Following up on what can be done to Motivate Sailors in your area, the Fourth Annual Hobie 101 Sailing Seminar was just held in Seattle.

Peter Nelson, Laura Sullivan and Jerry Valeske presented their sold out, standing room only, program to 38 Sailors at Sail Sand Point,http://www.sailsandpoint.org/
Starting with four hours of classroom instruction from the Hobie University Textbook, sprinkled with "War Stories" from this group of National and World Regatta Veterans, we moved to the beach. Laura hosted a great lunch, then after setup, and tuning we moved on to the water for four hours of sailing. Six additional volunteers from Hobie Cat Div. 4, Fleet 95, joined the instructors for coaching and assistance. We had two Sol Cats, one Hobie 18, sixteen Hobie 16's, and four Hobie Waves in the class. The students were from age 8 and up. Setting two marks kept the cats herded, and provided a controlled course for our two SSP Safety Boats. About half of the boats conducted righting drills, which we recommend for all starting sailors. Once this has been done the fear is eliminated. We noted that this is a first day drill for all of our beginning sailors in our SSP classes, as directed by US SAILING. With the boats back on trailers they then returned to the classroom for a critque and review.

On June 25, this same team will present Hobie Catting 102 at Sail Sand Point, for an advanced class that includes introduction to Racing with Rules of the Road, Starting, and practice races. A $10.00 donation for each class covers the cost of lunch.

Peter and Laura reported on the success of their program at the Hobie AGM and US SAILING AGM meetings last year. They have documentated the growth in Fleet Membership, added Regatta participation, and catamaran sales.

Caleb Tarleton