Cruising sailors a dying breed?

Our club is also pro-active in holding well advertised Open Days with barbecue and wine laid on, where members with all sorts of dinghies and cruisers take people for a spin - and safety boats take people out on the water - to show what it's all about and hopefully allay any fears of snobiness etc - we also have ' fun on the water ' days with other local clubs as a joint initiative, these schemes have worked very well.
 
There has been a huge rise in inland boating for live aboards in the UK, at least part due to economic factors (though given the number of 150k+ giant wide beams being built to park around London it's not poverty per se) and the transience of modern work, fewer families and most don't stick at it for more than a year or so. A fair number get more adventurous though. One of those oilrig lifeboat conversions you see sometimes on the cut is currently somewhere round the Balkans, plenty of the Dutch barges go over the channel etc. Slow motorboating is a bit like sailing right?
 
wombat88 said:
As I see it the problem (whatever it is) is caused by a lack of Hillyards.

If we all had Hillyards in the winter we would be too busy to spend time on the internet grumbling about stuff. In the summer we would be at sea spending ages getting anywhere in a most satisfying and relaxed manner.
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If I had to sail a Hillyard- or anything similar- I would not bother to go sailing
I expect a lot of younger people would not bother either
 
I see what you're trying to say, and there's a certain amount of truth in it - but to be enthralled by sailing to begin with requires a different attitude, working with nature rather than pressing a starter button to fight against it.

Sailing will always be harder work than motoring, I'd say the rewards are much greater, but then I'm a sailor !

I once had a job as deckhand / engineer on a 38metre hotel barge on the French Canals - I loved the countryside and experience but found I missed the motion of waves, and sailing - the French chef felt the same so we took the tender along a canal with a deck umbrella for a rig and a broom over the stern for a rudder :)
 
I know what you mean about Hiilyards, one day I had to take a friends' 2.5 tonner from Portsmouth to Chichester - it was a pretty boat but gave me a whole new lesson what ' slow 'really means - if I hadn't smacked on the engine I'd still be out there.

It needn't be so, there are plenty of rewarding, fast sailing boats like mine.
 
Seajet said:
Sailing will always be harder work than motoring, I'd say the rewards are much greater, but then I'm a sailor !
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Got the bug, hard to beat the feeling when you switch the engine off and fly off. I'm trying to adjust :). Current negotiations with a purist mate who is helping me out with delivery:83854671_876700679429033_6695966920564277248_n.png
 
coopec said:
Are you suggesting t6hat there is a resurgence in recreational sailing?
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Not ast all

I may have interpreted incorrectly but your thesis is/was that your reading of forum resulted in your drawing the conclusion that there was an absence of younger sailors. You separately quoted from a thread on CF.

All I was suggesting was that people who inhabit forum may not reflect the cross section of people who actively sail. I may well be wrong as I don't find the time to even look at any other forum except occasionally at CF and contributing here. I do notice that some people do contribute to a number of forum and I do wonder how they fit in the time to actually maintain their yachts, sail and interface with real people. They are obviously much better organised than I am.

Jonathan
 
The facebook group "last minute crew wanted - Solent" has over 8.5k members.
It has never, ever, been so easy to get crew. There are a lot of "just done my comp crew and want to get on the water" posts. On that basis I struggle to reach the conclusion that people are not getting into yacht sailing any more.

My last post looking for crew got over 20 replies. It was to leave the dock in less than 3 hours after the time I posted.
An add looking for help getting the boat to the west country had similar response.

I think if you are using the metric "people who own small boats" as your measure for deciding that cruising sailors are an endangered species, then you might think that. If you use the metric "people actively looking to go sailing" I'm not sure I'd agree. Are they going about it in the same way as the sailors of yesteryear did - buying a small cheap boat and going sailing on their own? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that they aren't getting into sailing.

Times change, the way people go about things change. I'm not sure that the overall desire to go sailing has though.

Is that better? Dunno. It's different though.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
Reminds me of an awful experience I had at Draycote Water Sailing Club back in the 90s .... we had bought a laser pico to teach the kids to sail, my oldest was about 4 or 5 at the time and we were out mucking around on the reservoir when he decided he needed to go to the toilet - immediately. There were a few boats heading into the water to get ready for the racing, but the start was a good 20-30 mins out so we headed in to the clubhouse ..... wind was strong so we were going quite fast but some t**t stood up in his boat and let rip with a string of abuse about keeping the start clear. My son was quite concerned about what we had done wrong.

I pulled the boat out, cleared out my space and cancelled my membership. Never went back.

We sailed in Chichester after that, where the in-laws lived and had a dinghy, it was far more friendly there - apart from when the fleets came in for races. Remember an RS gathering where some obnoxious git was at the back of the fleet as the boats were being pulled out, shouting abuse at the other sailors to get their boats out of the water faster - achieved nothing other than a bad atmosphere.

What is it about dinghy racing that brings out peoples inner d**khead? I've seen all sorts of obnoxious behaviour associated with racing over the years, from drunken louts dumping rubbish along the crinan canal towpath to abuse of cruisers by racing yachts - just for being on the water minding their own business - I've even witnessed parents verbally abusing their offspring in optimists from the shoreline - at the top of their voices.

