I like this video I saw some time ago... just get rid of the water.

I was recently doing some work at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre and got me thinking how many fans would you need?

Here is my 2 cents worth...

Yes, the blokart has been a success story. If you want to understand how to replicate this success, you must look at its characteristics and see what matters and just as importantly, what doesn't matter.

Convenience is important. There can be no doubt that being able to pack the blokart in one bag and the sails in another and taking them on a plane or chucking them in the boot of a small car is a big plus.

The next issue is about venues. Landsailing in general has a problem with venues. Having spent years looking for a new home for the Melbourne Blokart Club, I can honestly say that no one is immune to this problem. That said, the key issue here is the type of venue options that are available. As a blokart club, we can include car parks and bicycle tracks in our search. A class 5 may be a wonderful machine, but if you can't sail it without travelling great distances, then that is a disincentive to ownership.

Sheer quantity is important. One of the biggest advantages of owning a blokart is that a lot of other people own one too. I suspect that the reason so many blokarts and other land yachts are sitting in garages is that there are too few people nearby that have one. Sailing on your own is okay for a while, but humans are social animals, and eventually the need for a community of interest takes over.

Ease of use is probably the number one characteristic. I find it amusing that many here are dismissive of the most important characteristic of any successful land yacht. By calling blokarts "toys" and poo-pooing the fact that a person who has never sailed before can jump in one and have fun, critics are doing the non-blokarting community a huge disservice. The blokart has found that magic mix of being easy to learn and difficult to master. The notion of blokarters moving on to 'bigger and better' land yachts is just rubbish. A few may change that way, a few more go the other way, but by and large, most don't change at all. I have seen countless novices jump into a blokart, sail around in circles at a speed that would be embarassing to the more experienced, and get out with their chequebooks in hand wearing the "blokart grin". If someone jumped into a more challenging land yacht, barely moved or worse still, took off and capsized, do you really think they would decide to join the sport, or would they just walk away in disgust and never contemplate land sailing ever again? As they say in the classics, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression".

So, what is not important?

Blokarts cost more than a home-built, so if cost is an important factor, why are there so many blokarts? I understand that many people cannot afford a blokart and I am not suggesting that if you can, you should buy one or if you can't, go without. What I am saying is that if you want to build numbers in any class, don't get overly obsessed on cost. If you want to design a landyacht that competes with the blokart in terms of numbers, don't sacrifice too much to scrape a few dollars off the cost. If you put a blokart next to a much cheaper land yacht that looked like a second-hand trailer axle welded to an old fence post, it will be the blokart that gets the sale. There is an old story about a car maker I shall not name who were having trouble selling their vehicles in Australia. They solved the problem by jacking up the price into the luxury car range. Their sales went up.

Class 5s go faster than a blokart. How many blokart pilots do you really think care? I have heard a lot of to-ing and fro-ing on whether the LL Mini is faster than a blokart or the other way around. Does it matter? While many blokart pilots enjoy racing and have no problem competing against other types of landyacht in a social event, it is not the main game. What really matters to the blokart community is whether I am faster than you, not whether my land yacht is faster than yours. There are some people who like pitching their design skills against that of other people, but they are in the minority. When I was sailing ordinary yachts many years ago, I sailed in our club's "Mixed" class. Each yacht was handicapped and to be blunt, it sucked. I envied those sailing Lasers, Mirrors, Sabres, Paper Tigers and the like because when they raced, it was down to nothing but skill.

The DIY element of other land yachts attracts a few people, but on average, it is probably more of a turn off than a turn on. Many people lack the skills, time, and enthusiasm to build their own. The blokart has the advantage of being able to capitalise on what one poster nicely described as IWIN (I Want It Now). When someone gets out of a blokart, they need only sign the cheque and their blokart arrives a week or two later. They can make that committment on the spot. For a homebuilt, the committment must last long enout to source the parts and assemble the land yacht. There is a lot of time to reconsider in between.

As someone said, the Standart is also a success story. I suspect you will find many of the blokart characteristics in common with the Standart. The Standart people most probably haven't bothered worrying about the same stuff the blokart business hasn't cared about.

