Catch'm Young and Train 'm.

Just wondering if anyone has ever tried making a videos of cat sailing and sending it to the sports dept of each high school.

I know Hobie did a promotional video 20 yrs ago, as good as it was, in my opinion, that was not really tailored to what I see as the right age group. Ie. 10-16 yrs.



Below 10 and they are too young to handle a boat confidently by themselves , above 16 and they have a lot of other things on their minds.

So if you were going to make such a video it would have to be on boats they could handle by themselves both on and off the water, (which off the water would mean boats weighing 50kg or less unrigged and on the water would mean no more than 14 ft). And it would have to appear exciting.



Now if such a video could be produced you would need to include both old and young but the content could be tailored for the intended audience.

You could also make a video that you could send to the wood working depts detailing the construction of such a craft.



Just a thought. Any comments?



Phill

Our elementary school PTO puts on a mini-course night each year. The courses are 2 nights in two consecutive weeks teaching things like magic, cartooning, tae kwan doe, gardening, and sailing to name a few. I teach the sailing course. I make a small wood model to assemble and finish during the class. This helps teach the parts of the boat. We also go through safety stuff. I set off my inflatable life jackets on the kids for excitement (and the yearly repacking). We show extreme sailing videos and slide shows in the background (and I could use new Worrell tapes). The course has consistently been the highest rated based on evaluation forms. So while 5-9 yrs may be too young to start on-the-water instruction, it is not to early for peaking their interest in the sport.

Mike,

Thanks for the input.

We run a sailing school each sunday morning and we take youngsters as young as 6. They sail only with older children.

Or they sail 12ft cats in water they can stand in, under strick supervision.

What I was looking at was a video not son much of radical stuff. But video for youngsters of youngsters. Something they can relate to. I thought something like this could be sent around the schools to the sports teachers. Just thinking of a way of spreading the word over a broader base.



Are you suggesting we make an offer to schools to run seminars? Sounds like a good idea. Nothing like the personal touch.

Regards,

Phill

Yes, I am suggesting that working with schools on these programs would be a good idea. At least here in the US, the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) is the group with discretionary spending available for this sort of thing. The schools budget funds are consumed by board-approved curriculum. In the US, even elementary PTOs could have as much as $20,000 in annual budget or about $100 per student. Much of this goes to things like playground equipment, landscaping, etc. but there is money available and even organizational help.