multihull associations to join NAMSA as associations, wherein each association will have a representative in its council. NAMSA can help NAHCA, Performance Classes, CABB, CRAM, CRAW, OCRA, et al, to have one united voice. We are strongly urging sailors to not sign up as individual members, but rather join an association or organization of their choice, and then help ascertain that organization joins as a Charter Member to NAMSA.

Here is the question for all Hobie Sailors who are considering NAMSA. Are you better off trying to change NAHCA over time.., or saying to heck with NAHCA and creating a new organization such as NAMSA? (Obviously Open class sailors don’t care about NAHCA nor do the true believers of Nigel Pitt policy)

In the NAMSA constitution we have strongly suggested that we want folks to join as members of their association (NAHCA, CABB, Tornado Class Assn., et al) and that the association join NAMSA. The dues would be based on the number of members in that association and they would simply add on some to cover those NAMSA dues and then send the dues moneys to NAMSA. This would be the primary form of NAMSA funding. But, for the orphan sailor out in the bush somewhere that has no organization at all to join, they could join as individuals at a higher price.

Does NAMSA feel that following the international rules is helpful or harmful to the health of their class in the US and NAMSA would be the organization to effect change?

As an allied voice in North America, we might be able to match the vocal power of the Europeans in many matters. Often things that may work just fine abroad simply do not work here in North America. With NAMSA at least we have a chance of being heard around the world. Not so if we remain as lone, island organizations such as CABB, CRAM, CRAW, NAHCA, Performance, et al.

Do the leaders in the new Formula 16, 18, and 20 classes need to agree on general guidelines, racing events and codify these agreements within NAMSA?

NAMSA will do everything it possibly can to help form classes and help them stay active. Strong classes and strong organizations make for a stronger, more unified NAMSA voice.

Do we need an organization to interact with the larger cruising multihull classes?

Absolutely! This is for all Multihulls. A good example of the need for NAMSA: At Key West Week a few years back and during the race a monohull hit a catamaran and sunk it. The organizers forbid multihulls from sailing the regatta after that. Keep in mind, the cat was on starboard, the mono on port. Event organizers reasoned that multihulls sail different angles.., but the cat was sailing upwind. In other words, this was pure bias and discrimination. Had NAMSA existed then, with all of our organizations joined together, we could have been a strong and powerful voice against the regatta, Key West, Yachting Magazine (the sponsor), and there would have been multis sailing the next year.

Also, the larger multihulls are in dire need of a North American standard rating system. This should be a high-priority task.

Do we need to reconcile MASF, Chesapeake Cruising Multihull, Portsmouth, PMA and PHRF rating systems for all kinds of multihull racing?

Good question! As stated above, we really don't want to mess with Darline's work, but some of the other ratings have gotten a bit too diverse. MASF ratings were the subject of complaints for many years at the SORC regatta in Miami. There are any number of rating systems out there and all of them differ from one another – still no standardization that we really need.

Do we need to sponsor training of multihull oriented PRO’s and judges within the US SAILING structure?

Yes, almost all sailing rules and regulations are given to us directly from monohull sailors. Multihulls do have some idiosyncracies that need to be addressed and they will never be deliberated by the present hierarchy. NAMSA will offer training for race officers and judges and then Sanction them.



Do we need to create a Junior Olympic program on our own? Or work with US SAILING?

Absolutely! No one else is doing much about Junior sailing on multis. Lots of lip service, no action! And those that are involved, get quickly un-involved as soon as their kid ages or goes to another sport. Art Stevens, Chairman of the Multihull Council, started the Fast and Fun Program that is doing wonders for the youth. But, a lot more needs to be done and said. Will the bureaucrats listen to one, lone voice, or will they better heed the united voices of many as NAMSA will do. And NAMSA means to declare war for our Youth. Work is already underway.

NAMSA will definitely work side by side with the MHC and US Sailing – we are all after similar goals.

Do we need a national policy of trying to move our racing away from NAHCA run events and to local Yacht clubs (like the rest of the sailing world)?

Beach cats and multihulls have a much better chance of not being nomads, if we are all allied in NAMSA. In the past Yacht clubs were very instrumental in forcing cats to the beaches. Some of the earlier multihull designs were cumbersome, ugly, not that fast, were hard to tack and hard to right. Often YCs just laughed them away.

