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<font size=2>Hi All,<br>
What an exciting weekend in Sheboygan! And how proud the WYC is of
the WYC Sonar Team Race team. Again, congratulations!<br>
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<font size=2>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.<br>
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<font size=2>After the event, in talking to Hans, Ken Legler, and Tom
Adkins (chairman of the Sail Sheboygan foundation), I learned the
following:<br>
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<font size=2>1. They will hold the event next year, but the date has to
be worked out not to interfere with their other stuff.<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
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.
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<font size=2>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.<br>
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<font size=2>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.<br>
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<font size=2>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.<br>
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<font size=2>Regards,<br>
Bert<br>
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