Is sailing dying out

[robind]

I found the above titled post on the MBM furum recently. it makes a few good points ?

Rob

Leafing through the latest mobo rags, I was struck by just how many sailboat builders are making motor boats these days - Bavaria, Beneteau, Jeanneau, Oyster for example - and even the dealer who sells Folkboats is planning to sell mobos as well; his traditional customers must be choking on their hairshirts about that one. How many mobo builders have recently started making sailboats? A big zero on that one methinks. Then, the mobo rags regularly feature articles on ex yotties who've seen the light and got themselves a proper boat. Anyone know anyone whose gone the other way?
I remember London Boat Shows many years ago when mobos were apologetically shunted off into one corner so as not to get in the way of the massed ranks of sailboats. Now, the situation is reversed. Excel and SIBS this year seemed to have far more mobos than sailboats
Its 100yrs since the automobile displaced the horse and cart. Are we finally seeing the same thing happening in boating?



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[bedouin]

Motorboating is certainly growing much faster than sailing - but that is not the same as saying sailing is dying out.

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[[2574]]

I've just "gone the other way" (power to sail). I expect you died in the wool raggies don't know (because you haven't been exposed to it) what it will cost to run a mobo once red diesel has gone. Well, for your average 40' twin diesel mobo I reckon the fuel cost will equate to £4 per mile. So, Portsmouth to Yarmouth and back for lunch - about £200. That's just mad, so I'm trying sailing! I've been out a few times and it's really surprising how 6kts under sail seems really quite fast - and very quiet! (and very cheap!) So, I need enthusiasm and motivation from everyone to get me to stick with it!

rob

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[Evadne]

Most modern sailboats have dirty great big engines anyway, so I don't know what the fuss is about. And if you look down the row of a marina at all the broad sterns and radar arches, mobo design has had a lot of influence on sailboat design, IMO. Time was, a 30 footer with more than a dozen or so hp would have been called a motor sailer, but now a 25 footer with anything less than a 2gm is considered underpowered. Most raggies in the Solent have as much experience maneuvering a motor boat as the average motor boat owner, and some of them seem to motor everywhere anyway. Its not a great leap to ditch the mast and sails in favour of an extra engine and a patio, if that's your style.

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[dralex]

I get the odd times when I wished I had patio doors on my boat, but 99.9% of the time sailing is superb- imagine using only 100litres of fuel in a season, and that includes a month away.

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[Talbot]

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I've been out a few times and it's really surprising how 6kts under sail seems really quite fast - and very quiet! (and very cheap!) So, I need enthusiasm and motivation from everyone to get me to stick with it!


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Sounds to me that you are halfway there already, and once you realise that you sail for the enjoyment of silent motion, rather than a means to get to a different pub, you will have become a true Raggie! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[dralex]

Agreed- It's that moment when you turn off the engine and all you get is burbling ( and that's just from me)

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[Bejasus]

'I've been out a few times and it's really surprising how 6kts under sail seems really quite fast - and very quiet!'

It's doing it for me too although I am looking at the motorsailer route.

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[[2574]]

That's interesting - we considered motorsailers too, but we've gone for a yacht (Nauticat 39) in the end and if we don't get on with it we'll go back to the hybrid motorsailer. We went for a Nauticat because we wanted a pilot house yacht and of course they are better known for their motorsailers anyway. The Nauticat 44 looks like a "I'm not coming back" type boat to me and we'll either go for that or something like the Nauticat 515 yacht when we eventually "don't come back" in about ten years time. rob.

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[Clive_Rigden]

Surely sailing always starts to die out at about this time of year . . .

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[Bejasus]

Re: Nauticats. The 39 and that ilk use the same engines as the motorsailers but sail much better. The 33,331,38 and 44 which are pilot house boats, are much better suited to liveaboarding. I personally would love a 44 and as you say, never return. Unfortunately not able to do this for another few years so looking to compromise at the moment. Perhaps if SWMBO was not so concerned about upright sailing the 39 would be ideal.

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[DJE]

I hope not I just bought a new sail.

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[Aeolus_IV]

Is it because these days people do seem to have more money, but also demand everything to happen immediately. As a consequence any boat which can't be ready to leave immediately and can't get to your nearest watering hole in less than a couple of hours max is not considered as desirable by the new people to boating?

I had started this post with my tongue in my cheek - but I'm not so sure now. I don't believe that sailing is dying out, it is simply not getting more popular as fast as motor boats are. As has been pointed out, this is likely to change soon...

Regards,
Jeff.

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