It would seem (from what I read in these posts) to be that in the states, the different classes want to sail “by themselves” and they apparently do it away from organised clubs out on some beach or other. Isn’t that a little like “divide and conquer”?
That’s pretty much what Hobie has always done to sell their brand of boats. If you only see examples of a limited number of boats then that’s probably what you’ll buy. Think of it as vertical marketing. If you control manufacturing, distribution (dealers) and user groups (fleets), you’ve pretty much got complete control of the buyers. On the other hand, without the ground breaking marketing Hobie did, we probably wouldn’t see the number of cats and manufacturers we do today.
To my way of thinking, the more boats on the water at one time (regardless of their type or class) the more enjoyable the sailing and the more boats that the public see together, the more they are likely to become interested in “joining” the fun. To sail with 70 or more other boats on the water (cats and mono’s) every week at your local club is much more pleasurable than sailing with only 4 to 6 boats of your same class “away” from all the club camaraderie, that sounds to me like a lonely way of racing.
I joined Hobie Fleet 20 in Northern California in 1982. At one point, we had over 150 members. It was huge. We didn’t need to be part of an YC because we were probably bigger than most YCs. And the dues were $20 a year. Great times, people, and we sailed our collective butts off. Booyaaah!!
Times change. Today I live in West Maui. With the unavailability of slips in either Maalaea or Lahaina (25 year waiting list) there are very few privately owned leaners that race. The typical turnout is four boats. I can put a regatta together that’ll be triple the size using the junior sailing program’s Sabots and Lasers.
As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’ve gotten the YC that does most of the regattas to offer a multihull start. All they want is three boats. So far, I’ve only been able to convince one Corsair owner to come out. He’s even going to use a ringer as skipper. Who cares? I want to race. How about some of you guys who are building multiboat trailers adding water wings and coming over for a week of racing? When the trades are up it blows consistently at 15 to 25 and the water is always 80 degrees.
