Where do new cat sailors come from?

Yeah, we were

clicking

really well that Weekend. Was BEAUTIFUL weather, and a great start to our season ~ C U at more events <img src=

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/>:):):)

It's possible everyone's posting here is correct, but not the complete explanation. Nor will I claim to have the answer, but another piece of the puzzle. One may be that these days with many new and different recreational options available, sailing's slice of the pie has grown smaller with the competition from other activities.

Another piece may be that sailing takes a special kind of person, and catamarans take a special kind of sailor. Not everyone sees the risk of a ferocious pitchpole worth the benefit of speed.

Another piece may be what my inexperienced impression of sailing was - boring. Boring compared to PWCs, wakeboarding, windsurfing, and now kitesurfing (which is replacing windsurfing). Boring until someone took me out for my first time on a sailboat, which happened to be a Hobie 16, and got me hooked within 15 minutes. My in-laws are all sailors on monohulls, and didn't understand my need to get a cat until I bought one and took them for a ride. Now they get it.

Too complicated. An inexperienced eye looking at a sailboat is put off by all the lines and wires, not to mention having to know how to get the boat to move while being at the mercy of the wind.

And lastly, it may just be our need for confirmation or affirmation of our love of cats that make us want more people to join us - much like a new religious convert wants to spread the word of his new religion to get more people to join because he believes what is good for him must be good for everyone.

Somehow it all balances out, and the ones who truely enjoy cats will stay that way, while the dilettantes naturally weed themselves out.

Word.
sad in some respects, but I believe true nevertheless.

Like these. There were about 20 new sailors, some seemed as young as 8 others were in their early teens. They were coached by about one adult with 20+ years experience and 6-8 young volunteers. Most of the volunteers were former students.

Producing young sailors takes work and dedication.

Its worth the work and dedication to get the young ones in or who will we be racing against in twenty years time, doing screaming reaches backwards and forwards is great fun but would you do it in all weather every weekend on your own

There's no doubt we now have 'many new and different recreational options available' but as I see it, and much of what you say is indicative, there is very little being done to encourage and/or sell sailing to younger people, particularly cat sailing/racing. There seems to be plenty of money to build bigger and faster boats in ever more diverse classes for the cashed up minority but there's not much money around for youth training.

One of the problems sailing has selling itself to prospective participants is the difficulties of televising regattas. Unlike football, golf, basket ball etc, we don't have regular television broadcasts of sailing. The mechanics and environment are such that making an epic video which Joe Average can relate to, is very difficult. Technically it's difficult and it is seen as complicated and there are no good commentators with sufficient knowledge to adequately explain what's is going on. It's been done but not well IMHO. Mostly these telecasts only cater to the sailing-wise. It could be done so much better and considering there is a huge amount of advertising space on a set of sails, it's got to be lucrative. The commentator/s is/are the key. I remember the Sydney Olympics and the pathetic and often blatantly derogatory commentary that went with the sailing telecasts here in Oz. It was a bloody embarrassment to anyone watching with any knowledge at all of sailing. An absolute disgrace.

It would seem to me that some good money needs to be directed toward educating the public, training youth to sail, and finding some good sailing commentators.

Your spot on Berny our local school has five 420's that only see the light of day a couple of times a year. The problem with trying to enthuse young kids and get them confident is time how do we rig, sail, supervise them and also get a race ourselves.

I don't really see a problem, as far as getting more kids sailing, in general. In the United States we have thousands of kids sailing in programs at yacht clubs; and the numerous Junior Olympic Festivals around the country all attract hundreds of kids.

The problem is that most catamaran sailors in the U.S. do not seem to belong to yacht clubs, so all those kids learning on Optis, JY's, 420's, etc., do not get exposure to catamarans. <img src=

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And so far the catamaran community has not been successful in getting a catamaran class included in the Junior Olympic Festivals. And that is because the catamaran community does not have an organized junior sailing program. And THAT, in my humble opinion, is because we are not involved with the yacht clubs.

There are lots of kids sailing, but we, and our boats, need to be where they are.

Yep, and that. Here in Oz, all the 'learn to sail' programs are likewise run by clubs with monohulls.

Mary:

That is why I got Ashleigh started at 7 on my cat. She now has 5 years of sailing with me. Two years of trap experience. Last Wed one of the cams would not unlock so I could not get one of the rudders down. Instead of racing we just played around and on the sail back to the dock I gave her the stick. I told her push and pull, it was bout a 1 1/2 mile sail till the first tack and after halfway she said "Paw Paw I don't have to look at the wind vane anymore, I can feel it. She will be a natural. That is why I get the Mystere 4.3. Now I have two 6 year old twins (boy/girl) to train on sunfish first before moving to cats. I really enjoy passing this on to the grand kids. We MUST do all we can to keep the sport going. To any other things for kids to do now.

Doug