There is a major problem, as I see it, in “looking to the past” when it comes to this sort of a comparison between the recreational sporting scene world wide, as it stands today, and that of the 1970/80’s. Sure Hobie “led the world” in that time period in market penetration by bringing into the sailing of cats, a whole generation of people who had never sailed before, but that in itself was mainly due to circumstances that were far different from those of today. There were not the “electronic “ games for the kids. Hell there wasn’t even “home computers”. More “kids’ were involved with “outdoor activities”, as were their parents, the whole family, as a “family”, went to the “pictures” once a week instead of staying home in front of the “box”. There wasn’t the proliferation of all the many and varied “manufactured toys”, such as RV’s, trail bikes (there were limited numbers of relatively expensive ones though, that parents looked upon as some what dangerous for both them and their kids as well as carrying the unwanted label (at that time) of “bikie”), “jet ski’s”, kite sailing, sail boarding, and a plethora of diversions that are readily available today at an “affordable” cost to the average family. It was just a far different time, but it was the right time for catamarans. During the 70’s, in Australia, there were literally hundreds of different catamaran manufacturers (not just Hobie) building and selling every type of cat ranging from 10’ to 18’ (both good and often bad) that you could imagine. By the mid 80’s there were only about 20 of those “commercial” businesses left, (today there are even less). One of the biggest influences in the early 80’s on the downturn of available catamarans was the prolific acceptance of “windsurfer”. This innovation decimated the sales of catamarans (and still has a big effect today on potential cat sales). To my way of thinking, it is completely irrelevant to look at “cat” sailing of that period and even try to make any objective comparison to what is happening today. Now, it is “one of many” instead of the “stand out” that it was. The “feeling” of and for the sport hasn’t changed; it’s the choices that people have for their “recreation” activities that have become far greater.
I personally feel that the future in cat sailing is to “expect” that the potential market will probably become smaller (comparatively) to the overall “leisure” market, and as such it shouldn’t be trying to compete with all the other available “gimmicks, gadgets, popular for the moment” items that are thrown at us through endless advertising “propaganda”, but it should be, instead, taking this opportunity to innovate in design, construction, and performance, and reduce the numbers of variant sizes of cats, and instead have cats that can sail/race against each other on equal terms (across the line) at the pinnacle of design and performance excellence (the “formula” springs to mind). Catamaran sailing, as an activity and a sport doesn’t have to “prove” itself (anymore), it is now fully legitimate, and as such it should be striving for excellence and not for some “new gimmick” to put up against any RV, computer game, etc, as an alternative leisure activity, it should be producing cats for the cat sailor, and when the general public see how thoroughly complete the activity is, well perhaps even a few of them may even decide to become involved as well.
Just my personal thoughts on the subject.

Here in the Tampa Bay area there are a lot of recreational sailors still out there. On any nice weekend you can see 15-30 cats (or cat trailers) out at the Dunedin Causeway. Many of the causual pleasure sailors do not seem too interested in the online forums for some reason, maybe because of the racing/performance slant of most of the topics.
In the 70's and early 80's when cat sailing was at it's biggest heights, there were a lot less options for family recreation and entertainment. There were no jetskis, four wheelers, kiteboards, video games, cable TV, kayaks, etc... Buying a H14 or H16 for a couple of grand was a semi-affordable way into an active lifestyle and fun entertainment. Much for the same reason people buy way-overpriced Harleys. It bought them a way into a lifestyle and a party. To an outsider, you can't get them to understand the feeling of speed and excitement that is experienced without getting them out on a boat. For you to say you were screaming along on a broad reach doing 15 mph just doesn't click with them when their kid's pocket bike does 40mph. The other answer I always get when tryiing to get people interested in sailing is that it is too much work. They think that sailing alone is too much work, not even including all of the setup and breakdown time and effort involved. I think the only way to get more people involved in the sport is to actually get them out to the beach and on the boat. Once a lot of people actually experience catamaran sailing they will be hooked, just as we were. We also need to try and get some younger people out and get them excited about sailing.

