[quote=klozhald][quote=MN3]lost to SUPs, cheap kayaks, wind surfers and now kite boarders[/quote]
I can't even find much in the sailboard community anymore.
We can thank the national congress. They passed a huge tax on any sailboat over $100,000 in 1990 and in two years most American shipyards closed, filed bankruptcy, or went overseas. Congress had priced them out of business.
"In 1991, sales of luxury boats [b]dropped 70 percent[/b] from 1990's level, while [u]overall boat sales[/u] fell 18 percent."
The repeal of this destructive tax was completed in a glorious bi-partisan vote, but was too little too late. With the departure of the large sailboat industry/community, so went all major support for sailing here. NACRA (aka the [b]North American[/b] Catamaran Racing Association) moved to Europe and Australia.
Rising oil prices and the EPA pounding the fiberglass and paint industries closed off the small boat makers. The EPA even went after the styrofoam industry, and targeted Clark Foam (a $40 million company) specifically into extinction.
To paraphrase Will Rogers, "I'm happy that we don't get as much Congress as we pay for."
I am not arguing any party politics here. I'm just an angry victim of national policy dictated by morons who are completely capable of destroying entire industries.<!-- editby --><em>Edited by klozhald on Oct 30, 2020 - 04:24 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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