Test Drive Day - Austin Yacht Club

Jonsey · April 08, 2010, 02:49:25 PM

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?

Keith · April 08, 2010, 04:13:49 PM

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!

Jonsey · April 08, 2010, 04:58:40 PM

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.

Bee · April 08, 2010, 08:13:26 PM

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.

Jonsey · April 08, 2010, 09:01:18 PM

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.

Bee · April 08, 2010, 10:13:51 PM

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.

BoomerangJ · April 09, 2010, 06:44:09 AM

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!

Bee · April 09, 2010, 07:46:25 AM

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.

Jonsey · April 09, 2010, 08:04:41 AM

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.

STuma · April 09, 2010, 08:49:50 AM

Jeff, you might be able to get some of the yacht brokers in on this... get the Ben 10R of F28R out for example...

STuma · April 09, 2010, 08:50:18 AM

Everyone to nominate Jeff to organize it, say Aye...

Aye...

Bee · April 09, 2010, 11:13:31 AM

AYE

Bee · April 09, 2010, 11:43:37 AM

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.

BoomerangJ · April 09, 2010, 12:20:12 PM

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.

Jonsey · April 09, 2010, 01:09:36 PM

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 ;-)