I think a lot is up to how good or bad your local dealers are. Hobie1616's experience is way too common unfortunatly. Around here, we have gone from a hopeless dealer (sold only a couple of boats a year) to a guy who is selling boats almost weekly. The main difference that I can see is the good dealers are active sailors in their class and move heaven and earth to make sure everybody enjoys their boat. Those who have sailing as a sideline to their main business do more damage to this sport than good.

Tiger Mike

I agree that we should not look back to the '70s and '80s and accept the reality that WE are the future. A relatively small group of people that enjoy what we do!

My personal approach will be to participate in the Harken Bouy series with my new Blade. I think that as people come to understand what the boat can do, they will be motivated to upgrade their older boats. That in itself will promote growth, much like the A cat and Wave fleets are doing. If that happens, Florida will have 3 active racing classes plus the distance racers. That, I think, is a good solid sailing population that will perpetuate itself.

When has the beach cat community had such an assortment of high quality boats to choose from? Tornado, Wave, A cat, F18, F16, Hobie 16. There is something for everyone and I just don't think all those builders can be wrong.

I think these are exciting times for beach cats and the future looks very good indeed.

btw- a local club is trying to establish mastup beach access for cats, as a way of funding their Opti program. The site they are looking at is nearly perfect!

Pete:

I think the key to getting back to the old days is for EVERYONE to try to introduce 6 newbies a year to the sport, especially the youth. Ashleigh (grand daughter) will get stick time this year. I started her at 6. We must continue to get the youth involved as they have a lot of other things to interest them nowadays.

Doug Snell
Hobie 17
Soon to be Nacra A2
www.tcdyc.com

My comments in my earlier posts are based on the fact that most of the emphasis around here (in the few years I visited this site) seems to be on getting more people involved in sailing. Growing the fleets…etc.
This might be viewed as heresy, but I am just fine without the growth …the less people that are out on the water the more room for those of us that love to be there…I like to take people sailing with me, but don’t feel any compelling need to convert everyone to sailing. There can be too many people interested in any water related sport, as well as too few.

It was a great to make new windsurfing friends at our beach when there were just a few sailors…it’s always better when you can share the experience with like minded people…to a point. But when parking is non-existent, you can’t find a bare patch of sand to lay down your board or roll out your sail….when the new guys endanger other beach goers and put in jeopardy your government controlled access points…then it’s not so great any more.

Maybe at your favorite sailing site and there is a line of people in the set up area…and launch area…and no place to park your trailer…and no where to beach your cat because the beach is already full…maybe you are already use to it. Where I live we are not quite there yet…But I have had to forgo launching at my preferred place on summer weekends because Jet ski truck/trailers that were parked 5 deep in the rigging/launch area.

I am glade there is so much diversity in our culture in the way of recreation, I am glade not everyone wants to be out on the water…I always joke that God invented Sunday afternoon football games to keep the crowds down at the beach…on Super bowl Sunday it like heaven out on the water…LOL

Catamarans/mono hull sailboats/Windsurfers/powerboats/Kayaks/PWC’s there are all competing for the same space….Maybe those of us that live in areas that are getting more and more congested should be encouraging people to go to the movies, bowling, paintball, dirt bike riding, a rodeo, an art show, flea market, do some work around the house…anything away from the water…LOL

In closing I would like to say I like Darryl’s idea of increasing the quality of what’s out there instead of focusing on quantity.

Regards,
Seeker

No kidding! The dealer I did work with is excited about sailing. He knows a lot of guys I sailed with on the mainland so we can swap sailing lies, he's got his own 20 so he's able to give me real world tips, he donates time and materials to the Boy Scouts to promote sailing and he made it very very easy to buy my 20.

A writer last night did a local Bookstore signing and review of his new topic: How American children don't want to go outside and play in natural surroundings anymore. Apparently this (and obesity) are UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES of kids sitting exclusively in front of a TV/computer/computer. games. Its a saddening, thought-provoking subject, easily confirmed by demographic study.