Another way of looking at this issue is to understand and accept that the blokart community represents where most people who are interested in land sailing are in their thinking. While building your own land yacht or tearing across a salt lake at breakneck speeds excites some, it is not where the bulk of the land sailing community is. There is a need to satisfy this small group of enthusiests, but if you want to build a large, successful sport, you need to address the needs of the much larger volume of land sailers whose interests are different to the bulk of the non-blokart posters here on Seabreeze. The blokart has grabbed this group already, so an alternative must be one step further ahead.

Yes a very good summing up Bee Gee different strokes for different folks
regards Hiko

There's another plus - everybody gets to choose what yacht is preferable to them.

EDIT: Make that yachts plural!

have to agree with much of beegees list, But I love makin them, and I'm so pleased to have made contact with others that love that aspect too.
with 9 various landyachts at my call to go sailing in, the most used ones are the minis, so for me the evolution of the last few years has been to down size .
Ive tried very hard to give up the class 5 building , but yes there is another on the way and its really an experimental base rather than a final design..
For me the future ( in Australia) seems to be in Mini/blokarts with the occasional gathering of bigger yachts.
Perhaps such a thing is only possible because of my location( 4 venues available within a short distance) and that other places have thier yacht types, and activity preferences determined by location and Local Authority.
.

Well i have been using this site for near a year
Ive heard a bit about an association, but never really heard from them
or seen any postings, they seem to be un-active or un-willing to make any waves re promotion, maybe they should stand down and get an active mob driving the show.
I see a fair amount of bitching and name calling behind the writings and a never ending battle of dollars and show. Froth and bubble!
The promotion has to encourage the small player from the start, just life all the agriculture investment schemes, and build up upon the little mans back for a
few years....and then you can get rid of them and throw it all over to the money men.
Promotions of the activity around Australasia [Aust+NZ] should be being organized for the public....example #1 the xmas parade in Adelaide coming up , there should be a gaggle of yachts taking place, licra clad drivers being pulled along by bikini clad blonds, that kind of thing...or the boy scout troupe.
Yachts should be dispatched to every BBQ and sausage sizzle event, sporting events, just static displays..there's thousands. Everyone has to give a little of their own blood.
The only persons who seems to do any extra with the community and kids seems to be Paul and Sue, and to me they should receive a medal. You don"t have to be that dedicated. And they breed plenty of landyachties.
Shires, councils, schools, whatever should be contacted and asked if they would want to put on a display day in synergy with another event. Shopping malls on Saturday morning, Thursday , Friday nite, pull your yacht out of its bag and put it together in front of people then they can understand, just how easy it all is. ...build it up a bit about the wind, and you have them in the palm of your hand.....
Don't forget the jails and corrective establishments, it may be a thing that changes some poor buggers life... he may actually get one. All us old farts realize the therapeutic value of what we are interested in....
All it takes is a phone call, some of your time, dedication..... Make it a thing, ask everyone to do a little promotion, I have already had two carts of mine in a small town xmas parade.....had a ball, don't talk promotion do it.....
Most people, like me know nothing of landyachts,unless they touch base.....

Here's a couple I prepared earlier............2006 Xmas
Photos by " The Plains Producer " in house photolady



Poor " COKO " person had been walking the walk, but because
of the size of the feet, Coko ended up somewhat stretched
in the groin department, needless to say Coco enjoyed the lift,
As the old song says "hop up on my cart/landyacht !" and throw
a few lolleys to the kids . Feel good feeeling Actually look a bit like Bondy there, another two bob millionaire !!!!



This one.... my version of the Little Drummer Boy, if one were
to understand that drummer boy and his personality problems.
the result was that he achieved a lot. Even if it meant wearing
a silly santa helper hat for an hour or two.
One does not need to have sail set, substitute some tinsel, bash
hell on a drum, even crack a smile or two, enjoy..... and OH yes
Throw lollies to the kids, wrap some old shoe boxes with chrissy
paper, and watch the eyes of kids.....wonderment!!!

