I've been taking my kids out on various boats since they were babies. They like going out on our keelboat because it's family time, they like to go to the vberth when it's heeled and bouncy, and we try to go to fun destinations for them. I belong to a sailing club that has mostly dinghies. The kids can't join or go out on their own, because it is a college club (which allows alumni to retain their membership, thus why I'm still there). My kids usually have to be coerced to go dinghy sailing, but once we are out they have a good time. So they have been on a Pico, Bravo, Laser, FJ, Flying Scot, Hobie 16, and a Hobie 20 as crew. When they were 8 (twins) they took a sailing lesson at Sail Sand Point, it was mostly in Optis. My daughter thought the lessons were ok, but wasn't very excited by the Opti. My son has always told me, "Dad, you know sailing is more your thing." On one class they went out on the Hobie Wave, when they got back I asked how it went, my son said, "of course when it's windy and it's a cat it's fun." SSP has a great deal of a $1 season pass for kids Optis. Everytime we went to go sailing, it was a battle to get them to go Opti sailing, they always wanted to go Wave sailing. They weren't big enough to be allowed to sail the Waves. I had joined and would quite often cave in and take them Wave sailing. The next summer because of scheduling problems we didn't do SSP. (It also didn't help that they whined about the Optis everytime lessons came up.) Since they had taken the lesson with a friend, I tried to arrange for them to be together in a class this coming summer and was discussing possible classes her Dad. His daughter wasn't excited about the Optis either. SSP has a cruise to a destination and eat lunch camp on the Waves that they might be old enough for. (Lower age 10 or 11 depending on where you look on the web page.) That is the only camp/class that I could find that uses the Waves there. They also have Hobie 16s, but we're about 3 years away from being old enough for that. I came up with an alternate solution, I asked the other Dad if he wanted to go in on a Hobie 14 for our kids. It was cheaper than a week of lessons for my twins. It's the kind of boat that they want to sail, and they are going to be able to sail without adults onboard and the 3 of them will get to sail together. They also weren't having much fun singlehanding. We haven't even had the boat in the water yet, so I don't know if this is going to work, but instead of my kids whining everytime I mention sailing lessons, they are at least semi excited about owning a boat.

I think SSP is a great organization, but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to have more classes using the Waves, particularly since apparently I have ruined my kids for Optis by allowing them to sail cats.

I guess it could be pointed out that I should have worked within the system to make cat sailing more accessable to other junior sailors rather than opting out and buying my own boat. Well now that I've thought of it, maybe I'll see if there is something I could do in that direction.

John