"This Tuesday (3/7/06) evening at 8 pm, author Richard Louv will be talking about and signing his book: "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" at Goerings Bookstore. His trip is coordinated by Alachua Conservation Trust and includes addresses Thursday evening and Friday morning at the Public Interest Environmental Conference under the theme "In Fairness to Future Generations."

Louv's book has received widespread attention for its thought-provoking observation that the majority of children in America are being raised, for the first time in our history, with little meaningful interaction with the natural world. There are many culprits that contribute to this: the 30 hours per week of "screen time," parental fear of stranger danger and raging traffic, increasingly scheduled activities requiring more car time, etc. The sum total of these effects are obese children who can't pay attention, have poorly tuned senses, and are incurious of novel situations.

Environmentalists are concerned because the conventinal wisdom is that comfort with the outdoors springs from unstructured, explorative play in the woods during childhood. Entrepeneurs worry because the wellspring of our creativity may emanate from youthful striving to comprehend the complexities of the natural world. Despite the mountain of evidence that Louv has compiled that our cities and our society are moving in a dangerous direction, he is essentially an optimist. He provides many suggestions for how individuals, families, and institutions can, in rediscovering the natural world, enjoy a spiritually and physically healthier life.

**The presentation is rather like that of Dr. Ivor Von Heerden, Lousiana State U., who made a formal presentation of the fully calculated future of New Orleans in a Cat 3, 4 and 5 hurricane to the mayor, governor and White House in 2003. He even gave them all CDs! Real, Serious Stuff too!**

SOOOO, are you saying that TV should be banned - sounds like an excellent idea to me. I can think of amazing benefits, fast food outlets turnover would drop dramatically and would only be able sell by word of mouth, they would then have to pass the "taste test" in stead of the TV propaganda test. Politicians would have to actually talk to the people instead of talking “at” them into a camera, the lounge furniture would last “forever” as it would get used so much less, the use of electricity would drop – good for the pocket as well as the environment – kids would have to naturally gravitate more “outside” and would not wear out the carpet between the TV and the refrigerator as much. While we are at it, I think it would be of untold benefit for our youth if it were illegal for kids under the age of 18 to be allowed to have mobile phones, any sort of computer game, and of course definitely no credit cards! None of these things “help” them and are not only damaging to their “pockets” (or more likely their parents pockets) but are downright contributing to their state of obesity, lack of interest in the natural world and destroys their sense of adventure and imagination. You see them every day of the week flopped down in some mall, these obese blobs called our “children” with glassy “dead” eyes flicking away interminably with their thumbs at the latest version of which mega super killing machine monster hero can decapitate and disembowel the greatest number of electronically generated bodies, or two girls frantically SMS’ing each other when they are only standing 10 feet apart because it is easier to SMS than it is to walk the 10 feet to actually “talk” to each other. Sometimes when “progress” is let run wild as it has done in our society, there are a lot of negatives that can only be seen with hindsight

Darryl, You and I agree on a lot of things and while I certainly agree that our kids don't get outside nearly enough, we can only blame parents for getting lazy...putting them in front of a TV sure takes the load off but...

I don't have kids so I'm not going to make anymore accusation comments for which I probably can't really associate with. However, we probably also need to consider that our society is becoming increasingly technical. My generation was the first to see 'computers' before high school (I'm 34) but they are such an important part of our lives today. Technology has changed a lot and kids probably NEED to be gamers in order to be able to work with the technology they will be faced with in the future. So what to do?

Has anyone seen the flick "Super Size Me"? It's a documentary about a guy that goes 30 days eating nothing but food from McDonalds. He went for an top 20% healthy guy at 180lbs to somewhere around 210 and the doctors that were monitoring him (after begging him to stop near the end) explained that his liver function looked like that of a binging alcoholic. Although the taint of the film was toward bad publicity for fast food, it should be pretty clear that if people would buy slightly more expensive, healthy, and not-quite-so-yummy food that it would be sold at fast food restaurants. Instead, in order to make the (large) dime, they sell what people want – can you prosecute them for that?

