Attracting youth to sailing

[conks01]

Hi,

We had a meeting at our club in Somerset earlier today and looking around the room it was evident that the club isn't getting any younger and there was a genuine concern with regard to the future of the club therefore.

I did ask whether we could look at dinghy sailing and introducing this thus to attract more younger club members but the reaction suggested that sailing simply doesn't appeal to youths which I found hard to believe.

The Olympics and exploits of Sir Ben Ainslie have surely enhanced the attraction of sailing to the younger generation and with this in mind I was wondering if there's somebody out there that has set up a juniors section perhaps bringing in dinghy sailing and helping to sustain the future of their club.

Are there any recommendations or assistance from the RYA which can help.

Thanks.

 

[Tranona]

There is plenty of enthusiasm from youngsters for watersports and many ways they can participate. Many clubs like ours have junior sections and active dinghy classes. The problem is that participation rarely goes beyond mid teens as other activities take over. Same story with most youth type activities such as scouts and guides.

The problem for most clubs is that few younger people take up cruising or buy boats so there is a polarisation of ages. Lots of children, a few young adults crewing then a yawning gap to "mature" boat owners.

Anyway the rYA has lots of schemes to support youth activities.

 

[Capt. Clueless]

Dinghy sailing/racing is the way forward. Youngsters can't afford cruisers, but as displayed by Ullswater yacht club, youngsters will learn/race in dinghies. Commitee need to remove their blinkers.

 

[PhillM]

There is plenty of enthusiasm from youngsters for watersports and many ways they can participate. Many clubs like ours have junior sections and active dinghy classes. The problem is that participation rarely goes beyond mid teens as other activities take over. Same story with most youth type activities such as scouts and guides.

The problem for most clubs is that few younger people take up cruising or buy boats so there is a polarisation of ages. Lots of children, a few young adults crewing then a yawning gap to "mature" boat owners.

Anyway the rYA has lots of schemes to support youth activities.

I suspect that view is too short term. Lots of people on here (me included) introduce themselves with the sentence "I used to sail dinghies as a child / teenager and am returning to sailing after (insert number of decades here) with this my new (second hand) small family cruiser ...."

Your teenages of today are your cruiser sailers in about 30 years. What happens in between is where your problem is.

 

[PabloPicasso]

I suspect that view is too short term. Lots of people on here (me included) introduce themselves with the sentence "I used to sail dinghies as a child / teenager and am returning to sailing after (insert number of decades here) with this my new (second hand) small family cruiser ...."

Your teenages of today are your cruiser sailers in about 30 years. What happens in between is where your problem is.

Yes indeed. It's attracting 30s, 40s, and even 50s age groups that we are after I suppose. I'd have loved to sail in my 20s but had no nautical connections at all.

 

[conks01]

Sailing boats do appear to be cheaper than they have in the past and more affordable which as you all suggest may attract 30+ year olds. Maybe we need a strategy to capture this demographic?

 

[SolentSnowgoose]

This is a question I have pondered for our club over many years.

One thought that comes to me is that there are a small number who continue to sail dinghies into their 20s and perhaps early married years.
Then comes the family and it gets much harder to sail dinghies as a couple with a very young family but a small cruiser does give the potential to continue sailing
Hence maybe the key task is supporting young families with small children to sail at an affordable cost.
In our club our best and most accessible moorings are given to our most elderly members, who may be less agile but equally have much more time and flexibiity than a young working family trying to take, for example, two under 5s away for a weekend
Hence if we are serious about getting younger families involved in cruising we need to think about what we can do to make it easy for them to get afloat cheaply, even if it means prioritising their needs above that of older members.

Perhaps the problem lies in the hands of the existing older generation of crusiers who may have come into sailing when it was a predominantly male preserve and when 3 guys would sail a 25 footer across the channel in woolies and oilskins and who simply don't recognise the needs of a modern young family.

 

[johnalison]

This is a question I have pondered for our club over many years.

One thought that comes to me is that there are a small number who continue to sail dinghies into their 20s and perhaps early married years.
Then comes the family and it gets much harder to sail dinghies as a couple with a very young family but a small cruiser does give the potential to continue sailing
Hence maybe the key task is supporting young families with small children to sail at an affordable cost.
In our club our best and most accessible moorings are given to our most elderly members, who may be less agile but equally have much more time and flexibiity than a young working family trying to take, for example, two under 5s away for a weekend
Hence if we are serious about getting younger families involved in cruising we need to think about what we can do to make it easy for them to get afloat cheaply, even if it means prioritising their needs above that of older members.

