A thought or two ...

[Bill Strosberg <bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks:

I really appreciate the personal response I got from one East Coast 
member regarding his inability to schedule a trip here to Ottawa for the 
Ottawa Skiff Grand Prix this year.

Further to the recent Sailing Anarchy discussions regarding creating a 
partially finished molded SwiftSolo hull to be completed by the home 
builder, it hit me that serious class growth can easily be accomplished 
within your current homebuild mandate as long as there are market areas 
and potential builders that haven't been tapped.

Web sites and on-line forums just don't cut it for getting people 
interested in a serious time and money commitment like building a 
SwiftSolo.  People need to SEE the boat - which is demonstrated by the 
pockets of class growth surrounding current builders.  Let's face it, 
sailing high performance boats and racing in general is not a mainstream 
activity - but when there is an opportunity to get a boat in front of a 
highly interested crowd of knowledgeable prospects, it may be worth 
making a serious effort as a class association to be there.

Our regatta attracts skiff people from Ontario, Quebec, New England and 
the central/east coast in general.  People here compete at Worlds level 
in I-14s - and we sit about an hour and a half from one of the best 
(former Olympic) racing venues in North America at Kingston.  We expect 
to have upwards of 40 skiff style boats on the water, plus Development 
and International Canoes, catamarans and some Contenders.  Our host club 
has one of the largest fleets of I-14s in North America, and large 505, 
Albacore and Fireball fleets.  In short, fertile ground for SwiftSolo 
prospects.

I know it always comes down to individuals when fleet building is a 
goal, so I'd like to ask you as a class association to try to find 
someone who could bring a boat up - because it will benefit everyone.  I 
know of builds in progress in Ontario, and one local guy who is 
stalled.  The class representative you send does not have to be 
competitive, or even sail - we really want to see a SwiftSolo in person 
as it were.

Thanks for listening and letting me lurk on your listserver for the past 
three years!

--
Bill Strosberg

This is the Swift Solo mailing list.  For unsubscribe instructions,
visit here: http://catzooks.com/swift-solo/