Elizabeth, I just finished reading your piece on How Much is too Much. I could not agree more with you. We have been very successful allowing our son, Chance, to drive the bus. To follow up on your piece would be a discussion of the private clubs that separated from yacht clubs for various reasons, ie, why they came to be. We live in California, and to my knowledge there has only been one such private club, and I hesitate to call it a club. It is West Side Opti. A very small group put together by a couple of parents for the purpose of allowing their kids to access high level coaching and travel without the problems of difficult kids/parents/program directors etc . They had very specific goals, driven by the kids, and the parents were not afraid to spend the necessary money to make it happen. The West coast now has enough kids and interest in this level of sailing, but it is very interesting the push back that comes from yacht clubs and their directors, with respect to private groups. One thing that creating small private clubs can do, is to exclude problem kids/parents, who are quite often a reason that another child may not want to go to practice. When kids begin playing at a high level and parents begin paying real money for high end sailing, I believe there needs to be a way to avoid the problem people, private clubs allow for such. It seems harsh, but our son has participated in both, and it makes a HUGE difference. Regards, Will Weston
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