Ending the hostility - raggies v stinkies

Seajet said:
Sailors are the sort of people who work with nature when it lets them, realise that fact and are happy to work around and with it.

Power boat sailors think they can shoulder nature aside by brute force and very little skill with a few hundred horespower and a wallet, just to keep their schedule be it work or a restaurant for family.

There's a place for both, probably in the same restaurant, but to say sailing boats cause the antagonism is nonsense.

We slip along quietly minding our own business, when some chav in a power boat rushes past feet away in a power gin palace leaving a huge wake which he either is ignorant of or actually enjoys rolling boats in his wake.

Fortunately - though the berk doesn't have the slightest grasp on this - sailing boats are usually seaworthy, so we just ride over the wash with a few swear-words well directed.

I tried to get motor boat owners and sailing boat owners to meet up and experience each others' boats a couple of years ago through these forums to no avail.

Sailing requires a certain mindset and skills to work with nature, not 'me first more throttle'...:rolleyes:
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Did you forget a few smilies here, or are you really that ignorant ?
 
I kinda assumed it was all just banter. Every man an island sort of thing. Don't like anyone not in my club. Until the chips are down, of course, when we stand shoulder to shoulder.
 
I've covered a reasonable amount of miles under sail since 1972 myself, though not all in one go; now please explain how I'm ignorant, when someone talks of 'raggies & stinkpots' and 'raggies causing the problem'...

By definition sailing requires more skill and a different mindset than ' it's just like a car innit, got a wheel & throttle, seamanship wot's that then ?'...:rolleyes:
 
Also while I appreciate the humour of the post, if anything involves Paul McArtny songs I'm outta here !

They say one is either a Beatles or Rolling Stones fan; well I love the Stones and wouldn't cross the road except to avoid the vastly overated and under talented beatles...

As mentioned I did try to iniatate a meeting between sail & power boat users, and I didn't apply derogatory terms to either.

For the record, I think handling a large high windage power boat at close quarters a very testing time for the best of us; in the same vein I'd like to show power boat owners what it's like to sail something like a small sailing cruiser and an Osprey sailing dinghy ( fast but very forgiving, still close to the water and requiring skill )...

I was carved up yesterday afternoon in Chichester entrance by a berk in a high powered dory-with-cuddy style high powered fishing boat who passed at high speed first close alongside me then diverted to do the same to another boat sailing in, then in the channel a small power cruiser came past on the plane leaving a huge wash in the 8 knot speed limit area, didn't bother me as I'd warned my crew 'hold on here comes a prat !' but not good for wildlife etc; I'd like to know what nuisance I was causing to boat users and the general environment relative to these people.
 
tcm said:
Ending the hostility : Raggies v Stinkpotters

<snip>
...
<big snip actually>
...
<huge in fact>

What do you think?
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Now I'm confused. Is this a clever joke (which has gone right over my head) and will I look a right 'nana for taking it seriously? (Perhaps I'll have to apologise afterwards? :eek:) Or is this a serious discussion? :confused:

If cleverjoke = true then

:confused:

Else

You're right, there is hostility - but it's really got nothing to do with raggies or stinkies, humans are just like that. It's called "tribalism" and you gave several good examples of it in your post. You could also have mentioned football hooliganism and racism because I think they all have the same foundation.

We forget that for something like 95% of the time man has been on the planet we were living in the Stone Age. For Stone Age hunter gatherers tribalism meant life or death. You needed to be able to identify those members of "your" tribe who would assist you in hunting large animals for (essential) food. It was equally important that you could identify those members of other tribes who would try to take that food from you. Tribalism is so ingrained in our nature that we still do it, often unconsciously. White/black, blonde/dark, tall/short, fat/thin, Rangers/Celtic, Islam/Christian .... raggie/stinkie.

I guess in another 2 million years we'll probably have got tribalism out of our systems. But raggies and stinkies still won't get on. Probably. :cool:

Endif
 
I don't dislike motorboat owners; just loud and inconsiderate people. These can be observed on both types of boat (especially in the Solent).

