[Sonar] Team Racing

[Bert Foster]

Hi All,
What an exciting weekend in Sheboygan!  And how proud the WYC is of 
the WYC Sonar Team Race team.  Again, congratulations!

Thanks to Ernie, Carmella and all who helped get Captain Hook in and 
out of the water, on and off the trailer.  Thanks to Chandra for 
setting up the hotel; it was terrific.

After the event, in talking to Hans, Ken Legler, and Tom Adkins 
(chairman of the Sail Sheboygan foundation), I learned the following:

1. They will hold the event next year, but the date has to be worked 
out not to interfere with their other stuff.
2.  If they can sell their two J24s, they will be getting 4 new 
Sonars, for a total of 12, which means four full teams of three can 
participate.
3.  Ken would like to come again if the date can be worked out so as 
not to conflict with his sailing in the Blind Worlds, which is held 
in Newport as part of the wonderful disabled regatta, the 
Clagett.  And provided it is early enough so he doesn't miss 
requirements at school, which this year he missed a staff meeting on Friday.
4.  The cost of Ken is about $2,000 and the rest was food, and umpire 
travel expenses and hotels.  I think this year's regatta was a fairly 
heavy negative cash flow for the Sailing Center, but Hans didn't seem 
to care, because he wanted to have a first team racing regatta for 
the Center this year, and we gave him the opportunity to do that.

If this all works out, Wayzata might be able to send 2 full teams to 
race against Canada, Sheboygan, Chicago, Detroit, or others.  Chicago 
and Detroit both turned down this year's invitation, but have very 
active match racing programs.  I also thought of inviting Steve 
Shepstone to come as the coach.  I personally think that we are 
fortunate to be able to be so involved in the first team racing 
regatta at Sail Sheboygan, because I think Sail Sheboygan is going to 
get very busy with world-class racing in both match racing and team 
racing, and that we may have been able to set a precedent that the 
invitational team race clinic and regatta becomes an annual event, 
and we can always be invited, even if it may mean sending only one 
team instead of two.

I still think we should strongly consider developing six Sonars owned 
one-half by the yacht club and one-half by an "owner" who is a full 
member who would have privileges to race the boat on Thursday, 
Saturday and Sunday.  The club could team race and match race the 
boats on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and use them in 
regattas.  The "owner" would be responsible for maintaining the boat 
and making minor repairs, and sending the boat out for major repairs 
if it needs it.  This cost could be borne by a fee charged to use the 
boats for team and match racing into a "Maintenance Kitty".  It is 
wonderful to see how the Sonar fenders work in protecting the boats 
from serious damage, and certainly all six boats would be fully 
equipped with these fenders.  It occurs that they do not need to be 
$40,000 new Sonars, but could be older boats picked up on the market, 
or even current Sonar Fleet 5 racing members who want to sell a half 
interest in their boat to the club and operate within the system 
rather than outside.  It also occurs that these boats could be fixed 
up for the access sailing program for people with disabilities that 
Ernie is getting started.  They might also be used on some schedule 
for the Wayzata Sailing School to teach adult sailing.  This program 
might better be served inside the Wayzata Community Sailing Center.

I will continue to work with Hans and Ken Legler to set up next 
year's event, and let's see where this takes us.  Again, 
congratulations to all who participated.

Regards,
Bert
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