Are boaters posh?

[blueglass]

I trust that was tongue in Cheek!

If not, perhaps oldgit will share his amazing formula for success with us. If there IS a way of getting "all the toys" without ever having worked for it - I need to know this urgently, I seem to have got something wrong.

 

[Searush]

Sorry Searush I was just jesting regarding the sailing yachts. There is one thing I can confidently say you could more than likely take my motor yacht off its berth and go to sea. If I tried to get a sailing yacht more than a few hundred yards with all them lines and winches and flappy things it would be curtains!!

No worries OD, I enjoy the craic on this forum. BTW, I have some spare sails if you need more curtains.

Actually "MoBo with a stick in the middle" is a fair description of SR a lot of the time. As Kwaka knows, one get nowhere opposing the forces of nature, & trying to sail into both wind & tide on the Straits. But you could motor her anywhere & I could just introduce the sails one at a time, there are only 4.

 

[oldgit]

Yes we are POSH .

"I trust that was tongue in Cheek!"

Just a tiny bit.

Anybody who owns and runs a boat is more likely that not to be on an above average wage,and if you are running a household,with a mortgage and a " boat" on less than the national average of £22.000 a year then you really should be in No 11.
It is easy to forget just how little some people live on and it is quite easy to see how people outside the boaty world would regard any boat owner as "well off",thats because you are.
If your (joint?) income is over 80k you are among the wealthest top 10% of households in the UK.

 

[Searush]

"I trust that was tongue in Cheek!"

Just a tiny bit.

Anybody who owns and runs a boat is more likely that not to be on an above average wage,and if you are running a household,with a mortgage and a " boat" on less than the national average of £22.000 a year then you really should be in No 11.
It is easy to forget just how little some people live on and it is quite easy to see how people outside the boaty world would regard any boat owner as "well off",thats because you are.
If your (joint?) income is over 80k you are among the top 10% of households in the UK.

As an OAP, that average salary is about right, but I'm glad to say that after 30 years my mortgage is paid off. But I am paying most of someone else's mortgage at the moment, running 3 cars & a boat - and not that short of money. But my expectations and needs are low. My expenditure remains at 19/6d (to quote Micawber)

But I don't think I would want to be Chancellor either, thank you. I wouldn't have enough time to go sailing & the idiotic criticisms would be even dafter & more vitriolic than they are on here.

 

[Seahope]

"I trust that was tongue in Cheek!"

Just a tiny bit.

Anybody who owns and runs a boat is more likely that not to be on an above average wage,and if you are running a household,with a mortgage and a " boat" on less than the national average of £22.000 a year then you really should be in No 11.
It is easy to forget just how little some people live on and it is quite easy to see how people outside the boaty world would regard any boat owner as "well off",thats because you are.
If your (joint?) income is over 80k you are among the wealthest top 10% of households in the UK.

As a PAYE type I will never be rich working for companies, but I have noticed that as one's salary rises expectations, responsibilities, hassle and associated stress rise and job security falls.

 

[oldgit]

As a PAYE type I will never be rich working for companies, but I have noticed that as one's salary rises expectations, responsibilities, hassle and associated stress rise and job security falls.

At a pub "debate" recently was amazed of the lack of awareness by the people around the table of what the average wage actually was,people who on 2,3 or 4 times that money had been whinging moments earlier about just how hard life was,I mean do you know just how much it costs to fill an Aston these days ?

 

[old_salt]

One of these well known boaters is posh, can you tell which one?

All my money is "old money", & much of it seems to be pre-decimalisation.

After WW2, common working people were encouraged to sail by a plethora of ship's lifeboats, cheap plywood home builds & then small GRP cruisers. Percy Blndford, Jack Holt, barry Bucknell et al did their bit to get everyone afloat & professional crews were no longer de rigeur. The age of sailing toffs died.

I would have thought they could be likened to the Three wise monkeys.

 

[blueglass]

At a pub "debate" recently was amazed of the lack of awareness by the people around the table of what the average wage actually was,people who on 2,3 or 4 times that money had been whinging moments earlier about just how hard life was,I mean do you know just how much it costs to fill an Aston these days ?

yes its amazing how often you hear this kind of whinging about how hard life is, struggling to pay the school fees at Eton etc. I guess its all relative but you often hear deep insensitivity from some, when they are moaning about it to the bar staff pulling them their drinks for a few quid an hour. So by the same token, we would be rightly classed the same moaning about the price of diesel for our "gin palaces".
You and I know we are probably much less well off than we will be perceived to be, but we should remember there are many families who would live for a month on a single tank fill of fuel.

 

[Sy-Revolution]

Gypos more like..............

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

yes its amazing how often you hear this kind of whinging about how hard life is, struggling to pay the school fees at Eton etc. I guess its all relative but you often hear deep insensitivity from some, when they are moaning about it to the bar staff pulling them their drinks for a few quid an hour. So by the same token, we would be rightly classed the same moaning about the price of diesel for our "gin palaces".
You and I know we are probably much less well off than we will be perceived to be, but we should remember there are many families who would live for a month on a single tank fill of fuel.

