On April 24th the Austin Yacht Club will host a Test Drive Day.
This will be a great opportunity to get on the water and check out a variety of different boats. Currently they have several J's, a Melges 24, Viper 640, Flying Scott and a Vanguard Nomad lined up to be on the water and available. Their also working hard to add some cats and other neat designs - so stay tuned!
flyer attached here http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=107000
This would be great to do on the bay - add some big boats like a 105 and maybe an ID35?
A !D35 on Lake Travis??
Awesome concept, hopefully it will get some people out and some fresh faces on the water. I would def. be there but have committed to the Border Run in S. Cal.
Good Luck!
Sorry - i meant that if we could put something like this together for Galveston bay it would be cool to add in a J105 and maybe something grand prix like the ID 35 or the M32.
You might have someone come out who has a hunter ???... take a ride on a J105 and decide he might like to try his hand at racing. Or some dude from Clear lake who's always wanted to get into sailing - he may come out and get hooked.
Have fun on the and be safe.
Sounds like a plan. Only issue I can think of is insurance. Is this a race or just a drive around a course. If its around a course I think I could find at least one J105.
The austin format is just out of the harbor and up / down a few times. If there's a long waiting line, maybe just up and down once.
I put a thread on the main sailing anarchy sailing forum and it seems to have been well received so far!
Not sure what' you'd want to do on a boat like the 105.. You might elect to keep the kite in the bag unless you have several experience people on board.
Oh, hell no. With just two reasonably experienced people on board, the kite comes up --- period! That and reaches is what sells the boat. A 105 is not something one sails non-spin unless one wants not to win.
Bee-
These test drive days are a lot of fun, and a great way to build the fleet. Prime example was a guy at the J/111 social the other night describing to me his first ride on a J/105 after coming off of a performance cruiser. His reactions was "he never knew". He said he was hooked going out to the race course and they were reaching along hitting 9-11 and the owner and the rest of the crew were just non chalantly sailing along and he was about to jump out of his skin he was so excited. Long story short he sold his boat, been sailing with BBoats on the 105 and he is looking to get back into his own boat.
What we probably need to do in Houston to make it work effectively is do it somewhere convenient to the bay. Cut out the back and forth commute time in the channel. If we have to take sails up and down and commute that would reduce the amount of people that could be shuttled through. Don't know if we could queue people up at the boardwalk? Some other easy access location? TCYC?
It would be nice to schedule this soon!
I think it would really be fun to do it from the slips on Kemah restaurant row, but I would worry about tourists who thought we were giving free rides.
HYC? Quick access to the bay, nice facilities - could be a nice opportunity for them to drive up membership and showcase what they have to offer as a club (slips, pool, facilities etc).
I agree scott - you have to have someone with instant access to the water. If this thing was advertised properly through all the marinas, yacht clubs, west marine's in the area you might be shocked at how many people come out and want a ride. I also agree - lots of guys who have cruising boats sitting in their slip because their too much trouble to race / require too much crew, something like the 105 would blow their socks off. You'd also do well to have a J109 and 122 out giving rides.
Less focus on trying to sell boats, more on introducing guys in power-boats who have always want to try sailing and the like to a great sport.
Jeff, you might be able to get some of the yacht brokers in on this... get the Ben 10R of F28R out for example...
Everyone to nominate Jeff to organize it, say Aye...
Aye...
AYE
HYC would be a really good place to do this. Entry/Exit to the bay is excellent and the visitor's pier is (or used to be) long enough to have quite a few boats.
I pinged Scott Spurlin (J-Boats SW) on this so we will see what he thinks.
I think this is a great idea. I had discussions with several HYC people this past fall and they were open to hosting events like this. KKemah boardwalk is a fine idea as well. Little more of a festive environment. We could control the joy riders by doing our homework up front and getting people scheduled, or letting people know about the event. "Walk ups" could be spotted if they ask questions like "what is this all about". I think everybody is still hurting from Ike and if we can drive up membership at the club, get new sailors out on performance boats it is good for our sport. I will certainly do whatever I can to make this happen.
