NEWS LETTER

INLAND NW SAILING NEWS

APRIL 4-6 2008 - YOUTH HOBIE REGATTA REPORT!

Honestly my family was not thrilled about going camping this time of year because as we did our final preparations to go on this adventure it was quite cold outside. I assured my family that at the Pot Holes Reservoir it would be warmer and a great opportunity to start the season right. Well I had seen the weather report and it appear it would be about 60-66 degrees at the Reservoir yet in the back of my mind I hoped it would be so and my kids would not regret going. I am happy to say the weather was great, the wind was awesome, and my kids as well as the others that attended had a great time.

Friday we arrived to set up camp and prepare the boats, and then Saturday we got all the kids together for some fun sailing, and ran a few fun races. The kids sailed, ran around and played in the park, etc. It was a nice relaxing weekend. I particularly enjoyed being able to talk with adults and kids who also share my great love of sailing.

The Pot Holes State Park turned out to be a well kept park with boat lunches and great facilities. The Reservoir itself is wide and deep, with many Islands. The winds on the lake averaged on Sat & Sun 8-10 knots with gusts up to 15.

At the event we had 5 Hobie 18’s, 3 Hobie 17’s, 1 Hobie 14, 6 Hobie Waves, 1 Hobie FX1, 4 Hobie Tigers, & 1 Hobie Island. Dave Farmer from Spokane attended his event with his F18 cat. I could tell he was having a great time! We also had one Laser 2 show up and one home made sailing dinghy. So we had a total of 24 boats in attendance. There were 40 kids in attendance.

So we will be having this event next year and because we all enjoyed the venue so much I am planning a similar event this Oct. with the Wenatchee fleet to end the season with a bang.

FEB. 2008 - SPOKANE BOAT SHOW!

This is a little late coming but I wanted to give you all a report on the Spokane Boat Show results related to sailing and kayaking. The Spokane Boat Show has only one sailboat dealer at the show and one kayak dealers (SAIL Marine). so its no a great show for us sailors and obviously for kayakers. Still SAIL Marine has made a tremendous effort to be involved in this show and I know many sailors appreciated SAIL being at this show. It was SAIL Marine's 4th time attending the Spokane Boat Show and they had a tremendous response to their tropical themed booth. On display at SAIL's booth was one Catalina 22 Sport, one Hobie Getaway, 1 Hobie Island and several Hobie Mirage kayaks, one Open Bic youth dinghy, and one Snark sailboat. SAIL was also offering free sailing lessons on their Sailing Simulator and giving prize giveaways. The show overall was down 17% with many dealers there complaining about the lower sales results this time around. SAIL on the other hand had more sales and more interest than ever before. However after much consideration SAIL Marine and associates have decide to not attend the 2009 Spokane Boat Show but instead run a May sailboat and kayak show on Radiant Lake near Rathdrum Idaho for 2009. Even though the response to SAIL at the Spokane Boat Show resulted in an increase in sales as compared to previous years SAIL felt that when considering the consistent increase in price to attend and other issues is not worth it on many levels. So considering all these issues SAIL has decided to try something new for 2009. So for May 2009 SAIL as well as other non-motorize marine dealers will be attending the "Inland NW Sail & Kayak" show at Radiant Lake. So stay tuned related to this new show as more info will be coming soon.

Here is pictures from the 2008 Spokane Boat Show:

Jan. 2008 - Hello everyone!

First I would like to thank the participants and volunteers of the 1^st annual Hobie Island Frozen Buns Regatta for coming out to the event. Thank you so much as this is the first time I have ran a regatta with Hobie Islands and I believe (as well as others) that it was a great success. Next year this regatta will take place Jan. 10, 2009.

The Hobie Island Frozen Buns Regatta was a great event and we all had a lot of fun. The turn out was good with a lot of spectators. See pictures below. If you want more pictures from the event let me know. On Jan. 16th the CdA Press had a short article with a picture in their new paper, I have not heard yet if the Spokesman had posted anything.

Ralph Harris sailed for most of the event (versus pedaling) and won the adult division. Bret Heiner and Don Croft had a great time and rounded out the top finishes.

Dausen Moore won the youth division, and Devry Moore, and Nathaniel Heiner rounded out the top finishes

It was a beautiful over cast day, but unfortunately there was not much wind so the event turned into a pedaling event than a sailing event, but that is the beauty of the Hobie Island if there is no wind the racing is not over. I have several organizations waiting for my report on how to run a Hobie Island event related to how to deal with a boat that you can sail and pedal. Now that I have run this event I have a ton of ideas of how to handle this and to make such an event even more enjoyable and fair. I will be sending out my ideas and new documents to you all and in particular to the participants of this event.

I expect that I will sell 20-40 Hobie Islands this season (not counting the Islands I sold in 2007) with half or more joining out club. The Island component of our club potentially is going to increase the size of our membership significantly. I already have a line of people wanting to go participate in the Hobie Island Swan Lake Regatta and Adventure. I hope this does not sound like boasting as the sales are nice but even more its exciting to see so many becoming a part of the “Hobie Way of Life.” Most will always sail their Island but some will move on to racing Hobie 16’s and Tigers (Catamaran sailboats for those of you who do not know what these boat names are).

The next event is the Spokane Boat Show. I am looking for persons to teach sailing lessons with the sailing simulator and promote the club. After the boat show there is the RC Model Sailboat Club regatta and lessons at Riverstone Pond (great way to learn to sail in a no pressure way and also a great way to learn how to start and race around buoys). During Spring Break I will be running a dinghy Hobie & Bic learn-to-sail course as well as a keelboat course. Other than spring break lessons my lesson season starts this April. Lots more events coming down the line! And not to far in the future is the BIG youth Wave regatta in April and the Hobie Distance Regatta in June.

On a side note we now have a new (used) zodiac inflatable dinghy as support boat for our events.

Ok I am done expressing my excitement to you all. I had so much fun running the Hobie Island Frozen Buns Regatta and I am looking forward to our next event, and seeing you all again.

Miles – Commodore