Is the boating community a classless society.. You have to be joking.

[Nostrodamus]

You would think that with everyone in the same boat so to speak it doesn’t matter what background you are from as we are all out here doing the same thing.
You would think that but in reality it is the other way round. If anything the class divide, certainly amongst the British boats, is intensified.

The only difference is that the middle class becomes extended to include some previously very well off chaps and some who just scrape by. That is why the forums are full of arguments about flags, rules and etiquette.

Some boat owners will find themselves sat in the cockpit in a marina next to another boat and in normal life the two would never have even said hello. Now they will find themselves having to talk as one takes the others lines and a conversation ensues.

By enlarge you will find that boat owners will very quickly sum you up and decide if you are worthy or of the right class to be asked aboard for a drink. They may do this by talking to you or more often than not it will depend on what sort of boat you have.

Then there is the automatic divide between motor boats and sailing boats. It is far less than the class divide but it is there and I don’t know why? Sailing boats seem to “hang out” with sailing boats whereas motorboats seem to hang out together. The boundaries do blur a little more but it is still there.

There are of course the super-rich who’s doors you should never darken and they have got bouncers on the boat to make sure you don’t. There are some who have been thrown out of every marina they have been in. Causing trouble and being thrown out means they don’t have to pay and they can then use the money to buy another tattoo or shell suit.

Like many other boaters on the forum we like to think we are classless and would have anyone aboard for drinks. That is one reason we never ask others what job they did or do, or what kind of boat they have. Unfortunately we are British and there is automatic class detectors built in. It doesn't take long to work out that although we are from the same country we are often from a different planet.

 

[onesea]

Why should sailing be any different from any other sport?

Jet Ski's
Yachts,
Fishermen,
Merchant Navy,
Fighting Navies,
Dinghy's,
Canoes,
Rowing Skiff's,
Wind Surfers,
Kite Surfers,
Water Skiers,

There are many brands of boaty, as long as the class system brakes down when things going wrong and assistance is required by one or the other its fine by me.

There are certainly people afloat that I will willing chat to and those that.... Hell that's normal. Does not matter what type of boat they come from but as they say birds of a feather...

 

[uxb]

The nicest yotties I've met have been either skint on a wee boat or obviously upper class , generally on a very nice boat. Not a flash Oyster or Swan though.
Almost without exception the rest are very nice people. ( the exception is a total ar5e though...)

On here is different- it's not real.....

 

[Nostrodamus]

The nicest yotties I've met have been either skint on a wee boat or obviously upper class , generally on a very nice boat. Not a flash Oyster or Swan though.
Almost without exception the rest are very nice people. ( the exception is a total ar5e though...)

On here is different- it's not real.....

Is that judging people by their boats???

 

[uxb]

Is that judging people by their boats???

No, by experience!

Thinking about it, we met a lovely Norwegian family on an Oyster 55 but generally the older, more quirky , better maintained a boat the better the bloke ( 'cos it almost always is a bloke) who owns her.

 

[Nostrodamus]

fair enough

 

[Daydream believer]

Generally the smaller the boat the more friendly the sailor, (perhaps they have to be!!)
Once you get over the 32 ft mark though you generally get friendly people with the odd pompous ar5e retired (early) bank manager, in his westerly ( apologies to other Westerly owners you have a hard time of it as it is!!!!!), thrown in for good luck. You can normally pick them out by the subservient wife ( who will often be the nicest person going) when they come in to moor up

 

[Bosun Higgs]

By enlarge you will find that boat owners will very quickly sum you up and decide if you are worthy or of the right class to be asked aboard for a drink. They may do this by talking to you or more often than not it will depend on what sort of boat you have.

Much more likely it depends on whether they are feeling sociable, whether your first contacts suggest you are the sort of person that interests them, whether you are "sympatico" if you like. Even whether they want a drink. Some people are just plain boring whatever their background.

Then there is the automatic divide between motor boats and sailing boats. It is far less than the class divide but it is there and I don’t know why? Sailing boats seem to “hang out” with sailing boats whereas motorboats seem to hang out together. The boundaries do blur a little more but it is still there.

Of course there is a divide. The two hobbies are very different - one is all about the journey, the other is about the destination. Bit like the way that car fanatics and bike fanatics are different and dont join the same clubs. That said when parked in Padstow last autumn alongside two mobos and several raggies we all got together in the evenings for nibbles and drinks on each others boats.

There are of course the super-rich who’s doors you should never darken and they have got bouncers on the boat to make sure you don’t. There are some who have been thrown out of every marina they have been in. Causing trouble and being thrown out means they don’t have to pay and they can then use the money to buy another tattoo or shell suit.

The super rich dont wear shell suits and their boats are too big for marinas. But when the super rich include people like Abramovich or even Sugar, what does wealth have to do with class? Actually I can answer my own question - all the multi millionaires I have mket have come from the backstreets with burning ambition to succeed. You dont get rich in the UK by going to university. But then the UK road to riches is not like the US one as in microsoft etc

Like many other boaters on the forum we like to think we are classless and would have anyone aboard for drinks. That is one reason we never ask others what job they did or do, or what kind of boat they have. Unfortunately we are British and there is automatic class detectors built in. It doesn't take long to work out that although we are from the same country we are often from a different planet.

