The Potter Yachters and Small Craft Advisor Magazine would like to extend a cordial invitation To all small sailboat skippers: Come join the partying, racing, and salty comraderie at the 4th Annual SCA Cruiser Challenge, August 24, 2002 on Monterey Bay, California. This year, Cruiser Challenge IV will be held on Monterey Bay, one of the most gorgeous places to sail on the West Coast. We're thrilled to report that the Race will be run by the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club Race Committee, with a proper US Sailing starting sequence. We will be guests in their clubhouse for dinner and the award ceremony on Saturday night. We don't have the details all worked out yet, but mark it on your calendars. In the future, you can check details at the Potter Yachters Website, at www.potter-yachters.org. We hope to have on-line registration forms. PRE-REGISTRATION 30 DAYS IN ADVANCE IS REQUIRED if you want to berth overnight and/or participate in the race. Be sure to mark your calendars for the cut-off date for registration, which will be July 24th. We will be rafting up overnight in the Monterey Harbor Marina. We're expecting at least 50 boats to participate, and the marina will be moving some other boats to accomodate us in a very crowded marina, The rules will be similar to last years. This is a race for MINI-CRUISERS, not racers. In a nut shell, here's what that means: no headsails larger than a 155% genoa, and you have to carry an outboard and anchor and basic cruising gear, only trailerable cruisers 25' and shorter with a sleep-in cabin big enough for two adults or more. There will be three open divisions -- Micro Pocket Cruisers, Medium PocketCruiser, and Large Pocket Cruisers. (We'll publish details as soon as possible) It's a race for non-racers. You don't need to know all the special rules for racing, but you do need to know and obey the basic "rules of the road" governing right of way. Our races are fun, "gentlemanly" races. They are competively, but not cut-throat. For many folks, the Cruiser Challenge is the first race they've ever entered. There's never been a collision or a protest in any of our Club races. In fact, we the Potter Yachters don't even have a "protest committee" -- instead we have a rule in all our races that any skippers who uses excessively agressive tactics that endanger intermediate sailors will be disqualified on the spot, by any Potter Yachter Officer after consultation with the other officers, with no further appeal. It may not be "fair and democratic", but it's the way we run our races, and we like to keep our races laid back and safe. If you're looking for a hard-core, ultra-competitive race -- this ain't it!! PLEASE HOLD YOUR EMAILS AND QUESTIONS FOR NOW -- We'll publish the rules of the race and details of the weekend as soon as we can. In the meantime mark your calendars with the dates and bookmark our website: July 24th for pre-registration and August 24-25th for the date of the race. www.potter-yachters.org for updates (and a future link to preregistration.) Fair winds, Judy B, Commodore, Potter Yachters of Northern California, commodore@potter-yachters.org