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

[Tomahawk]

I am in real difficulty as I don't like anyone at all. People with smaller boats are just too poor to bother with, they haven't even got a shower on board, and people with larger boats obviously must be tax avoiders or criminals, or worse, born into money. I don't really get on with people with the same size boat as me, they are all bigoted and boring.

I admire people who sail boats that are too small to have a shower or proper loo... especially the femail kind.. they must love sailing to go without basic comforts?

 

[Paddingtonbear]

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?

Ah Hagar the Horrible I used to work for him!

 

[FullCircle]

I admire people who sail boats that are too small to have a shower or proper loo... especially the femail kind.. they must love sailing to go without basic comforts?

I was that soldier.

 

[OGITD]

I was that soldier.

& I still am! ..... but! .... 'I know my place' .... well ... maybe!

& did you know!? (I'm sure you do!) ..... smaller boats take longer to travel from 'A' to 'B' = a greater challenge & more fun out on the water ....

 

[henryf]

Generally speaking I would say boating is pretty classless. Over the years we've spent time with everyone and all sorts. Particularly when tied up somewhere like the Town Quay at Weymouth. You get a right old mix of people and the nature of the mooring (ie. the fact you are likely to be rafted up), means you have to speak to each other so the ice is broken.

The one group of boats I have found to be almost unanimously standoffish are historical sailing boats, specifically historic racing boats. You will have to forgive my lack of yacht knowledge but they can be quite a size, lots of varnish, stunningly beautiful and usually with a flag on the back which isn't red. In the extreme the crews are all wearing blazers !

Try as I might it seems all but impossible to strike up conversation. Maybe the barriers go down once inside the Royal Yacht Squadron !

Henry

 

[jac]

Generally speaking I would say boating is pretty classless. Over the years we've spent time with everyone and all sorts. Particularly when tied up somewhere like the Town Quay at Weymouth. You get a right old mix of people and the nature of the mooring (ie. the fact you are likely to be rafted up), means you have to speak to each other so the ice is broken.

The one group of boats I have found to be almost unanimously standoffish are historical sailing boats, specifically historic racing boats. You will have to forgive my lack of yacht knowledge but they can be quite a size, lots of varnish, stunningly beautiful and usually with a flag on the back which isn't red. In the extreme the crews are all wearing blazers !

Try as I might it seems all but impossible to strike up conversation. Maybe the barriers go down once inside the Royal Yacht Squadron !

Henry

Ooh Henry, what have you done. The whole Blue ensign / white ensign thing as well. A favourite topic in here if you didn't know and the general view is that anyone with blue/ white should be shot/ castrated as appropriate (Ps love the videos you have done!)

 

[Woodlouse]

The one group of boats I have found to be almost unanimously standoffish are historical sailing boats, specifically historic racing boats. You will have to forgive my lack of yacht knowledge but they can be quite a size, lots of varnish, stunningly beautiful and usually with a flag on the back which isn't red. In the extreme the crews are all wearing blazers !

Try as I might it seems all but impossible to strike up conversation. Maybe the barriers go down once inside the Royal Yacht Squadron !

Henry

I think this is more your problem than theirs. You usually don't see people rafting up against classic yachts either because of the preconceptions you've just outined or because they're worried about damaging what they see as a much more delicate boat.

By and large they're owned by very nice people who love boats and the sea with none of the bigoted snobbery that is frequently aimed at them.

 

[chinita]

I think this is more your problem than theirs. You usually don't see people rafting up against classic yachts either because of the preconceptions you've just outined or because they're worried about damaging what they see as a much more delicate boat.

By and large they're owned by very nice people who love boats and the sea with none of the bigoted snobbery that is frequently aimed at them.

+1

and I am struggling to remember any time in the past forty years when I have seen a crew member wearing a blazer. But, hey ho, stereotypical prejudices die hard.

 

[Seatrout]

I just get a warm inner glow that my yacht is mine! At 8 metres she is not huge, but she was paid for by cash.

The warm inner glow comes from some kno88er on something much larger looking down on my pride and joy in a marina when I know that he doesn't own the yacht he is sitting on. Some mortgage company or bank, in fact, owns his yacht!

