Future Wishes for US Windsurfing and the Sport in General........

USW Membership Requirements at Local Events; Ways to Boost USW Membership

No event in the Southeast Region other than the Midwinters currently requires USW membership, and I don't expect that to change. Most racing in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama is "club racing" on longboards and Formula-style shortboards, which is mostly for fun with little real glory. Only the Midwinters and the Islamorada Pro-Am attract truly high-level competition with the fleets peppered by "rock stars". Fleets in the regular events would be cut to half their size or less if USW membership was absolutely required of all entrants. I have spoken to every race organizer down here recently, and while they are happy to encourage and promote USW membership, and most are themselves members, they do not plan to require membership. Alternatively, my goal has been to get local clubs to join USW, thereby providing their members with the recently reinstated club discount. Promoting USW through the local clubs seems to be the best way to get individuals to join themselves.

We also need to provide regatta organizers with a recruitment kit for display at the registration table of every event; that would surely get us more members. I believe that this is critical to gaining new members for USW at one of the only public forums that we have -- regattas. The display itself should consist of a poster board with information about the benefits of membership in USW, along with membership forms that can be collected and sent in by the race organizer. A sample coupon book (with cancelled coupons) should also be available for inspection. I'm sure that we'd gain new members this way.

Another area that needs work is potential member recruitment from an obvious but underutilized source. Think about it -- at what age do most people start windsurfing? Not at the junior level, which requires transportation to water and money for equipment. Most people get into windsurfing in their twenties, after they have finished school and have a job to pay for their hobbies. This is the demographic that we should be targeting. It is great to continue with the juniors program, but the local clubs in the Southeast get the vast majority of new members through recruitment of "twenty-somethings" wanting to take up an active, "cool" sport that also has the added benefit of social interaction. In my local club, we actually get a lot of our members from individuals who were formerly in the local university sailing club, graduated, got a job in town, and are looking to continue windsurfing in an organized environment.

Also, we need to be looking at what we academics call "retention". That is to say, if we bring in a junior through lessons or a clinic, what is the probability that s/he will stick with it? How many juniors in the programs that USW funds actually continue in the sport? And how many of those become USW members? The people who run Junior programs should be applauded, but how fruitful is it? It may be that we are focusing too much effort on juniors relative to the return on membership numbers, and not enough on the likeliest target group -- twenty-somethings out of college with a job and money to spend. Juniors require parental involvement, and I can think of very few parents who would drive their kid to Shell Point from Tallahassee (or Lake Lanier from Atlanta, both about a two-hour round trip) even every other weekend. We get juniors in our weekly lessons, but few if any stick with it for even a season. Most of our new members come from the community, and are in their 20s or 30s. Let's target the demographic that has the means to sustain a windsurfing habit: young adults with time on the weekends, transportation, and money (at least some of it) for equipment.

I would be interested to learn what are the target demographics of the windsurfing equipment manufacturers and the magazine publishers. No doubt they pay for market studies to determine how to bring new people to the sport. We should contact the AWIA and try to us their expertise in this area for our own recruiting efforts. I apologize in advance to those who may feel that it is a heretical idea to propose that we should reduce our focus on juniors and add some real effort into getting "twenty-somethings" into the sport. I do think that it is essential to the maintenance (if not the growth) of the sport that we address this issue. Regardless of the other obvious benefits in training juniors to sail, if we want to enlarge USW membership, recruiting older sailors should definitely be reemphasized.

One increasing concern with many who race in the Southeast Region is the inflation of regatta fees. I Regatta fees should be sustained or reduced to a reasonable level. In general, regatta organizers should use events to promote the sport, their club, or their business, but not as a money making tool. Other than large regional or national events, a regatta can be run for absolutely no more that $50 per person entry fee This includes covering the costs of tee shirts, trophies five-deep in six -- eight classes, continental breakfasts and at least one dinner, beverages on and off the water, and entertainment. Each of three categories can be covered for no more than $10: tee shirts, dinner, and trophies. Bands can be hired for $5 per person on average, etc. It's hard to see where the $75 -- $100 entry fees go, for any regatta other than a national-caliber event. Except at the largest regattas where the infrastructure needs are substantial, the emphasis at regattas should be on FUN. The lower the cost -- the greater the attendance.

Respectfully submitted by Wright Finney

USW Region 10 (Southeast)

August 15, 2001