 Jeff Browning |
In The Hot Seat A Place to Discuss Hot Issues Affecting Our Sport |
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Getting the word out about sailing About this time every year, I do something that helps me deal with the cold temperatures and winter doldrums. I find myself making a trip to the local boat show to check out all of the latest goodies in the boating industry. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always looked forward to covering every square inch of the show, grabbing pamphlets and brochures featuring boats to dream about. Each year though, I find myself a bit more worried. This year, there were even fewer sailboats on Seattle's Kingdome main floor. From the upper level, I gazed out over the exhibits to see less than a dozen masts pointing to the roof. In contrast, powerboats ruled the floor. People were lined up 100 deep to take a look at the latest 50' Bayliners or straddle the hottest new personal watercraft. Sure, this wasn't one of the exciting new shows designed for sailors only, such as SailEXPO or Strictly Sail. But, I really expected to see more sailboats. Seattle represents a good number of excellent sailors as well as adventuresome people that like to get outdoors in an environmentally friendly manner. It was refreshing to see that the most prominent sailing booth belonged to Hobie Cats Northwest. With a 16, 17, 18, 20, Wave, and TriFoiler (and oh yeah - that inner tube thing too) all fully rigged and on display, the brightly colored mylar was really drawing a crowd. Kudos to the folks at Hobie Cats N.W. and Hobie for putting forth a great effort to build awareness about the Hobie way of life. As we all know, Hobies represent a legitimate alternative to loud, smelly PWCs or outrageously expensive powerboats. They're fast, easy to sail, and offer a following of great people. And more to the point, seeing them got me excited about spring and reaffirmed my interest and support for the Hobie Cat company and it's dealers. But sadly, sailing as a whole seems to be losing ground to the alternatives. I hear of diminished fleet sizes where sailors are happy to combine fleets for one start. It scares me even more to think that these shows are beginning to bifurcate into specific groups of sailors and powerboaters. It's great for sailors - I went to exclusively "Sail" show in St. Petersburg, FL two years ago and it was incredibly exciting to see and sail a number of boats (...and I thought ski demo-days were cool!...). My point is that sailing is becoming a second choice for many prospective buyers by default. People don't even see sailboats at the general boat shows they attend. Wake up sailing industry: have you ever heard the phrase, "out of sight, out of mind"? Hobie and other vendors: by spending event-marketing dollars exclusively on these sail-oriented events, you are trying to hedge your bets but are you growing your market? I wouldn't count solely on kids of current sailors to be your "cash cows" of tomorrow. You need to reach out to new people that will grow the market for sailing as a whole. I'll even offer some ideas of how to do it. With that, I challenge Hobie and other vendors to come up with new and creative ways to build sailing's appeal to the masses. That way, everyone wins. They sell more boats, racers get stronger fleets, and many new people will experience the excitement and pleasure of sailing. Cheers, Jeff Browning Jeff Browning, new to Hobies and a lifelong monohull racer and cruiser, offers a unique perspective on a number of issues that affect the Hobie and general sailing communities. He lives in Seattle, WA and works as a Product Manager in the software industry. Back to Features |