I have stayed out of this one, cause I have some different and strong opinions on some of theses things. But I would like to hold out that one one the biggest reasons for the lack of growth is the "Dude" boats. You know what I mean, the boat that is mostly sailed 2 Dudes.
What our success is based upon is a boat that can be raced ,sailed and rigged (trailered, etc) by couples or teens or 2 chicks....you get what I mean) I have owned and raced Dude boats (I20 & F18's) and they were fun, once they are on the water. But I am mostly an amateur racer, and even tho it may not be the slickest sailing boat, there is no better bang for the buck than the Venerable 16. Most places you can run into good size fleets with a great cross section of folks.
Until we get to a critical mass with F18 in this country we will not see any fleets with the size and the depth the 16 provides. A Cat is approaching the size, The depth is crazy, but the boat is a techie & a VERY expensive rig to run. you can get 2 NEW H16;s maybe more for what a new Acat costs) I have race other cat class Nationals, and frankly while there are great sailors there, a 15-20 boat NA's is no big thrill. (maybe Im spoiled)
I sail in the Southeast quite a bit and see very little in the way of youth promotion. Virtually no female skippers. All dude boats.
End of that rant.
OK, how bout monohull type view. Someone said why don;t the hardcore racers buy the same boat. Well, the mono peeps DO!@!! They search out the tough classes and whether or not it is the sexiest boat, they buy, learn and race it. The deffinition of the hardcore racer.
Racing is not who has the fastest boat, its who makes their boat go the fastest.
Gimme a NacrcornprindleAQUACATwaveBLADEtornado at a decent price point , with a good RC and a place to race and I'm IN.