And then came Hobie that was formed by a bunch of beach guys and surfers and said, "Who needs a yacht club?" So cats have since become the bedouins of the beach. However, the Tornado is still a YC boat and is usually not shunned due to their Olympic status.

In other words, Yacht Clubs do offer a lot and if we work at it with NAMSA, we will slowly gain acceptance.



Our organization has no known issues with Beach/Boating access at current event sites. Why do we need NAMSA?

Many clubs, fleet and organizations never had any problems either a few years ago. But one-by-one government and other agencies place more and more restrictions, more and more rules, fewer and fewer places to sail everywhere in North America. It is great if you are not suffering any of this at the moment, but it is guaranteed you will in the very near future. And we presently have NO voice in the matter – not as the multihull community is structured today.

There are hundreds of stories that you hear about in this magazine, but one close to home is the story in the Florida Keys. Rick White and CABB used to hold all their events at Plantation Yacht Harbor Resort. It had inexpensive motel rooms, great beach, good bars, great sailing area with flat seas and 10-15 mph winds. Who could ask for more?. Then the area voted in its own village which promptly bought out the Resort for a village park. Now to put on a regatta for a weekend they want $12,000. This could happen to you.

Then there was the story of the State of Florida trying to require permits for regattas and to apply for the permit you had to have the signed and notarized signature of each property owner on that body of water. What would Mike Worrell have done with that one? Not to mention the rest of us.

You cannot sit idly by and watch your freedoms be flushed down the toilet. We all need a strong and loud voice to speak out against such legislation and rule-making.



After many years of decline, our organization has seen slight growth over the last few years. So, why do we need NAMSA?

There are many areas where the signs of decline have slightly reversed. But, that doesn't mean we should stop growth. I remember when in the "pit" during football practice back in the old college days we would have to block and push a sled. Once it got moving, you really kept your legs churning and pushing harder -- you did not want to lose that momentum that you had already created.

NAMSA can be your coach. And we can build an unbeatable team.

We want to offer affordable insurance for your regattas -- in large groups insurance costs can come way down. Your organization would have very little power in acquiring inexpensive insurance coverage. We also wish to expand that other insurance (boat, auto, health, or whatever we can good rates on).

I don't know what your organization is doing about Youth sailing, but we hope to make it a strong national movement to get more kids sailing, and more kids sailing multihulls. I doubt that your organization can do it alone. For starters, we hope to have our very first NAMSA Youth Nationals this summer and have a committee working on the venue and date at this very moment.

We also want to establish training camps for Youth. And youth is where the future of multihull sailing is. The data for Catamaran Sailor Magazine and Sailing Seminars shows the average age of participants is over 40 years old. Very few youth take the seminar.., the same course that had coached at least seven teams to Olympic Medals. We need to shake the bushes, shake the halyards, or just plain shake kids and get them out there sailing anything.., and hopefully we can get them sailing multihulls.

NAMSA can give your entire group and area uniform documents like scoring sheets, registrations, NORs, Rules, Uniform Courses, etc. We are working to get your organization the very best Windows Scoring System software that will suit every organization, no matter how you score. And we will offer instruction and tech support.

We intend to train and sanction Race Officers and Judges that can interpret into their jobs the intricacies of multihull sailing.

I feel that NAMSA should set-up a body of measurers and certifiers. BOTH for the formula classes and for the One-Design classes.



Both class need to be checked for compliance to their rules. Organising this as NAMSA would spread to costs over lots of classes, garantee quality by checking builders claims by an independent body with no axe to grind AND more importantly help out starting classes.



Naturally, volunteers would really help out all cats.



But again congrats.



Wouter

Evermore!

Hi Wouter,

Thanks for the thoughts.

One of the great things about NAMSA is that it can do any number of jobs. The secret to its success will be that there are so many people interested in seeing the advancement of mulithull sailling -- people who want to get involved.

So, if this is something that needs to be done, it can be done.

Thanks,

Rick

Four more asssociations have joined.

Great

Rick

Multihulls Magazine will be running a memorial story about NAMSA past-president, Dick Blanchard, and in the next issue will have a short article about NAMSA.

Thanks Ava and Charles.

Rick

Lots of folks joining -- Be one!

Rick