Having just attended a symposium where the focus was how to get get your junior program sailors into your one design class. I thought I would make a few points.

1) They emphasized the social and programmatic aspects of junior sailing.
In the US... the program is Opti's till they are 15 then lasers and 420's.
Notice... they don't mention catamarans.
Notice, that these are not high performance sexy boats.

Personally, I don't know of a Sailing club which starts a junior out in opti's and then offers the choice of a laser, 420 or Hobie 16.

Even if they did…. The multihull or skiff option is not offered in College.

So, this is a major hole in the program! (Now Bob Merrick has noted that this is not that important with respect to sailing skills (and he is certainly qualified to know)… but I have to believe that no sizzle hurts you with kids.)

Second point..
Getting your kid going on a Hobie 16 is great... but you need a "gaggle" of em... This point was emphasized over and over. At the target age… the social structure is critical. Where do we have this going in the USA???

At the US Sailing one design meeting last weekend. the ISAF choice was announced and it did not even register a mutter with the cat sailors in attendance. I think we cat sailors are thankful that Hobie Corp offers the support they do... So… IF, we could find another, Builder, Club, Rich Benefactor who wanted to pursue a different program ... we would try to use those NEW resources to piece together a national program with what we have. (Anyone know what Phillip Kahn has finally come up with) .. Until then... The US program is based in the Hobie 16 class... Will it produce international competitors…. Probably not. We are hoping for a superstar kid to emerge... we are not systematically training youth for elite competition in skiffs or multihull


Final point. the Hobie 16 class understands that most people who return to sailing after an abscence... come back to what they are familiar with... This point was also made by the folks running the Junior breakout sessions.

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