Joe public's view of sailing?

[Guest]

Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Emma Richards, single-handed sailor, now racing across the Atlantic, said, before leaving New York, 'All the interviews I get in England by people who know nothing about sailing think it is an elitist sport for those with stacks of money.......Most of the people I know in sailing have come up from very modest backgrounds....So [roll on] the day we can go sailing without being told we're upper class'.
Was she right? Or was she getting mixed up as between wealth, class and elitism - all of which can be different things? Or is it just that the lower forms of the media lazily fall back on these topics, because, as she said, they are ignorant about sailing itself?

 

[VMALLOWS]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

I am, I believe, the only person in our road who owns a yacht. But I am sure we are looked down upon because we run one old car rather than a couple of 'BMWs' which is more the norm. I know which I prefer to own and won't be changing my ways.

 

[snowleopard]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

I was once accused of being rich because I sailed, my reply was that I was sailing an ancient second-hand dinghy costing under £200. The response was 'I wish I had £200'.
You can't win.

 

[halcyon]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Or is boating moving that way.
Our local anchorage 5 years ago was full of old yachts used on a regular basis, we now have a marina full of shiney new boats that never leave there birth. We had a yacht club were everyone talked to one another, now they turn for social events only.

We now have a growing bread of sailor that owning a boat is more important than using it, and being sean to belong to a yacht club more important, than using a club.


Brian

 

[RupertW]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

In a job interview once, I was asked what I did when I wasn't programming computers. When I told the MD that I sailed an ex-racing yacht he said, "You must be a very rich young man".

I had to tell him that thanks to the boat I was a very poor young man. I didn't tell him that the nice new company car would come in very handy as I had never owned a car and had had to get to the boat by train every weekend.

Maybe we seem elitist partly because we are fanatics who speak a different language. I bet most people have a very distorted view of "all those weekends away on your yacht".

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

It's a well known principle that boats are used in inverse proportion to their cost.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

I think that sailing presents the opportunity to spend money hand over fist like no other sport. Look at a race prepped Mclaren car you could buy 2 for the price of an a really big yacht.

I am constantly accused of having expensice holidays when i charter. yet i can go for a week for £300 quid plus food and booze. good value.

The increase in chartering has given more people greater and cheaper access to a sport. I think this has in part led to the increase in demand for yachts and power boats. But increasingly people want something akin to what they charter, normally modern white plastic and new. They want to repeat that experience so buy a newer boat they are familiar with. but sialig the med is a very different prospect to the solent, it is busier tidal and generally a bit more daunting. They go out scare themselves and leave the boat in marina motoring out on only the fairest of weekends.

These people have increased in numbers ( this is on the basis that 7 yrs ago i knew v 2 people who owned yachts i now know 12) so this is essentially anecdotal but i do think that they are becoming much greater in numbers.




Beer! Now there's a temporary solution.

 

[billmacfarlane]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Joe Public's view of sailing is partly due to the laziness of the media , which tends to resort to archetypes when sailing is involved and doesn't even try to write about the various levels of sailing we get involved in. It's also due to another peculiar British characteristic which is to sneer at success in whatever way it manifests itself. The logic goes something like this : You have a boat : You've been a success at something : You must have money etc. Ally that to our class system ( yes it still exists ) , the peculiar concept of the yacht club which keeps Joe Pub at arm's length , The RYS which keeps most of the human race at arm's length , and you can't really blame Joe Pub for his view of us. Contrast that to France where practically every harbour you enter has a sailing school with kids out sailing , the " yacht club " is merely a bar where anyone can go for a drink , a media that keeps the public informed and involved about sailing matters ,much cheaper means to keep a boat , and you have a public that makes superstars out of its top sailors. The whole thing is much more accessible. It's not just sailing of course , golf and tennis are another 2 sports that suffer from lack of accessibility as well.

