Mark, I believe Sailing is an activity that is, "out of sight, out of mind". But when the passerby sees a sailboat (cats in this case) rigging up on the beach, they stop by and ask all kinds of questions. "Is it hard, How much does it cost, WHERE CAN I LEARN?"

I can always answer the first two questions but rarely the third. And I live in Florida, where the weather allows sailing year round, and the endless beaches and many bays offer plenty of potential sites to set up "Lern to Sail" type locations. But unless I personally take them out, (which most of us have done many times) I really don't know where to send them to learn.

"Go find a yacht club, join it, and get into their learn to sail program..." is kind of an off-putting answer, I think. It would be nice if, like in England and elsewhere, you could point to a group of boats sitting on the beach, "Right Over There" and let them get started right away, now, today, while he is standing there in his swimsuit looking to go sailing. Come back later never works out.

OK, so how does that happen? Well perhaps for starters, we get a National Sailing Organization (Like USSA) to go to Congress and gather support for funding a National Learn to Sail Program. Just say "It's a New Green Industry that will create new Green jobs that cannot be outsouced!" to get the support you need. I would think Hobie would be on board as well.

Then you get US Sailing to provide the curriculum, they already have one, and train the instructors, like they already do, and you get Stimulus Money to pay for it all.

I'd much rather have my tax dollars supporting something like this than Pig Manure Research.