A while back I emailed with Damon about my curiosity about the people playing with beachcats. I was a little curious who was out there and how they used their boats. I've owned my NACRA 5.2 since 1976 and have sailed in races a way long time ago, but then mostly used the boat for short trips and adventures here in the Pacific Northwest. I'm retired these days and have been having way too much fun trying to rebuild my boat "This End Up". While I know there are races and events out there, I suspect there is also a very large group of boaters that are just using their boats to have fun with their families and friends. I also suspect that there are some boaters like myself that have more time, maybe some more resources that would be interested in some bigger adventures. So as a starting point I put together a little Survey Monkey thing that you might want to fill out.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HLSR3J
I will gladly share these results as they come in.
I will also help to organize some events, mostly here on the Left Coast for boaters like myself, but also to develop a kind of template for others to use to create events and adventures in their areas. We can't all live in Florida or on the Gulf Coast, but there are some other really stunning places to take Beachcats, like the San Juans in Washington state, or to Lake Waldo here in Oregon. I want to find out who is interested in cool venues and then go to those places and report back what worked and what didn't and what we saw. So that someone else can try the same adventure on another day and get the same or maybe even better results. I also want to develop a list of these cooler than average places to take Beachcats so that others might follow along later, but that will be another survey once we see some results from this first one.
So please take a minute to fill the survey out and to respond in on this thread about how you use your boat normally, but where you might want to go in the future. And just so you know, my survey building is about as good as my spray painting, it sucks, but I have to start somewhere.
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Curiosity
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Posted: Sep 16, 2016 - 12:58 AM
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Posted: Sep 17, 2016 - 01:29 AM
Need to keep this on top for a while to get more responses.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HLSR3J
Take a second to do the survey or respond to the post.
Thanks
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Posted: Sep 17, 2016 - 11:16 AM
I enjoy participating in a regatta away from my home lake, but I'm not prepared to pull a boat 2500-3000 miles to the PNW. My limits would be Great Lakes, East Coast or off Florida. I'm also not prepared for cold water these days, and outgrew my wetsuit a long time ago.
When I lived in CA, it was a possibility. I used to sail the inland lakes, Bay Area and even Humboldt Bay (dangerously cold). I enjoy the warmer sun, lack of fog and warmer water here.
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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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Posted: Sep 18, 2016 - 01:30 PM
My survey is not yet statistically significant, but we are getting responses. My intent is to show where your interests are so events could be created that you might participate in. There already are fleets of boaters out there, maybe when they see this they will think of some additional ways to go have some fun. Here are just a few of the questions on the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HLSR3J
So keep those cards and letters coming and I will update everyone as we go along.
The San Juan Island trip is just one that I can actually sort out because I have some experience and some resources to apply for sailing there. I am very interested in knowing about other areas where a multi-day adventure might be possible.
dg
Edited by dmgbear55 on Sep 18, 2016 - 11:33 AM.
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Posted: Sep 22, 2016 - 01:38 AM
How many people have you found in the NW? i started searching for user groups like this just becaus i could find many people.
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Hobie 16
Supercat 17
Looking pretty hard at a Nacra 6.0
Looking for sailing group in Seattle Area
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Posted: Sep 22, 2016 - 05:22 PM
So far I haven't tried to figure out where anyone actually lives or boats. I am trying to sort out what other cat boaters want to do. The survey is almost at the needed 30 responses to be really reliable information, but it sure appears that many beachcat boaters want to get together, but not necessarily to do official races. I suspect that if you have events like motorcycle or car clubs have where you cruise from place to place and then hang out somewhere you could increase participation.
I personally am just outside of Portland, Oregon so heading north is easy to do. I suggested the San Juans as an example location for multi-day trips, but I think there are many others and I will try to sort out what some of those possibilities are. I also want to show people how to do a multi-day trip in terms of the planning and organizing, muck like what is done in the whitewater rafting club I also belong to.
I think the trick will be post an event/get together/trip with lots of advance warning. Describe the kind of event and then just go do it.
I think the fleets of boats of the past relied way too heavily on racing schedules and not enough on just the social aspect of hanging out with other goofy people that like these cats. Lord knows how many wives and girlfriends tired of trying to be a competitive race team with a yelling captain, otherwise known as a divorce boat. Take the competitive element out of the thing and then you get to have a cool boat ride (this is just my opinion and does not reflect the views of management).
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Posted: Sep 25, 2016 - 08:28 PM
We have lots of reads on this post, but we need at least one more respondent and then we can say the survey is scientific and statistically significant. So vote early and often.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HLSR3J
I will close this survey out soon and anyone interested in having a link to the summaries can PM me.
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Posted: Oct 01, 2016 - 06:31 PM
I'm interested in this as well, so I'll bring it back to the top.
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Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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Posted: Oct 04, 2016 - 02:42 AM
Ok, with 40 responses this survey is now valid.
Here is a pdf of the results:
[http://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=125677]
What I learned is most of us have to travel a fair distance to put our boats in the water. We sail with friends and family and it is a smaller percentage of us that race regularly in organized events. It also appears that there is interest in other kinds of events that are probably more about the social part of sailing and less about getting around a buoy course. There is also interest in using these fast boats to cover some water on extended trips. I turned a Word doc into a pdf and saved it in my photo album, hopefully this will work. It seems to if you download the document.
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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Posted: Oct 04, 2016 - 03:23 AM
Hi DG, the answer choices only show up on question 5 and after.
Thanks for doing this.
Hot tip- Change the word doc or pdf into a jpg to hang in the photo albums. This yields the best results.
Bob
Edited by klozhald on Oct 04, 2016 - 03:27 AM.
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Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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Posted: Oct 06, 2016 - 12:35 PM
As I stated in the beginning I am no Survey Monkey expert. The sliders made sense when I was putting this together, but in the analysis phase they don't work so great. So I have hand marked up those first 4 questions with where the averages fell. I think the other questions worked out a little better for display purposes.
On another topic today is the first time in a while that I will get to work on This End Up. Boat is now basically together and I am just working on all those finishing details. I will wait to do the next video when the new sails are in and I have the name back on the boat. It is way cool to see those glowing, glossy hulls outside that took way too much time and effort to accomplish.
dg
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dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975
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