We promoted it on our website, Facebook, the walls of the Austin Yacht Club, and perhaps most importantly called all those people who have asked for a ride, but we were too lazy / busy / exhausted to teach how to rig a boat (which can be a long process with an inexperienced person).
At noon, when the rides were supposed to start, the winds were regularly hitting 20 knots so we decided to hold off a bit. We showed the 10 or so people who had gathered how to put on all the gear, get out on a trapeze, and the basics of the boats. Once the winds died down to less than 18 knots, we started giving rides, and didn't stop for at least the next 4 hours. We had 8 F18s and I20s out on the water, as well as a Corsair trimaran for those who were expecting a more relaxed experience (despite our disclaimers and warnings of high wind). In total we gave over 40 people their first taste of multihull sailing, and everyone was able to fly a hull! There was a bit of damage, including another kink in my once-repaired boom when the first victim capsized while flying the spinnaker. I wasn't driving my boat as I was busy organizing the event, so I was upset to see it returning to the dock a little... off. Nevermind... the initial repair wasn't all that great, and my new boom works quite well, and looks a whole lot better. We also had a boat manage to sail away from the dock without crew. The jib was maybe a bit undersheeted for my taste, but it took off on a nice, straight, close-hauled course into the shore. A few people ran out to fend it off before there was any real damage. Fortunately the coves at AYC have relatively steep banks and the daggerboards didn't run aground.
All in all, it was an unqualified success, and I estimate that we gained at least 5-10 potential crew, got a few more boat owners interested in AustinCats.net, and maybe even have a potential new boat owner or two crawling the classifieds right now. I can't wait to do it again!
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