I've been following the whole ISAF, US Sailing, NAMSA, F12, youth sailing posts and keep asking. What are we missing?

Some thoughts
Why is skate boarding, BMX , and snow boarding so popular? Why have they been asked to participate in X games or olympics?

Is it because the skate board, bike or snow board are so much cooler now? I don't think so.

It seems to be the star power of people like Tony Hawk, Matt Hoffman and Shaun White.

So maybe we have everything needed except the sales and marketing to make anyone from 6- 20 something want to be like THAT guy or girl.
The elite level sailors are already in place.
How do we make people want to "Be Like Mike" as one ad campaign said.

Thoughts????
Am I losing it?

Hey Pat, Great topic.

Due to my vested interest in this whole thing, I have been studying cat sailing trends in depth for the past 10 years.

In the 80's in So Cal I was a young punk that built a skateboard ramp and Hawk, Hosoi, Gurrero, Team Madrid and a few other skaters would come over to my "Palm Ave Ramp" and skate for about 100 kids that would spontaneously show up. This is way before Hawk was a household name. First, these guys had skills, then they went out there and skated at some punk kid's house. They just showed up, and were good about teaching kids how to do tricks. They got the marketing thing going early, they were all representing their respective shops or companies. They plastered their stickers all over the place, skated and left. Then we all tried to copy their tricks. Great marketing by the local skate shops!

One thing that I have noticed with sailing is that active dealer/builder/factory support can really boost the numbers within a fleet/division. Not to say that this is the most important factor, but from what I've seen it does help.

Supporting a local dealer and letting them know you're there and what you need would in turn inspire them to help out with funsails, racing etc.

In the world of mail-order, ebay,(both of what I do, so I'm not talking down on them) and West Marine it's difficult to establish local relationships. If the local dealer doesn't know how to get involved, or doesn't have the money to get involved in events, they won't. Events are what the public sees. I hand out a ton of business cards at every event I attend, not only to sailors, but to general passers by.

I would encourage you to talk directly with your local dealer and let them know what you need within your area or division. Flash them some cash every now and then instead of going online, you'll get some support, I guarantee. Sometimes there is no local dealer and I understand it isn't possible, but most the time it is. Get a bunch of your friends together and have a "fleet meeting" with them.

I've been running my shop since 2003, and I'll tell you it's a tough racket, we are successful only because we have the support of our local sailors. In turn, at all of our regattas here in the Santa Cruz area, Surf City has at least 2 race support boats on the water. We couldn't do it if we didn't have support from our local sailors. We have a chase boat on the water for the SCYC Aclass events whenever possible, again due to the support from the class.

I think the next issue is lack of catamaran specific "Learn to Sail" classes. There are none in CA that I know of. People just don't know how to get involved. Fleet funsails with good press and an emphasis on getting new people into it is key. We did a "Try a Hobie Day" here a few years back with the local Hobie fleet and got 3 new people on boats of their own. The effort paid off!

The third thing, is lack of a youth sailing program. I tried to talk to the local university sailing instructor about setting up a class and his response was "those things pitchpole". Not exactly the response I wanted.

I think by taking this 3 pronged approach we would be very successful, and it's doable:

1)Supporting your local cat dealer if possible, get them involved. Get them doing events just like local bike/skate shops that sponsor races and demos. It's good for publicity.

2)Get involved with your fleet/div/etc. Do 2 highly publicized "Try a Cat" days a year. Just like the skateboard and bike clubs do demos and trial rides.

3) Get some sort of youth sailing program together in partnership with your local yacht club/university etc. Compared to Skating and BMX, sailing is a little different organizationally, but if you hang out at your local BMX track there's a similar element

Lot's of specifics to be worked out.

You would almost think that there are no youth teams at all,
I shot this video during a training session from the Dutch Youth Cat Sailing team last sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1jGK30JnJw

There ARE youth teams and not doing so bad.

In 2001 a couple of us started a class we later called Hobie 101. The idea then was to get maybe 5 boats out and maybe we could "snatch" one or two into racing. That first class attracted 20 people in 10 boats! We were blown away. We instantly realized there was a vacuum that needed to be filled.

Our local dealer is very active. But unless you already knew you wanted to buy a boat, there wasn't any way to check out the fun of a cat...until our class came along.

Six years later we are offering Hobie 101 to standing-room-only crowds every year! This thing hasn't peaked. People are still coming out of the woodwork. Some have boats already, some are checking them out to see if they want to buy.

We spend a whole day with them. Why? Not to teach them. (I/we actually have better things to do than spend a day coaching.) It's so we can get a chance to spend some time with them building a relationship. "They don't care how much we know until they know how much we care!"