By the same token thetre are a lot who would regard boaters as posh scroungers for whom shelling out for a football club season ticket, new set of home and away strip, travelling to every game and a big screen + full Sky sub would be seen as money spent by Everyman. But add it up and its serious expenditure.

I'm always conscious of being fortunate enough to be able, _just_, to own a boat, and the things I go without.

 

[PaulGooch]

Owning and running our boat is a strain at the moment. Business is quiet and talk of a £22k average wage is laughable. Talk of joint incomes of £22k is hysterical. Around here, the average wage is more like minimum wage.

We also don't have Sky. Last holiday was in 1980, yes 1980. We don't smoke. At the moment, we rarely eat out but do have the odd Friday evening in the local, might spend a tenner, 15 quid at most.

The only reason we can afford the boat is because we don't have a mortgage, the boat is paid for and we have no credit cards and zero debt/borrowing.

We use the boat most weekends, particularly in the Summer. We take long weekends when we can. Those are worth more to us than holidays abroad. We take friends and family out with us and those trips are priceless.

We might be a bit skint at the moment, but we are rich in other ways. Posh we most certainly aint.

 

[Greenheart]

Very fair comment, Mr Gooch. Of course, you still sound...comfortable, next to some of my sailing days. I had a GP14 with a home-constucted plywood 'lid' on it, as a cabin. Surprisingly cosy in fact, and it certainly was value.

Oddly, I always enjoyed taking elaborate feasts and expensive wine on board, however cramped it was. I think I'm more decadent than posh. I'd enjoy a big Nautor Swan, but my mode of use wouldn't change much.

I'm surprised how little the non-yachting population at large knows. For every slick sixty-footer laden with smug VIPs, there are thousands of littler yachts run on miniscule budgets...but the world only sees and pictures the glamorous.

'Posh' is a terrible word used by people who feel second-rate and unfairly treated. The word's often used of the tasteless nouveau-riche, who aren't any better themselves. Sorry, getting political now.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

yes its amazing how often you hear this kind of whinging about how hard life is, struggling to pay the school fees at Eton etc. I guess its all relative but you often hear deep insensitivity from some, when they are moaning about it to the bar staff pulling them their drinks for a few quid an hour.

On the other hand, the rich boat owner standing at the bar moaning is keeping the barman and a few others in employment.

I once asked our officers mess steward how he put up with serving officers all day. He said he loved the job, had pride in it and it beat being on the ranges all day.

He said he loved putting on a top mess dinner and that he had an endless list of people - usually soldier's wives - who wanted to wait on the tables at mess functions.

I think you may be patronising the humble barman who probably enjoys the job and can keep his own council on what he thinks of the Hooray Henry's, without which, thousands of people would be without a job if there was no Henley, Ascot and Polo.

 

[blueglass]

I think you may be patronising the humble barman who probably enjoys the job and can keep his own council on what he thinks of the Hooray Henry's, without which, thousands of people would be without a job if there was no Henley, Ascot and Polo.

not patronising at all although your use of the word humble could be so construed.
My point was simply that it is quite understandable that boatowners will inevitably be perceived as well off by those on a low income.(if being well off is in fact a true definition of posh).
Some of us are and many are not, but you'll never get anybody to feel sorry for you as long as you have a boat in the marina. If you are well off enough to run a boat there is no need to be apologetic about - rejoice in it if you will, but don't expect somebody who is really struggling to have any empathy wih you.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

Oceandrive appears to have learned to spell in a posh school...not. Or was that irony? I'm lousy at recognising it.

or perhaps it's arrogance on your part for mentioning it??

I had a motor cruiser back in the 70's and I'm a rag and stick bloke at present and I ent posh!




www.sailingscotty.com

 

[Greenheart]

I meant no arrogance towards Oceandrive, or to you Scotty. That was irony, if you didn't recognise it!

Honestly, no offence intended.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

not patronising at all although your use of the word humble could be so construed.

I picked the word carefully.

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

It matters not what people think of themselves. It's how they treat others that matters. I have far more respect for the hotel receptionists where I swim daily than for many 'important' people I've met due to them dealing with me as a person rather than an object.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

It matters not what people think of themselves. It's how they treat others that matters.

For me that's the crux of the matter.

I care not really how much money people have, but much more about how they treat those around them.

I guess its worth saying that we must accept that we are lucky. Like it or not, for the majority of boat owners, we ARE fortuitous in that we've probably made good decisions throughout our lives, had a bit of luck and most likely, had the support neccessary to attain things in life.

We might not be 'wealthy' per se, but we ARE typically earning above average amounts of money, and have things that others cannot afford. I'm not knocking that. Anyone can do the same, but some don't get the support and guidance needed to understand that.

In my case, I have an ordinary house, and ordinary car, and don't spend much on going out. My spare income goes on the boat, and long may it last!