In a given state, region and city considered, would it not be great to offer your boat and knowledge to an interested sailor as a tutorial sail, skippered by you, maybe handed over to crew in good conditions to get another cat sailor on the water?

With it costing $40+ to fill a seadoo, $100+ a pontoon/ski boat per day, sailing is the way to go!

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Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
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I've offered it many times, only one taker so far.

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Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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The local Yacht club, for $50 a year, gets you an associate membership. Several club boats there for the taking, right next to the lake, and plenty of advice. They even do annual sailing classes for the community. That's one of the resources I used when first learning. My observation is that people just don't want to sail anymore.

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Tim Young
Hobie 18' + other stuff that floats and goes.
Kentucky
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My Hobie 16 is always on the beach ready to go for anybody to use. If anyone in the Florida panhandle wants to use it or wants a lesson give me a shout 850-210-3751

Quote

My observation is that people just don't want to sail anymore.

This too, is my take on sailing. People fall in love with the idea of sailing, they go on vacation somewhere, see a catamaran out on a beautiful day, palm trees waving gently in the breeze, and they go home and buy a beachcat. Then reality sets in, hauling the cat to the lake, setting up, rocks and concrete, etc,etc. So after a while, boat sits in back yard and dies a slow death. Takes hard-core sailor types to sail especially here in the mid-west, where there is seldom mast-up storage, beaches to launch off of and palm trees waving in the wind.....

jalex

My Hobie 16 is always on the beach ready to go for anybody to use. If anyone in the Florida panhandle wants to use it or wants a lesson give me a shout 850-210-3751

Jalex, u rock dude, where were you when I went on vacation down to Panama City Beach, or when I went down to Pensacola Beach?...... . Hauling a beachcat from the mid-west down to the coast almost doubles the fuel cost of travel and eats into the vacation budget tremendously. And you don't want to alienate the rest of the family, my wife will tolerate the beachcat riding behind the car, she will not share the driving though, so I usually drive the 14-17 hrs solo. And if there are any problems with storing or parking the boat once we get to the coast..... ..... I'm a dead man.

As most of you who haul their "cats" to the coast know, the logistics involved are huge and time consuming, so to have fellow sailors offer their beachcats is awesome, especially as we all know that some call their boats "my Baby". I can not imagine being able to just take off on vacation knowing that I will have the use of a beachcat once I get there and not have to deal with parking, city ordinances, launch sites, etc, etc. We've been to Hilton Head Island, Myrtle Beach, Palm Beach Shores (met Craig Van Eaton of Cyberspeed), Daytona Beach (sold my GCat 5.0), Panama City Beach and Pensacola Beach, every trip has been an adventure sans the sailing. So lets take this forum to the next step and set up a database of individuals who would be willing to let other sailors from inland use their beachcats.

Big "shout-out" for all those beachcat owners...

A couple of things.

- If you live in the Chicago area, there are several mast up, sailing beaches. Montrose in Chicago, Northwestern in Evanston, Dempster Beach in Evanston, Wilmette Beach, Glencoe Beach.

- Wilmette Beach has rentals, you can take a Getaway out. It beats sitting on shore.

- I am on Wilmette Beach and always try to do my best to get people on the water. I will either take you out, or introduce you to someone who needs crew. Just don't call/email/message me for the first time when its supposed to blow 25 kts. Show up on 10 kt days, earn some stripes. Then you get a chance to play with the big kids.

- 1 month till the beaches open... woohoo!

- Lake Michigan is only 40 degress still ... awww. Drysuits till July.

-- norm

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nacra inter-18
CNBP
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I have always had a standing invitation that if you're ever in the Ventura, CA area give me a shout and we'll go sailing... all I ask is you give me a day or two notice....



Edited by JohnES on Apr 12, 2014 - 12:23 PM.

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John Schwartz
Ventura, CA
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jalex

My Hobie 16 is always on the beach ready to go for anybody to use. If anyone in the Florida panhandle wants to use it or wants a lesson give me a shout 850-210-3751

I second the renovator. Jalex rocks!

Jalex, what part of pan handle are you in? My family has been going to PCB for many years. There's a guy there who has rented me a Getaway for a week at a time, but it seems to get tougher each time to rent from him since his boss doesn't care for the arrangement of the boat being tied up for a week.

I have been looking for alternatives for a while, so much so that I just bought my own 1989 H18. But the logistics of getting her from KY to PCB seems daunting. I may be coming down Memorial Day week. Your offer is tempting!

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Tim Young
Hobie 18' + other stuff that floats and goes.
Kentucky
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I actually may be in whats called the "Big Bend" although I call it the panhandle. My Hobie is on Shell Point beach, about 20 mi south of Tallahassee, not super close to PC. Still available for use, and does have a trailer