well on a personal response, im back at UCLA for the year, which is why getting into stuff and regattas is hard to do. im taking a ucla hobie class here which im sure im way beyond, but still itll be nice for the cheap price.
but i think that hobie racing classes and hobie intro classes would be a great way.
im making a personal vow to do some regattas next summer though. im totally ready for it.
if it was possible to do rentals of boats that would be good too, like once you have the classes that certify them in the boat, then they can rent. its an amazing deal for UCLA to give because they can afford cheap prices, but i think even more expensive rentals would work too.
their site which has rental info is here:
http://www.marinaaquaticcenter.org/
alternatively, i think more publicity to possible crowds could be good too. like for instance getting it back into the surfer shops in santa cruz and windsurfers. that was the original market that grew into hobies anyway, so getting that target group back is plausible.
and actually, a "try a Hobie Day" would probably be great, especially if you just made it a general fleet meeting over teh summer. its too bad we all couldnt just beach in front of the boardwalk on a saturday in teh middle of june. that would get some people.
i think one of the issues is that the group my age who would do it has problems with the idea of buying a boat on a trailer, fixing up both to where theyre happy, dealing with registration, etc. then after all that they realize that theyre going to have to tow it everywhere they go, and they might not want to. also, if theyre the under 20 crowd, the tru youth, they dont always have a place to store it. parking trailers with boats places is expensive for them and on the beach is more affordable, but they still have to park the trailer somewhere when they dump the boat on the beach. the best solution to me is rentals. but thats a huge deal because it involves havin the boats that inevitably get abused, liabilities, all while making sure its still a positive cash flow. then again, maybe a few $500 H16s would do the trick. its really a hard situation.
and in response to the turkey regatta, when is it? Ill do chase boat crew if im home that weekend. i dont htink i would do crew because im alot more agile doing boats solo. its jsut hard to get at the stern with another person there when youre 6'3 and 185#. and i wouldnt have time to bring the boat out since i only come home for like 48 hours.
But yeah, good luck with it all. i think im going to let it sit and think about the ideas in a week again.
Peter