Future of multihull racing?

[Corley]

Many good points there CT I'm going to be making some submissions to the club in regards to changes we can make to try and get some things happening. One of the thoughts was to have some kind of convention in Melbourne with a forum for DIY builders and commercial boats invited attempt to give it a multihull focus but everyone welcome maybe have some of the club boats available to take people out. The proceeds of the convention if there are any would go towards encouraging sailing in its many diverse forms and helping the MYCV promote itself better. I'm a huge fan of getting people out on boats so invites would go out to all clubs and classes of sailing boats and include windsurfers and kite boards. I'm looking to organise the event for September 2012 to give plenty of lead time and have begun getting quotes on the long process of organising venues, facilities and catering.

I remember my first contact with MYCV was in 1988 at a show called Seadays (I was 13 years old) they had an early F24 on display there were members from the MYCV in attendance on the stand giving out magazines and talking to show visitors about the club and its activities.

The effect these things can have in the long run are hard to predict it took me 20 years after that time to join the club but it certainly remained in my memory for that time and I still have the magazine I was given at that show. I think a lot of clubs do it once dont see an immediate boost in membership and decide its a waste of time where what they really need to look to is the future effects which could be years down the track. What is required is to look at the big and long term picture as changes wont come about overnight or without effort for that matter.

I know having people bag out something you love to do is a huge turnoff I can recall when I was doing my scuba course for open water diver one of the instructors got in my face when I mentioned that I'd enjoy sailing out and jumping off my own boat how in no time I'd be dumping sailing and focussing solely on diving. The reality is diving did not take over from my love of sailing and never will if anything that instructors attitude turned me off diving more regularly. Thats why I think we have to be careful about foisting out own passions onto others most potential participants are not full on and simply want to enjoy themselves which should be all that is required.

[cavalier mk2]

I wonder if a club renovating old Hobie 16s could bypass the economic polarizing of fashionable sailing. The latest greatest gear syndrome keeps many from trying what looks like fun because of the price. Do they really want their kids to get into something that may cost them $10,000 ? A "be green" recycle the water cycle approach could add fun to the faded sails versus social trauma, the idea is to get more people aware of the fun of multihulls. A used hobie and trailer can often be found for a few hundred dollars, for many still a serious amount of money.

[Corley]

I think your right Cav and I think the imagery of the hobie 16 also adds to its appeal their assymetric hulls and waving palm trees just seem to go together somehow. I was thinking last night about the challenges of racing multihulls and a lot of them seem to revolve around making the rear of the fleet feel like they have something to race for as the seperations on all types of multihulls can be large.

A good example could be the Mosquito class catamaran the ply boats are no longer competitive with the foam sandwich boats and will rarely place in the top five that means the same top boats win every race I can see how the sailors in the less competitve boats would eventually get a bit jack of it. The other challenge is the sailors with the top boats will also have the best sails, masts, foils and fittings. Maybe there needs to be a trophy for the best ply boat as well and maybe a nod to the sailor with the most worn out boat but still rocking up and supporting the events.

I suppose the challenge is how to restrict the equipment of a given class to a fair minimum and still keep the tweakers happy afterall you dont want to be too dictatorial. Its certainly a challenge that bridges multiple classes with even mad optimist parents tipping ridiculous sums of money into little johnnies and jennies boats in a quest for 1/10th of a knot better performance.

[rapscallion]

Mini 650s seperated into two classes, the proto and the production class. The production class has limits. The proto class doesn't. The objective is to reduce the cost of the production class and keep the tweekers happy ..as you said.... the mini class is a perfect example of how out of control things can get. The transatlantic race box rule was meant for average Joe sailors who wanted to challenge themselves... now a guy could spend six figures on a proto mini easially... cool boats, but what the he'll? And to make matters worse, the jester challenge, meant for back yard low budget tweekers (a 4000US tiki 21 took second posse recently) has a figaro 30 entered in it! There goes the neighborhood the answer is simple. split the fleet into sensible divisions and go sailing.