We have a couple of very catamaran friendly clubs in South Carolina (Keowee and Columbia) and while many of us are members at one or the other, we're not there all that much.

Catamaran sailors, in General, are very a very nomadic and road-happy group. Comparing our activities to other non-catsailors at our clubs shows that they and their boats generally leave the club compound once or twice a year for a regatta elsewhere. Our catsailing group is considerably more active than the typical club goer but it's usually at a fist full of regattas around our region.

Jake,

You make a good point about Yacht clubs, Travel Fleets and their relationship. My observation is that the cat and dinghy travel fleets have been able to maintain a viable racing calender compared with fleets that exist exclusively at one club.

The 505 dinghy fleet has a similar culture to most Catamaran fleets. They have a regional regatta schedule just like cats and get their 10 to 20 boats out to these events. In our area, about 8 teams belong to two Yacht clubs with mast up storage about 10 miles apart. Each Club hosts two regattas per year and draw the 505's sailors from Va and NJ. The Albacore fleet also belong to two clubs with mast up storage and they also travel to 4 other Yacht clubs who have No Albacores to race against. They tell me that it's important to their small class to get out of town... race at different venues and socialize at different restaurants after racing. They believe it's a key factor in the health of their class

Meanwhile... the local Snipe, Jet and Flying Scott fleets gave up on travel and focused on supporting their club activities... They are now zombie classes trying to hang on at their home clubs... It's the ol familiarity breeds contempt deal and few opportunities to recruit new members to the class.

My take home is that cat sailors should follow the lead of these old school and still successful dinghy classes... Maintain a presence at your home yacht club... but don't fall into the easy trap of centralizing all of your activities there....

Variety is the spice of life .... RULES!!!

So Mark, when are you coming down to FL to race in the winter?

It was nice yesterday, I had my 18yr. old son and one of his buds out on the Prindle 18 while I sailed circles around them (quite litteraly!) on the Blade.

They complained about my boat being faster than theirs, we swapped boats, and within about 10 minutes they had -nearly- flipped the Blade...3 times, but managed to save it every time. It was funny to watch.

It was nice yesterday, but today's better, more wind and warmer too. Come on down boys, the water's starting to warm up. We're sailing in shorts and T-shirts now.

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Ah.... the meaning of the world REGIONAL.... does not involve 14 to 18 hour drives...

Anwyay... Been there done that.... had a grand time....

But ,,, ITS SNOWING today.... Sigh... so you picked a good day to poke!

Tim:

I was going up to Punta Gorda on wednesday to sail sunfish. But if you meet me there and I'll race you to Cayo Costa.

I've only got today, tomorrow I've got a 6 day trip to Sydney, through Los Angeles on both ends. But it's blowing today so I'm going out again, try to school the boys on spinnaker work. Wish me luck.

And Andi, don't worry, it'll be the "old" spinnaker, not the Swiss Flag!

so why don't we join yacht clubs? I know very little about them, aside from the one or two that my parents are members of. There is an annual fee and a monthly minimum, both of which are out of my price range. I suspect if you have a boat big enough, these memberships are a pittance.

Do clubs offer "small" memberships for sportboats/dingys/cats?

Jay,

You need to find the Yacht club that "fits" your needs .... and pocketbook. Yacht Clubs come in all types of styles and costs. There are the really really $$$$ ones .... and then there are the small "local" community yacht clubs ... and all types in between.

I looked around in my sailing travels and found one that was small, friendly, has a sailing school, showers/pool, a resturant/bar .... and a large field w/ a nice sandy protected launching beach that is located on a nice stretch of water to sail on. (And close enough to be able to use ...) And asked if I could join .... and surprisingly the let me.

Just search around ... ask questions ... some of the sailors from small boat/dingy classes that travel can suggest some w/ the facilities you need and then you just go and check them out ... I found YC members are always "proud" of their clubs and will take the time to "show you around" ...

Harry

Agree 100%. One of the reasons we got our cat was to travel to different places to sail.

I'm a lazy butt, always have been. And I hate getting up really early (6am or earlier) and -driving- 2 hours on my days off, never mind all the beer I could have bought with the gas money.

I'd join a sailing club (Dinghy or cat, or both) in a NY minute if there was one close to where I live. "Close" being a 30 minute drive, or less.

There are several great dinghy and cat clubs down here in FL, but they are all at least 90 minutes to 2 hours drive, one way, from where I live. Then add the 2 hours to set up a spinnaker cat on a trailer, and another 2 to take it apart and load it back on the trailer, and a possible DUI on the drive home...well...that's why I bought a place on a lake.

I leave my boat set up, ready to go, in 10 minutes I can go from my kitchen table to sailing. Problem is, I'm the only one out on the lake! There are lots of bass boats, pontoon boats and jet ski's, but no other sailboats, makes it hard to "Practice" starts...

When I lived up north, I was a club member for many years t a couple different clubs over the years. I kept my boat(s) at the club, ready to go. They had racing every single weekend, big boats on Saturday (J-24's on up to 45'), dinghys on Sunday (Laser). Then there was the Beer Can racing, Lasers on Weds. nights, keel boats on Thursday nights. I loved it and made as much of that as I could.

Of course I was single then...with no kids.

But the season was pretty short up there and the water was cold, even in August! Most clubs up there are only open from Memorial day to Labor day, that's why they race -every- weekend in those few short months.

If I lived closer to Gulfport or Lake Eustis, or Sarasota or Miami, I'd be a member at one of those clubs and keep my boat(s) there, ready to go, and I'd show up as much as my days off (and wife, and kids) would allow.

But getting back on topic, why are we sailors so old, or put another way, why are there not too many younger sailors?