After a few years we started maxing out facilities and needed to start restricting attendance. (Is that a wierd turn of events, or what?) So we raised the price from $10 (to cover a great lunch!) to $25 and started calling it a fund raiser. We are getting 35-45 people per class. We only teach it once a year. Get this -- the fleet nets $3-500/year on a "fund raiser" designed specifically to build membership!

I could give you the numbers over the last 6 years -- they are staggering! Multihull racing in the Northwest is alive and well in no small part to Hobie 101. Jerry Valeske and Laura Sullivan and the rest of Fleet 95 teach the class nowadays. It is exciting for the attendees as well as the fleet members to see the new faces come out of the woodwork.

I approached HCA with the idea, and offered to take it nationwide. The idea was warmly received, but nothing was ever done. It seems most sailors are more interested in attending the next 25-boat regatta than investing one day a year for a 40-50 boat regatta. So maybe the problem lies with the culture -- teaching sailors you get out of it what you put into it. Dunno.

Caleb Tarleton also puts on "Fast & Fun" every year in Kirkland. Strangers can show up and ride a Wave (with a fleet member) for free for 20 min. or so. Another great introduction program.

The ideas are boundless. But unless the local sailors understand the value of investing in the ideas, they are worthless.

For more information on Hobie 101, I may be reached at nelson(dot)peter(at)comcast(dot)net.

Pat, compare the complexity and entry cost of a skate board, bike, snow board, to that of a sailboat, even an Opti, forget about the fact that anyone can skateboard in their own neighborhood or driveway even.

And Mom can send the little dickens out in the driveway for an hour, no adult supervision required, doesn't even have to stop watching the soaps, forget about driving him to the local Yacht Club, if there is one.

Sailing isn't for everyone, skateboards and bikes have are a much easier sell and enjoy broad accpetance by all parents, at nearly every income level. No so much with sailing.

To answer your question; What's missing? $50 Boats and free water access, oh, and free instruction.

Timbo where can you get a decent skateboard or BMX bike for $50.00? 7-8 years ago when my son was into skateboarding it would cost me close to $200 ever six month or less...a good skateboarder buys separate Decks, bearings, wheels and trucks...you can easily spend over $50 on each item.
The monthly cost of him being on the High School sailing team was no more per year than the skateboard itself...not counting the cost if he went to a "skate park". Parents usually find the money for what their kid really want to do.

Regards,
Bob

Yep, $40 to $50 decks lasted 3 months if I (Dad) was lucky. Let's not talk about the trips to the ER <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

highjack off

Bob, in a word, Ebay. Now, are you saying it's -as easy- to get a kid into sailing as it is to send him out in the driveway with his buddies to play Tony Hawk for an hour? Do you think they will think sailing an Opti is "cool" or "gay"? I've got 4 kids, I can tell you which one is cool. Oh, and I did spend nearly $200 on his skateboard, still 1/3 of what I spent on a beat up old Hobie 14. We live on a lake, guess which one he would rather be on?? The one his buddies are on, out there in the driveway... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

BTW, I broke two ribs showing him how to do an "Old School" Bat Turn (I think they call it an Ollie) on his new skatebord...I couldn't sail for 2 months. He still laughs about it.

Yes, I would rather all children sailed instead of BMX or Skateboard, but it's never going to happen, so let it go.

That's perfect Peter! It might be good to post your curriculum somewhere. It' might be useful for fleets/etc that want to do something similar.

Excellent stuff Jeremy doesn't it all come down to getting them hot for sailing a cat at a young age. Once a junior sailing champion is identified in mono's they are fast tracked with a full programm which culminates in the Olympics. They already know which boat is next up the ladder on the way to their goal, they are nurtured, pampered, pics in magazines and admired by their young friends. What doe's the Cat world offer this person?
regards

I think it does. The question is how.

Walk into a class room of 13 year olds with a survey asking:
Who is your favorite Skater, Rider, Ball player, NASCAR driver and I bet you will get a lot of answers.
Ask who their favorite sailor is and I'm sure they won't have one.
Maybe I'm thinking to big here but I work for a Park sytem and have sat in on a meeting with the director of ESPN outdoors and listened to how they make Bass fishing popular.
If fishing can become as popular as it is there is hope for us.
Our parking lots are full of pickup trucks with very expensive bass boats being driven by twenty something guys.
They have their favorite angler, buy the same boat and use similar equipment.

So can we get the media coverage and create the idols to make kids come home and ask to go sailing or young proffesionals to spend their money on a boat.

I once read an interview with Gary Jobson about how to get more media coverage for sailing. He talked about the extreme dificulty of getting cameras placed on the water, in the boats, following the racers, the problems with the video feed, water getting into equipment, and most of all, getting some announcers who could explain it all in layman's terms, while making it sound exciting, to an uneducated audience.