 

[Cornishman]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

I think that you may have unwittingly hit the proverbial nail on its head.
Any pastime where only one or two people take part such as golf, tennis, sailing, horse riding but with the exception of boxing, is looked upon as elitist by Joe Public who is willingly led by the nose by the media. Look at the coverage, the pay, the downright waste of money that soccer attracts. Even Formula 1 is not so trendy. How many racing drivers do you know? Do you go to the Jockey Club for a pint on a Saturday night?
We are not the only ones to suffer. Ask Sir Robin K-J why he took his Clipper fleet from Plymouth to Portsmouth. One suspects that Plymouth Argyle FC had a stronger call on funds to build a new stadium.

 

[nicho]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Funny isn't it, other peoples perception of things...... Just about everybody I know who owns a boat are from modest backgrounds, and are kept on the verge of bankruptcy by the damned things!

 

[claymore]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Hmm
well, Ive never met Joe Public and I've looked on the electoral register and cannot find him so I guess he isn't from round here. What he thinks about me going sailing is his business - it really won't stop me as it has nothing whatsoever to do with him. The media being lazy isn't going to make any difference either as I really enjoy sailing - so if public perception is that I am an upper class twit, silver spooned or just plain wealthy, then so be it.....it's irrelevant. I suppose the problem for Emma Richards is that she looks a bit of a pretty young thing. Not as bad as being called Daphne fillyerboots Barnicote or whatever the YW reporter is called - now that must get J.Public going if he was to see it.
Strange post.

regards
Claymore

 

[Steve101]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

IMHO. It has nothing to do with class structure. The publics perseption is buoyed by an elitist few who maintain a closed ranks attitude to outsiders not wishing to let newbys in. It takes a thick skinned, hard nosed arsehole to ignore that (Of one I am!)

Seriously though, it is all too often that a select few spoil it for the rest. It has been my experience that the vast majority of the sailing fraternity are all to eager to help someone who obviously needs help. Yet an old guard is still intent in disuading new comers. "Don't go down there. Their be owls down there!"

The tide is turning though and the class structure is leaking, the lines blurred by education, professions and foreign boats (Ben,Bav,Jen). Opening the floodgates to a mass market before oblivious to the millionaire lifestyle of yatching.

Something which I hold dear and stands true. Whatever your boat, whatever your lifestyle, background, upbringing. When we're on the water we're all millionaires and all the same class!

Hope this isn't too rich for everyones tastes!

 

[Guest]

I\'m Joe Public and I sail(nm)

.

Well, actually I just work seven days a week to bay maintenance and berthing fees<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Jonah on 17/09/2002 21:43 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Also, sailing is socialist

After all, we (nearly) all keep the red flag flying ...

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Not only does Emma look the part but she is also very articulate without sounding posh.

Also she doesn't have any of those orrid Northern accents, a big point in her favour <G>

 

[claymore]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Tryin to make point there are ee me pastie-munchin'earty?

regards
Claymore

 

[Guest]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

The trouble is that sailing IS expensive no matter what you would all like to believe. Therefore not many people own boats. There is no getting round the fact that it can be seen, by others, as elitist.

 

[Jeremy_W]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

But you don't have to own a yacht to have a great time sailing. As that eminent yachting journo Jane Austen observed "it is a truth universally acknowledged that an owner in possession of a good yacht, must be in want of a crew".

 

[Guest]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Isn't it all to do with perception rather than the reality!
For JP the word yacht has connotation of a luxury yacht in the Med owned by a mega tycoon. A F1 racing car driver earning probably more than the tycoon is regarded as media and sports star. But someone sailing a very expensive yacht, and has probably gone into serious debt to achieve an ambition is regarded as rich and eliirist.

Perhaps if us humble sailors refrained from calling our boats yachts, and reverted to Personal Water Craft JP's, perception may be closer to reality!

 

[Guest]

Re: Joe public\'s view of sailing?

Isn't it all to do with perception rather than the reality!
For JP the word yacht has connotation of a luxury yacht in the Med owned by a mega tycoon. A F1 racing car driver earning probably more than the tycoon is regarded as media and sports star. But someone sailing a very expensive yacht, and has probably gone into serious debt to achieve an ambition is regarded as rich and eliirist.

Perhaps if us humble sailors refrained from calling our boats yachts, and reverted to Personal Water Craft JP's, perception may be closer to reality!