Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

I'm not looking for anyone to agree or disagree with me. I am just speaking my mind about what I see happening. Maybe it's just my boting area since I do not know what is happening on the lakes or out on the West Coast or Havasu or LOTO. So this is NOT about race boats...but new young up and commers getting into performance boating. I truthfully wonder what manufactures are seeing, boat dealers are seeing?
Mike

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

Performance CC sales are up.......lots of 20-somethings at Elliot Key in Miami with nice boats.

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

Semi-educated guess from looking into moving to LA I'm betting the up and commers market is fairly small. You can get an ok 1 bedroom house in Burbank for $3K per month!!! :eek:

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

Couple random thoughts at 3:30am...

The only reason I want 20 year olds into performance boats is so I can get an eyefull of there hot-bodied girls! More performance boaters. especially in there 20s, means more high-speed boating accidents and bigger crowds at your favorite hang-out. More accidents may mean higher insurance for us all. More perf boats also means more noise, and more upset blow-boaters who will push ever harder to limit our horsepower.

To keep my costs down, I bought the biggest boat a standard Ford F150 can pull.... a twin screw 26' Sutphen. Runs offshore with no problems, and I don't have to drive an oversize dually or keep a second car. Trailer stored, out of the water, for about $100 a month in SoCal.

Before I could drive cars, I read great magazines that got me passionate about driving, especially Porsche 911s. Motorcycle magazines do the same for me. Cycleworld and others have good unbiased articles and excellent photography. All boating magazines suck. They have developed no objective testing methodologies. They seem to cater to their advertisers. Their photography is usually very limited. I could go on. Good magazines with good distribution will help develop new loyal boaters (performance and otherwise).

Unless you're a mfg...who really cares about growing the sport? I say keep it a secret!:D

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

It is called they don't have the money. I kind of fall into this age bracket as i am 29. Most of my friends (a little younger and a little older) are so far into debt it isn't funny. Maybe my group is the exception but i see a lot of people living on credit...not leaving any money for the leisure items....Now i do have some friends that did things right and they are my boating buds, and the three of us all have 28 foot boats..but i think we are the few.....

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

ZBODaytona, that is what I was afraid of. Most 25-35 year olds can't afford performance boats or the maintance cost or fuel or insurance.
I got my 1st performance boat (a 1998 26' Scarab) in August 1997 @ 32 years old. I could afford it. This boat was only $45k with a 502 mag and special paint job. Today a boat like this is $100k or more, correct? Insurance at least in Florida is probably $1000 or so more, fuel has more than tripled.
So I see more people in this age range now getting into other performance related hobby's.

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

With todays economy a lot of 20-30 year olds are still living at home with mom and dad and paying off their college loans and credit card debt.
ed

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

Oh.. you've discovered SoCal real estate prices..... :mad:

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

pretty much sums it up. oh and i pay double that for the cat. I was also going to state that most performance boat prices and fuel are very expensive, then you through in a truck to tow it and place ot keep it.....
Well in my area, there aren't many options, but i would say some are buying run-abouts or fisher, and some blow boats (not sail). something around your 45,000 or even less. Or they build a 30,000 mud truck or race car. Because they are cheaper than a performance boat....
Still like i said earlier i know way to many people that are in, thinking about, or close to bankrupt. Of course a lot has to do with poor thinking and living beyond their means, and is in no one fault but there own...But still the price of everything is way up, especially new or newer performance boats.

Re: Growing our hobby/sport
 

Im sure it definately changes from one area to the next. Where Im at there are actually a fair amount of younger boaters around. They dont have go-fasts though. Cant afford them. You see alot of smaller boats. That or the people that have the money buy the express cruisers cause they like the ammenities or the space to move around vs the standard layout of a go-fast. I was 26 when I bought my 24 foot Baja. But I was also making about 50K a year at the time. So buying a used, 1988, boat was not a big issue. I definately could not have afforded a new one. I agree with most of the other people here. Simply put, price keeps alot of the 20 somethings out of the sport. That or they are still borrowing their parents boat.

As for growing the sport, I think it definately needs more exposure. Particularly in a festive way. The ones who know will continue to participate. But we need to get the word out to everyone else. Wether its via racing, poker runs, fun runs or just the party atmosphere. I agree that the races should be more of a carnival setting. Make the entire event fun and frame it in with the boating. Christ, boating is a heck of a lot more enjoyable than baseball.