Matt is probably right about the percentage of racers who buy boats, compared to non-racers. Back when Bonnie Hepburn was putting out the Hobie Hotline for Hobie Cat Company, she did surveys that showed her readers were 2-1, non-racers to racers.

I think that the idea of making the boats more colorful and using more "current" styles of graphics would be to appeal to non-racers. What you need is a boat that a teenager will look at and say, "Wow! That is so cool! Can we get that boat, Dad?" That worked for my sister and me when we were young, and it probably works even better for kids these days.

Hard-core one-design racers do not usually care about all that stuff. They want white boats and white sails, so they won't stand out in the crowd. Distance racers are another story. They WANT to stand out, and if they have sponsors, they want them to get noticed.

I have long thought that all the one-design racers should get at least one sponsor, even if it is your own business or the company you work for, and even if all they do is pay for the decals. Even advertising is more eye-catching and interesting and colorful than a beachful of white.

Or, all the boats in a given fleet could have the fleet logo or burgee in a big decal on the sails, along with contact information for the fleet. Advertising pays, and we have really big "billboards" that most of us don't use for anything.

Fleets should also have bumper stickers for all their members, with the fleet name and website. These stickers should be on all their vehicles and all their trailers. All the bumper stickers should have some kind of generic slogan that makes it instantly clear what it is about, like including the words "catamaran sailing." Like, "I'd rather be catamaran sailing."

Thousands of people see our vehicles on the highways and in parking lots. Why don't we take advantage of this free advertising capability?