I am the pragmatic type. If anyone wants to really make a difference, individually, then here are some things that anyone could do:
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<br>1. Put together a boat order like I did early this year. You just let people know that you are coordinating an order, what the features of the boat are and why you are doing it, what the details are for ordering, etc. etc. You will need to find a delivery location and set a date and try to get the owners involved as much as possible. In our case, one new owner set up a website for us and continues to take care of that site on a volunteer basis
<br> (see http://teamteets.dhs.org/Mystere/M43.html). Basically you do all the things a dealer would do but you do it for free to keep the costs low and develop personal responsibility and owner involvement.
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<br>2. Volunteer to help an existing youth group or junior sailing class. There are several around my area and they love to have volunteer help, donated boats, or rides on cats, etc. If there are no groups in your area then contact Art Stevens of the U.S. Sailing multihull council and see how you can help him promote these things on a national level or bring his national efforts to your community.
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<br>3. Get your own suitable small cat and make it available for others to sail at local regattas. Until Carol and I travelled around the OCRA regattas with our Waves most racers had not even seen them, let alone sailed one. Then after trying ours, several people bought their own and/or came to the Nationals to race them.
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<br>These are things that anyone can do to make a difference directly and immediately. I recommend keeping a long term perspective to avoid burnout - if you realize in advance that some of it will be unpleasant then you can effectively manage to still enjoy the overall experience and realize that you have made a positive difference. Besides, it makes another way to rationalize adding to the fleet!
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<br>P.S. The use of the internet and e-mail makes #1 feasible - I would not have wanted to do that without e-mail! So anyone interested should have e-mail availability and make sure you let them know that they must regularly check it for messages!
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