Err... strongly put Tim, but to the point. We do do a lot of talking here. Buried in all that, tho, some things are actually going on. I've tried to encourage, more than demand, by starting in on this issue. "From each according to their abilities..." an all that. Quite a few of the comments on this thread have sparked clearer thinking among all of us as to avenues worth exploring. And I'm convinced some actions are coming of this whole thing.
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<br>Also, and I think this is important, while you're absolutely right, we can all make a difference by choosing to purposely work at building up our sport, and we shoud do so; nobody had to 'make a commitment' to catsailing in its heyday- it just happened for reasons of its own, which we're trying to ID and where possible, re-create. "Getting commitment" is fine and, at this stage, even essential, but if a group of committed individuals is the only thing driving a 'thing' then that thing's growth is self limiting. When it reaches a certain size where adherants don't feel threatened with the 'decline' of their 'thing' then they don't tend to feel as committed any more. More effective in the long run to identify and use structures, methods, markets, styles etc, that make the sport compelling enough to grow 'virally' by one enthusiastic new convert hooking others.
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<br>Yes I know this 'viral' factor is operative today, but attrition is apparently more operative, so we could stand to make things even more compelling!!!
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<br>As for my own small effort: (Beside taking new people out whenever I can - I've even invited jetskiers out for a blast - and enthusiastic participation in our clubs annual event with a school for CP kids)
<br> I'm most of the way through setting up a doable plan for every major regatta wherein: a) every racer's hometown paper will get a PR saying, "[Hometown] resident [racer] [{participated}{placed ___}] in championship Sailboat racing in [venue].... and b) 4 or 5 nearby local papers to each event will get one before the event, to the effect "National/international/world class Sailboat Racing comes to [venue] and one after, optionally, with a URL for the publisher to get pictures.
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<br>Each story will briefly describe the exciting nature of Catsailing in general, and a paragraph or two about racing, too! Each hosting org. may elect to submit a "contact" to appear in the closing lines of the story optionally "...to meet some enthusiastic recreational sailors in this area, and [get started in this fun sport/get a look at these exciting boats up close/you pick it.]"
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<br>I propose to hire one or more university's PR insource or outsource - they all have the newspaper Dbases, keyed by zip code, so they can send out little squibs every time some freshman gets outta bed three days running. My paper gets 'em by the bucketload. If we use an in-house resource, we, or a manufacturer, could pay in lessons, support or boats. We're only talking a couple thou a year for the whole job, here. Boilerplate stories, fill in the blanks mail-merge 'n database, one form for the P.R.O. or local club to fill out with attendees, line honors, contact info - hell, data collection could be done online, speeding turnaround, automating the process, cutting costs.
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<br>Give me your ideas on what these boilerplate stories should say!
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<br>Regards,
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<br>Ed Norris
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<br>(To Email me, take the Ihatespam. out of the domain in my displayed email.