J Category

[ryan_4z]

I have to agree with Paul that this class is more of an OPC learner than a kneeler. This is obvious. Maybe there is a place for this class there. Nonetheless there is an interesting model here.

I have to believe that if we wanted to create a class for 7-8 year olds that we could do that. Maybe 33 mph is too fast but perhaps 25 mph? There is really no reason why a seven year old isn't as capable as a nine year old from an intellectual standpoint. By the time a child is seven years old their capacity for learning is highly developed. This is not an attribute that advances greatly for a number of years. As with most things, children develop in stages and plateaus. Children from approximately 7-11 years old do little intellectual maturation, from a biological standpoint. The mind has been growing non-stop for the first six or so years of life and now it reaches the stage where it is ready to intake knowledge and information at an incredible rate. By keeping kids out of boats until they are nine we actually miss the opportunity to give them valuable instruction before the early stages of puberty start to show up. A stage when they are highly apt. By the time children are nine years old in 2017 the world is full of distractions. These kids can manage the latest Apple technology, I think they can mill a raceboat.

The fact is a 4th grader is more similar to a 2nd grader than she is to a 9th grader....

[bmitch1]

Children demonstrate an uncanny proficiency with technology because they are not afraid to push all the shiny buttons - a characteristic that older learners often shy away from because, from experience, they know that shiny button things are usually expensive and can be broken if they are misused. Offer an iPhone X to a senior citizen who hasn't used a mobile phone and they'll often return it to you untouched saying "It looks expensive. I don't want to break it", meanwhile a kid with the same device won't take his hands off it because he has no perspective on the cost, the benefit, the danger, or the risk of doing it.

This whole thread reminds me of a LinkedIn post I saw several months ago "Sell the problem you solve. Not the product. " In that example connecting potential customers to a known product became much easier when they embraced a problem first...

[ryan_4z]

So I can't drop this idea that we lack GRADUATION through the early classes. They are a mush and a jumble and sometimes scary. I know that a lot of my ideas are way out of the box and that seeing the here-to-there can be difficult, especially when my words can be so scattered. But what I am trying to do is to envision how I would approach things if none of the current constructs were in place. So here is where I think we have a real problem with the Junior Category drivers graduating to Stock and beyond...

They get a good experience in J but are not, by-and-large, well prepared. And, it seems we lose drivers at this transition.

(Maybe I am wrong in this perception. But, I feel like the J classes have been doing very well over the past 15 years and that has not translated into growth in the other outboard categories. This does not add up unless we have a failure at some point.)

I think this is due to the simple fundamentals that always govern youth sports. Keep kids of drastically different physical capabilities separated and limit the influence of wealth on success. When you consider these two factors our J category is an epic failure.

If a child raced from 9(or 8 or 7) to 11 in the J class; then, she graduated into AX without looking back til she was 14; then, at 15-16 maybe her only options should be A and 300 (This would give the mid-teen youth another clear plateau of accomplishment and limit them to the classes that are truly appropriate for kids of their age. Then, at 17 the doors open up.), then they would PROGRESS through the classes and it would be natural for them to again move into either the 20 or C classes (or B or 25 which are similar alternates). Each class would have clear distinction and progression in difficulty and the ability of money and knowledge to give special advantage.

Instead of promoting this false idea that there is economy in the J/A(X) similarity, we wake up to realize that our equipment holds value very well and it is basically just as easy to sell out of your last class to get into a new one.

(This is what Dad did, after almost fifteen years of racing Yamatos (and loving it and the simplicity and reliablity, and Dad having good success (1 BMH Nats, 2 BMH Hi-Pts, 1 CMH Hi-Pts, and (the best one) 1 CSH Hi-Pts , (plus other local, national, and continental accomplishments (just to mention 2006-007)(sorry, gotta brag about the ol' man, you know.)) he sold it all to go all in with Sidewinders. Not because Sled is his brother. Actually, probably, in spite of that fact. In spite of his older, sometimes difficult, brother, he wanted to support Sidewinder for boat racing. And because B stock is cool as sh!t....)

It is really very economical to buy a Sidwinder if you sell a Mercury. If you just got 3-4 years out of the thing and the Sidewinder is going to cost $4900, I know a solid Merc with a foot is worth $4000. And that's probably about all you have into it. It's not that much of an upgrade. Likewise, you sell props, you buy props. Samey, samey. Maybe when you test 'em first they already work. Some times the props that we had are the props that were good.