Hi Keith,
It looks like you are using a fairly old 3dsvm version. More up-to-date binaries are available through the afni download page.
The -nomodelmask flag is intended for training only. The same is true for specifying a mask file since 3dsvm considers the training labels, training brik, and training mask as part of the model.
Since it seems to be crashing even when no mask is specified, the only other thought is if the trainlabels had all 9 classes.
I would update your version of AFNI first. Please post here again if the problem continues.
cheers,
Stephen