 

[oldgit]

99% of owners will have made some considerable effort to be able to sit on a boat,be it a business man doing some sort of inventive tax wheeze or the bloke working weekends for a bit of cash.
Both will probably be as proud as punch the day the keys are handed over.
It takes all sorts and most boat owners of both great and small boats will expand (at some length ) if given the chance about their particular pride and joy.
The great attraction of peeps with bigger craft is that they usually have more booze aboard including a nice Red or two and and tend to be more generous with the stuff.
Smaller boat people tend to be tightwads in that dept as one tin of Tetleys tends not to go too far

 

[henryf]

+1

and I am struggling to remember any time in the past forty years when I have seen a crew member wearing a blazer. But, hey ho, stereotypical prejudices die hard.

For me it was last summer when moored in Cowes. We were on the West bank just past the chain ferry. One boat was having it's front end painted after a little run in whilst racing and a lovely yacht came in strapped to the side of a small launch. The crew were in blazers and shorts with the obligatory shades. The boat was placed just astern of us. I grabbed a rope as it came in, complimented the owner / skipper on how lovely his boat was and that was that.

It's the same with really high end classic cars in certain circles.

I judge purely as I see and find, not by anecdotal stereotype.

Henry

Thanks for the kind words on the videos by the way. Very pleased with the last one from Newtown Creek although might tweak a little bit.

 

[chinita]

That is fine, Henry.

If you want to judge the entire Classic Boat fraternity from your experience in Cowes.

Where I come from, they race classic Barges, Smacks and Bawleys. Not a blazer or logo to be seen.

 

[halyardmonkey.]

We often think that our boat is quite classless.... The crew is made up of a piano teacher, a council estate kid (moi, now no longer a kid) An ex hells angle and a public school boy (Father was a submarine captain). I am not sure we would have ever met or become friends if it wasn't for sailing..... I have however, been on some posh boats where there was certainly a class issue- Lets just say the division of labour was not quite what it should be and the higher up the social scale you were the less likely you were to be physically useful, illustrated by those who took themselves off to bed in their pj's during night watch.... Don't sail events with those guys any more!

 

[Cardo]

I think I know the boat Henry's referring to. There's a couple of them that often moor up in Cowes Yacht Haven, right on the outside pontoon. All suited and booted. They look the part, but rarely chit chat with us scruffbags. Much like Henry, I was moored up on the outside as we had stopped for lunch and they arrived and moored up in front of us. They were far too busy with themselves to acknowledge us in any way.

I'm not suggesting all classic boat owners/crew are quite so stuck up, but I do think the Cowes lot on their big classics (two specifically that are often out racing each other) do seem to think themselves a little too high up the order.

 

[Athene V30]

I don't get this judging boats and crews by the clothes / accent / ensign.

At various times I have stepped off my 27' MAB in a whole variety of rigs - Dinner Jacket, Mess Kit, Blazer but far more often jeans.

My boat has a warrant for Blue ensign or I sometimes fly a Red ensign.

Make judgements if you like, I prefer to talk to people.

The ECF is the way to go - a real mix of folk - Mobos and Raggies - all walks of life - with one common thread - a love of being on the water.

 

[henryf]

I not casting aspersions on ensign colour per se. But there is a certain combination of ensign colour, boat & crew which seem to take themselves very seriously.

As mentioned already I judge as I find. A rather strange life has seen me break bread with all sorts from Royalty downwards and on all rungs of the ladder there are some people I would choose to spend more time with, some people I wouldn't care to see again and some who clearly don't want to spend time with me

Society is not classless but as with most hobbies or shared interests barriers do get broken down more on the water. Just as on land there are signs, badges and even uniforms which elude to "class". A bloke wandering along the pontoon in red trousers wearing a blazer and speaking with a plummy accent is sending out signals eluding to class but it is how he treats me which matters and and upon which I judge him.

By the same token 4 young men coming into the marina on jet skis will be judged.

Henry

 

[chinita]

At various times I have stepped off my 27' MAB in a whole variety of rigs - Dinner Jacket, Mess Kit, Blazer but far more often jeans.

A previous owner of my 25ft 3in Vertue sailed her, doublehanded, across to Antigua.

On Christmas Day, mid-Atlantic, they had their turkey lunch - both dressed in Dinner Jackets.