Tim,



When I was new to the sport and didn't know a whole lot about things (not that I especially know a whole lot now!), I came across this old and dirty Nacra 5.2 that was mostly in whole shape. I knew what a Hobie 16 was but I didn't really know anything about the sport. I bought this Nacra 5.2 thinking "My god, what a sexy looking boat!" (My girlfriend would read some sort of Freudian reasoning into that - and she'd probably be right). I knew very little about the status of catamaran racing. I had crewed a bit on some monohulls so I was familiar with handicap racing and figured it would be the same with the cats. It wasn't until later that I begun to see the attraction of racing in a Hobie class because of the shear numbers of Hobies to race against - in one design. Not that I didn't like racing my Nacra but it did seem to be a better way to establish that bench mark of improvement. I did come up the way Michael described could happen and I know of a few more that could be following the same path.



Cat Sailing die? I wouldn't worry too much. More beginner programs (not necessarily "youth" programs), a little media exposure, higher gas prices, and more restrictions on PWCs are going to help us out a lot in the future.