A few facts (in my opinion facts anyway)...
1) You will never get the I20 out of the hands of the mysterious Nacra Class. Many have tried including myself (I had many long phone conversations with Jack about this). So, the fact is I20 owners have little to no control over their class.
2) The F18 is the future of this type of catamaran sailing. Its is. Stop saying its not. I feel for Trey, Foggy, Jake, Jay, and all others that have significant funds invested in I20s, however current short term investments does not change the fact that the I20 class simply does not have the long term potential for growth that the F18 class does.
3) If the race were to switch to F18s today, people would sail them. Just like when the open racing went away people sailed Nacra 6.0s, and when Nacra 6.0s went away people sailed I20s. At each corner there was the normal resistance to what ended up being the natural progression of the sport.
From a media coverage point of view, I think the race is much better off head to head. Catamaran sailing is hard enough to explain to non-sailing viewers. To explain that a boat that (as an example) finished third to the beach won the race because of a rating. Yeah.
I dont care what boat is sailed, I personally prefer the I20 over the F18. I simply believe right now that F18 has more long term potential, and again I think this race should be head to head, and that the playing field should be somewhat controlled as either one-design or formula.
My motivation is to see the race in a format where I might, might, be able to convince a sponsor to cover our costs to film the entire week. This in turn would pull in more coverage, which makes it easier for 1) Chuck to get sponsors and 2) the sailors to get sponsors. Putting on a marketing hat, Id like to see 30 F18s, racing head to head, with top sailors not just from the US, but from around the world, all on boats that have mandatory tricked out graphics covering the entire boat and sails.
Pretty pictures and close racing is what is needed, not handicapped racing!!!
Mark - yes I felt the race was good this year and though I didn't really even consider the handicap ratings, I was happy enough that we did have fleet scoring. I liked having the two fleets but never considered ourselves as actually racing against the F18s because one way or another some performance aspect of the boats was going to be the deciding factor - not my skill or my ability to adjust and manage the wind and sea conditions. I had a great time at the event and thought it was a great fleet - this conversation sure makes it seem otherwise ... but that's not the case.
Brian, you've mischaracterized my position - I actually think the F18 is the future of the race when that day comes. However, I do think it's silly to even think about it now until they show enough momentum to be self sustaining. I also don't believe that there is any significant section of F18 sailors that wouldn't do the race because there is also a Nacra 20 fleet so, again, I don't know why this whole thing keeps coming up. The 20 class has continued to surprise and show up in force while the F18 has just started to dangle a toe in the water after three years of being invited. It's also probable that three of those F18 teams would not have been there had not one of the 20 teams given them the help to put it together.
John, I deleted that post because it didn't really add anything and didn't have time to make one that did. I agree there is a symbiosis between the survival of the Tybee500 and the N20 but I don't think it's fair to say one could have survived without the other. The sailors that own and sail 20s have paid the large majority of the money, blood, sweat, and energy that have kept the Tybee alive. Also remember that one of the sparks that started the Tybee 500 was because the Worrell dictated a boat change that was unfavorable to several teams.
So where do I actually stand? I like sailing with both the F18 and N20 fleet (or any other fleet of significant size). I, obviously, don't think it is competitive to score them on handicap - but it's a relatively minor point in my opinion. I also don't care to hear about either class being excluded because it's just silly for everyone at this point. I also agree that if the Tybee grows to the point that they cap out entries at 30 and have to turn away 10 F18 teams that would have otherwise made it 30 F18 teams, then it makes sense to go F18 only.
What I really have an issue with is all this talk about F18 only now after the effort put forth by the predominantly Nacra 20 sailing teams. I mean, seriously, why even mention it? And before we talk about what was or wasn't said at the awards (I was not there), it has been talked about and discussed for nearly a year now from the authority. The Nacra 20 teams did make a significant impact on this event this and every prior year of it's running and if the Nacra 20 owning teams did not show up for the last 7 years, the Tybee500 would not be here today - we were told as much last year when it was said that the race couldn't survive any longer with 12 or less entries. Velocity, Royal, and Seacats alone built half of the fleet this year and they're all 20 based. These teams (Velocity and Royal mostly) put in enormous effort to bring in the additional teams on their own. Velocity brought in Sailing Anarchy which seems to have generated a great deal of exposure. We did so to keep it alive because we were promised it would die if we didn't so it should be expected for us to feel a little offended when the race starts mentioning excluding our current and favorite boats. While I don't think anyone completely disagrees with the notion, the timing, presentation, and the suggestion that it might be in the next two years is an utterly inappropriate way to say "thanks for helping us make the race survive".
