tonystott wrote:
Fortunately, there IS a type of event perfently suitable for Islands.. the long distance races, where everything is legal except motors.
Yes it seems the water tribe type "races" are the key "market" for island type boats.
One thing I've been discovering this year is how much things have changed in the past decade since I sold my "big boat".
I just saw stats that indicate in 2018 there will be a total of 5,000 new production sailboats sold in the USA. Total. That's all sizes of sail boats.
http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/sailboat ... windrider/Not sure how accurate that is, but that's one manufacturers opinion.
Meanwhile on the power boat side:
https://www.nmma.org/press/article/21009The market is growing and they expect 250,000 boats to be sold this year.
So that's 50 power boats for every hobie island sold!
A lot of those power boats are fishing boats and deckboats, pontoons and lake boats that are towed behind trucks by dudes who played high school football and want a weekend boat for the lake.... these are not sailors, and I think the population of sailors in the USA is in sharp decline.
Boating is becoming about power boats.
That explains the changes I've seen and probably why these really fantastic boats (the island series) are not getting the traction I Was expecting. Why the "island clubs" are not vibrant like I was expecting.
That's why hobie is chasing the fishing industry-- I bet-- because that's where the market is. I expect we won't be seeing new designs of beach cats or trimarans from them for awhile.
Anyway, apparently its different in europe and they have enough industry to support companies that make 4 different models of inflatable catamaran-- in one company. Which is kind of impressive.