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

[Cardo]

Funny thing is I've had more success socialising with the mobo lot on this forum than the yoghties. I guess mobo lots tend to be more sociable, as per the whole "all about the destination" thing. Though it could also be my very much middle class upbringing coming to play (though I personally have very successfully dived to the lower middle/upper working class level of things).

On the socialising side of things, I'm always happy to speak to people. Though I think because Tree and I are on the younger side of things many other couples (who tend to be middle aged) often avoid us.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

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?

Go on - dont mince words

P.S. Milk of magnesia is good for dispepsia.

 

[Daydream believer]

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

I am sure it has , i just slipped it in to see what reaction it had.. i could not help it!!
I expect my post was too boring for most to read because you are the only one to bite
Never mind perhaps it is better it went un noticed. On another thread i would have had hundreds of complaints

 

[Cloona]

personally speaking I would never talk to me - in fact I would give me a wide berth......

AND when I have alcohol I can get a bit enthusiastic about everything and a bit over confident that my point of view is correct

I have also noticed people eyes glazing over when I recall one of my little adventures ........ but livening up when my little
bit if banter goes wrong.

anyway just so you know

 

[aquaholic]

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

So you only talk to small boat skippers? Or exclusively small older boat skippers? Apart from agreeing with you about the shouting of expletives from the helm I can't believe you would stereotype people in this way. All sailors have something in common and the size or age of their or your boat should not influence the decision to strike up a conversation.

 

[richgiddens]

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.

I'm afraid I belong to the lowest of the low, the absolute untouchables, the dreaded charterers. And, to make matters even worse, as far as upbringing and family are concerned, cockney working class! (I know, I'll go outside and do the decent thing)
I've been sailing for about 15 years and skippering for 8. In that time, I don't think I've encountered any overt class prejudice despite me very often speaking in rhyming slang whilst eating jellied eels to a very nice Old Etonian who's wearing pink Chichesters, a blazer and cravat.
Seriously, it seems to me that sailing is blessed (mostly) with friendly, accepting people.
Here's to us!

 

[ClaireW]

In my experience boating is like any other form of life - there are people you get on with and people you don't. I've never noticed a class divide. One of the best things about boating is that you get the chance to meet people you wouldn't normally come across.

 

[nathanlee]

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.

Not my experience, I must say. Sailing a Corribee, for the most part, having a right common accent, and being about as posh as a frozen sausage, I've been invited to houses and boats from floating wrecks, to beautiful classics, and even a country estate. I reckon it just comes down to, some people you get on with, and others you don't. If they're not going to invite you, or vice versa, then you weren't going to have a good night anyway, so all is well.

 

[Seatrout]

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

What a lovely video and what complex waters you sail.

 

[Applescruffs]

I'm definately a bottom feeder when it comes to sailing...I spend what I have to to keep afloat....and not what I can.

My boat is small, it's all mine, and.....it's paid for......

And yes there is a social divide between the 'yotties' and the 'sticks 'n' string' brigade.....

How I would love to just get on my boat at the begining of the season and go for a sail but, as always, a list of things to do first ...to get filthy doing, to crack your knuckles on, to swear and cuss at....

Not for me...to tell of the 'problems' we had with x-y-z ...and how that 'incompetent Pleb' at the marina failed to spot lt in time....blah...blah....yadda...yadda..whilst keeping clean fingernails and a crease in ones musto's

and BTW when did 'pleb' ever become an offensive term.......I've definately been called worse and taken no offence..

So..

There he was the Big policeman with a gun defending 10 Downing St, the Prime Minister et al... getting 'upset ' cos someone called him a pleb.....

OOOOhhh....handbags at twenty paces !

What ever would he have done if someone had come at him with a piece of soft fruit

More training is required methinks...........

That'll toughen 'em up !

However...as Nathan knows....if you or your boat have a story to tell....you will always get invited to the party....

 

[Biggles Wader]

I look up to him
I know where I belong.

 

[BrianH]

I do not have any problems meeting and making friends with a wide variety of boating folk where I moor and cruise, whatever their nationality - sail or mobo, big and small, rich and not-so-rich. My marina has a good social mix and only the German HR brigade seem to have their little clique. But then I am in the northern Adriatic where Brits are very thin on the ground, or rather water. It's only when I am cruising into central and southern Croatia that I come across the charter hoards, with the predominance of Brits, do I find that I am totally ignored if I am in a harbour - even eye-contact is avoided - despite my red duster. I guess the well-honed social antennae quickly detect that I am beyond the pale.

 

[Cardo]

So..

There he was the Big policeman with a gun defending 10 Downing St, the Prime Minister et al... getting 'upset ' cos someone called him a pleb.....

OOOOhhh....handbags at twenty paces !

What ever would he have done if someone had come at him with a piece of soft fruit

More training is required methinks...........

That'll toughen 'em up !

Forget to take our pills, did we?
The officer who was involved in the dispute didn't make an issue of what happened. It was a third party. But hey ho, don't let facts spoil a good (off topic) rant!

 

[maby]

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

Nah, sorry - that's just a rumour put around by people with small boats! Every time we go up a size, we get more fun - primarily because we spend more time on the boat and go further.

 

[[2068]]

Not sure about the boating community in general being classless but there are a couple of forumites who are a bit up their own a r s e s here:

You've got henryf in completely the wrong category, there!
(clue: see his latest response to the Jon Boat sales spam-person)

 

[maby]

I think sailing is a great leveler. We've been away from our home marina for a couple of months and this weekend just gone was our first full weekend there since we got the boat back. In the last couple of days, we have had as guests a plumber, an air hostess, a retired Fleet Street compositor, an electrician, a retired pilot (the maritime kind) and a retired mechanic. There's nobody in the marina who qualifies as "rich" and we all have a pretty good idea of what we all do. Between us, our boats range from a thirty-odd year old twenty footer to a brand new forty-odd footer - we all sail together and crew for each other and we don't go comparing - each loves his or her boat and I'm just as happy to crew for the twenty footer as I am to crew for one of the forty footers.

 

[Sailfree]

Always keep a set of M & S Blue Harbour casual cloths on board. When you berth some neighbours will be friendly but the ones that judge on accent/appearance/what job/weath will not bother you and saves you from wasting your breath conversing with people with brains wired the wrong way so that they cannot make unbiased judgements only pavlovian response resulting from poor breeding/upbringing.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Always keep a set of M & S Blue Harbour casual cloths on board. When you berth some neighbours will be friendly but the ones that judge on accent/appearance/what job/weath will not bother you and saves you from wasting your breath conversing with people with brains wired the wrong way so that they cannot make unbiased judgements only pavlovian response resulting from poor breeding/upbringing.

It is one of the things that started this thread off.
Another boater has been practically ignoring me all week as we pass on the pontoon almost to the point of being rude. I have to say that I have been servicing the engine, repairing bits and bobs and anti fouling so I wasn't wearing my Sunday best.
The other day, even though I was dressed the same, he saw me on my boat and immediately walked down the pontoon, started chatting and said what a wonderful boat it was. He then invited us across for drinks which we made excuses not to go. Now it is me trying to avoid him. To him I was originally low life but now I have a reasonable boat I am OK.

 

[capnsensible]

To make friends with your boating neighbours and to demonstrate your caring nature simply get a nice cuddly cat.

 

[maby]

To make friends with your boating neighbours and to demonstrate your caring nature simply get a nice cuddly cat.

We have a ship's cat, but he is never allowed out of the boat unless he's on his leash - we do get some strange looks from passers by when we walk him along the sea front on a leash and harness.