Recently I was charged with making overly verbose responses to things. Guilty again...

"Oh, and thanks to CNN and FOX scaring the crap out of us 24-7, they also have over protective Mothers who would never let them out to play, alone, certainly not in the woods, what with all the sexual predators lurking behind every bush! What we thought was -normal- child rearing back in the 60's would be considered Child Abuse today!"

Amen to that.

My brother and I grew up with the same "get out of the house" instructions. We got full reign of the Narragansett Bay - at least as far as the outboards we resurrected from the junkyards and the gas we bought by selling minnows to the bait shop could push the skiff. Clamming, fishing, sailing, mostly in scrounged or resurrected stuff we fixed, all with the only mandate that we get back in time for dinner. Make sure you have a dime on you for a phone call in case you get in trouble. If you're stupid enough to end up in jail, you may have to spend the night. My parents would be in jail today...

Later as a family we went out on the family 4ksb pretty often. My mom wasn't that into it, but she went along and we had great family time on the boat. Usually last minute Sunday afternoon when we probably should have been getting ready for school the next day.

Nonetheless, I hope to let/make my kids do some of the same.

The age grouping thing is pretty spot on. I got my first cat a little bit out of school, a $500 Hobie 14 that I sailed as much as a I could (how many "sick" days can you get away with in the Summer before somebody notices...). But never raced at all until after getting a beat up 18 and the weekend sailing thing had started to dry up - future wife started to balk at it being the weekend activity of choice.

Week night racing has turned out to be my savior - I liken it to bowling or poker night. Your night out of the house, just happens to have sailboats. Leaves the weekends for other stuff and an occasional outing. Of course, as the rugrats get older it may change, as soccer, daisies, dancing, etc. all take up the time. Weeknights may become spotty too.

But one thing through it all - a progression of cheap used boats that allowed me to upgrade when it was time or the next one became available. It seems like the wells are starting to dry up a little there.

In our current thing in Galesville, we have an open class weeknight thing, and an OD sailing club thing. Most of the core group that started out in the weeknight thing have moved into more serious boats at the OD club thing (still come out on Tuesdays). It's doing well, but I see a problem developing - we don't get any new folks to the scene coming out with their used whatever boats to try things out much anymore. This used to be the feeder. Come out in a Prindle 18 you found for cheap, get hooked, by a 6.0 next, then into an A-Cat, F-16, N-20. Both scenes got fed. Now, some folks come into the club thing. But the N-20s are starting to get sold out of the area. The F-16 is growing, but mostly from folks from the other boats (either from crewing or drivers). The club doesn't seem to recognize out of club racing to count, so you need to attend the club races to keep your storage spot. This is one of the things that has led to the active boats not traveling around to some of the regattas on the Bay. That and it gets old breaking down and setting up complicated spin boats. The As have no excuses... ;-)

But I don't see the fun beginner boats as available as they used to be. The As, F-16s, and certainly N-20s are a little bit overwhelming for newbies to consider. And I'm sorry, but most of the roto-molded boats aren't as inspiring as seeing a Hobie-18 blast off the back of big Hawaii surf. I think most of the owners of those are waterfront owners looking for a toy to park next to the jetski. I'm probably wrong, but none have shown up in Galesville to race. Dropping $10-$20+k on a cat, especially if it is only going to get used for racing, is also not always a family friendly proposition.

Water access is also a big issue on the Chesapeake, at least around Annapolis. Most home owners associations would rather shoot you and bury your body than let you park a boat on a trailer at your house.

And it is work. I'll come back from a sail on the 27 (single handing, wife doesn't want to go and the kids are too little young to be safe with only one adult handling things), be putting on sail covers and coiling lines and tidying up when the Grady White pulls in with everybody aboard, zips up the canvas and heads for home in minutes. There are times I think there are more time efficient and family friendly ways to be on the water. Sometimes it is hard to keep the faith. Booze helps. But even the Tuesday night thing - you drive like to mad to get there after work, rig like mad, get to race for about an hour and half, then de-rig.

In the end, I believe it takes people that have an ability to have a passion for something to make it work. A lot of folks are the "been there done that" type. Some folks have the capacity to let something get under their skin so bad they can't live without it. Some of those folks find that something is sailing, and for a smaller set it's sailing cats. People will come to the sport, leave for a variety of reasons, and come back. People with the passion will make the drives, rig their boats, do the work just to see the leeward hull cutting through the chop. If they're married to people who can't understand having a passion for something, they will drift away, get divorced, and come back.

I'm 48. I'm helping a new friend in my neighborhood get into cat sailing. He's 50+. But I did recently unload a Hobie-14 that will be set up for another neighbors kids and their friends. And this past Summer I got both of my daughters and my niece out on the 27 for the first time (mom stayed home...). They liked it. So I see there's hope.