I started off with the underlying assumption that the marketing guys at Performance and Hoby already know why not to make a 2-3k starter cat, and tried to "figger" what they know but I don't - - <br> <br>Basic Assumption: Many of us think that such a boat would sell well, and we do think that you could make it "just good enough" to be a good "ad" for cats in general, without causing very many of us to sell our hot expensive cats, nor to just buy a starter instead of our next new boat. Hypothetically, the starter could be sold fairly basic, like the stock Wave, for example, sans traveler, jib, traps. Possibly the sail could even be shipped "stock" and "optional" - - I've even heard suggestions that you could ship the "starter" with removable plugs in the hulls, allowing board closets to be added. The stock mast has no diamonds, but maybe lugs to add some later. Attachment points for downhaul blocks, maybe you sell a rotator kit, with templates for mounting the blocks to the beam, maybe you put lugs in there, too. Kinda a "Lego Boat" Price it all so a boat-plus-all-the-upgrades is slightly or even outrageously more expensive than what we're now paying for a new boat with all the trimmings. <br> <br>As a major manufacturer, you could hope to sell such a boat cheap, without cutting into your "expensive boat" business in the short run, and with a reasonably good hope of building up catsailing in general, with a concomitant medium/long term increase in your high end product line. <br> <br>***Except one problem*** <br> <br>How do you sell a 3k starter boat that is so "basic" that you won't lose your high end customers to it, and still nice enough to compete with a used boat? Ah, there's the rub. <br> <br>So, I thought some more…. <br>If all those lovely used old boats are so desirable, why isn't the sport growing, why are those lovely old cats languishing in backyards all over the world? The usual reasons cited, in my neighborhood, anyway, are that windsurfing attracts people who like to go fast w/out a motor, jetskis get some "hot dogs", too, and the baby-boomers, the hula-hooping, one-fad-after-another generation, haven't been copied by their children yet,. The "baby boom echo" generation are still under 10 yrs. old. <br> <br>Well here's another possible reason: Maybe, people just don't see cheap cats in sporting goods behemoths, and so don't see them as "glamorous" ??? I don't know anything about the rest of the world, but I've not seen a bricks-and-morter cat dealer, nor a cat of any kind in a sporting goods shop, on Long Island NY. There's a niche for your "starter boat" How cool would a cat look, hanging in the open air of a Sports Authority, with catsailing video playing on the floor itself? No real "footprint" on the store's "floor space" so profit-to-square-foot ratio should be acceptable. Plus, gigantic impact on "coolness" of store. <br> <br>Here's another possible idea - - why not support the used boat market a little, somehow? I'm vague about this one, partly because I don't know what's being done out there already. Where I think I see a value here, to the sport in general, is that newbies don't know how easy and rewarding and cheap it is to get into catsailing. If the big manufacturers can't justify a "starter boat" for good sound risk-rewards or marketing considerations, like competition from used boats, why not raise the profile of used boats? Non - cat sailers don't see used boat dealers (in this area anyway) with clean yards, shiny boats with nice price stickers, 1 year warrantees, etc. like a used car lot has. <br> <br>What if the Manufacturers created standards for acceptance into a "5 star used boat dealer" program: Dealers maintain certain standards, in exchange for, say, promotional "coop" money. "Coop" advertising money is where the Manufacturer pays part of the dealer's advertising bills, so long as the ad contains the manufacturer's logo. I dunno, maybe even some help on costs of refurbishment? Don't dealers already get a discount on parts? Maybe, some sort of accountability for used rehabs could allow for some more leeway, there. Maybe manufacturer could participate in the larger transaction, floating the cost of refurb against proceeds from sale later, while offering this only on "trade ins" which were acquired by the dealer as part of a new boat sail? This way the manufacturer would encourage the dealer to take the used boat market on in a more aggressive way, actively looking for "trade-ins" ??? Probably crazy, huh? <br> <br>I bet most of this is old news to the old timers on this board, and they've got good solid reasons why it isn't in play now. Like, they tried it and it failed, or there's an obvious reason it wouldn't work, etc. I'm just hoping to start some discussion here. <br> <br>Ed Norris <br><br><br>
