Welcome to the NAMSA Website
Dear Multihull Sailor,
We would like to invite your organization to join NAMSA (North American Multihull
Sailing Association) -- and here is why:
- There are hundreds of different classes of small catamarans, trimarans,
proas and hydrofoil boats that we know about and that are listed in the Portsmouth
ratings. There are between 150 and 200 different fleets, classes, associations
and organizations of various kinds for multihulls, small and large.
- The organizations are all like little self-contained islands. They are all
dealing with similar problems like dwindling membership and diminishing beach
access and increasingly restrictive government regulations.
- There are getting to be more and more different types of multihulls and
fewer regatta venues that will welcome them to race as one-design fleets even
when they have enough boats. Many boats do not have strong class associations
-- or any class association at all.
- There are a lot of multihull sailors out there, but no network that pulls
the whole multihull world together. How do we all help each other if we are
not united in some way? Some of our little "islands" are isolated
from the rest of the multihull community and most are isolated from the mainstream
sailing community. We need to build bridges.
- The Hobie Class Association is set up to serve people who own and sail boats
manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company. But actively sailed Hobies are only
a small part of the overall multihull community.
- The Multihull Council of US Sailing cannot actually do anything except give
input to the board of directors of US Sailing. We now have a Multihull Committee
in US Sailing, and it has a small budget which makes it possible to administer
the Alter Cup Championship and the Fast & Fun program. Neither of these
multihull entities has the power, the mandate or the resources to create an
overall infrastructure and support network for the multihull community.
Those are some of the reasons why NAMSA has been reincarnated (it was started
in about 1960 and died in the mid 1980's). NAMSA's new goals for a new time
are:
- to create an alliance that will unite all of the multihull sailors and boat
classes
- provide a strong communication link among all our little "islands"
- develop an integrated racing program
- give multihulls credibility in the sailing world.
- It also will be a completely democratic organization, and every sailor who
is a member will have a vote on issues that are important to the whole multihull
community. The power of the VOTE is something that we have not had through
the most multihull classes, nor through US Sailing.
NAMSA already has enthusiastic Board and Committees working on various aspects
of the organization. Now all we need is members. The only way to make this work
is to get as many multihull organizations, fleets and classes as possible to
join NAMSA and, in so doing, also make every individual sailor who belongs to
those organizations a full member of NAMSA. For full details about the membership
program, along with summaries of the kinds of projects that NAMSA are undertaking
on behalf of multihulls (Click Here!),
and answers to most Frequently Asked Questions.(Click
Here)
We, the board of NAMSA, sincerely hope that you will join in this important
project to unify the multihull world. Cliches are also truisms that say it best:
"There is strength in numbers," and, "United we stand, divided
we fall."
Thank you from the entire Board,
Rick White, President
NAMSA
PO Box 2060, Key Largo, FL 33037
tel 305-451-3287, fax 305-453-0255
rick@catsailor.com