Spring Fever is right around the corner! Sailing on Lake Hartwell (at full pond!) with a campground all on our own. Catered and hosted parties! The event is later this year (due to Easter holiday scheduling) so the opportunity for terrific weather is even better.

PLEASE pre-register...they need to plan as there are considerable costs and logistics related to the campground, food, sponsors, and event support.

Pre-registration can be made here:
http://www.twinhulls.com/springfever2014/index.html


Please feel free to contact me and let me know if you have any questions or need more information.

If anyone has any interest in Spring Fever, please pre-register TODAY! Let's not let this race die!

sorry sailors and sailettes. Spring Fever has been cancelled for 2014.

Wow.

Bummer! We really enjoyed this regatta and the location. A big thank you to those that volunteered your time so we could go sailing. I will miss this one.

Now tell me more about the other regattas in the area.

www.emsa-sailing.org has them all! (go to the schedule page)

Of the events on there, the most significant one we have on the 2014 schedule is the Outback Cup in Columbia, SC. It's also a monohull regatta but we get our own course. The food is provided by Outback and, man, they are serious about it.

The other regattas are our normal local events. I'm a bit biased with Keowee since it's my home club, but it's one of the prettiest lakes around. We have Bare What you Dare coming up on May 10th which is a multihull only regatta.

good heavens I can only imagine the swordfest

That's a big bummer about Spring Fever. Hard to believe such a perrenial favorite is cancelled.

If you ever need a PRO for the Outback Cup, let me know!

Mike

Cinco De May Regatta on Lake Lanier - May 3/4

A good time will be had by all...

It's not quite as tilted as you would think.

You should see a Melges party...

Mike

For A cats there is a race at the same venue as NAs (outer banks) on Easter weekend. Check the USACA event calendar.

Wow....it is crystal clear that the south was terribly over scheduled.

an A class event in NC same weekend.
Pensocola Midwinters Cancelled and now could be rising from the dead.
Several inland lake regattas about this time frame..
All competing for an ever smaller number of racers time and money...

I believe the Mr Ernie and the Spring Fever team are to be applauded... They pulled the plug at the right time. They have their standards for what the Spring Fever regatta was about, They always delivered on what they promised and I acknowledge their integrity in holding to their vision.

IMO, the SPORT is far better off when we kill of an event BEFORE you piss off the volunteers putting it on....

All that is left to say is Thank you for hosting a signature regatta for these many years.

Mark,

I don't know that it's as simple as over scheduling. The A-cat event did have some impact and the Nacra 17's have something going on in Europe that took away a few teams. That still doesn't explain the many other boats and classes that have attended Spring Fever in the past. I'm a little surprised that attendance dropped off like it did and would be interested to hear from people that have attended in the past but weren't going this year. As far as I know, there wasn't an F18 conflict but there wasn't even a handful signed up that weren't local. I'm baffled.

I do agree with your last statements, though. They knew when to pull the plug. Not only did the event need to have a minimum number of entries to justify the expenses related to the campground and other costs, major sponsors like Zhik, Honey Baked Ham, Subway, etc. need to have that exposure or they'll soon realize they're not getting their money's worth and they'll be lost forever. That was one of the many factors that lead to the cancellation. I know from direct involvement that Ernie and Nigel put an incredible amount of time and energy (and money) into the event to make it what it was. Hopefully it will be back.

Interestingly, at the US Sailing BOD teleconference last night, it was noted that attendance at certain events over the past winter has been sharply down, even in some classes that made big gains recently.

So, we're not alone, not that we should be OK with this, but we aware that there may be larger factors at play.

I know that this has been mentioned before on a smaller scale (individual events), but what would be the harm in coming up with regional two-year schedules? Take the full set of regattas for a region, and divide it in half. Run one half on the odd years, the other half on the evens. No one has to lose an event, their lives are easier because they don't have to host every year, they get two years to plan and raise funds, etc.

Blockbuster events like Madcatter could be run annually if desired.

I know, too simple...

Mike

The Easter A Cat regatta in Manteo has just ben cancelled too.

Wow!? What in the world is going on?

A few years ago we (EMSA) decided to whittle down our official regattas and try to consolidate attendance to a select few events. It was a worthwhile exercise but it had very little impact. We also tried to make sure we spread out events throughout the year and rearranged our schedule...same thing. Not much positive impact. I've got some other things we're trying this year mostly around trying to communicate in a lot of different channels and passing out EMSA schedule cards (business cards) to all of our members so they can leave these with the random catamarans they see in the area (actually, nobody yet knows I'm working on getting these made right now).

What was the reason that the Pensacola Midwinters didn't happen? Same thing? Low attendance?

There's no harm in that but will it accomplish anything? I'm not convinced. It's not like there are people that we see only occasionally at our regattas. Competitors tend to either be one of us at everything or not at all.

Did/does a long winter effect attendance?

Too bad about the SailNC A Cat event. I was looking forward to visiting them and the Gunboat shop.