It was mostly "tongue in cheek" Jake, as we know full well that none of it is ever going to happen, BUTTT, with the advantage of hindsight, perhaps a lot of today’s “technology” could have been introduced with a little more "responsibility" and not just because advertising made people "want/need it". I often sit down and try to separate the types of things that we commonly buy/use and attempt to distinguish between the ones that I would have bought/used if I hadn't been "influenced" unduly by the "hype" advertising that I was relentlessly subjected too about it. Then at times I look at items that I bought a while back that I just "had to have" at that time and think, “what in the world was I ever thinking of”? Am I a victim of "propaganda" style advertising every time I watch TV, read a paper/magazine, or listen to the radio? Hell yes (I just wish it wasn't so)

A few years ago I moved into my own place for the first time since college (I was 24 then). Since I had always had roommates I never had a reason to own my own TV. Since I now had to furnish a much larger apartment I decided to forgo a TV. What a difference that made. I was more well rested since I did not stay up until midnight zoning out in front of the tube. I ate much better since I took the time to cook a good meal and I didn't snack after dinner nearly as much. My apartment was spotless. I had time to take on a second job just for fun (helping build, then crewing on a replica of an 1812 privateer). I also started to read again. And I spent more time than ever (for me) sailing and kayaking (depending on the wind). The only thing I missed was the news, especially around election time.

The point of all of this is it finally sunk in how much time I was wasting doing nothing. I was also able to drag my friends along with me and get them out of the house more. Now I have a TV again, but I am very concious of how much I watch. TV, computers, and technology are not the problem. It's the people who use them and allow them to become a problem that are.

Excellent concept. Weekend sailing with the family is a great choice for prevention of nature-deficit disorder. My kids like to combine it with horseback riding after school. It is totally afordable around here, but I guess prices are a lot higher in the US.

However, we must think twice before bashing video games, TV, etc.

Racing (differently from weekend sailing) may be an extremely stressfull and aggressive activity. The best racers I met are very aggressive, both in and out of the water.

I heard of a military study to determine the best sport for future officers to be exposed to. It seems that long distance ocean racing (sailing) was the sport that better simultated WAR conditions: prolongued tension under adverse conditions while depending on preparation, equipment, weather, team work, strategy, tactics, techniques, comunications and supplies to win against adversaries in similar conditions.

This is correct for young educated adults. Kids need parents guidance and parents have to find activities that atracts kids' atention enough to keep them away from the TV.

I like to tell kids that a sailboat is the biggest, fastest, coolest vehicle that parents may allow them to drive before they are old enough for a car. It is very convincing (for those who do not ride horses).

We are the biggest examples for our children, and damned TV's and computers can be addictive. I remember sitting in front of the TV, on a Saturday morning, and having my Dad come ask if I wanted to go to the hardware store with him. A quick "No, thanks" (hey, these shows were only on once a week) was soon followed by the thought of all the different neat things to look at and his interesting conversations with the propieter would inevitably have me barreling out of the house as he was backing down the driveway. I would also be "torn" from the tube due to curiousity of what he was doing in the garage, driveway, basement or yard.
We can't force any one to do anything, but we can lead by example.
I've been asked many times why I take on such large, long term projects, my response (stole it/LEARNED IT from my Father) "Beats watchin' TV".

I must admit to only skimming these posts. Last year we bought the house of our dreams, and in the long run we could not afford it, and yes we were speculating. We sold it after a year. Yeah, the Tax Man made out big on us last year. How does this tie in? Well the houses were so nice that our neighbors seldom, if ever came outside. They would come out to put the garbage can out and then later take it back. Some would mow their lawn, but then right back inside. On the few occasions I forced them to talk, there wasn’t much they could offer, except were they worked. Apparently they were going to pay for their house. Blasphemy! Oh yeah, they could talk about what sport they were going to watch on TV. I know a few parents that what they do, and they think this is consider doing, is watch someone else be competitive. When I’m around them and they are discussing this game and that game, I’m thinking their kids (***) are going to be the same way, arm chair quarterbacks with no real competitive experience and second guessers. They will think they can control every aspect of an activity (See Luck Post), expect that of others and they will not be able to make any decision under pressure. This neighborhood suffered, as a good buddy of mine described it to me and the description has stuck with me, as houseitoesous.

