Speaking of which - Happy Bithday and conratulations on making it another year.

I will be paying my US Sailing dues as I have since 1990 when I started sailing with Bill Martin (USYRU former Pres). I would personally rather donate the money to CISA or Sail Sandpoint Youth Sailing where I could see the impact first hand. Where I struggle is that I have paid dues this year to 1 national authority, 3 national class associations, 2 yacht clubs, 2 local fleets, not to mention entry fees ranging between 35 and 200+ dollars to race. Granted it is nothing like the TP52 dues which are $5000.00 annually but if you add up the national, regional and local dues along with the cost of gas to travel go race aginst 12+ boats it is no wonder that we get reduced fleet sizes. Wail all you want against US Sailing but the truth is everyone managing this sport has had their hand out for years.