Official Logo
Every other sailboat class on the planet seems to have a sail insignia and logo, I think because they all look so similar that without them, you wouldn't be able to tell what boat they are.
Our boat is so different looking from all the rest, I don't think we will be mistaken for anything else.
We don't have an international official logo.
If you want to make promotional materials, shirts, hats, sail or hull insignia, you are welcome to use any graphic representation you want, and hopefully put PDRacer.com (or your website) near it.
If you organize a fleet, you might want to create a logo or insignia that represents your fleet.
In the yahoo group, in the folder "Proposed Puddle Duck Logo's" are a number of logo ideas.
If you have an idea, feel free to upload your graphic there.
Starting / Promoting Local Fleets
This is a free club, so to make it grow, we rely on members to get out there and spread the word locally.
It really takes a lot of time and effort to get a fleet started, and takes just as much to keep it going.
One of the toughest things about promoting the PDRacer, is that the people who are most likely to build a boat, do not currently sail or own a boat, and probably don't know that you can build your own boat as easily as we do.
Here are some guerilla marketing ideas for advertising your fleet of pdracers:
"PDRacer.com" on the stern of your boat & go sailing - These boats attract a lot of attention both at the ramp and on the road.
Go sailing and people will see your boat and aproach you at the docks to ask questions - that is your best chance to get things started.
Also while trailering, people can see the website as they drive behind you, if you cartop, then write it upside down. :)
Display Outside of Store - Get permission to park your boat on the sidwalk in front of a popular store, grocery store, home depot, or the mall.
Put the sail up and everything, and have some flyers to pass out.
Possibly even have a billboard with the key points like: Build your own boat for $100, Free Plans, Free Club etc.
Display At Park - You could visit a city park and setup your boat somewhere that gets high visibility.
Put a stack of flyers on the deck and pass them out.
If you are shy and don't want to talk to the people, you could just park your boat there with the flyers and sit in your car or off to the side at a park bench.
Busy Street Corner- While driving, I see all sorts of people parked on busy street corners, selling stuff out of the back of their pickup trucks.
You could get permission to park on a corner and have your boat setup to catch their attention and pass out flyers.
Possibly put PDRacer.com in large letters on the sail so that people driving by can see the website to get more info, incase they don't want to stop.
Local Holiday Parade- Every 4th of July, the town I live in has a small parade.
People line the streets, and just about anyone can be in the parade for free, all they have to do is coorinate with the oganizers to show up at the right time.
You could get some kids to sit in your PD, and pull it by hand on the trailer with a dolly.
Make a short mast (to clear under the power and telephone wires) with PDRacer.com on it, so people can find your local club thru the website.
Local Community Events - Like the holiday parades, there are lots of community events that would probably let you exhibit your boat for free, since you belong to a free club.
The boat is small and light enough that you should be able to wheel and display it just about anywhere.
Partner With Local Sailing Club - You might want to join a local sailing club that has one design fleets.
Find one that would welcome the addition of a new fleet, so you can have your PD races on the days when they race all their other classes.
Often they will setup races where the fastest class of boats start first, then 5 minutes later the next fastest class goes over the start line and so on.
Boat Shows -
There are many annual wooden boat shows and regular production fiberglass boat shows.
If you contacted the organizer and explained how you are trying to promote a free club in the area, they will probably let you exhibit for free in a remnant show area.
They may even want you to put on a demonstration about how to build boats.
Don't be embarrased at the level of finish of your boat, the emphasis of the PD is to be built quick and dirty, not a work or art.
Billboard At The Lake -
I am sure you have seen them, restaurants and various stores have folding billboards, they look like a folding saw horse.
You could make one of those that has a pocket for flyers, and set it up on the shore so people can get a brochure as they see you (and others) out there rounding the bouys.
Or possibly you could drop off a billboard at the park early on a Saturday morning, and pick it up in the evening.
Teach A Boat Building Class -
Ever heard of a Cape Cod Frosty?
One reason they became very popular because the founder started teaching a class on how to build them at the local community center.
Possibly you could teach a class locally, or have something at simple as a one day primer showing your boat, and having everyone in the class look at print outs from the website showing how to build them.
Send Post Cards - Make post cards about your pdracer fleet and how easy they are to build, and mail them to anyone that you think would be interested like sailing clubs, local schools with wood shop classes, boyscout and girlscouts etc.
You can even drive around, and when you see a sailboat in someone's driveway, write down their address and send them a post card.
Business card - Print out business cards (or scraps of paper that resemble busienss cards) and carry them around in your wallet.
When people ask you what your boat is, or if you strike up a conversation with someone, you can give them a card.
Bulletin Boards - Make a flyer, and every time you see a bulletin board like at a grocery store, tack one up.
You can make the tear off pieces on the bottom with your fleet info or PDRacer.com, so that they can take the info home with them.
Many marinas have bulletin boards.
Call Local News Papers - The local papers run tons of human interest stories and are constantly on the lookout for stories about local people doing stuff.
Am sure they would love to run a story about you, just call them up and tell them you have a good story about making a plywood box with a curved bottom, and sailing it.
Local Morning News Program - The local news stations often have a morning show which they stay with a story for an hour or two while they splice in the weather and other news.
You could setup a time where they watch you assemble a boat live on TV -- you'd need to pre-cut the parts, but it would be neat.
I have been on the morning news a number of times.
Also the news might run a short story about you just sailing around and looking to get more people to build boats.
Newspaper Classifieds - You might want to put an ad in the local classifieds under "sailboats for sale".
List the website and your local fleet info.
You might also run something on eBay !
Magazine Articles - There are a number of paper and online magazines, you could write an article about your pdracer & your local fleet, and get it published.
Many of the publications pay for articles too.
Post Info in OTHER Online Discussion Groups - There are MANY sailboat discussion groups on the net, and each one has an audience from a variety of locations.
You could post up info to them about your local fleet and see if you can find any local sailors.
Keeping Your Fleet Alive
After you have several in your area that have built PDRacers, the work is not over!
You need to talk with them and figure out good times to setup races that the most can make it to, and then make a racing schedule.
As a fleet captain, you should be at atleast 90% of the races.
Constant contact and reminders to all the fleet members is important, many of them have very busy lives and they will forget which weekend is race day, so send them an email directly or call them and give them a friendly nudge to get them out to the event.
So keep a private contact list, and also keep a list of anyone that has expressed interest in joining the fleet, and send them notices also.
Also you should figure out what type of events your fleet likes to do.
Some people only like round the bouy racing, while others would prefer the alternate types of races.
And still others really aren't looking to race at all, they would rather just go for a day sail / messabout / or overnight together, but still call it a race for it's ease of communicating to others the importance of going out with the club.
So the bottom line really is just commuinication and having a fleet captain(s) that will put forth the effort to motivate the fleet.