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[quote=badfish][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]
I suppose I'm just an optimist. Sure SUP rents better than sailboats. It's cheaper to rent and easier to learn.
Yes kayaks dominate the market, god only knows why but I cant blame Hobie for getting in it. Heck, I'd like to have one of those Tandem AIs.
We still have a few sailing shops, but admittedly they either cater to big boats or to dinghies. I half blame it on everyone going online for their needs.
The used market for cats is still pretty strong for us in the sub 5k range.
Youth racing is still facing challenges, but kids are making the leap onto Nacra 15's, A-cat, etc. RedGear Racing in Clearwater seem to have no problem staying busy.
The local club held a free "try it out" day and we had a ridiculous amount of interest. Now, we had a lot fewer people actually show up but of those who did, every one of them thoroughly enjoyed themselves and half of them either started crewing or went out and purchased used cats. I feel like its more of an accessibility and image issue. Let's just say I've never seen anyone come back from a ride and not be grinning ear to ear.[/quote]

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