[quote=MN3][quote]I disagree. It is not the heyday it once was to be sure, but on life support? Then again, so is almost every form of sailing. I think we all should be sailing in and by populated areas. Watching a guy/girl on the wire ripping down the beach just out past the breakers silently is freaking cool. It's precisely what got me into cat sailing to begin with. A Hobie ripping through the surf.[/quote]
I live is sailing mecca. protected bays and sounds, gulf access, warm water and 11 months of sailing
at our beach there is a rental shack, called SAIL honeymoon
he rents 100's of sup's a week - out of his rentable sail boats ... he rents a few a month these days and we have a few sailors flying hulls and doing "stadium runs" (show-boating it up and down the entire beach line). We have flashes going off at sunset - and yet people don't rent sailboats - they rent sup's and kayaks
nacra usa sells 20 boat a year
sailing shops are closing all around us in the tampa/st pete area
Local hobie dealer sells a ton of kayaks - almost zero catamarans
youth racing is done on ancient 420's
the s.e. market for used cats has imploded (used boats have lost the majority of their resale value)
there are almost zero "NEW" recreational catamarans sold in the usa these days . (used sales are not a part of GDP)
I'm gonna stick to my statement "cat sailing in the us is almost a dead sport"[/quote]
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