Hi Tracie

"you wrote"
As far fleet policies. I'm not sure I follow you there. Why would a club limit themselves by stating a scoring preference? I'd rather see what we get then sort it out at the Skipper's meeting.

Well that's pretty tricky of you!

You state your policy so that people know what to expect after they do all of the work (see your comments) to get to your event. Why would they want to be surprised or disappointed?

Would you write a teaser for your regatta like this or even attend a regatta that stated?
"Great fun, We expect on average 3 boats in the XXX class based on the last two years of attendace for great one design racing."

While you and Mary are personaly content with that turnout, I don't think you would find too many others (including me) who would make the trek and spend the time and money to go to your regatta.

This well meaning flim flam of listing the one design classes which COULD happen ... has not been growing cat racing for years and your regatta in the spring is an example of how attendance can continue to decline.

Perhaps if you at least adopted CBYRA's policy for one design racing (see above) EG... 7 class boats preregistered and paid by Tuesday with refunds offered if you are switched to a handicap class you might get more attendace at your annual regatta. People would know what to expect and might actually choose to go racing if its against 10 to 20 other boats.. all be it not the same kind and reverse your regattas decline. At the momement the poll is running better then 60% to 40% in favor of running an event like the OCRA/Catfight style.

I am not sure how any one could argue against the notion that potential racers should have a pretty good and realistic idea of what they can expect in terms of class structure and turnout. This is key to building interest in your regatta and racing in general. That's why people like to see the "who's coming lists" and regattas go to all of the effort to build and update them.

Spring Fever lists the attendee's but not the classes and has seen attendace drop while Catfight lists the racers and the portsmouth class class they will race in. HMMM I am sure there are other reasons but I would not discount the truth in advertising theme here.

Clarity seems to be important.

PS.. had you not scheduled your Rookie race day on the same weekend as the 97th running of the Cambridge regatta we might have seen each other sooner.

Take Care
Mark