The trouble is that, if you're so inclined, a motorboat is a vastly more effective tool to be loud and inconsiderate with..
 
Seajet said:
I've covered a reasonable amount of miles under sail since 1972 myself, though not all in one go; now please explain how I'm ignorant, when someone talks of 'raggies & stinkpots' and 'raggies causing the problem'...

By definition sailing requires more skill and a different mindset than ' it's just like a car innit, got a wheel & throttle, seamanship wot's that then ?'...:rolleyes:
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Yep, me too, sailed ten transats over the last few years, now in the pacific, NZ soon, back to carib next year.

I disagree with the notion that ALL powerboat skippers are as you imagine. It's a shame you think like that. Some of the most rigorous seamanship is taught from powerboats. When the sh!t hits the fan and a sailing boat calls for help, it's a power driven vessel that goes to help.
If you're dismasted, you are suddenly in the same situation as a mobo
 
Seajet said:
J
We slip along quietly minding our own business, when some chav in a power boat rushes past feet away in a power gin palace leaving a huge wake which he either is ignorant of or actually enjoys rolling boats in his wake:
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Seajet, several times on this thread, you have stated you feel that the term stinkie and raggie is derogatory, but a few post back you labled a power boat driver as a chav

Whats a chav? Is it derogatory, or are all powerboat drivers chavs?

Guess i must be a chav, as i currenttly own a powerboat.

For what its worth i love the banter. Its the same in the gliding/light aircraft world.

Relax.....we all want fun on the water

HW

Ps currently making transition to sail
 
I'm with little_roundtop, I think all this antagonism, banter etc, is just tribalism, nothing more and nothing less. Yep there are t w a t s on both sides of the divide, but they were t w a t s before they acquired their choice of boat, so they are still t w a t s after they got it. I really do believe though that the t w a t s are a very small minority.

There is nothing we can do about them really, probably best to just grin and bear them with a little fortitude. I take comfort from the idea that the sea takes no prisoners, and that sooner or later their twatish behaviour will bite them on the arse.:)

For myself, I like boats, and mostly I like people that like boats, it don't matter to me much what kind of boat somebody has, from the most humungous gin palace to a Mirror dinghy, and everything in between, I can always find something interesting and something to like, either about the boats, and or the people that sail in them.
 
As a raggie I would say that I have met just as many loud inconsiderate thoughtless people on saily boats as on motor ones :rolleyes:

I think it's just a normal cross section of society ;)
 
Childish or what?!

Got to say that on a personal level I'm not a great fan of the unsuitable sea-going, three story bling-boats that we have up on the Broads but absolutely no hostility, what would it gain? Indeed some of my best friends own motor boats:o:p
 
Penton Hooker said:
Childish or what?!

Got to say that on a personal level I'm not a great fan of the unsuitable sea-going, three story bling-boats that we have up on the Broads but absolutely no hostility, what would it gain? Indeed some of my best friends own motor boats:o:p
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I always feel a bit sad when I see gin palaces locked into fresh water lakes and lochs. It seems such a waste to use them as glorified static caravans.
I have never noticed any friction up north with anyone except PWCs because there is plenty of room, I can go for a sail and never be within 200 yards of another boat until I get back to my mooring (which is handy with my boat handling "skills").
 
I most certainly have not said that I'm against all motor boats or that their owners are chavs; I was referring to jetski's in that remark as is quite plain for anyone sad enough to go back and re-read it.

I have mentioned that I have made efforts to bridge any gap, which is rather more than the people posting here; I have also mentioned that I recognise the difficulties of a big mobo in confined spaces.

I disagree strongly with the 'tribalism, will always be so' school of thought; inconsiderate behaviour by mobo's is relatively rare now, I'd like to think the majority are much more proficient - and friendlier - than when I started sailing in 1970 when general powerboat behaviour was pretty unpleasant.

There is also the factor that the eye-watering price of fuel is seeing a fair few motor boat owners look on sail in a new light; I'm all for welcoming them and making their transition easy and painless !
 
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