And that's exactly why all the real sailors in the States want to move to Austrailia and New Zealand! Here in the US we've got one Lawyer for every 8 bodies! It's become all about liability and property rights.

Meanwhile, all the "good" property is being bought up by developers who are making it off limits to anyone but those few who can afford the $3 Million per. condos they are building. That would be those same people with the huge yacths at the marina!

To tie two threads together (this one and the one about the need for a new F12 foot cat to bring new people into sailing) I will say future growth depends more on easy, cheap ACCESS to the water than any new boat design.

Unfortunately, Beach Cats need a Beach to launch from. Most of the beaches are privately owned or if not, then you have the problems described above with the park rangers/life gurards/city codes not allowing a beach cat on the beach. Most private Yacht Clubs do not have beaches, just a boat ramp or a lift for launching boats. But the kids can cary an Opti (or Laser) down the dock and toss it in the water. And they stack up nicely when you are done. And there is a national training pipeline established to take a kid from age 8-18. No such pipeline exists in the cat world. So before we go off building more cats nobody wants, why don't we work on the youth training pipeline and more beach access? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />