State of sailing on the Salish Sea: close of the 2013 season

When we first entered the boat market, it was a relatively small step from not owning a boat to owning a boat.  We bought a new Cal 21 for around $4000 in 1973.  That doesn't sound like a lot of money, and really, it was not.  Using an inflation calculator, that turns out to be about $21,000 in today's anemic dollars.  For an engineer just entering the job market, the loan was not out of reach.

And it was a good time to enter the sailboat market.  There were lots of manufacturers of boats in this size range, all over the country.  Where we kept that new boat on Carlyle Lake in Southern Illinois, we might have seen on any given day, any of the following boats in the same size range:

• Cal 20
• Cal 21
• San Juan 21
• South Coast 22
• Venture 21
• Catalina 22
• Kitiwake 23
• Clipper 21
• Ranger 23
• O'Day 23
• Pearson 23
• Cheoy Lee 27

Now these are just the ones that I can pull from my memory - I'm sure that I am leaving out some.

And when we went to the boat shows, most of these manufacturers were there, competing for the chance to sell you one of their creations.

Fast forward 40 years.

We attended the Seattle Boat Show this last Sunday, which bills itself as the largest boat show on the west coast.  Sadly, each year the fraction of the dock space devoted to sail in the in-the-water portion of the show shrinks.  This year it was just the small floating dock section off of Chandler's Crab House - 15 out of 111 boats.  Now my memory may be failing me again, but I think the smallest boat on display there was an Island Packet 36.

OK, I get it.  Dock space at the show has gotten so expensive that I guess dealers can no longer afford to bring their used or small boats to the in-the-water show.

I can report a small improvement at the indoors portion of the show.  Tho there was only one sail exhibitor (other than Hobie and the Macgregor "sail" boats):  Beneteau, there were more sailboats in the show than last year.  But sadly, the smallest boat they had on display was a First 25, for the oh-so-affordable price of only $89,500.

So I asked the Beneteau sales rep:  "How are you going to sell someone a $400,000 yacht unless you first sell them a $20,000 boat?"  After all, very, very few people jump into the market at that level.  His answer?  They had a 20 footer on a truck heading to Seattle.  But this last weekend was their best shot, because next weekend, well, the boat show is going to be a ghost town.  After all, this is Seattle, home of the Seahawks.

Catalina was not represented at the show at all.

Finally, we surveyed the charter agencies who were represented at the show.  Amazingly, apparently the smallest sail boat that you can charter in Puget Sound is now 30 feet.

It appears that the sub-30 foot market has been effectively abandoned.  As I stated last year, this is a very bad strategic mistake on the part of the boat manufacturers.  With no realistic entry to the market, the customer base will age and eventually disappear.  Sure, you may sell them that $300,000 - $500,000 boat, but it will be their last boat and your last sale.  What is your plan for the future?

I had first-hand experience with this problem before I retired.  At work there were several folks who were potential sail devotees.  But the high entry price was a show stopper for all of them.  They were unwilling to invest nearly $100,000 to see if this was something that worked for them and their families.

As things currently stand, the used boat market is the only real entry point to the sailing sport.  But when I suggested that my interested co-workers might consider a used boat, they balked.  These are people of means, folks well into their careers, and of course, folks who don't know anything about sailboats.  Despite the factor of 20 reduction in cost, they were deterred by their uncertainty of whether they would be able to handle, or even identify the expected deficiencies to be found in a used boat.  Last year, I offered some suggestions to the business community that would serve to make the used boat market more appealing to the potential sailor.  But I am not a business man.  Some of you reading this are - what are your ideas?  Don't tell me - implement them!  As far as I can see from here, nothing has happened. 

So my take on the state of sailing on the Salish Sea at the close of the 2013 season:   

continuing to decline.

State of sailing on the Salish Sea: close of the 2013 season

Best small sailboat for Puget Sound

A reader recently visited this blog because it showed up in the search results for "best small sailboat for Puget Sound".  Sadly, the reader did not contact me :( 

Dear Reader, please imagine that you had contacted me, and that consequently we are sitting in Eolian's cockpit on a warm spring afternoon, sipping beers.  Here's what I would say:

I'm sorry but I cannot answer your question without a lot more information.

First, you ask for the best small sailboat...  what is your definition of "small"?

• Do you have a particular size in mind?  How did you settle on this size?
• Are you looking at a particular price ceiling?  What is it?  
• Are you looking for a new boat?  A used boat?  Why?  Are you willing to do a little work on the boat?  (You had better say "yes" to this question - whether new or old, boats all require work...)
• "Small boat" could imply trailerable.  If this is what you have in mind, do you have a rig capable of pulling the boat (Accords and Camrys need not apply)?  Do you have a place to store the boat when out of the water?  The disadvantage of a trailerable boat is that a fair amount of time (roughly an hour) needs to be spent rigging the mast and transferring everything from the towing rig to the boat before use.  But it does enlarge your cruising grounds considerably - The San Juans are close when you are traveling at 65 mph.

Next, what is it you see yourself doing with the boat?

• Racing?
• Day sailing?  Where?  
• Cruising?  Do you want to overnight on the boat? 

Does the simplicity of sail power appeal to you? Or do you enjoy all the bells and whistles?

Will your boat have a motor?

• Outboard or inboard?
• Gas or diesel?

Finally, what do you mean by "Puget Sound"?  Are you talking about:

• Day sailing on Lake Union?
• Lake Washington?
• The Sound itself, above the Tacoma Narrows?
• The South Sound?
• The San Juans? 

And the items are interrelated too.  The price of the boat is going to directly reflect its condition (are you willing to work on it?), the included gear and systems (simple or complex?) and intended use (day sailor, cruiser, racer).  Trailerable boats will not need moorage, thus saving that cost, but at a cost of time required to rig and derig at each use.  And you will have to pay for, license and maintain the trailer.

And now that you have answered, "Well, all of them!" to some of those questions, then I must say that you have some further contemplation before you are ready to make a purchase.  No boat is going to be good at racing, cruising and day sailing, for example.  You really do need to prioritize things.  A boat that tries to be all things does none of them well.

And now that we're done with that second (third?) beer, I'd tell you to go look at boats. Look at lots of boats. Look at boats that are in your parameters, and boats that are not.  The seller (whether broker or private) wants to show you their boats - take advantage of that. Sit aboard and imagine yourself under sail.  Feed the dream.

Come back again when you have done that - we'll have a lot more decisive conversation then.  And more beer.

Best small sailboat for Puget Sound

Prototyping

Modern boat design and construction isn't like it used to be.

At the Seattle Boat Show, one of the power boat manufacturers brought in a prototype of a proposed boat. 

It was made up of a series of CNC cut plywood panels, assembled into 4 (or more?) sections, cleverly keyed so that they fit together without any possibility of misalignment.  As this picture shows, it was possible to walk thru the prototype and get a feel for the interior and exterior spaces.  In some places there were slots machined into the plywood; thin battens were slid into them to give a feel for (for example) how close the overhead would be.

Picture of a picture

It really wasn't possible to get far enough away from the prototype in the show to get a good view from above, so I took a picture of one of the pictures they had on the poster session they had attached to the lower hull.  As it shows, the prototype is fitted out with appliances, seats, controls, etc.  These are all required to get the important 'feel'.  There were even vases with flowers in the staterooms.

And if design changes are called for, it is relatively inexpensive to make them in the CAD program and CNC cut some revised plywood sheets.

When the final design of the prototype is approved, it then serves a second purpose: it becomes the foundation for the male plug from which the female mold will be pulled.  Thin battens are sprung over it and it is glassed in from the outside.  Finally, the plug is carefully faired and polished.  The production female mold is then laid up on the plug.

Computers and computer-driven machining have really made huge differences in the boat fabrication business.

Prototyping

The state of sailing on the Salish Sea

(I normally try to keep the posts in this blog positive and uplifting.  However there are times when that is not possible.  If you are a reader who looks for the positive, you should perhaps eschew this post -Ed.)

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We went to the Seattle Boat Show this weekend.  This always serves for me as a barometer on the state of boating under sail here on Puget Sound (aka 'The Salish Sea' - subject for another post).  Now our boat show here is really two boat shows, run by two different organizations,  held simultaneously - one inside in the Exposition Center, and one in-the-water, held at South Lake Union - an interesting idea.

I felt pretty good about things afterwards.  In the indoor show, the number of sailboats (not counting Macgregor or the Hobies and other sit-on small boats) increased by 100% over last year.  That is, this year Beneteau had 2 boats inside - a nice showing.  For Beneteau anyway.  (Last year I ranted on this some, because we had taken our daughter and son in law and their very young kids to the show, hoping to get them aboard a couple of smaller sailboats.) 

The outdoor show also was an improvement over last year - there were a total of 16 sail boats available for boarding.  Catalina had 2 boats (35' and 38'), Hunter had 2 (27' and 33' - and by the way, that Hunter 27 is the only boat in the entire show that would have been suitable our kids...), Jenneau had 5 (33'-45'),  there was a Nauticat 37 and there was 1 catamaran (Lagoon 40).  The remainder were older used boats.

And I feel I must say this here - Jane and I prefer the older boats - where wood is used, it is teak - and there is lots of wood.  The modern boats, in an effort to stay just within reach financially have eschewed teak, and in the most budget-conscious boats, have even substituted laminates for wood entirely.  The charm of a traditional teak interior is impossible to beat.

As I say, I felt pretty good about the show.  And then I read this report by friends TJ & Deb of their visit to the Chicago boat show.  This is an indoor-only show (Chicago; winter).  And yet they had a much larger representation of sail boats than Seattle.  Look at the pictures!

And that got me thinking.  In my rant last year, I laid this problem at the feet of the Boat Show organizers.  But that is unfair - they simply bring the boats to the show that will sell.  Instead, it appears that it is simply the case that sailing is becoming less popular in Puget Sound.

As additional evidence, I offer these two observations:

• When we first moved onto G Dock in 2000, it was pretty much a sail-only dock.  Oh sure, there were a few of the 2-story tall power boats, but they were scattered widely between the masts.  Today, the dock is almost entirely power boats, with a small enclave of sail out here on the very end, and a thin scattering of 4 or 5 masts towards shore.
• There used to be three sailboat-only brokerages out here at Shilshole.  Now there is only one brokerage, and they deal with both sail and power.

And then there was the Boat Show.

What's happening?  Well, for one thing, I see no tangible interest on the part of the manufactures and dealers in selling the small boats - the ones that get folks hooked on sailing.  The 21' - 28' class boats - most are trailerable -  are the size that folks will be buying when they are just entering the sail marketplace.  I submit that a long-viewed manufacturer would sell boats in this size range almost at cost, knowing that he would be creating sales in the decades to come.  Two-foot-itus is a real thing, and young families outgrow smaller boats as kids appear.  

But maybe today's business climate does not allow unlimited loss-leaders.  OK, then how about Catalina or Hunter sponsor annual contests (500 words on "My dream under sail"?) with 5-boat giveaways in the 21-25 foot class.  That would whip up some interest.

And it should be possible to do something with the used boat marketplace as well.  Most used boats in the introductory size range now sell on craigslist.  Could a Catalina or Hunter dealer somehow sponsor a contest linked to craigslist sales?  Or perhaps they could partner with the sellers to offer boats as "dealer inspected and certified"?  This could be done with an at-cost charge to the seller, collected at the time of sale.

But I am not a businessman;  perhaps these are impractical ideas.  But you businessmen out there, you need to work on this.  I mean, come on.  How hard can it be to sell boats that move for free, when diesel is selling for $5 on the docks?

The state of sailing on the Salish Sea

The Boat Show, the Big Seattle Boat show...

If you live in Seattle, you probably recall that jingle that endlessly appears on TV this time of year...  "The boat show, the boat show, the big Seattle boat show...".  And then there are the billboard ads, and the ads on the sides of the buses...   Wait... No?  No jingle this year?  No ads this year?

This year it's almost as if the show producers plan was to depend on word-of-mouth from prior boat show attendees to produce the crowd.  And the "free parking with on-line ticket purchase" thing?  Gone this year too.  Luckily tho we found free (it was Sunday, and we were early) on-street parking.

So I have to say that, using the Seattle Boat Show as some kind of indicator of the health of the marine industries, I must admit I was apprehensive going in.  It just didn't look good.

And after attending, I can't say it looked good either.  Attendance at the show was light.  I can't even say it was anywhere near as large as the last time we went, when the crowds were so heavy that it was hard to walk, and there were long lines for boarding the large boats.

For a sailor, the show at the Expo center was a huge disappointment.  There was one forlorn sailboat - a Little Harbor 28, waay over in the far corner.  That's it.  And the wake boats and aluminum river sleds, which have in the past been relegated to the tunnel by the pressure of the large boat manufactures like SeaRay, Bayliner, et. al. for main floor space?  Well they had bled out into the main floor, occupying perhaps 25% of the space.  Apparently the big boat manufacturers did not want to pony up the bucks for floorspace this year.  And I can't say I blame them, with the price for a 25 foot boat now approaching $100,000, sales must be slim.

And here's the final insult.  I took the exit survey at the Expo show when we were leaving.  One of the questions asked what kind of boat we had.

"Sail" was not one of the choices.

It's become the Seattle Power Boat Show.

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In the credit-where-credit-is-due department, I must say that the gear and accessories in the side halls seemed to be about the same as always - and they were seeing lots of business (and I contributed - I bought a pair of scuba gloves).  And despite the rain, we enjoyed touring the new and previously owned sailboats at the Lake Union in-the-water show.  There more used boats this year, a pleasant surprise.

The Boat Show, the Big Seattle Boat show...

Seattle Boat Show, Winter 2010

Jane and I spent today at the Seattle Boat Show, billed as the largest boat show on the west coast. The show takes over the entire south end of Lake Union with literally hundreds of large boats, in the water. And the Quest Event Center is equally filled with more hundreds of smaller boats, up on blocks.

Normally I like to keep this blog positive, but frankly, I must confess I was disappointed. We did the outdoor show first, at Lake Union. At least 80% of the boats were power boats. The proportion of sailboats in the boat shows has been falling for several years running, with a brief respite a couple of years back when diesel was selling for $4.50/gallon (filling the 1200 gallon tankage on a 55' power boat was then a serious commitment). But the fall has resumed.

With the exception of a Dana 24, there were no sailboats of size in the indoor exposition. I am not counting the Hobies, nor the Macgregors (which hardly qualify as sailboats). Nor the delightful collection brought by the Gig Harbor Boat Works. But Hunter, Benneteau, Catalina, etc. were just not there.

But to end on a positive note, a local (Bellingham) builder: Norstar, was represented at the outdoor show with a new Norstar 40. We thought that this Robert Perry-designed boat was well thought-out and well built. He is getting positive press from the local and national yachting publications, and he told us that he was seeing a lot of interest at the show. We wish him luck and success!

Seattle Boat Show, Winter 2010

Anticipation

We go to the Seattle Boat show tomorrow.

It is billed as the largest boat show on the west coast, and it may well be.  It occupies the whole of the south end of Lake Union with boats in the water, and the Quest Field Event Center with boats on blocks and gear.  To do the whole thing and do it well is exhausting.

The boat show

The boat show

The big Seattle boat show

There.  If you are from Seattle, you now have an annoying little jingle running around in your head.  OK, I know that was cruel. 

The only way to get a jingle out of your head is to replace it...  so now go listen to some good music.

Those of you outside of Seattle, consider yourselves fortunate.  But go listen to some good music anyway.

Anticipation