We have a great group of owners in Houston in pretty much every boat model from J/22 thru J/122 so I'm sure we can have a really nice demo day. I firmly believe that the boat is only the tool and it's the owners and the enthusiasm that they show about sailing the boat in their class that gets people motivated to take the plunge. If we have owners showing their boats and talking about how much fun it is to sail OD or this Regatta, or get together and review video's or have a cocktail at their favorite meeting place after racing that more people will want in to the game. I also believe that with the right introduction we can get motor boaters into the game. Outsiders do not know how to take that first step and demo days is one of the ways that they can learn and decide if this is a sport they want to play in.
Ah Tuma - neeeeeyyy..
But i'd do anything i can to help! I'd commit to having at least one, maybe two vipers down to give demo rides.
Might be able to get some of the cat guys to bring their toys out - a corsair as well? Maybe KO could bring a melges and weta tri?
It would be cool to get a wide variety of designs out - only problem is that i may abandon my post to go for a ride myself if any high performance cat's show up ;-)
Jeff - the dock at the Club Classic is a great place for boat demo - you can jump right out in Clear Lake and sail there. This would be perfect for the sport boats, we have the connections!
But at 6.5 feet I don't think my 105 could do much more then get in and out --- and that might be a issue all by itself.
True Mary but like Bee said, couldn't get the big boats in there.
IMHO, it would be important to the event to get a range of boats out for the demo..
So, you going to organize this thing? ;-)
Moi? Get boomerang to work on the J's and big boats and I will help you with the sport boats - Viper, M20, etc. I still think you will have a better turnout for the SBs if we run them separately - two completely different type of boats and interested people.
Need someone to get out to HYC and coordinate with those guys.
See - one reason i think it would be better to have them all together is to make it convenient to catch a ride on each. You might have someone who thinks a J80 would be a cool ride - jump on a sportboat and decide he / she likes it better. On the same token, might have someone who thinks they want a sportboat the J80's there.. they take a ride and love having a bit of interior.
I believe one reason people stop sailing their boats is because they made a rash purchase decision and ended up not liking the boat for one reason or another.
And who know's - might have a few that think the best thing to do is to buy one of each! :-)
I think the key question we need to ask is what crowd are we aiming at? I think HYC has the best in/out facility, but KBM has the best exposure... KBM would get a lot of "joy riders" that have no interest in a boat, but with that said, it may spark an interest in some... also need to think about incorporating the dingies, Vanguards for example, to get them out... We need to get with Kolius and Steve to get the M-uglies out also.. have a variety of boats lined up on the "easteren" floating dock...
cheers...
Scott
cool brainstorming. my 2 cents...... how about getting local learn to sail firms to handle novice/know nothing joyriders, It is exposure for their programs and you never know they may still buy a boat eventually. A short class would deter the beast riders that don't want to pay for the beast. It might give some new depth to the local crew base.
Looks like KO has come through with a WETA or two for this weekends Test Drive Day.
I understand someone put posters in all the fitness centers around town. Expected attendance is so high that Jboats hustled up a 105, at least one more J80.. we'll have two vipers on the water with another on stand-by.
http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=107000 updated flyer here (look for the PDF toward the bottom of the page)
I just posted a comment relative to GBCA's Basic Sailboat Racing Seminar. Can we make that into the equivalent of Austin's test drive day? I bet we can.
Where is Kelly when you need him? --- Just joking Chris.
Here's the flyer for Austin Test Drive Day this weekend (attached)
We need one of those for the GBCA day.
Ask and you shall receive - all we need to know are details + what boats are going to be there. I'll get a picture of each put on the flyer.
GBCA Basic Sailboat Racing Seminar is a little bit different concept than a Test Drive type event.
Both are worthy events GBCA would like to encourage
With the Basic Racing seminar, GBCA is targeting those who might be on the fence or intimidated about racing.
It's more in the spirit of "run what you brung" and has worked well the past 2 years. Most of us got into sailing (and racing) by knowing someone with a boat, own or crewed on a boat that wanted to give this racing thing a try or simply wanted to improve boat handling/crew skills so cruising is safer and more fun. GBCA encourages all of those endeavours.
The "Test Drive" is geared more to those looking to upgrade and those curious about the sport. Of course, GBCA encourages an event like that also.
As for the actual execution of a Test Drive event, HYC is the best facility to do a J109, J105, J80, Viper, Melgi, J24, J22
The big draw (excuse the pun) is HYC is deep enough for >=J80 series. A bonus of less traffic (two tacks to the bay). Plus you can 'turn over' crews in short order and not spend alot of time motoring around, dealing with Rodney Powerboat and waving at the Kemah tourists.
In order for this to work, Jonsey, Boomerang, KO, HSH, Sea Lake and the various OD fleets need to get together and represent, talk directly to HYC.
OF COURSE, GBCA can help get the word out and promote, but at the end of the day, it is still HYC's facility.
A similar story for a smaller boat/scaled Test Drive, say J24 on down.
In that case, Club Classic/or Lakewood is ideal due to depth and location.
The success of the demo KO did at Classic with the Melges 20 a few years ago comes to mind.
Again, it would take cooperation between the Classic (or LYC) and the boat parties involved.
(Repeat) GBCA supports a Test Drive style event and will do our best to get the word out locally.
We just don't have the most ideal boat launching facility in the area.
We can promise you this: GBCA can teach you just enough to be dangerous, and put you in a real sailboat race on your boat (or someone else's) the same day. You'll either love it or run away scared.
Look for more details soon: GBCA's Intro To Sailboat Racing, coming May 29th.
Do we know any HYC members that can help sponsor this thing?
Fellow sailors - we have GOT to get this going down on the bay.
This event was perfect - i left the dock with my first two sailors around 10:00 and didn't stop taking people on rides until after 4! The first couple i took out were from the S.F. bay area, had lived in Austin for a little over a year and didn't know there was much sailing in the area - funny I was hesitant to let them drive because it turned out they use to race a 49er! We had at least 6 people in the same situation, one couple came from an hour away.
The event is spreading, already plans are being made to hold an event at DCYC in Dallas - S.A. give it some love on the front page.. + check out the tread here.. http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=107000&st=25&p=2825108&#entry2825108
Check your messages Jonsey, sent you some HYC leads...
Such an event sounds like win/win to me.
Glad to hear it worked out in Austin. The weather sure seemed to cooperate!
The Leukemia Cup Kickoff will be a perfect opportunity to promote Test Drive Day. Timing couldn't be better (May 13th -- two weeks prior to TDD). Can someone provide flyers and some kind of signage...maybe even manpower to staff a small table?
Folks, I have checked with the LYC Flag and got the necessary support to put on an event like this. Tentative date: Saturday, 5/22, a week after the Shoe Regatta. J-Boats Southwest would support the event, similar to AYC, as would Jeff Jones/Viper. I'm also checking with KO Sailing. The concept would include test drives on the Lake for the smaller boats and the Bay for J-80 and up.
There's also talk about HYC, and I don't want us to get into a 'club competition'. So, let me hear y'alls thoughts on the venue. I'm personally not fond of the idea to split the event for the larger and smaller boats. One advantage of LYC is that we have almost everything from J-22 to J-145 at the club (exception: J-132 and shaky on J-24). Of course, I haven't checked with any of the owners yet.......If we go with LYC, the proposed date is pretty much 'it' unless we want to wait until it's unbearably hot and the wind disappears. Since this is less than 4 weeks away, let's settle the venue quickly!
Stinger would be happy to be part of this.
I really do not care who sponsors this (HYC or LYC) but I think doing it from the Kemah BoarkWalk would be spectacular if we could get by Fertittaville Insurance Police.
My vote is to go with who steps forward first.. It sounds like LYC is more interested in the event.. let it em roll with it... the smaller boats can run in the lake, with the bigger boats running in the bay (as been said before)... I think we need to double check the social calandar to make sure there aren't too many things overlapping... Could it be possible to have a special deal at Leukemia, top donator, to be a special host at the Test Drive Day? something to get the general public more involved and feeling special?
For the 5/22 date, I will not be able to be there, out of town.. But I would love to help coordinate what I can...
cheers...
Scott
Can I volunteer my C&C 110 - a sort-of taste test of the racer/cruiser (cruiser/racer) realm?
A C&C 110 is a really nice boat. Should be something really well received one way or the other.