This is a bit long-winded. BUT if those of you who support the "Hobiecentric" thing actually have any interest in new blood, maybe you should pay attention to those of us who are relatively new to the cat scene. Here goes:

My first cat was a Hobie. But I quickly got a Nacra, because that was the boat that fit me. Then, last year, I had several very positive experiences with Hobie.

First, the local Hobie fleet was both friendly and helpful. They gave advice at regattas, and let me race my N5.2 with the TheMightyHobie18's. This really improved my attitude toward Hobies.

Then there was Nigel. At his Spring Fever regatta, the biggest event of the year, this guy takes the time to get me and my crew to sign up for NAHCA. I was more than happy to do so, because I'd already been going to Hobie regattas. But mostly because these people made me feel welcome. I wanted to be a part of what they had to offer.

I was seriously considering a Tiger, until I saw first hand the way things work on a national level at NAHCA. If NAHCA as a whole is not smart enough to realize that the sport is in immediate danger, and take steps which are not completely in keeping with their "one-design" policy, there is a problem. Nigel's philosophy got results.

The "hobie way of life" will get a bunch of aging ex-sailors with expensive beach furniture bitching about how all the young folks only like jetskies.

Look at Spring Fever. Does that type of event hurt or help NAHCA?

I'm no longer willing to buy a Hobie. I will support their regattas. My wife will (I hope) volunteer to help the RC at their events. But if the association is more interested in "hobiecentric" jargon than regattas with both twice as many x-class AND twice as many Hobies as the norm, forget it. I won't buy a Hobie.

Of course NAHCA is first and foremost there to promote Hobies. But it is in their interest to help the sport in general by being open to the "other" boats. Especially the dead/old classes. Because it's here that the new blood comes in. Do you guys even care about that?

So what are you guys really there for? To race/ cruise/have fun, or to sit and whine about how nobody wants to sail cats anymore?

It's not NAHCA's fault that catsailing has declined. If it is, I don't really care. But NAHCA was the best place to start to rebuild it. Too bad they wimped out.



Michael



P.S.

Do I sound ticked? Probably because I am. I'm pissed that I'm probably going to see the sport that I love die out in the U.S. before I get good at it. There's a lot of people out there who'd love to sail cats, but we're all too busy fighting over brand names and whose boat is better and ratings and one-design classes to teach people to sail. Acting like that, we deserve to lose the sport.

Michael,



Go take someone sailing, and quit worrying about all these external forces. I got into sailng, because someone took me sailing. When I bought my boat, I couldn't even pronounce "NAHCA." Still can't! You say nake-ah, I say nah-ca, let's call the whole thing off.



Anyway, I'm awfully tired of hearing people pee and moan about the sport dying. It's not dying where I am, it's growing, because people are out there promoting it. Promoting it, by being active in their local fleet, and by taking other people sailing.



This past quarter our sales of Rick's instructional video tapes were great! How come we're selling tapes if the sport is dying? How come Rick has sold a truckload of books if the sport is dying? How come this web site is so popular if the sport is dying?



So quit moping, and get out there and sail! More importantly get someone else out there to sail! I don't know you, but if you aren't getting at an average of at least one new person on to your boat per month, then you're not trying very hard, and you have no right to complain about external forces.



Quit asking what NAHCA can do, what Hobie can do, what Nacra can do, etc., and start asking what can I do. It's a simple as taking someone sailing who has never been out before.



Fair winds,



Tim J.

You've touched on an interesting question, Tim. What, exactly has led us to believe that this sport is "dying"? I know that NEW boat sales are down, and jetski sales far outstretch cat sales (except in my family. in the past 4 years I've bought 3 cats while my brother has only managed to buy 2 PWC's), but does that really mean that the SPORT is dying? From what I can see, USED boats are changing hands plenty frequently, which is generally a case of someone GROWing out of their old boat either in skill or size for one reason or another.



Fundamentally, I think that the sport is in sailors, not the factories.



yeah, yeah, I know we need someone to make the boats we all love to sail, but personally I wouldn't really shed a tear if push came to shove and some boat company folded. the othes would hopefully learn the lesson and spend more energy "growing the sport" in some of the many ways described on this board.



the manufacturers are hurting? good. let 'em hurt. damned boats are too expensive anyway. while they're busy hurting and figuring out the next way to hurt their competition, I'll be here having a blast sailing (and repairing) my 15 year old boat.



-Haas

Hi Michael,

I want to assure you the the authors of these "guidelines" are a minority in NAHCA.

Despite the coup-d'tat which ousted Nigel, most Hobie Fleets will continue to run regattas as we have in the past. Hopefully some will be even more open.

Don't give up on us(NAHCA) just yet.

Things WILL change!



Sam Evans

Commodore, Hobie Fleet 97

Sam - Michael,



I know both of you personally and I agree with both of you. Perhaps it is a non-important issue that the ruling figures in NAHCA think they need to be more Hobie-centric and I will continue to participate in Hobie events while they will continue to have me without these silly rules. I’ve been a full fare member of NAHCA (I’m having doubts about doing that again) so why in the world should I have to provide my own time/score keeper? I certainly don’t remember them saying, “oooo, sorry, you don’t have a Hobie, we don’t want your money”. If NAHCA wants to curb x-boat participation in these events, at the very least, they should not accept our membership dues.