Must say, put me off clubs and racing for life.
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We get quite a lot of posts denigrating racing folk, often like yours above because of the action of one particular dickhead, I raced and cruised for years and now I just cruise but my experience is that dickheads are evenly distributed in the community no matter what activity they engage in, I think you perhaps made a mistake in reacting to one experience. I concede that there was an unfortunate drinking culture particularly among young racing crew but the same thing existed in other sports like rugby, it is part of growing up. I raced a Sigma 33, over half of our crew were students and wild, other than the first couple of pints we let them get on with it, I hope our more sober attitude benefited them, but they were good, strong, fit and fearless, when they grew up and settled down we lost them, our gybes were earlier,slower and we stopped winning. I used to lend them the boat to go to events in summer when we could not and they always brought it back but not always as clean as they received it but I was pleased that the boat was being fully utilised. As stated above life is different now, there are too many other priorities, it was the best of times but it has gone, the only increase I notice now is in world girdling liveaboards though perhaps they were always there.
 
Seajet said:
I know what you mean about Hiilyards, one day I had to take a friends' 2.5 tonner from Portsmouth to Chichester - it was a pretty boat but gave me a whole new lesson what ' slow 'really means - if I hadn't smacked on the engine I'd still be out there.

It needn't be so, there are plenty of rewarding, fast sailing boats like mine.
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What’s the rush!
 
Wansworth said:
What’s the rush!
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For me quick efficient sailing is an important part of sailing. If I am going slow I want to know why. That is why I have the boat lifted & scrubbed mid season as well as at the start & why i have bought so many new sails.
Just plodding along is sooo boring. I want to make quick time upwind & good downwind. Most times I do a longer trip I am always comparing earlier times to see if I can better them
I suppose it is a spin of of spending 16 years racing in cruisers, virtually every weekend in the season. Years dinghy racing as a youngster & even in later years ( I still have a Phantom & a Squib). When I am not fit enough to sail single handed I shall probably find a young crew & go back to racing. No way will I just plod up & down the river.
 
flaming said:
The facebook group "last minute crew wanted - Solent" has over 8.5k members.
It has never, ever, been so easy to get crew. There are a lot of "just done my comp crew and want to get on the water" posts. On that basis I struggle to reach the conclusion that people are not getting into yacht sailing any more.

My last post looking for crew got over 20 replies. It was to leave the dock in less than 3 hours after the time I posted.
An add looking for help getting the boat to the west country had similar response.

I think if you are using the metric "people who own small boats" as your measure for deciding that cruising sailors are an endangered species, then you might think that. If you use the metric "people actively looking to go sailing" I'm not sure I'd agree. Are they going about it in the same way as the sailors of yesteryear did - buying a small cheap boat and going sailing on their own? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that they aren't getting into sailing.

Times change, the way people go about things change. I'm not sure that the overall desire to go sailing has though.

Is that better? Dunno. It's different though.
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Sounds very positive. The only negative I see is when the oldies who are boat owners die/give up then these Facebook chums will have no-one to crew for.
 
Quandary said:
the only increase I notice now is in world girdling liveaboards though perhaps they were always there.
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I don't watch youtube vids of people sailing round the world. But I note there are many on here who do watch and, apparently, some are good vids. One common comment is the frequency of the bikini clad young lady - which suggests to me that a group of youngsters are out there doing it - and making vids to prove it. What precisely is the grouse about the absence of youth in cruising.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I don't watch youtube vids of people sailing round the world. But I note there are many on here who do watch and, apparently, some are good vids. One common comment is the frequency of the bikini clad young lady - which suggests to me that a group of youngsters are out there doing it - and making vids to prove it. What precisely is the grouse about the absence of youth in cruising.

Jonathan
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So a few guys out there, with their bikini clad crew, doing a bit of sailing is proof that recreational sailing is not in decline? ?

Sailboat industry continues decline in units and dollars - Trade ...
Apr 27, 2018 - Sailboat industry continues decline in units and dollars. Sales of exported sailboats, such as this Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 490, grew as domestic sales dropped. Sailboat sales dropped again in 2016, down almost 11 percent with declines in all categories except the 36-foot and larger segment, which was up 14.4 percent.
 
coopec said:
So a few guys out there, with their bikini clad crew, doing a bit of sailing is proof that recreational sailing is not in decline? ?

Sailboat industry continues decline in units and dollars - Trade ...
Apr 27, 2018 - Sailboat industry continues decline in units and dollars. Sales of exported sailboats, such as this Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 490, grew as domestic sales dropped. Sailboat sales dropped again in 2016, down almost 11 percent with declines in all categories except the 36-foot and larger segment, which was up 14.4 percent.
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I'm bloody waiting for them to drop maria prices as a consequence!
 
Seajet said:
I know what you mean about Hiilyards, one day I had to take a friends' 2.5 tonner from Portsmouth to Chichester - it was a pretty boat but gave me a whole new lesson what ' slow 'really means - if I hadn't smacked on the engine I'd still be out there.

It needn't be so, there are plenty of rewarding, fast sailing boats like mine.
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Given the many threads about the need to motor sail, as a happy Hillard owner who cruises, I say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
It has to be said our children and children's children have little time to spare for cruising but love short thrashes and training in dinghies or small power boat which their seniors happen to own.
 
dgadee said:
Sounds very positive. The only negative I see is when the oldies who are boat owners die/give up then these Facebook chums will have no-one to crew for.
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Well 3 people who have crewed for us have each since bought their first boat.
 
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