It is unfortunate that two of perhaps the most popular championships in the US are scheduled for consecutive weeks. Having, or at least that opportunity for having, the maximum number of participants I'm sure was a foremost intention of both. Without the organization, hard work and commitment of a bunch of volunteers, who may be foregoing a chance to race themselves, neither one would be happening.

Thanks for bidding and Congratulations to Fleet 448 and Division 12!

That about sums it up

Seems like the biggest problem is finding suitable venues for the major events. And it also seems like the different classes are doing their own, separate searches for venues.

By sharing information, maybe venues could be used more efficiently to benefit sailors who want to race in more than one event.

For instance, you have Lake Carlyle available and the state park in Rhode Island available at about the same time. One is East Coast and the other is Midwest. Why couldn't the two events in question be sailed in back-to-back weeks at one of those venues in 2006 and at the other of those venues in 2007? And find venues farther west and south that can do the same thing in 2008 and 2009?

Each class would provide its own race committee people so it is not a burden on the local fleet or club.

The problem with running back-to-back events is getting enough non-racing volunteers. It's hard enough to staff mark and signal boats for one week, let alone two successive weeks.

At the H-17 NA's last year, every day started with the round up of the vic . . , uh, volunteers to go out on the water.

The H-16 and F-18 events are very do-able for the person who can get two weeks off from work and isn't afraid to drive 1,100 miles in one day with a double stack. Like I said, I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had the time off. It's really aggravating when work gets in the way of sailing.

Well, I was just thinking that each event is going to have to have its own set of volunteers anyway, wherever they are held. So why can't they do the same thing if they are at the same location -- the Hobie Class provide the volunteers, chase boats, etc. for the Hobie 16 regatta and the F18 Class provide their own set of volunteers and equipment for the F18 regatta?

Another possibility is inter-class cooperation as far as running the races if they are in the same location. Maybe a few people from each class could switch roles -- some Formula 18 people could help on race committee for the Hobie 16's, and some Hobie 16 people could help with race committee for the Formula 18 regatta.

Also, it would be nice if we could get some of the non-sailing wives involved in race committee work, especially if they are accompanying their husbands to the events anyway.

Maybe we should be thinking of ways to make race committee work more appealing -- like giving diamond earrings to the women and GPS units to the men.

I don't know how many people have the stamina or desire to sail two national championship weeks in a row, but there would probably be more if they could have a few days of R and R in between events instead of having to pack up and drive for 20 hours to get to another location (not to mention the additional gasoline cost).

Also, there are some hard-core racers who don't mind driving long distances with double-stacked trailers. But there are lots more who won't do that. I don't think the measure of a person being worthy of sailing in national championships should be their willingness to drive long distances with boats double-stacked. We need to make it as easy as possible for as many people as possible to participate in as many events as possible.

I'm just brainstorming a little bit here.