Hi Jeff
Good efforts and good on ya for getting more involvement in the sport.
Many sailed actively in div 10 through the 80s and many of us also had the opportunity to race with CRAM and in the region {Ohio -Wis . Ill -Ind .on the Great Lakes including races in Canada . Great times with a regatta every weekend if you chose to travel a bit.
Yes,- as you noted some of the regional championships had 200 or 300 boats show up , {ah the good old days }.
One main thing that drove the H classes and Div 10 was the numerous active Hobie boat dealerships and their economic involvement. ECONOMICS is the missing factor that is the catalyst for sailing clubs and really was the basis of Div 10 along with many active racing sailors that volunteered to organize and run it. Each H dealer would help organize a local fleet and races and often provide the basic venue costs ,sponsors, misc organizational costs, race organization , dinners beverages of choise and great givaways and prizes as well as have parts and supplies readily available at regattas.
The only H dealer I,m aware of now locally is Mid West sailing and they are mainly a dingy sailing club and sell 1 or 2 hobies a year as a result.
Compare this with Fortune Marine on Whitmore Lk MI that sold 500 Hobies a year for a few years straight in the mid 80s as one of 5 or 6 H dealers in MI . I used to go help assemble 4 or 5 a weekend that happy new owners drove away with ,-many of those cruising recreational sailors but came out to a race or two each year .
Nowdays the predominant catamaran dealer in the area is Mark at the Cat House who continues to do a fantastic service to the region as catamaran dealer {mainly Performance brand } with others and his long term active support and involvement with CRAM of more than 20 years. CRAM per its bi-laws has always encouraged ALL TYPES of cats to race and has a long history reflecting this as is carried on now with a great race schedule and great events like the C F on Lake MI each Aug.
CRAM also has always structured scoring and racing based on class designated fleets with fleet captains in each active category as you know serving as one , so as your progressing Div 10 can can coinside with CRAM CRAW OCRA events or be one in the same as a part of these existing clubs and established race events rather than attempting a seperate entity of H brand only events as per past .
Think this was the gist of Mark,s post -
Handicap racing however is not the answer either, A design or timed handicap system of rating boats is never as fair as class racing . All a handicap can do is AVERAGE times ,so it is inherantly always unfair to some while favoring others within its machinations .
With small groups of different boats this is sometimes the only option for racing and is needed . But many would argue that a design based rating system more compatable with design development would benifit the sport more in the longterm . Formula classes were dirived from the basics of the ISAF rating for cats. P rating uses averaged skippers times as a basis for rating . Some development is needed here as well to a more refined compatable integral universal rating system possibley by combining these existing systems to develop a design and timed rating system . -A tough challenge .
Handicap categories do not appeal to the majority of H class sailors or address the very real and good reasons why they would purchase and prefer a class oriented boat, so class racing and helping grow large racing classes again is the best solution .
The best thing about CRAM is the fleet or class oriented racing that many sailors prefer and is one reason it continues to thrive as a successfull cat racing organization.
The most interesting new development or expansion of that concept being Formula racing that includes Hobie and all brands in a {length beam weight sail area formula} type class that the NA Formula 18s currently have going that include the H-Tiger.
Many hope to partisipate in Formula racing , one less expensive way to start would be to find an older 18 or H-18 as I did recently to go along with the Inter 20 and SC 15 plus sailboard and other types of sailing craft . Like so many of us that sail a variety of boat types nowdays I,d love to sail in a 16 18 or 20 class again, but after sailing more modern types of cat designs it is difficult to go back .I think the existing H-classes are best suited to beginners type racing as intro to the sport , and think the new waves and other similar types do a great job of this also. We need a C Class start for new racing sailors and more vets to do beginners skippers meetings and chalk talks on basic racing again to encourage new sailors into the sport as well.
One other great option once beyond the basics of beginners class would be to be able to upgrade these boats that all need new sails with the options of a new sq top main and spin snuffer package and race them in a coresponding Formula category with A and B fleet designations. Perhaps a NA F-18 class and a F-18 modified B-class as example in the future as the Formula concepts become more established understood and accepted .
Hobie classes would often have an A B and C CLASS start for progressively better sailors ,-this worked well.
As for the various brands of boats competing equally ,--
note the F-18 finishes this year of N-H -N -H placing 1 thru 4 in Natl,s.
I,ve also put a spin on the SC 15 that could be raced as a F-16 just for fun for myself and the kids ,-I purchased this boat for one hundred bucks and put about 5 hundred more into it , --what a value , and a great inexpensive way to get started in racing!
Also the Inter 20 has a great active class though many would like to see it similarly expand into a Formula 20 class that would include all modified 20s with opportunity to equalize the basics of {length weight beam sail area in formula } to form the basics of class catagorization.
Supercat -Aquarious Sails has an excellent version of a 20 available that would compete with equal speed potential of the I-20 as does Hobie Mystere Nacra Prindle and several others as I think we will see in races in 04 like the TYBEE 500 .
The monopoly Hobie basically had {nearly 75% } of all cat racing in the past is gone ,-I miss the great huge class racing opportunities but other better Formula options are now becomming available -which is good long term ,-monopolies are never a good thing for consumers ,they do not encourage development and better higher quality boats that direct competition in Formula classes will and are producing now.
The thing we need is more active investment and involvement of numerous boat mfg and expanding its dealerships just as the boom in the 80s had , Many racing sailors got involved as a boat dealer or parts supplier as a smart way to defer costs and making it more affordable to get more involved in this great fun sport .
Getting this involvement without a huge existing race organizational structure in place or favoring a monopoly of one brand can be achieved by the adoptation and promotion of development and Formula type class categories for racing that numerous existing individual boat builders and dealers can promote their boats within.
Hobie only approaches of the past do not realistically address the numerous problems that lead to its decline .
The handicap racing approach does not address the preference to class racing and the realistic economic concerns as outlined .
The opportunity for boat builders and dealers to promote their products and continue to upgrade and develop better ones is achieved in the Formula categorization for racing . This achieved without causing a new dead boat class every other year as numerous brand only attempts have in the past , but rather in a fair equal spirit of the best aspects of sport.
Hope the powers that be in H and new Div 10 will help develop the intent and spirit now started with the Formula efforts to their own benifit in growing the sport as well as to the benifit of ALL cat sailors .
Have fun
Carl