Perhaps the problem lies in the hands of the existing older generation of crusiers who may have come into sailing when it was a predominantly male preserve and when 3 guys would sail a 25 footer across the channel in woolies and oilskins and who simply don't recognise the needs of a modern young family.

I think you're right, in that there are plenty of youngsters getting into dinghies, especially with clubs such as mine with active cadet sections, but there does appear to be a dearth of young families just messing about in cheap small boats. In the '70s, we mostly met families with boats of 22-28ft, like our own, but new horizons beckon, and foreign cruising in 35-footers seems to be the norm today.

 

[dunedin]

I did ask whether we could look at dinghy sailing and introducing this thus to attract more younger club members but the reaction suggested that sailing simply doesn't appeal to youths which I found hard to believe.

Perhaps your fellow committee members should look at the entry numbers for the various dinghy championships.
The largest classes by a mile are always the junior classes - particularly Optimists and Toppers, but also big junior and teen turnouts in Laser (4.7, radial & full rig), Mirror, 29er, Feva etc.
RYA do fantastic programmes at local, regional and national level to support and encourage junior sailing. Worth contacting the local junior development contact.

And yes many stop sailing actively post junior (or university) sailing whilst focus moves to careers, families, houses etc - but equally need to take a long term view and it is typically many of these sailing returnees who buy cruising boats a couple of decades later

 

[JumbleDuck]

And yes many stop sailing actively post junior (or university) sailing whilst focus moves to careers, families, houses etc ...

It's not just sailing. Swimming pools are full of children in training, but except fr students there is hardly a swimmer beteen 18 and 30 to be seen. Ditto football pitches, rugby grounds and whatever they call the places where people play netball. Ditto ballet studios. Ditto gliding fields.

In the case of swimming i suspect that many young people wake up one day and think "Good grief. Why the hell am I spending fifteen hours a week in the pool in order to swim very slightly faster than someone about the same age as me ... I want a life" and give up. But it's probably mainly because all those childhood activities depend on parents committing huge amounts of time and money to their children's lives. Very few parents will subsidize a 22 year old dinghy sailor and very few 22 year old would want a hobby for which they depended on parental support anyway.

In yacht clubs as well I think there is probably an issue with archaic traditions as well. The junior sections can be quite forward looking, but once you reach your late teens you plunge into a world of commodores, flag officers, blazers, ladies' nights ... what self respecting young person (and by that I mean "person under 60") wants to join the maritime equivalent of a suburban rotary club?

There was a Thames motor boat club recently lamenting their lack of young (see above) members ... I cannot help feeling that a social calendar white categorises every single get-together as "blazers and greys" or "blazers and whites" explains a lot.

 

[Tranona]

Many young families do take up cruiser type sailing but not small boat owning. Flotilla sailing and chartering attracts many of this demographic as for the price of keeping a 26' boat on a swinging mooring and getting maybe 6 weekends a year and a 2week wet holiday you can have 2 weeks in the sun with predictable weather in good company. Much easier to sell to the family!

 

[Topcat47]

The Rona Trust take teenagers to sea on big boats for very affordable rates. Most people sailing with the trust started out as trainees (skippers, mates watch officers and watch leaders), but a large proportion of the youngsters never come back for a second helping. Dinghy sailors often give up in their teens when their independent social lives take off.

I was looking for a way to introduce my Grandchildren to sailing, but a lot of clubs, even those with cadet sections, rely on the parents providing the kit. It's really expensive to kick start a sailing hobby with kids,

 

[Sandy]

We had a meeting at our club in Somerset earlier today and looking around the room it was evident that the club isn't getting any younger and there was a genuine concern with regard to the future of the club therefore.

Every other club and association in the UK has the same problem, if you could solve it please let us know.

 

[bedouin]

In the long term introducing children to sailing is certainly important for maintaining participation levels. Also these days if you get the children you get the parents - and can potentially build a good social side on the back of that.

There is still al lot of interest in sailing (and other sports) with the children and you need a set up that can exploit that. Our local centre runs regular training sessions (RYA L1, L2 etc) and has regular sailing sessions on Saturday mornings for the kids.

They provide all the necessary kit (boats, wet suits etc) so all you have to do is turn up and sail.

