Jill Nickerson asked me to post the following message on her behalf:
> I can only ship this out to so many people....I hope people spread
> the
> word on this like wild fire.
>
> Thanks for the update.....while opinion will vary I fear that the
> HOBIE
> class is about to make the fatal shot in the foot instead of the
> arm. I
> have been a member of the Hobie Class for years and the charter was
> suppose to be for the sailors but instead has turned out for one
> manufacturer. It has been very sad to watch the class disintegrate
> before my eyes over the years with the amount of racers getting
> fewer and
> fewer and the number of fleets willing to hold a regatta giving up
> due to
> the lack of attendance.
>
> We had finally started to see the Cat racing START to turn an
> optimistic
> corner by uniting cat sailors and having events that attract
> everyone.
> Eventually with this program you would have started to see more
> regattas
> out there but now things are doomed. A typical instance is to see
> how
> many hobies showed up at the steeple chase race....1 .....a Hobie
> 21.....in a field of almost 40 boats.
>
> Cat sailing should be a contest between sailors and not between
> manufacturers.....if the manufacture makes a hot boat, people will
> buy it
> and sail it......who has the hottest will vary from year to year but
> by
> closing a class to one manufacturer.....the class is no longer for
> the
> sailors.
>
> We had a forum of almost 100 sailors at the Steeple Chase race in
> Florida
> and they UNANIMOUSLY voted to try and resurrect the National
> Multihull
> Sailing Association that has been in effect for years but dormant as
> a
> class to accommodate ALL cats and promote RACING not any one
> manufacturer.
>
> There was a lot of excitement with this idea and it would be run to
> accommodate all of its members and not segregate and make a crude
> attempt
> to accommodate an X class. Those classes that have enough to have
> start
> would have one.
>
> If we can start a board of officers....I know my membership check
> will be
> one of the first in.
>
> We have asked Nigel Pitt to head it up because he did a wonderful
> job
> building the Hobie with members that are basically no longer
> welcome. He
> has done some wonderful things to promote CAT sailing and is our
> great
> hope of the future to build a cat class!
>
> I HOPE THAT YOU PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW and
> encourage
> Nigel to fire this baby up!
>
> Jill Nickerson
>
>
>
> attentRastahobie@aol.com
> > To: MIMIAPPEL@aol.com ; grussl@hotmail.com ; Miracle429@aol.com ;
> > nigel@twinhulls.com ; pulibarri@compuserve.com ;
> > stevenjung@hotmail.com ; rmcveigh@starpower.net ; kat@frii.com ;
> > shirley@azstarnet.com ; Rogerbr@aol.com ; John.Bauldry@onstar.com
> > Cc: chriskoper@hotmail.com ; gvaleske@gte.net ; ejlundin@home.com
> ;
> > fwhite1@cfl.rr.com ; cmvabva@yahoo.com ; hobie335@dpnet.net ;
> > davebarbara448@msn.com ; hobiemex@hotmail.com ; railray@flash.net
> ;
> > mrohrer@asf.com ; Hobierog@aol.com ; AndyHum@aol.com
>
> On Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:18:15 -0500 (EST) "\\e"
> writes:
> > Hi Jill
> > Don't know if you saw this final report
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Rastahobie@aol.com
> > To: MIMIAPPEL@aol.com ; grussl@hotmail.com ; Miracle429@aol.com ;
> > nigel@twinhulls.com ; pulibarri@compuserve.com ;
> > stevenjung@hotmail.com ; rmcveigh@starpower.net ; kat@frii.com ;
> > shirley@azstarnet.com ; Rogerbr@aol.com ; John.Bauldry@onstar.com
> > Cc: chriskoper@hotmail.com ; gvaleske@gte.net ; ejlundin@home.com
> ;
> > fwhite1@cfl.rr.com ; cmvabva@yahoo.com ; hobie335@dpnet.net ;
> > davebarbara448@msn.com ; hobiemex@hotmail.com ; railray@flash.net
> ;
> > mrohrer@asf.com ; Hobierog@aol.com ; AndyHum@aol.com
> > Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 2:12 PM
> > Subject: X-class final report (we are done)
> >
> >
> > The task force e-mail discussion had very good
> participation.
> > We
> > heard from many of the division representatives and others from
> the
> > Hobie
> > community. As could be expected views varied greatly, from those
> > that
> > want to leave everything up to the fleets to those that want to
> try
> > to
> > make things Hobie only again. However, the majority of people had
>
> > some
> > common views. They wanted to allow x-class participants in most
> > events
> > and they wanted to promote Hobie Cat one-design racing. Although
> > there
> > was a lot of discussion about the x-class when asked to vote on 2
> > specific
> > options the response was not as good. The vote was deadlocked
> > between all
> > three original options. But if we look at all the e-mails I think
>
> > that
> > option 2 should be the proposal.
> >
> > "The x-class should be only one start for all non-Hobie
> > boats.
> > This start can be fit into the start sequence at a place which
> best
> > promotes good sailing for all the classes. This includes the
> > beginning
> > Hobie 16 sailors (b and c fleet) so they do not get stuck with
> > one-lap
> > races while x-class boats are doing three and four lap races. The
>
> > x-class
> > must provide a scorer to figure out handicaps and do the handicap
> > scoring;
> > this may include some one to take times at the finish. But all
> > area
> > championships should be Hobie only events. The NAHCA should
> search
> > out
> > and work with fleets willing to host these area championships."
> >
> > Like I mentioned previously, these are guidelines which we
> > want
> > fleets and divisions to follow. They are not rules or laws,
> > therefore
> > setting slightly higher goals does not hurt us. Also, people
> > generally
> > will not go above the guidelines set out for them, so setting the
> > bar a
> > little high can help some fleets do more than they may have
> > otherwise.
> > As with how x-class boats fit into regattas, what to charge
>
> > them to
> > sail with us had varying responses. Due to the time constraints
> we
> > do not
> > have any guidelines for fees or membership. Although, many people
>
> > feel
> > that everyone should be paying equally, there are those that
> believe
> > that
> > we should not force non-Hobie owners to join the class. This
> topic
> > needs
> > to be looked into more by a separate group or the same group at
> > another
> > time.
> > Hopefully, all the fleets and divisions will follow the
> > guidelines,
> > but it would be naive to expect that. To make a more Hobie
> > one-design
> > oriented regatta schedule in the future, NAHCA has to work at the
> > grass
> > roots level to create that view among the average sailors. NAHCA
> > should
> > promote Hobie racing with out alienating other classes. Promoting
> > Hobie-racing should be NAHCA’s focus and how x-class relates to
> > that
> > promotion will need to be revisited periodically.
