The A-Class continues to show a steady growth in the southeast and along the Gulf Coast. With the addition of Randy Smyth to the fleet, the "bar" gets upped another notch especially with Randy developing a new sail.
We had six boats sailing at the recent Performance Midwinters (should have been 8 if not for illness). We sailed as a 4-boat class at the Houston Yacht Club Midwinters in February. We had 14 and 9 boats respectively at the Tradewinds and "Not Miami OCR" regattas in Key Largo in January. We had 12 boats at the Cocoanut Grove Classic in November. I expect we will have 7-9 boats racing at the Spring Fever regatta this weekend (6 boats were pre-registered at last count).
In the southeast now, we have five boats in south Florida, four boats in central Florida, two boats in the Panhandle, 3 boats on Lake Pontchartrain, five boats in the Houston area, and 2 boats in Virginia Beach. Top southeast sailors like Brian Lambert, Nigel Pitt, Alex Shafer, and Kevin Smith are starting to take interest in what is happening with our class.
Three years ago, there were no A-boats in the southeast. Growth has been steady and we hope to be able to produce an average of 8-10 boat fleets at regional regattas within the next year.
There is currently a good supply of extremely competitive Boyers, Melvins, and Marstroms available on the class website (www.usaca.info). There is also another opportunity for someone who would like a great deal. With the Worlds being held at Martha's Vineyard in September, many international sailors would jump at the opportunity to sell their boats here instead of having to ship them back home. World champ Steve Brewin from Australia has already advertised this desire on the class website.
One of the main obstacles to US class growth is the lack of a domestic-sourced mass-produced boat. The Melvin design produced by Waterat in Santa Cruz, CA is an excellent product but has a 4-6 month lead time and is expensive (approximately $18K to finish a complete boat). Purchasing a new Boyer, Marstrom, or Bim is more economical ($12K - $14K) but requires a minimum of a 3-4 month wait and can be expensive shipping-wise. There is now the possibility that several US
boat builders are evaluating the details of producing a competitive and economical A-class platform. We may see something develop over the next year so stay tuned.
Check us out. The A-class is still one of the easiest and most fun boats you will ever sail.