I was watching the x games on tv recently. .bmx..skate boarding that sort of thing and it occurred to me that apart from a few land sailing and blokarting seem to be the relm of the some what middle aged male.. I wondered what could be done to make land sailing " cool" and to get a younger demographic to participate. ....just a thought
The way I do it for archery is I put on free introduction seminars and then free to participate tournaments. Once they get a taste of it they are hooked.
It's easy to get kids involved in just about anything new as long as they have an interest in the activity. But if they don't come to you, you have to go to them.
Make some sort of arrangement to set up in a parking lot or field somewhere in a highly populated area and hang a mess of flyers around high kid traffic areas and next thing you know you have a youth racing league or youth yachting club.
My first tournament only drew 20 kids but by the next three events there were 80. All new to the sport!!! Now I give a free seminar, "Intro to archery" every first Saturday of the month and the youth and female adult interest has massively grown.
I think the main problem is that we are competing with other sports that you can go to a shop and buy your equipment,new or second hand,(motor bikes. Surf boards kites ect) but when people try land yachting that is where the problem starts, While they are excited about it the is usual a long lag time between that time and finding a yacht by that time many lose interest. (That is the reason that blokarts have been successful) not a lot of people have the ability or interest in building there own yachts. Any one have any ideas how to fix this
Wasn't Gizmo talking about an "IKEA" landyacht, being developed for sale in kit form?
kinda half way between a Blokart and a Lefroy mini,
stephen
Yep I threw the idea out there without much comeback.
That sort of kit idea was how the sport kicked off in Australia many years ago with the 'Freeflight' a copy of the US Manta, made by free flight hang gliders it came in 2 boxes with assembly instructions.
Pity someone could not produce a low cost entry yacht that is easy to obtain to get people into the sport, Then if they remain committed they could move into blokarts, 5.6 mimi or class5. Another problem is the availibity
isailiing sights(I have to do a 460km round trip every two weeks to sail)
I wasn't until i was well into middle age that I had acquired enough tools to even think about building a land yacht. Even then could not have done it without massive help from Landyacht.
Select to expand quoteaus230 said...
Pity someone could not produce a low cost entry yacht that is easy to obtain to get people into the sport,
low cost today is the price of a blowie, ,I usspect the venue shortage is a bigger issue, and kids not doing anything until mum and dad take them there.
locally weve had a mountain of kids move into the street, so after helping them all build bikes weve had to set up a little mechanics station so they can come and fix bikes and tyres,
one day one of them turned up to get a tyre fixed and when i asked why dad didnt do it( he was at home in his shed at the time ) she reply " dad said he coundnt be F***d , go and see the neighbour!"
i wonder if rise of the ME generation is part of the problem
Select to expand quotelandyacht said... aus230 said...
Pity someone could not produce a low cost entry yacht that is easy to obtain to get people into the sport,
low cost today is the price of a blowie, ,I usspect the venue shortage is a bigger issue, and kids not doing anything until mum and dad take them there.
locally weve had a mountain of kids move into the street, so after helping them all build bikes weve had to set up a little mechanics station so they can come and fix bikes and tyres,
one day one of them turned up to get a tyre fixed and when i asked why dad didnt do it( he was at home in his shed at the time ) she reply " dad said he coundnt be F***d , go and see the neighbour!"
i wonder if rise of the ME generation is part of the problem
Ouch! Parenting endorsement of the year there...
I'd agree venues are harder to come by than yachts, that's definitely the case over here.
Select to expand quotelandyacht said...
aus230 said...
Pity someone could not produce a low cost entry yacht that is easy to obtain to get people into the sport,
low cost today is the price of a blowie, ,I suspect the venue shortage is a bigger issue, and kids not doing anything until mum and dad take them there.
I found that car parks are no good to rely upon for use - 7 day trading + longer hours means that car parks are always in use, and kids have a hard time avoiding speed bumps, kerbs, overhead branches and the like.
The only alternative I have found is the local ovals - they are everywhere, however - most Perth ovals are pretty soft and this makes it hard to get moving.
Also, most ovals have trees or buildings on most sides - which gives dirty wind.
Once you get a landyacht moving on the grass - there is no shortage of interest from kids - they all want one.
A lightweight landyacht with a floor [to keep feet in] a flexy mast [to help avoiding capsizes]
If the rear axles could be telescoped inwards to make it narrower so it can be moved on footpaths to get to the oval it would help.
Able to be towed behind a pushy, or used as a billycart would be a bonus.
The Blokart ticks most of the boxes - except for the price.
Its hard to tell kids that the landyacht they want is worth more than their brothers car.
I messed around with a couple of prototypes, just ran out of time, space and spare cash.
stephen
Just wait a few years and Blokarts will be as cheep as Toyota's. In NZ the second had ones go for about 2k on trademe.
Still a lot for a kids toy for some.
Probably beter value than what those kite boards and kites cost. Just depends what you are in to.
I personally don't think it comes down to cost..... How many times have you seen people from less affluent suburbs have loud cars, trail bikes, quad bikes, drinks & smokes, LOUD sound systems, high powered RC cars /4wd's which all cost more than land sailing.
I still feel there is a market for something between the DIY yacht and blokart, many years ago Bill Finch built up some kit yachts that were based on a clamp that went around scaff pipe and could be adapted for mini yachts.
A yacht that a father / child could complete in one weekend and then go sailing the next.
I see the stumbling blocks for some people with a DIY LLMini is....
1. Welding.... Not many people are confident at welding
2. Seat.... If there was an off the shelf moulded seat many people would snap them up for construction.
3. Sail.... If someone could order a sail in a color combination they wanted and already shaped for land sailing
Ask yourself why does IKEA furniture sell so well? It's not the cheapest, It's convenient and give a person a sense of satisfaction when it's completed.