I'd also have to endorse BeeGee's 2 cents worth. However without getting into the subject of types of land yacht, the biggest impediment to land yachting from my perspective is the inaccessibility of places to sail them. The beaches near me are not suitable for land yachting and the only other place suitable has a very limited open season, which means I can't go when I want to without prior arrangement with a key holder and even then for only a short season. I intend to return to sailing on the water (windsurfing and catamaran)and paddling my ski- both of which I can do 365 days a year because access is so easy (bearing in mind that I never really got into land yachting).
In summary; I don't think I am much different from the average person and in my opinion land yachting will struggle to increase it's numbers as the availability of places to sail is very ,very limited and ever on the decrease. added to this is the constant increases regarding restriction to where we are allowed to sail/recreate for a host of reasons intending to preserve the environment...so they can bull doze it to put houses, marinas ....whatever. Anyone want to buy a Club 88?

j murray said...
don't forget the doggydoo between the toes,
Landyachting has none of these drawbacks that I can think of !!!!!

you havent tried landyachting on my local oval........

I draw the line at "bling" like mudguards on my landyacht- but am seriously considering doggydoo deflectors!

Thanks Kiwi, I can't and won't comment on the blockart issue except to say that I have never tried to sail at a blokart venue to be able to comment. I've tried the beach which was exhilerating for 80 metres or so but had to stop as the beach is only 25 metres wide, or so and there were other people trying to use the beach for more traditional uses...digging great big holes etc. I've tried car parks but they are also too small for the class 5 size landyacht and the car parks that are big enough quite rudely want the space for their customers and tend to have 7 day trading to inconvenience me.

landyacht said...

I wonder if "venue " and "convenience" are the keys to this, rather trhan brand names and prices.
Having 3 good spots to sail a mini within 20mins of home does mean that they get used a lot more.
The car park venue is great for a quick test, or to introduce a newbie

Yes!
I wonder if there is a perception of production built being "better" than homebuilt? Certainly in many cases the standard of finish is way higher, and do people have an image to uphold too? Bits of scaff tube and heavy steel clamps look a bit out of place alongside your HSV or similay Falcadore!

There's 2 people in my landyacht club (including me).
Actually, it's not even a club. We just don't live around anyone else crazy enough to sail wheeled vehicles.
Most people think we're ready for the loonie-farm, we just haven't been caught yet.

If someone comes up with a cool bumper sticker, I'd gladly display it on my car. Even if it has Seabreeze website on it. I owe alot to this forum.

Cheers
-Nat

Kemosabi said...

There's 2 people in my landyacht club (including me).
Actually, it's not even a club. We just don't live around anyone else crazy enough to sail wheeled vehicles.
Most people think we're ready for the loonie-farm, we just haven't been caught yet.

If someone comes up with a cool bumper sticker, I'd gladly display it on my car. Even if it has Seabreeze website on it. I owe alot to this forum.

Cheers
-Nat

Thanks for the positive feedback Nat! I view it as this landyachting forum owes a lot to you and all the other members who contribute in a positive way. If it wasn't for all of you this would just be an empty menu item!

Now I was just sitting here and started thinking , you know, MAD MAX 4.
Weeeelllllll mad max movies are all about the future, and they tend to do
BIG BUSINESS all around the world.
People just cant get enough of the outback and eccentricity, and Broken Hill they always include an off beat scene or two like the gyro copter , a small cameo presentation
So how about someone here tracks down the principals and got landyachts written into a scene That would have to lift the profile of landyachts here and world wide.
If the story runs on in series, the feul crisis will be greater than it was and therefore LANDYACHTS could freezable be the motis operendi of the populace
I feel sure that a mad mob of wheeled yachities screwing across the Donga, in cinema scope, would produce some fuel in theater goers un-mentionable's ........... as they say..............THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT [}:)]
Maybe tranny pilots, that could work too. The six seconds of separation means that someone amongst all of us out there has the connection. SKITCH them Max!!!!!

Have you seen the movie "Sahara"... released in 2005 I think.
There's a scene where they build a land sailor out of a junk airplane and sail it across the desert. Obviously, not realistic but still gets the point across.
I looked for a video on Youtube, but couldn't find one.