Umm.. wrong one percent. Gosh, this is awkward.


Now you are going to tell me this isn't Jacob Marley?

I am part of the one percent. Well, most of the time I'm not but right now I am. Without me you have nothing! Nothing!

Wait, you know to which one percent I'm referring, right? No, this has nothing to do with Occupy Hatteras. This is quite different. It's the One percent principle which

.. states that the number of people who create content on the Internet represents approximately 1% (or less) of the people actually viewing that content (for example, for every person who posts on a forum, generally about 99 other people are viewing that forum but not posting).

The "90–9–1" version of this rule states that 1% of people create content, 9% edit or modify that content, and 90% view the content without contributing.

While I'm the one percent here, I am the 90-99% in most of my internet travels. For some web sites, I prefer to lurk and enjoy the contributions of others, many of whom are quite clever, literate and put forth interesting ideas. For others, say, news sites or Youtube, the audience participation seems to be more centered around those who SHOUT THE LOUDEST yet almost invariably have the most ill-informed and inflexible opinions. If I even read those comments, I feel like I've been wallowing in mud or worse and just want to wash it all off me.

At this point, you are probably expecting the "we need you so step forward" speech. Wait for it, wait....wait for it...

Didn't happen and it won't. If you want to add your thoughts, opinions or expertise via the forums, our photo gallery, the wiki or write and article, you are more than welcome to. Drop me a line or just go ahead and click a button around here. If you want to lurk, to quietly hang out in the background, that's good, too.

Something that I do care about is when you can, get on the water and share the good vibe. It may be tomorrow or it may be in a year or longer. We do what we can, job, family and other responsibilities and commitments permitting. In the end, that's "what it's all about".

When I was your age, I had a Sunfish ...

High performance sailing of my youth.

The Bic Techno 293 is a board that almost no one sails around Atlanta, yet, is one of the biggest racing classes in the world. It is the internationally recognized One Design (all boards having identical hulls and rigs) for Junior/Under 17 competitive windsurfers and feeder class to the Olypmic Classes, currently the RS:X. For those familiar with sail boat racing, it's our equivalent of the Optimist pram, although a bit more exciting to sail and a heck of a lot faster.

The reason you don't see any here is that it's fairly challenging for younger windsurfers in Atlanta to race. I speak as the father of a couple of kids who are in or passed through that age group. Of course, it can be done, Jamie Park was pretty fast as a teen. However, unless the family really commits to spending time windsurfing in warmer climates, it's difficult for kids to attain the time on the water here, in North Georgia, necessary to race a planing oriented race board. Finding and funding neoprene is difficult not to mention that, as a parent, I wasn't exactly crazy about sending my decently proficient son into the middle of Lake Lanier in the colder months.

In other places, Florida, CA, Europe and the Far East, getting kids on race boards isn't as much a family challenge and the class is much more active. There were eleven entrants at last month's Midwinters. The Dutch National Championships, this year, had to open more spots to accommodate the interest, going from 40 to 60.

Here's a promotional video for the class that almost seems it is a Michael Bay (Transformers, etc.) film. Short and fun to watch. Enjoy.