(***) I have targeted these kids as the kids that must be taken sailing this year.

Perhaps this is the summer of GET OFF THE COUCH!

TV and internet chat is a killer for the kids development. I must say that I recognize what Darryl describe, and if I had it my way the TV and the computers would be hooked up to pedal powered generators in our home.
Our oldest is 12 years old, and not easy to motivate for outdoor activites. When I was a kid (I am of the same age as Jake) we planned our afternoons while at school and we were always 4-6 kids together having fun. Today they come home from school, drop down in front of the computer to chat about what to do after dinner, dont agree with each other and stay home, chatting on MSN and watching TV.. When I succed in motivating our 12 year old to come with me outdoors for some fun activities, she always have a blast whatever it is. But the kids dont manage to come together and create fun activites for themselves.

I dont think our kids learn a lot from using internet chat and obscure web services that will be useful in their professional lives. IT systems dont demand a lot of knowlegde to use today (not counting CAD or other professional systems), so if they know their profession they will quickly master the software they need.
Both my wife and I are IT professionals and watch her internet activites closely, it's frightening what our kids get in contact with at early age! I think many parents who dont have the knowlegde or systems to log and survey what's really happening would be shocked and terrified if they knew whats going on.


My personal opinion is that there will "always" be a small group of catamaran sailors and racers, but we will never be the dominant group of sailing. Even if the extreme monohulls are growing more like multihulls every day, most are too stuck in tradition to appreciate multis high enough.

For me, part of what motivates me is mastering something that's difficult to do. For many the initial learning curve is too steep and they dont even want to try to understand where all the lines on the boat go. Earlier you was told to do something well and use the time needed, and what you did/buildt lasted a long time. Today you are told to do it "good enough" and fast, as it will just be thrown away shortly anyway. That is the way our community is evolving, and as a consequence sailing will for many be viewed as too time consuming to learn.
I think I'll stop now, before I become political

Both our daughters will have the opportunity to try cat sailing at least, but must decide for themself what they want to do.

The truth may hurt:
At any multihull event the average skipper and crew age and shape is way up there. It's hard to expect a younger demographic to be drawn to what is almost exclusively an aging boomer boat. Fantastic boats can only be appreciated by those compellingly drawn to sailing but the image of high tech beachcat is still generally equated to a Hobie 16 and that's just not cool. It's groovy but not cool.

Template for every single one of these "ooooh woe is we" threads:

1) Whats wrong, there are only 5 people showing up on the weekends to sail

2) Yeah I know, we barely made a class at the last regatta

3) Its always the same people at these regattas!

4) Why don't new people like our sport!?!??!?!?!?

5) We need to get the KIDS involved!!!!

6) But the kids are sailing optis and don't want to keep racing on a floating bathtub.

7) Wouter - F16s! Put them on F16s!

8) Its all those damn PWC's. We can't compete with them.

9) Or Kiteboarders

10) Or skateboarders

11) Or underwater basket weaving!

12) Wouter - F16s are the answer to all our problems!

13) TV is killing our society

14) People don't know how to be parents anymore

15) Catsailing is fun!

16) Wouter - I'm telling you, all the world needs is more F16s!

MauganH17 you makes some very good points…one thing stands out among the things you listed…Wouter and the F16…everything else mentioned has a negative tone to it…things we all “bitch & moan” about…myself included…what does it accomplish?…nothing.

Then you have Wouter…who has had enough of an impact on you to be mentioned 3 times. The difference between everything else on the list and Wouter & the F16 is he is moving in a positive direction. The man is on a mission…and if you come to this board you can be sure you will hear his F16 gospel.

It is unfortunate that every Catamaran class doesn’t have a Wouter….Wow… You would have never heard me say that 5-6 years ago…but…boy it is amazing how a few years of personal growth has changed him. I can’t decide whether Wouters done more good for the F16 class/Catamaran sailing or the F16 Class/Catamaran sailing has done more good for him. You can definitely call it a win/win.

Regards,
Seeker