All good points, and a common problem, how to get youth racing Hobies. Locally, Peter Nelson and Laura Sullivan have been active in their Hobie 101 and 102 classes. You may have seen some items posted on their efforts, here and other forums, including US SAILING Multihull forums.
Here in Seattle, we have Sail Sand Point, Seattle's Community Sailing Center. In addition to the Optis, Hunter 140's, FJs, 420's and Lasers, we have five Hobie Waves. The Waves were all donated, starting with the local Hobie Sailors, followed by other interested groups and individuals.
See
www.sailsandpoint.org. The Waves are used in Sail Camps, Open Sailing, and local Fast and Fun Events. At our first Hobie Regatta, we also had a separate start and race for our Waves, all sailed by youth sailors.
We are now working with our local Fleet 95, and Division 4 sailors to expand this program to include Hobie 16's to train teams for the National Youth Multihull events.
In additon, we have several second generation Hobie Sailors that are crewing, and now taking the helm. In my family, my son took over the helm on our H-16, and later H-18 starting when he was 15. More parents need to take this approach.
We are now in our third generation of Hobie sailors, with my Grandson Daniel racing a Wave in his first race, which included his Father, Tom on his H-17, plus me on my H-17.
Caleb, Tom and Daniel Tarleton