Compare the logistics of that to say the XGames Skateboarding half pipe competition, where it's indoors, they can set up 3-4 fixed cameras, maybe a helmet cam, it is self explanitory to the average 14 yr. old watching, and all the announcer has to say is, "WOW, I've NEVER seen THAT before!!"

OK, now put yourself in the President of ESPN's shoes, and tell me which one costs less to produce and which is the easier sell to your advertisers, in a word, which is going to net you (ESPN) MORE MONEY.

That's why we don't see much sailing on TV.

BTW, I did get to watch the Monsoon Cup Match Racing Championships a couple days ago, but I was in a hotel room in Seoul. It was very well done but even for an addict like me, I found it a little slow at times. After the start, the lead almost never changed. I have found much more sailing on TV when I'm outside the USA. Yet they are all speaking english, usually with a US announcer. I wonder why we can't get it on one of our 200+ cable channels?

Hurricane Paintball Catamaran 1000.

Sweet.

Now you're thinking! 10 Cats vs. 10 mono's, Capture the Flag style, on the water. Red Team vs. Blue Team, only, give them some amo they can sink the boats with! Carnage, that's what Americans want to see on TV, how else do you explain the popularity of NASCAR and the NFL?

Let's see what those A-holes at Sailing Anarchy think when all their boats are at the bottom of the bay!

I didn't say it would be easy and I could be talking out my A$$. Not the first time.

The Bass Master Elite tourney that was at one of our parks had a huge amount of on water media coverage.
My staff had to provide power,phone and internet lines for them. They use their own monster(double 40ft trailer) generator for the live broadcast and Jumbotron.

I was thinking that the courses would have to be modified to make it exciting.
Things like adding a gate in the middle of the course(not my idea)for media and spectator boats to be near. Maybe a reach to both sides of the course from the center gate and another gate at the lea end of the course. Short courses with lots of laps. Basically providing as much high speed close quarter racing as possible. Thinking X games and not blue blazer. A few crashes and pitchpoles wouldn't be all bad. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Have you seen some of that 18 Foot Skiff racing in OZ? It's unbelieveable when it comes to crashes! Very fast and exciting, with lead changes all over the place, as one after the other goes over!

When I was in my early-mid teens is when the Xgames started, and I used to watch it when ever it was on. Thing is though that sailing in 5kn winds isn't too extreme, or interesting, or fun.


You need to mix the mono's with the cats for the paintball/hurricane/sailing thing to work. I'd watch that.

The bigger they are the harder they fall.

We have been talking about a modifed short sailing course with film boat in the middle for the next version of the WWF (World Wave Federation).

The key is big wind, 25+. To make this work you can use a surfing type format where there is a range of dates for the event.

This weekend (possibly) we will be covering a kiteboarding race from Jupitor to Ft Lauderdale. They need decent wind from the north, and have a 72, 48, and 24 hour notice if they are a go. If not, they go to the next weekend.

Oh yeah, 25+ and possibly at night, with glowsticks.

Pat mentions the high profile personalities which drive some sports (skateboards and fishing)

Perhaps the way to look at the elite catamaran racing after the Olymics will be to look at the pro and semi pro series (think pro beach volleyball) I am thinking of Herbie Derkson's ISHARES cup on the extreme 40 cats coupled to the extreme 20 foot cat series.

Consider an event that comes around once every two years in your neck of the world on normal boats that allow you to race these pro's . Would you show up to race against the big names.... Sure! Take a look at the A class worlds.... a huge factor in getting a hundred boats on the line was US A class sailors coming out of the woodwork to compete against the big names (well actually just to start on the same line... BUT these are exactly like the guys who take a shot at the beach volleyball pro's when the circuit comes to town.)

If you are able to market the personalities along with the sport, and throw in the local hook...aka Click and Clack of the Chesapeakes trying to take on Goliath...Mitch Booth and XXX. It would be an event. Certainly, much more likely to appeal to kids in sailing programs then America's cup racing.

A privately owned circuit could be very succesful with the right model... Corinthian sailing is out... In would be Nascar married to reality TV ... (some underhanded BS, physical pushing and shoving, sex, infidelity, all sorts of BS)... all aspects serving to create the morality play we watch in almost every sport AND we have reasons to wear bathing suits.

Who knows... a good dictator might be be a lot better for the sport then the Corinthian quasi democracy we observed screwing up at ISAF. The sport needs role models and they need a stage on which to perform... The olympics could be gone by this fall... We need a plan B to get us to 2016 and another possible Olympic stage.

My notion is compeltely disgusting ...but might have a nugget worth using.