Division VI insurance and HCANA
Roger
Good evening sailors
The subject of insurance and Division VI is something I was waiting until now to cover.
The insurance for 2023 came out to $400 a day to cover insurance premiums for our events. I am expecting a 10%-15% increase again this year.
As Division VI clubs we have a decision to make. (Austin Cats, TCDYC and Bolivar as San Antonio is inactive.) I have been speaking with Jason Sanchez with Hobie Class Association North America (HCANA). For those that may not know, Division VI was originally HCANA Division VI. The split came when they would not allow open class racing and only Hobie production boats to enter their regatta's.
HCANA split from Hobie, the manufacturer, and is no longer beholden to them. HCANA now allows open class racing and is looking to promote all kinds of catamaran sailing nationwide.
We have an opportunity to join back with Hobie NA.
The question is what is the benefit from doing so? The first is a financial benefit. Insurance coverage is paid through HCANA membership fees and removes the burden of us having to cover insurance premiums for our events through event fees. This is the insurance that covers the club’s liability for holding an event, not the individual liability coverage for the participants.
TCDYC has been using donated funds to keep entry fees low at our regattas. If we did not do that, we would have to charge $100 - $120 per entry or more to cover regatta cost. I am going to put a basic budget for a regatta at the bottom of this email.
The cost of insurance will just keep increasing and I do not see Division VI surviving the cost for the long term. Can we keep it going for the next couple of years? Yes, but eventually insurance cost will be to a level that is not sustainable. If we keep using club funds to supplement insurance costs, we will eventually empty out all of the club’s bank accounts. Spreading that cost across a national organization is much more feasible.
HCANA fees are $55 a year for membership and paid for by the individual skipper. If a skipper is not a member of HCANA, then we would collect a $25 event fee for that person to be forwarded to HCANA. This is a temporary HCANA membership fee. That leaves each individual skipper the choice of becoming a member or not. This would also apply to any sailing clinics or “fun runs” that we organize. If an individual attends two events they have basically paid for an annual membership. So not reason not to become a member.
The second benefit from joining back with Hobie NA is our other events. We would be able to hold sailing clinics and fun sails and be covered under the HCANA policy. Sailing clinics are a great way to bring new folks to catamaran sailing. Our numbers a dwindling and we need to introduce new folks to the fun of beach cats. Under our current policy, the events are not covered and would increase our premium if we added them.
So here is a quick budget for a regatta so everyone can understand the numbers and does not include the cost of t-shirts, RC boats, marks, flags, fuel for RC boats, etc.
We are all aware of the rising cost of, well everything. I expect Insurance fees for division VI to increase $50-$100 for a two-day event.
2023 simple regatta budget. This does not include any club overhead cost. There are also some other cost, just trying to give everyone an idea of the cost associated with producing an event.
2-day regatta - 3 classes
Trophy cost @ $30 each - 1st-2nd for two classes and 1st-3rd for one class.
Insurance $800
Div VI dues $25
Trophies $ 420
other Expenses $ $60
Total Cost $1305
Entry fee $50
10 boats $500 = loss of $805+
15 boats $750 = Loss of $555+
20 boats $1000= Loss of $305+
Entry Fee $100
10 Boats $1000 = loss of $305+
15 Boats $1500 = net gain of $195 (maybe, if no other expenses or extra classes)
20 boats $2000 = net gain of $695 (maybe, if no other expenses or extra classes)
Keep in mind, the more boats you have the more classes and/or more places, the higher the trophy cost. I typically use 15 entries as a basis for calculating entry fees for events.
For 2023 TCDYC used donated funds to keep regatta fees low. We ran all our regattas at a loss. This just not a sustainable model. For Redfish Reach our trophy cost was much higher than what is above. This year cost will increase.
The environment at HCANA has changed and the hard line Hobie Cats only folks are no longer there. To give you an idea of how far away from that stance that they have gone, we have a green light for the Nacra 50th Regatta planned for 2025. This regatta will exclude Hobie brand catamarans and only open for Nacra catamarans.
The next question I know I will hear is what would change for the sailors. First off if you look at the numbers above, entry fees for regattas will double or triple from what most of the clubs charged last year. Making the change to HCANA will remove that burden and will enable for the clubs under Division VI to keep events affordable.
The individual sailors would either join HCANA or pay the $25 per event temporary membership fee.
The change in would also allow the clubs to actively promote beach cat sailing through sailing clinics, fun runs and other events that are not cover with the Division VI insurance. We can add it, but the cost is prohibited.
In the past I have been a “hard-liner” against being involved with HCANA, but I have changed my mind due to their changes in leadership and policy. Over the last few months, I have been in talks with HCANA with the goal of keeping open class catamaran racing alive and the ability to promote beach cat sailing through fun events.
If I did not think this is a win for Texas beach cat sailors, I would never have gotten to the point of posting this.
This message is being posted to the TCDYC Facebook page as well as the Austin Cats email group, the Division VI email group and the TCDYC email group.
I would like to direct any questions or comments to the TCDYC Facebook posting. I am trying to reduce redundancy.
Thank you.
Roger Howard
Commodore
Division VI