I came into NAHCA the same identical way Michael did at Nigel's Spring Fever. Consequently, this is where I met both of you the first time BECAUSE it was an open event. Like Michael, I was also on the brink of buying a Hobie as a result of my recent exposure to Hobie one design racing. I gotta tell ya, I'm not real excited about buying a boat to expand my ability to race in Hobie events because of the position NAHCA has recently taken. Even though it probably won’t come to fruition at the ground level, I feel like an organization that was warm and fuzzy with my x-boat paying dues and showing up at their regattas has spit in my face. I wonder how many x-boaters joined NAHCA at events like Spring Fever as Michael and I did?



As I’ve said in some other posts, I’m more disappointed in this topic because I don’t feel that it’s a healthy move on the part of NAHCA for NAHCA or the catamaran sport in general.

Tim,

Reread my P.S.

I volunteered more days than I can count giving lessons at the college club I was at until a few months ago. I used to take the kids at the residential facility I worked at sailing.

My whole line of thought is similar to yours - except that I believe that there are way more people out there interested in sailing than there are people willing/able to teach. That's how the sport will expand - through new blood. But once these people are hooked, and buy their first $500 Prindle 16, where do they go to get into the "sport" aspect? And couldn't we get more people hooked in the first place, if we had an orginazition that stepped up and said "our goal is to teach as many people as possible how to sail cats. And of course, they'll eventually buy Hobies, to sail one-design with us." That was my point.

michael

"Do I sound ticked? Probably because I am. I'm pissed that I'm probably going to see the sport that I love die out in the U.S. before I get good at it. There's a lot of people out there who'd love to sail cats, but we're all too busy fighting over brand names and whose boat is better and ratings and one-design classes to teach people to sail. Acting like that, we deserve to lose the sport."



Michael,



As for your "PS" I guess I'm spoiled in that we really don't run into too much of that hear. Probably because Hobie is just about the only game in town. If you're a member of the Bald Eagle Yacht Club, and sail a cat, it's almost always a Hobie Cat, so that really was never even part of the discussion. I realize though, that the waters could be fairly muddy in that regard in other parts of the country. So, in a nutshell, there aren't many arguments about the brand of boat.



As for there being enough people to teach, I can see where an organization could help, but really the organization is made up people, so then however you get that group to go after that goal is probably what is questionable.



Cheers!



Tim J.

Tim,



When I was new to the sport and didn't know a whole lot about things (not that I especially know a whole lot now!), I came across this old and dirty Nacra 5.2 that was mostly in whole shape. I knew what a Hobie 16 was but I didn't really know anything about the sport. I bought this Nacra 5.2 thinking "My god, what a sexy looking boat!" (My girlfriend would read some sort of Freudian reasoning into that - and she'd probably be right). I knew very little about the status of catamaran racing. I had crewed a bit on some monohulls so I was familiar with handicap racing and figured it would be the same with the cats. It wasn't until later that I begun to see the attraction of racing in a Hobie class because of the shear numbers of Hobies to race against - in one design. Not that I didn't like racing my Nacra but it did seem to be a better way to establish that bench mark of improvement. I did come up the way Michael described could happen and I know of a few more that could be following the same path.



Cat Sailing die? I wouldn't worry too much. More beginner programs (not necessarily "youth" programs), a little media exposure, higher gas prices, and more restrictions on PWCs are going to help us out a lot in the future.

just smile, and go sailing.

Jake,



You made me think of something I've often thought about in regards to our local fleet. I think the fleets could do a lot better job of getting the word out to the local television stations about our activities. I've worked for a major Minneapolis television station, and I think you'd be surprised to realize, that yes, they are interested, but they can't be interested in something that they don't know about!



So, the next time you have a big regatta, or a kids event, or sponsor a "learn to sail" event, or whatever, do your part, and make sure the television stations and newspapers know about it. You never know, you might just see some sports guy show up with a betacam camera package. We all lament that there isn't more cat sailing on TV, but if it's a day when the stations are hungry, you might be surprised at who would show up.



Locally, a guy took one of the sportscasters sailing for a "spoof" piece they did for the station. It was hilarious, they show'd the guy acting goofy in the trapeze, getting "tea-bagged", and all in all acting crazy. It was very entertaining!



So....another thing to think about to do your part to promote the sport!



Cheers,



Tim J.

Tim,

I agree with the comments about local TV station.

Everytime we have a regatta or host a titles at our club we send a fax to the local TV station and they turn up with a film crew.

We get to see the footage on the Sports section of the News that night. In fact they will even supply a copy of the footage if asked.



Regards,

Phill

Tim and Phill-

Back in "the good old days" there was even a regatta in Oklahoma City SPONSORED by the local TV Station! They actually "made a day of it" and had other "stuff" at the venue- Seatbelt demo's, Firefighter demo's and I don't remember what all. Had "factory reps" from Performance and Stilletto (Jack Young and Peter Wormwood as I remember) there even and televised segments during the News and had a little "special" as I remember and sold copies of the tape which I have around somewhere- Great helo shot of a Stilletto 23 going over (blown over by the helo downwash according to the sailors!)-

So, a lot IS possible-



Kirt

i agree that exclusive attitudes can damage a racing fleet. our small club starts any kind of cat, we have h14, h16, TheMightyHobie18, trac and anybody that wants to race in the same fleet. our sailing area includes tides and a pretty narrow river so we have lots of tacking, strategy, wind shadows, etc and it aint necessarily the fastest boat that wins. also more short races keep the boats closer to each other. i really enjoy comparing the performance of different boats on the same course. the sailors in our fleet like to share information to help beginners get up to speed and find and tune boats. the bottom line is, inclusive attitudes create more fun and more racing. cat racing seems to be evolving toward more inclusiveness, this forum is evidence of a shift in attitudes. energy goes toward where energy flows, so all we gotta do is keep on flowing. right? should be easy for a bunch of sailors!