OK, if you are over 50 today, think back to when you were age 10-15. What was there to do inside your house for fun? How many TV channels were there to watch, 3? And what was on? How about video games? How about laptops and You Tube?

None of that stuff the kids today spend their time on even existed back when we were kids. My Mom used to throw my older brother and I out the back door in the morning and tell us not to come back until it got dark. We had to go out and find something to do, all by ourselves, with no adult supervision. We rode our bikes, we climbed trees and built forts in the woods. We both joined the Boy Scouts and spent lots of time hiking and camping in the White Mountains, summer and winter. And when were weren't on a Boy Scout trip, we camped out in the woods behind our house.

When we got into High School, my older brother got into building drag race cars and tweaking my moto-cross bike (Suzuki RM 125). I got into all the team sports, football, hockey, track. We never spent -any- of our free time inside the house, winter or summer. Not because we didn't like our mom, but because there was NOTHING to DO -inside- the house!

Today kids have 200+ channels to watch on TV, 24 hours of non-stop comedy and the cartoon channel, and free movies, and MTV, and HBO, and cellphones to text their friends, and XBox 360, and Wii, and Facebook, and You Tube, and iPods and iPads. Why would they -want- to leave the comfort of their airconditioned lair, to go outside and...Heaven Forbid...get dirty and bitten by mosquito's?

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!

It's a different world they are growing up in, they would much rather stay indoors and play "Virtual" games, where as we only know how to play Real games, outside, no hemets!

Holy Jeebus you guys make this complicated....

15-20 Can't afford it.
20-25 Might be able to afford it, but a dollar spent on anything other than chasing tail or drinking is money poorly spent.
25-30 Probably could afford it, but since some hag forced him to marry her, pile on a mortgage, breed, and ruin his life, its just not in the cards right now.
30-35 Reference 25-30
35-40 He's learned to deal with the cloven hoofed devil, the kids are off busy sticky forks into light sockets, he's got some time.
40-45 Satan incarnate isn't an issue anymore, kids are only an issue every other weekend
45-50 Kids are adults, and don't really give a crap about their first daddy. Plenty of time on his hands.
50-55 If he ain't into it yet, chances are he won't be.



etcetera.


This is still a pretty cheap sport, even if you take it semi-seriously, its still cheap. But, you're still going to drop $20k on a boat and trailer, and you still gotta get it somewhere to race. By the end of the season I'm glad it is over with. I'm flat out tired of driving everywhere in the midwest, and setting up and tearing down.

I'm just wondering what the future holds for cat racing, when us 50's + die off and there are no kids coming up who are interested in doing -anything- other than texting or posting videos to You Tube and Facebook.

I did get my 18yr. old Texting/You Tube addicted son out today on my Blade for 2 hours of speed blasting around the lake. It was both warm and windy, something we don't get both of, on the same day, in Feb. very often.

After a few laps with him up front, I let him drive. Within 30 seconds (the first big puff) we were swimming. Then I showed him how to right it and he drove for another hour while I worked the spinnaker. After we put the boat away he actually said, "Thanks for taking me out Dad."

He doesn't say "Thanks" for anything too often so that was quite a surprise. Maybe there's hope for him yet...

Karl's description is pretty funny, but our situation in the northeast is a mix of ages and stories.

Our fleets teams range from 25-30 and 45-60. They include generally well-to-do to the nearly broke. My take:

1) Teenagers: No mean$ for a competitve cat, and daddy is generally too fat and out of shape to consider a cat as a ride or family expense. Unless Wifey is hard-core sailor, she wants a family cruiser or other 4ksb for the family. (Those 4ksb's are non-threatening, and don't mess up your hair/make up.
2) 20-25: underrepresented generally because of college costs. We have a few, but even a $40 entry fee and gas costs can be a barrier for college kids and parents. If they cannot find cheap lodging at the regatta (unless affiliated with yacht clubs), forget about it. Add to that the high cost of a good boat, and well, a season of competitive sailing represents a big cost against school. These guys are found on lasers or Corinthian boats they can bum from a variety of sources, ore can buy pretty cheap.
3) 25-30. Many guys get married. Unless shis wife/GF is a hardcore sailor, (and there are a few in our fleet), he's going to be spending time either with her or his new family. Babies are a big deterrent to sailing.
4)35-40. Toddlers are a bigger deterrent to sailing. So are extraneous expenses such as sailing when weighed against baby clothes/diapers/family vacations at Disney. (hmm, sailing, $daycare, sailing or $daycare, what to do?) The lean years for any sailor...
5) 40-45. Dad, if he has money, might buy a boat and attempt to get his wife or kids or both on the boat. Neither are ready to race, but they day-sail.
5a) Divorced. Gets a boat, out having fun again.
6) 40-45-50+ If he's lucky, wife or kids like racing/ and the culture of beach cats, and they show up at the regattas.

I see the same thing as Rex, people under 30 or over 45.
That's not much different than the demographics when I bought my first catamaran.

I was 24 when I bought my first catamaran.
Not married (married at 25)
No children (had first of three at age 26)
Stopped racing at 28
Started racing again at 48 (1 year after #1 son started racing Lasers)

I'm delaying marriage as long as humanly possible so that I can continue to race.
Buy that ring, lose that boat.

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.

While I don't disagree at all. Just make sure you don't phuck up a good thing. On the flip side, if she gives a rats butt about you at all, she'll understand what sailing, racing, and franken-porsche's mean to you.

Not with proper management of the situation.

If you expect to keep sailing after marriage you marry someone who likes to sail. There are exceptions but not that many and most of those involve wives shopping while you go sailing.

Did you say something? I must have missed it.