You might like to think you are classless but you certainly are class conscious. I really dont know why we think that only the British have a class system - its simply nonsense. Every country has one, none more so than the USA. But its no more significant than all the other distinctions in life - education, wealth, ethnicity etc. I'm an Oxbridge educated middle class professional but most of my sailing pals are ex comp school blue collar types with one or two eton / harrow garden party with princess anne types. We all mix together.

 

[RichardS]

That is one reason we never ask others what job they did or do, or what kind of boat they have. Unfortunately we are British and there is automatic class detectors built in.

I always ask others what job they do and what boat they have as I'm interested in such things and they should make good conversation topics.

However, if the other person doesn't want to talk about these matters then that's fine with me. I'll just find another subject which they do want to talk about. I accept that I am probably quite "forward" with people - 40 years spent in Human Resources - but if others decide that they don't like me, because of perceived "class" or any other reason, then that is fine by me.

Richard

 

[Tomahawk]

As Hagar the Horrible once said...

"There are two types of people, Boat people and non boat people"...
Is there any more to be added?

 

[Baggy]

oi.. Daydream.. my old westerly has done me proud,

I do think their is a big difference between the Adventure sailors, ( for want of a better word )
ie, those that want to pop over to the Azores, or do an atlantic circuit,
to those who just day sail from one marina to the next.

I found that it does not matter how big or small your boat is
everyone has a mutual respect for one another for their achievements
which makes for a much more friendlier sailing community.

 

[Nostrodamus]

I always ask others what job they do and what boat they have as I'm interested in such things and they should make good conversation topics.

However, if the other person doesn't want to talk about these matters then that's fine with me. I'll just find another subject which they do want to talk about. I accept that I am probably quite "forward" with people - 40 years spent in Human Resources - but if others decide that they don't like me, because of perceived "class" or any other reason, then that is fine by me.

Richard

Quiet a few times we have had people say to us ... "so how much did you pay for her"? ... to me that is just rude. Even had one couple ask me about six times in an hour which is about the same time we said we needed an early night.

 

[Downsman]

" Unfortunately we are British " Ah! I think I see why perhaps you seem to have various problems with other Brits you meet on your travels
Have you ever watched a poor Spaniard try to get into a posh Club Nautico? ...

 

[RichardS]

Quiet a few times we have had people say to us ... "so how much did you pay for her"? ... to me that is just rude. Even had one couple ask me about six times in an hour which is about the same time we said we needed an early night.

That's interesting Nostro - and you do reflect a commonly held feeling about talking about money. However, this doesn't bother me at all and if, in the context of a conversation about boats, someone is interested in how much we paid then I am happy to tell them. If I wanted to know how much they paid I would politely ask them but if they didn't want to tell me then that is fine.

Richard

 

[dylanwinter]

That's interesting Nostro - and you do reflect a commonly held feeling about talking about money. However, this doesn't bother me at all and if, in the context of a conversation about boats, someone is interested in how much we paid then I am happy to tell them. If I wanted to know how much they paid I would politely ask them but if they didn't want to tell me then that is fine.

Richard

I think that money is only embarrassing to people who have stacks of it



I am very happy to talk money - I used to publish all my sailing costs and incomes - but that resulted in me getting thrown out of adsense

there are blokes you get on with and blokes you don't

but if a very big shiny yacht comes into a marina - all the crew wearing identical gear and the bloke on the wheel issues expletive laden orders left right and centre from behind an electronics festooned binnacle as big as a phone box then I guess that I am unlikely to have much in common with him

However, if a bloke sailing alone or with his missus in a Centaur or Crabber comes and quietly and efficiently settles his boat in then there is every chance that we might share a nightcap and a few yarns.

I think that most of us feel more comfortable with those whose interests overlap

I love it at Brough on the Humber as all the boats are pretty much the same size and well sail in soupy water

 

[boaterbaz]

I seem to recall an inverse proportion law between pleasure and size of boats.

 

[Woodlouse]

Then there is the automatic divide between motor boats and sailing boats. It is far less than the class divide but it is there and I don’t know why? Sailing boats seem to “hang out” with sailing boats whereas motorboats seem to hang out together. The boundaries do blur a little more but it is still there.

I think this is because motor boats are often a pig to moor up against. Preposterously high topsides, with guardrails to make them higher, very skinny side decks and inadequate cleats. It's certainly for this reason that I avoid them, not because I might find their occupants not to my liking.

I think there's certainly a correlation between the more interesting the boat, the more interesting the owner, but you sometimes have to be wary of the down right unusual boats as the owner is quite likely to have just the one topic of conversation.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I think that money is only embarrassing to people who have stacks of it

I would have said the reverse. But it's very much is a class issue in the UK. Wealthy upper class would consider it ill mannered, gauche, nouveau riche to talk money. Equally wealthy but low class jack the lad made good would happily talk money as in the Enfield sketch if only to show others he had "made it"..

 

[MASH]

The only allusions to class I've ever seen here are the frequent, widespread an often nastily vindictive snipes and jibes taken at people perceived to be of a superior class, though these apparently widespread "superior" people seem notable by their invisibilty and silence. Could the "class" issue actually be restricted to the rather inglorious bigotry of inverse snobbery?

Or are we not actually talking about class at all (as suggested by references to the size & therefore cost of other peoples' boats) and really dealing with the unpleasant British disease of politicising spite and financial envy as a "class" issue instead of the mere avarice and social bigotry it really is?

 

[Woodlouse]

Could the "class" issue actually be restricted to the rather inglorious bigotry of inverse snobbery?

I think that's pretty much it.