John... it was a nice harmless racket while it lasted... Perhaps you forget about some very popular rackets... My favorite In Baltimore, was the Peabody Book store, which was very popular back in the day... not for the book store in the front... but for the bar in back room. A profitable racket at the time!

I and Jake made it work for our regions... We pretended that all of these sailors were signing up to compete, The sailors pretended to be members, following all of the rules of the championship ladder competitions when really we were just racing another local weekend regatta. It was a nice little harmless racket that worked for our community. I am glad some of my friends participated in the second step of the championships. I believe that you had a great time sailing in them and you believe they were successful....just like the owners and patrons of my Peabody Bookstore.

I personally don't think it was wise to routinely petition and succeed in pulling large amounts of money out of the endowment to keep the racket going... but water under the bridge.. Time has moved on. This racket, just like the Peabody Bookstore racket, is over and those that benefited will just have to adjust.