Our fleet just did a 'Hobie Tune Up Day' with outstanding results! We advertised in the classified section of Craigslist and got a bunch of people that I've never met before out of the wood work. We had about 50 people show up!

We had these classes:
Rigging fast.
Rigging for racing.
Safety.
Racing (rules, marks, flags etc).
Righting.

Then, the idea was to get onto the water, pair noobs up with vets, run a race chasing them with the skiff. A lightning storm rolled through so only a few boats went out.

We got probably 5 new racers on the water, which is waaay better than doing nothing.

About 90% of my business is recreational sailors, the other 10% are racers. Most complaints that I hear from noobs or rec guys is that the boats take too long to rig, so we focused on demystifying rigging. We got a few of the new guys to rig their H16's in about .5 hour.

Then we worked on making the racing aspect a little less threatening.

Overall the day was a huge success. I highly recommend every fleet do something similar if you want to boost your numbers.

We had a BBQ and beach party mid day where people sat and hung out and talked sailing. Things we learned:

1)Print out some rudimentary racing rules/procedures, so that people can leave with something.

2)Get the more technical classes organized ahead of time. The racing class got a little long and confusing. Maybe run a race in the parking lot and have people walk a course or the like. The little manipulatives just don't cut it for some.

3) Make sure to not call it a 'Try a Hobie/Cat Day'. You'll just get people that want to show up for a ride. But, do welcome everyone.

Have fun!!