I've been looking at the decreasing local interest in J/24 racing and thinking about what might be done to increase it. Part of the J/24's attraction has been the difficulty of sailing it well but, as I and my crew members are getting older, we are arriving at a belief that the J/24 is not as user friendly as we would like and there seem to be many sailors in our position. We sail the boat because it sails so nicely under most conditions and it's affordable. The J/24 fleets used to be populated with the best small keelboat sailors anywhere. My gut feeling is that the top sailors are as good as ever but there are fewer of them and the rest of the fleet is becoming less competitive and is having less fun.
Does anyone know of statistics on J/24 sailors age distribution changes over the years?
If my impression is correct, does anyone have suggestions on what, if anything we can do about it?
Does anyone know of statistics on J/24 sailors age distribution changes over the years?
If my impression is correct, does anyone have suggestions on what, if anything we can do about it?