Up in Comox, way up north on Vancouver Island where you can't see the north pole but you know you are pretty darn close to it, they have an active Hobie fleet. First it was 16s, then they switched to Waves. But the boat doesn't matter. What they were able to do was get sponsors to "buy" boats. I don't know if they bought the whole darn thing, or just a significant part of it, but each boat has the sponsor's name prominently displayed on it. It makes it kinda fun cuz each boat gets its own personality from its sponsor. Maybe we could do something similar...

I can envision the Hobie 16, with a spinnaker. Now follow me on this. First of all, Mark's point is well taken. If we can run it on a BYOB basis, then a HUGE cost and logistical nightmare gets transferred to the participants/parents. There are enough top-notch 16 sailors on the West Coast -- particularly in N. California -- that we can get charter boats down there if we need to. But a well-motivated youth team ought to be able to find a competitive Hobie 16 prior to the event, on their own, without too much trouble.

Next, we get the factory to donate or sell at a loss or at least at cost the spinnaker set-up.

And then -- and this is the really cool part -- we sell the spinnakers to sponsors. For the cost of a spinnaker kit we put their logo on the spinnaker and on the hulls! I mean, it should be a pretty easy sell, relatively speaking of course. We recover the cost of the spinnakers that were purchased from Hobie or, if they were donated, then the regatta turns into a money-maker and we can channel the money back into promoting more youth teams!

OK, before you guys torpedo this crazy idea, let me pre-empt you with some of the downside. 1) there may be extra time needed to rig the BYOB 16s with a spinnaker; 2) the time it takes to attract sponsors -- who is gonna do it?

The Hobie 16 is the most common platform for youth. It is the natural choice in my opinion. They are readily available so teams will have more opportunity to practice (albeit without a spinnaker). Or better yet, with paid entry and deposit, mail the spinnaker package to the entrant and have them install it in advance. That will save time before the event and give the teams opportunity to practice.

Obviously details need to be worked out. But on the whole, not a bad idea, eh?

The kids love 'living on the edge'. Extreme sports is in. And let's face it, a Hobie 16 w/o spin -- while a ton of fun -- is not 'living on the edge', particularly downwind. (You don't know how difficult that was for me to admit that!)

So it is settled -- the Hobie 16 w/ spin! Now on to ending world hunger and achieving world peace. Whew! Gonna be a busy day!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />