I thought this was starting as a get kids on the water post, but I read quite a few remarks about pulling the kids from the lasers to our "new" cat. Which is it?

If the point is to pull the kids from mono's to cats, then sure, a boat that looks cool with fast graphics is affordable and easy to use is a must. But don't forget that you have to convince the parent to buy it for the kids, or a club to purchase a handful of them for kids to "rent". Keep in mind though, you're not actually growing the number of sailing youth, just converting them to multi's.

If you want to grow the number of sailing kids out there, I don't think a new boat design is going to help. You need to change the PERCEPTION of sailing, not the WAY you sail. I grew up on the water, but we had ski boats and paddle boats. The sail powered boats on the lakes were just an annoyance... besides, why would anyone in their right mind want to pay money for a boat that doesn't get you directly from point a to point b, occasionally dumps upside down, and compared to our 45 Johnson, barely moves across the water?

My testimony: When I was about 10, my brother spent $50 of his hard earned paper route money on a wind surfer. Sure, it was a beat up piece of junk with what seemed like a 16' board that seemed to weigh 200 lbs, but it was a blast to go out on. That $50 board is what got me hooked on wind sports, not the clubs or racing fleets. To this day, I have no desire to participate in a buoy race... some of the distance races sound interesting... but for me, it's getting my friends out on the boat and enjoying the afternoon ripping around the lake with no motor. I absolutely love getting someone who has never sailed on my boat. The first thing they say is WOW, we’re going really fast! My response is always the same… this is nice, but you should see it when it’s really blowing.

When I talk to people who have never sailed (adults and kids), the view is pretty much the same, it might be fun to try sometime, but it _looks_ pretty slow and boring. Change that perception and you will grow sailing in both the youth and adults.

How do you change an entire cultures perception? Money. You have to inform the public of how fast some of these boats really are. You can't just look at a cat flying across the ocean at 30 knots and realize the speed unless you have something to relate it to. We all know how bloody fast 30 knots on the water is, but a 12 year old doesn't. The adult who's never been in a boat skipping across the water doesn't. They need to relate that boat speed to something they've done. Run commercials of people water skiing behind a cat or show Lance Armstrong riding a bike along a lake and a cat blowing past him. Show an ultra light flying low over the water with a cat sailing faster than its flying. Now you're showing the general population how fast these things are.

Once you change the general view of sailing from being a slow wine and dine type of thing to an all afternoon adrenaline rush, you'll see the participation numbers climb.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see some creativity and some of the collaborative thinking on this topic, but I think the main point should be to get kids out sailing. Doesn't matter what they sail, just get them on the water.