Swift and Musto Sailors Unite! ( At least for one beautiful week in July.)
After reviewing your responses to my earlier e-mail and after consideration of individual comments many of you have made to me, it appears that certain factors for a North American site are most important to you all and to our respective classes:
(1) It should be in conjunction with another event so that we do not need to bear the entire effort and expense of staging the event.
(2) It should be on the West Coast where the most boats are. (I know this is a touchy issue, but the only interest I got from West Coast boats to travel East was to Fort DeSoto and I received no offers of support from East Coast boats to stage an event there. This is a long, expensive haul for West Coast boats at a time when everyone is financially strapped)
(3) It should be around sailors who might be interested in our respective classes
(4) It should be a venue with good wind for experienced sailors but less wind for rookies
(5) There should be the opportunity for a clinic
(6) There should be things for family to do in the area
Here's my proposal: July 5-11 at Cascade Locks, Oregon
The event will be done together with the 29er Pacific Coast Championships. This is a World qualifying event and so the organizers expect about 30 competitive 29er sailors.
There will be a clinic on Wednesday July 7 and Thursday July 8. The coaches have not been chosen yet but will be picked by the Columbia Gorge Racing Association, who will run the clinic and the races. Charlie McKee and other 49er sailors have taught in the past. We would like to encourage Bram Dally to be part of the coaching if he is interested.
Our fleets would most likely start together but separately from the 29ers and possibly on a separate course.
Racing would be Friday July 9, Saturday July 10 and Sunday July 11.
Cascade Locks is about an hour East of Portland and about 45 minutes West of Hood River (windsurf and kite board center of the West Coast). There are motels and campgrounds in the area, but they fill up fast and so reservations would need to be made soon.
The race director told me that the wind is typically 8-12 knots from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at which point it increases to 15-23 knots until about 3:00, when it begins to lower. The race on Friday would probably start at noon, but the races on Saturday and Sunday would start at 10:30. This would give the newer sailors who wanted to race a chance to be on the course before the wind got too high. Sailing late in the afternoon is also an option for sailors getting a feel for their boats.
There would most likely be a meal on the beach Friday night and Saturday night sponsored by the race organizer.
The race director gave me a guess at a registration fee (clinic and racing) of $200 per boat, but it might cost us more if we wanted additional coaching for some of our sailors.
This is a different venue for us and so would be a chance to try something new. Many of you have already sailed in the Gorge and so you have a better understanding of what to expect. It can be a challenging venue in the early afternoon but there would be times during each day that anyone could sail.
Please let me know your thoughts on this by replying to this e-mail and please hit "reply all" so that we can all hear each others reactions. I want this to work for the greater majority of sailors who can come to an event next summer. Hopefully that includes you!
Chris Wickham
Swift Solo USA074