Response to Barb's letter requesting open Pinata Starts

More to Read:
2009 Newsletter
Piñata 2009 NOR
Letter to Hobie for Multihull Start

Hobie Board and Claudia and Scott
Subject:  Response to our request for an “open” Piñata Regatta from the NAHCA Chairperson

Chris Wessels responded immediately by phone call this morning to our letter.  We had a very long and detailed discussion of the issue.  His main points were:

  1. They have granted only a few exceptions to the “one class rule” due to extenuating circumstances.  The typical extenuating issue was that some states did not have enough boats to put on a Hobie points regatta with only 6 boats or so in the entire state and thus allowed them to join a yacht club regatta and add a Hobie only fleet to the regatta.
  2. The HCA is trying to solve this issue by supplying Hobie Cat boats to regattas that want an open fleet.  Chris is willing to try and supply around 6 Hobie 16s for us to share with our non Hobie friends thus allowing us to keep a Hobie One Class Race.
  3. This issue in the state of Minnesota actually caused 3 fleets to drop out of Hobie Points regattas for a few years.  They eventually rejoined.
  4. Hobie Cat Company is still insisting on the “one class race”.  Since they are a large financial provider to the Hobie Cat Association (HCA), the HCA must enforce the rule.
  5. Chris Wessel stated that we would have to get the authorization from the entire HCA board to grant us permission to add an open fleet to our regatta.  He stated that the HCA board which includes all Division chairpersons would not approve the request.
  6. In addition to the points made in the our letter to the HCA, I pointed out that our Piñata Regatta, which started out as the smallest regatta within Div 2, the home of Hobie Cat, has now grown to be larger than Mid Winters West and the San Diego Classic.  We have the best location with RV spots, Condos within 100 yards of our race headquarters, Hotels within 300 yards of our race headquarters; you can park your Hobie on the beach in front of any of these accommodations.  We draw sailors from California, Nevada, and New Mexico and Mexico itself.  We are a full service regatta.  The Div 2 Championships have even been moved to our regatta.  We average between 36 and 42 boats unless the HCA schedules a major event within a few weeks of our regatta, then we lose about 6 boats.

 

The conversation was thorough and lasted over ½ hour.  The bottom line was that he couldn’t approve our request.

Claudia & Scott:  If the HCA provided 6 Hobie 16s for your fleet to use, would it convince Fleet 42 to join the Piñata Regatta?   Give it some thought

I wish to thank Chris Wessel for his prompt and thorough response.

 

John Eger