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Posted by dwhite
on 4/13/2010, 1:04 pm, in reply to "Re: Future of Fireball"
72.237.88.0
Interesting points to consider by everybody. I made some comments on the earlier post about Lightnings and was using that as an example of possibly why people might look into that class over a Fireball. The fact is there are more of them down here than Fireballs and with the numbers they have pricing and availablility of used boats are again in their favor. Mike made mention of the Thistle class and again he is right. There are a ton of them all over the place down here. Both designs are older designs and heavy boats as you are dragging a 700 pound hull behind your car whenever you go to a regatta. It takes an extra crewman to man them and the wind has to blow like stink to equal what we experience in far lighter breezes. One thing I have notice d even with them, their fleets sizes, although large, are still much smaller then they were 20-30 years ago. So it might be fair to say that they are or have experienced the same slow decline that we have. The only problem is they have far more boats to decline with that we had or have. In other words they might be having the same problems we have but on the surface it looks like they are strong due to the numbers but compared to past numbers, I don't know. At some of the regattas I have attended over the past couple of summers one of the complaints that I have heard often is the problem with getting younger sailors to commit to attending regattas. I have experienced that on Pymatuning where a nice regatta is only 15 minutes away from another sailing club yet people from that sailing club are not willing to make the effort to attend a regatta in their own backyard sort to speak. We could have 10 boats attend our National regatta at Pymatuning Yacht Club in July this summer if all the boats available on a local level attend the event. This is without any visiting boats from other areas. If we get a couple of southern boats plus a few Canadians we could easily have 15 boats, and of those over half are very competetive. Yet I really don't know what to expect or count on based on past practices, not from the Canadians or southern boats, but from our local ones. I also understand the frustrations we as a large US fleet place on our Canadian neighbors when we say we will attend an event north and end up not showing. Yet we want our neighbors to the north to show up at ours. We can't complain based on our past performance, but let's not go there right now. I believe that we have an opportunity to show off the class at Pymatuning this year. And it may provide and place to sell off some of the boats mentioned in previous posts if we come across as a legitimate aternative to younger sailors looking to get into something other than the older heavy designs that are being pushed in the US at the present moment. We have to be able to say to these people that there are two regattas on Pymatuning, 4-5 regattas eight to 10 hours away in Ottawa, or Montreal and a couple of regatts 8 hours away in New York. We are not centrally located but each fleet that I mentioned is within 8-10 hours away from one another and having 10-15 boats in a fleet might make the trip more worth while. If we gain more sailors then the fleet sizes will grow and the 10-15 boats might turn into 15-20 boats. I agree that we have to do something other than what we have been doing but I also recognize that the sport is not as big as it was and is in decline everywhere for financial reasons, people getting older reasons, and just a growing lack of interest anymore due to other things that catch our fancy. I don't think there is one fix there are many issues to look at. Tom's right about that.
: Hi,
: Like Eric, I have an old (much older
: than his) Fireball. And there are
: many of these around this area
: (South Carolina)that are never
: sailed anymore because they are not
: wide bow boats.
:
: I have sailed in lots of classes
: over too many years and sort of
: inherited my boat. In all
: probability I will not buy a
: new/newer Fireball so I am not in
: your target market. However I would
: love to race the boat I have. These
: aren't Lasers or 470's that should
: be thrown away after a couple of
: years.
:
: How about a GEN 1 Fireball fleet?
:
: Walter
: --Previous Message--
:
:
: Hello,
:
: I am new to sailing and fireballs as
: well. I am a pro white water
: kayaker that is currently sponsored
: by dragorossi kayaks and have been
: instructing with an Olympic Gold
: Medalist for a few yrs now. I am
: hoping to get in to sailing,
: cruising especially. I bought a old
: woddie 8969 a few weeks ago (my
: first sailboat!!) to learn more
: about sailing as a goal. I bought it
: off of craiglist because the price
: $300 and had no idea what I bought.
: LOL Thanks to this web site and all
: the info here, it will get wet
: tomorrow for the first time in a
: decade or more.
:
: As for racing my boat and becoming
: NEW BLOOD in your community here are
: my thoughts...
: I do not know if I have a wide bow
: or not I will assume not. If I can
: not race my boat competitively there
: in no chance I am about to drop 15K
: on a new boat. I would rather race
: solo than have to depend on a
: partner for every thing. A new
: laser would be much cheaper, have
: more races in my area and not have
: to depend on some one else to want
: to race with me. Would I like to
: get in to racing any form of sail
: boat? Yes but it depends on money
: and how many races are feasible to
: travel to. White water kayaking has
: taken a hit in the economy like
: every thing else. To out fit your
: self with top of the line gear would
: cost less than 3k if you included an
: expensive dry suit. Sponsorships
: are great for us old pros and
: upcoming as well. Who ever
: manufactures fireballs needs to get
: them seen by non sailors even if
: they have to sell them for cost to
: do so. There are many outdoor
: clubs, businesses and schools with
: outdoor programs. I work for a
: company that does a number of
: outdoor activities but we specialize
: in white water rafting. Would the
: owner care to get in to sailing
: instruction on the beautiful lake
: Ocoee? I can only guess it depends
: on the numbers, which are cost and
: what he thinks he can make. And the
: numbers do not look good for it!
: Your sport needs new blood! Would I
: drive 10 hrs to race 6 of you with a
: non competitive boat? No If the
: manufactures said hey this guy is
: right lets pitch sailing to my
: employer and get a sailing program
: started and get me into racing with
: their help, I would be down for it!
: We use Jackson kayaks with our kayak
: program. We buy them at cost at the
: end of the season, after we used
: them all season long (we buy them
: when we sell them used (for what we
: bought them new) this way we have
: new boats each year and it cost us
: nothing). This is what they do so
: we use their boats. What will
: fireball do? Got to go decide what
: new boats to order.and finish my
: fireball.
:
: Eric Davidson
: fireball # 8969
:
: ACA instructor at
: www.Ocoeeadventurecenter.com
:
: Team
: www.dragorossi.com
:
:
:
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