But that of course goes way beyond just setting up a dinghy section - you need to provide equipment and instructors on a regular basis and that is expensive and a significant commitment of time and money. Without providing the equipment you will only attract people who are already involved enough in sailing to have the equipment.

 

[Tammany]

I think it's more to do with cost than anything. Unless they come from a family of means then boating to most of the younger generation is and like it always has been a rich mans hobby. When you read sailors blogs is not uncommon to read that they entered the boating world in their 40's or 50's as this generation has more free money. Most of the younger boaters I know have either seadoos or similar sports boats. They might have been regular sailors as kids in a youth organisation but power boats have more appeal to most of the younger generation. Cruising comes later in life to most.

 

[Tammany]

Plus kids seem a lot more 'indoorsy' than they used to be. Virtual life has taken over real life.

 

[bedouin]

Plus kids seem a lot more 'indoorsy' than they used to be. Virtual life has taken over real life.

I am not sure they are necessarily indoorsy, but they are certainly spend a lot more of their time in organised events.

Many parents (ourselves included) spend half their time chauffeuring children to various activities. To attract children you need an activity that fits that model. Hence say a 2 hour sailing slot every Saturday morning - and have good coffee available at the bar for the parents to enjoy a natter

 

[stranded]

I am not sure they are necessarily indoorsy, but they are certainly spend a lot more of their time in organised eventsr

That, and cruising emerged as a mass activity when there were nothing like the opportunities there are today to indulge ones taste for adventure and/or for travel. RTWers like Blyth, Rose, Chichester were national heroes when I was a kid. Sailing across the Atlantic seemed about on a par with flying to the moon. Today these things seem rather mundane to onlookers, though doubtless still massive achievements and sources of satisfaction for participants.

I have to agree too that some clubs at least are not places anyone much this side of the grave would want to have much to do with. We have tried two now and at mid fifties felt like young interlopers - not only in years, but in attitudes - blazers and ties and stuff are not just signs of advanced age, but of a different era. Add in the rampant snobbery and whole forests of chips on shoulders that permeate the pastime in this country, sailors more than moboers in my experience, and it is hardly surprising that the 'youngsters' prefer other ways to amuse themselves.

But it doesn't really matter does it. Clubs exist for people, not people for clubs -once the club has outlived its usefulness, wind it up and have a good piss up on any remaining funds.

 

[bedouin]

Of course the other side to this is that even when adults are into sailing, an increasing number choose to do that by chartering rather than boat ownership.

 

[jac]

That, and cruising emerged as a mass activity when there were nothing like the opportunities there are today to indulge ones taste for adventure and/or for travel. RTWers like Blyth, Rose, Chichester were national heroes when I was a kid. Sailing across the Atlantic seemed about on a par with flying to the moon. Today these things seem rather mundane to onlookers, though doubtless still massive achievements and sources of satisfaction for participants.

I have to agree too that some clubs at least are not places anyone much this side of the grave would want to have much to do with. We have tried two now and at mid fifties felt like young interlopers - not only in years, but in attitudes - blazers and ties and stuff are not just signs of advanced age, but of a different era. Add in the rampant snobbery and whole forests of chips on shoulders that permeate the pastime in this country, sailors more than moboers in my experience, and it is hardly surprising that the 'youngsters' prefer other ways to amuse themselves.

But it doesn't really matter does it. Clubs exist for people, not people for clubs -once the club has outlived its usefulness, wind it up and have a good piss up on any remaining funds.

I think your 2nd and 3rd paras are pretty close to the truth. Even in the friendlier clubs, there are still a lot of people who like the formal structure and black tie dinners which may not be why many people join.

I think the key age is just after university. Certainly when I was an undergrad I could sail dinghies at will and had a great structure around me to facilitate that. When I graduated I moved and to then continue sailing I needed to basically buy a boat and join a club.

SWMBO bought our first yacht when we were early 30's but didn't join a club as we were marina based so didn't need the parking ./ dinghy / launch and felt we would have little in common with a bunch of 60 year olds.We are now members of a very friendly club on the Hamble but despite being late 40's would still think we're some of the youngest there. So for a 20 something or 30 something wanting to sail, even our club is probably not attractive despite having reduced membership fees for young people.

One thought I have had, would be for local yacht clubs to extend the hand of friendship to local uni sailing clubs and maybe offer discounted memberships. This would give them the chance to get onto larger boats sometimes and may lead to some of them remaining members if they stay in the area, It also has the benefit of adding in some youthful members who if they stay then make the place more attractive for other young people thinking of joining.