Promoting national participation

The United States is too big. A drive from coast to coast can be two days, and that’s only stopping to refuel. For one design classes, traveling to annual championship events is a strain, particularly when held on the west coast. Crossing all that desert is no vacation.

But while dinghy trailers still make the transit, keelboat one design classes can struggle for participants. It is one thing to trailer a boat to the 2024 J/24 World Championship (Oct. 1-5) in Seattle, WA but a much bigger ask to make the road trip to the 2024 J/105 North American Championship (Sept. 26-29) in Cleveland, OH.

Michael Morandi offers this suggestion:

The 2024 Shields National Championship got me thinking that there must be a better way to contest for their annual title. With virtually every boat coming from Long Island Sound up to the Vineyard, this looks to me more like a regional championship.

Other big classes have the same problem, so a solution for one design organizations with fleets around the country is to hold a regional championship and then send the podium winners to the Nationals, with each contestant borrowing a local boat. This is the format for the International Knarr Championship, which also switches boats each day for fairness.

Thoughts? Send them to editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com