Though I doubt I can take the credit for converting him, I do remember sailing by at warp factor 8 - he was taking photos and we put on a show by flying high and hooping it up! I bet he has some spectacular photos!

The mall thing is a spectacular idea, but we're back to the money thing. It's worth asking but I don't imagine that they will let you come set one up for free. Space is money to them - kiosks, car dealers placing cars in traffic areas, etc...everyone pays for those spaces. I could be wrong though - it would defintely be a great place to introduce it to some people. Shows and festivals bring additional people to the malls so they're more likely to give that space away for free. Bring your catamaran club and set up 10 boats, get some press, and you might have something!

With regard to the publicity, perhaps part of my perspective has to do with where I live. I live 200 miles from the coast. We do have several sizeable lakes with active sailing clubs but the general public has no idea they exist. To put this in perspective, we have one of the largest regattas in the country a mere 50 miles away but I've not seen it receive even an honorable mention in the back page of the local sports section or anywhere! That's nuts! When was the last time you saw any local club events or regattas in the paper? Don't kid yourself - they're definitely newsworthy.

OK, so the true definition of a "secret society" does not apply to catamarans - but we definitely tend to stay within our own ranks, hang out with the same people, and sail at the same places - right? By the way we participate in our own sport (most of it geographical in nature) we have very few avenues to introduce new people to it. Stores are great places to make those introductions but it has to make money to survive - are we big enough to support such a venture? Most dealers would tell you "no" - to further support this fact, most of their catamaran buyers come from far away and very few boat sales are to local people. This is something that will have to be done by us, the sailors, if anything at all will take place. The manufacturers can't reach out into every community this way.

Simply introducing people to the sport will bring more people into it - all you have to do is spark someone's interest long enough that the next time they see it, they look and ask a little more. Leave them with an avenue to persue (club information) to find out more if they wish. Obviously, you can't force people but if they don't know about it, they can't possibly become interested.