Have you looked into mast up storage costs? It's about 1200/year (including the mandatory sailing center membership) for an 18' boat. thats not cheap to me.

Not 100% sure what you guys are referring to with the Hobie life, but here in Dunedin there are a dozen(s) of cats out every weekend (except winter, then it's just a few of us die-hards), we 2 nights of mast up storage (with $100 annual permit), no beach fees, and 1/2 dozen organized races per year. I know this is rare, and thats why i live here.

I am not knocking the community center but they don't serve us (cat sailors) well at all. The costs are prohibitive, the center does nothing to promote the sport or include cats in their races (with a few exceptions) and the mono-skipper i raced with a few times was so unhappy with the PRO's they moved their races to a bridge and have their own on water officiating.

we do it every weekend here.
We just spent 10 days camping on spoil islands.

MN3,

The last apartment I rented charged $600 per year for boat storage (not mast up,) so yes, $1200 doesn't sound too bad. That said,
if I had my own boat, I probably wouldn't store it at the sailing center. The reason I want my own boat is so I can sail it other places (including Dunedin Causeway,) so mast up storage would be a bit of a pain. I don't consider what the guys do at the causeway "mast up storage" though. It's more like "leave the boat on the beach and hope the tourists don't bother it too much" storage. It's on par with leaving your boat in a busy park.

As for the Sailing Center not serving cat sailors... I have to agree to some extent although they are trying to get better. They have plenty of cats (Waves, Getaways, a H16, H17, and a Tiger,) but the space to sail in is really too limited for a Tiger or F16. I watch the F18s and F16s and by the time they have the spinnaker up and drawing well, they have to take it down.

My goal is to get an F16, keep it at home and sail in Dunedin, Clearwater, and maybe compete in Hiram's Haul one day. I will still keep my CCSC membership though. The community there is grate.

Since you're in that area, you owe it to yourself to add a few more races to your schedule... DIYC has a good bunch of them, as does TBCSA and Sarasota Sailing Squadron.

You'd be able to sail/race almost every other weekend during season within 1 hour's drive from your house.

1 1/2 hours and you could do the Clermont/Eustis stuff, too. I know a lot of those guys run to DIYC/Dunedin for races often.

I agree, we don't have mast up storage in dunedin... but 2 nights a week is great (they were going to make it 2 nights a month). I also agree we take a risk leaving our gear there, but so far the worst to happen is sand on the cats, and the occasional beer can (ok we have found a few other gross items) but for 20+ cats guys that have permits (or dont), to not get our gear messed with year after year, is pretty damn great. Sure couldn't do that in NY or Los Angeles.

I am not 100% sure what you are saying about "space to sail in is really too limited ", we do spin runs from Dunedin to Bellare and the gulf is pretty damn huge (are you guys not permitted to take the cats in the gulf right around the corner?).

Again i am not knocking the center, it has produced some Olympic sailors and i like to see the sport being promoted but i also think the center is CRAZY for taking the opti fleets under the sand key bridge into the pass. That pass has serious tides, currents, and when all the conditions are right (or wrong) it is a washing machine in there.

Correct. We are not allowed to take the center's boats out of Clearwater bay (basically we can't go under any bridges or cross the intercoastal. There are also lots of shallow spots in the area that we can sail in. I took the Tiger out once and was very frustrated because the speed of the boat didn't mesh well with the limited space to sail in.

But to get back on thread/topic. The center has a very "hang out" sort of feel with lots of socializing and regular cookouts. We are having a sunset sail on Dec 10th out to the nearby island where we plan on having a bonfire.

Everyone was extremely nice when i participated in the Carlyle races and very nice when i raced on day sailers a few times

I like Carlyle. CCSC has hosted Alter Cup and Area D several times.

You missed Thanksgiving week on snake island. Sailors, campers, fires, fried turkey (5 this year), blackened red fish, direct TV, on and on. 19 people for thanksgiving and 35 for Friday dinner.

Our next large organized trip will be Memorial day on snake island. We've had 100 people and live music there. Anyone is welcome. If you like I'll remind you when it gets closer.

For us this is a lifestyle not a sport.

I don't live in Florida but I spent 2 weeks with 2 F18s and a trailer with a third at CCSC last November over Thanksgiving. We kept them all there for less than $100, it was a steal. They even gave us a key to the gate (which I still have!) They were super accomodating and friendly.
We sailed the boats everywhere, under the bridges, up the intercoastal up to Dudedin, out into the Gulf numerous times, and then sailed from Clearwater to Sarasota. We have plenty of water to sail everywhere.
I've also sailed regattas out of there a few years back where it seemed very well run.
I don't know what the membership is but $1,200 is a steal for year round mast up storage. I've paid $650 for a similar facility up here for 5 months. Our F18 fleet in New England is cheap but I'm sure most of our fleet would store their boats if it was $1,200 a year.
I understand what you guys are saying about Dunedin though, $100 is a good deal to sail there all year. But leaving a newer boat like an F18 is quite a bit riskier and I'd rather pay extra for the fenced in gate and security camera any day of the week.

Please put me on your reminder list, sounds like fun.

PIC's


T week pics

The family membership is around $400. The storage is another $800 (depending on boat size).

The reason I don't keep my cat there isn't completely the money, but the people and attitude we have in Dunedin. On most weekends we have about 10 cats that sail together and island hop.

we have new and old f16's f18, cars, unlocked sail boxes unlocked cars and even the occasional car/truck with the windows and even doors wide open (accidentally) with little problem. This year i had an cop come up to me to tell me the car next to me left it's doors open and she closed them at 1am. I have Friends that leave their blocks on the cat, even radios... and little problem.

I am certainly not saying we are crime free, but it has a pretty good track record and history.

Nice pics catman. You may have captured the last shot of Zack's USA spin (ever). He has gone to the German team for his new spin