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Pat,
I totally agree with your posts on this thread. It is not about the boat.

Furthermore, I have always said that if you want your kids to get involved in sailing, you get them into a yacht club program in the monohulls -- Optis, 420's, Lasers, etc. A club that has club fleets, so you don't have to buy them a boat unless you go on the racing circuit.

Personally, I am totally incapable of understanding why it makes a difference to you guys whether a kid is sailing on one hull or two. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Sailing comes first. Racing comes second. Ultimate choice of boat should be a distant third.

It is like exposing your child to various aspects of art or dance or music. Just because you prefer to play the guitar doesn't mean your kid has to play guitar -- he might prefer the tuba. You don't buy an instrument for him until you know what he enjoys.

The point is that you should expose your children to sailing -- on various types of boats -- and just hope that they will like to sail, period. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


The problem Im having Mary is Im doing the pied piper at the club with one 420 and 14 kids doing circuits three in the boat in shallow on race day then I pack the 420 up and race. The kids that then go on their dads cat and have a blast think the 420 is boring and go of it for a month, meanwhile the women sit on the beach and watch. Now I have a couple of guys who would production line the homebuild with me and next summer we could have five or six cats in a class racing. We get a pile of kids out for sailing lessons for the next two weeks they come out religiously every year the kids love it and the parents love the child care. If the kids were excited they would nag the parents into submission on a yearly rental if I maintained them and organised storage and imagine the excitement when they go and compete at other clubs as a six or eight year old, of course the name has to be F10 or F12 I want them laying awake in bed dreaming of a blade at the moment theyre begging for a Moth. Imagine Phil and Wouter getting harassed by 10year olds for technical info and design improvements <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. We may even end up getting some of the mums on the water. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
yet another long ramble from me
regards


Jeff Southall
Current boats
Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services
Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider
Nacra 18 Square
Arrow 1576