Hi guys,
Saw these young folks sailing at Goolwa & spent some time talking to them.
They are locals & built their yacht a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit bigger than a 5 but had a 14 ft skiff rig on it!
It went really well in 5mph wind!
Will post pic later.
The young folks are out there.
Very polite & enthusiastic & I steered them to LLM.
PS I was sailing the blokart as well so they could see it, but they wanted to build.
PS I was sailing the blokart as well so they could see it, but they wanted to build.
I find this quite ironic. When Paul designed the Blokart he had been sailing cheap home made yachts for a number of years. Cheap because like most of us he had little money for toys, growing family etc. We had frequent discussions in regard venues we could use, and as the 5s at the time were getting quicker almost on a weekly basis, the venues we had used were no longer suitable, the yachts just ran out of space too quickly.
I remember a phone call vividly. He rang one night and said "I don't think the venue is the issue. I have designed a new thing I want you to try, I have shifted the paradigm, and designed something to fit the venue, rather than the other way round" That was the prototype of what became the Blokart. He visited and a number of changes were made over the dinner table, seat, and not foot pedal steering among them. He asked me to work with him, and I told him that I could not see a future so declined. As was often the case I was wrong.
To me the appeal of a BK on a big venue does not exist. The Blokart Park in Papamoa is tiny, but that is the appeal, loads of corners, obstacles etc. You would struggle with a 5 on there, and a 3 is a total no go, but perfect for the purpose for which it was designed. A Blokart is not expensive compared to eg Mountain bikes, SUP, kayaks etc and they sell to the masses. Many of the Mini 5.6 I have seen don't look "sexy". Beauty is in the eye... but the younger person wants to be seen as cool with his mates. Look at Drifting etc. These young guys have money to burn, perhaps they just don't want to be seen with a bunch of guys their fathers age?
I helped a neighbor set up his Harbor 20 the other day that is retired from the boat building business. They sold power boats and sail boats. He commented on how much harder it is to sell a sail boat rather than a power boat. He said people are more than willing to shell out lots of money for a power boat but were very hard to deal with when it came to sailboats. He said the weird thing is many of his established customers bought both power and sailboats from him but they always gave him a hard time spending money on the sailboats. Other problems instant gratification generation, access, storage and transportation to the venue. Where I sail it involves long drives and camping equipment. Getting the dirtboat is the easy least expensive part.
Then you look at Europe and there is good youth participation. Schools access to venues and equipment = success.
what kiwi has said has a certain ring if truth about it . I have bern asking around among the younger people I know if and a common theme seems to be prevalent firstly not many of them know what land sailing or blokarting actually is or for that matter it even existed secondly they all want to know how fast they go. Seems to be a common theme. Also the age thing seems to there as well. .
Select to expand quotebeachball57 said... what kiwi has said has a certain ring if truth about it . I have bern asking around among the younger people I know if and a common theme seems to be prevalent firstly not many of them know what land sailing or blokarting actually is or for that matter it even existed secondly they all want to know how fast they go. Seems to be a common theme. Also the age thing seems to there as well. .
Last time I was across the road on the oval, I had a large picnicking mob wave me over and ask a heap of questions,
One of the [more than half cut] Dads asked what happens if it tips over,
Very much tongue in cheek, I told them you die a horrible and very messy death.
"AWESOME!!" from the kids and before you knew it - their Mum was strapped in and out on 2 wheels flirting with the grim reaper....
Damn kids and their mums racked up more time in D.G. than me that day.
Maybe we should promote land sailing as being dangerous - might attract more attention
stephen
These are being offered for $860.00 shipped to San Francisco.
http://www.cntopus.com/product/20140311/37.html
You can order one or a hundred of them at that price but shipping goes down because it's a flat rate. Whether they put one or fifty in a container it's still $125.00
So it's 860 for the first one and 735 there after.
Select to expand quoteSylk said...
I wasn't until i was well into middle age that I had acquired enough tools to even think about building a land yacht. Even then could not have done it without massive help from Landyacht.
Me too.
Select to expand quoteGizmo said...
What is the spare parts supply like.... ALL yachts need repairs
Manufacturer's quote
Good morning , thanks for your email.
for the spare parts, we offer you as bleow:
The 4.5M sail price is usd230/pc
The set of wheel is usd110/pc
The 4.5M mast price is usd280/pc
The travel bag price is usd40/pc
Bearing: 2usd/pc
Pins: 1usd/pc
Select to expand quotecisco said... Sylk said...
I wasn't until i was well into middle age that I had acquired enough tools to even think about building a land yacht. Even then could not have done it without massive help from Landyacht.
Me too.
Ditto
Invest in quality tools. If you need a tool for job you buy it. Once you have got the tools you can start building. If you can make one land yacht you can make plenty more land yachts.
I bought my blokart because I had no idea about landsailing/yacht building plus dad reckons i'm one of those 'rich mining types'. I thought a blokart and a landyacht were the same thing. But after being exposed to minis and class 5 at the state championships I was hooked. After sailing a mini and beating a perfomance blokart I knew what I wanted to make.
To me landsailing is more than just sailing. My enjoyment comes from designing building and racing my creations. There are so many skills to learn but the journey is part of the fun. Landyachts are cheaper than car modifying/drifting. The better your skills get the prettier the yachts you build.
Ben.
I am with you Ben, I get as much pleasure out of designing and building yachts and then trying to make them work. Love racing the dam things tho I had no great skills when starting but it was great learning them. I think with the amount of help and advice on here anyone could have a crack at building a yacht.
