Sailing, an old mans sport?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I'm based up in Liverpool and I bought my first boat last year. I'd done a fair bit of sailing overseas, and one of the things I loved about it was the great mix of people involved with boats. All ages, all nationalities, all walks of life, what a craic.

When I came back to Britain I checked out a few of the local sailing clubs hoping to meet the same crowd of freedom loving, relaxed people of all ages. Sadly this didn't happen. At 27 years old I'm usually the youngest in any sailing crowd by a least 20 years. I don't have a problem with this but I'm surprised to say the least.

I understand boating isn't cheap, but my H22 was less than an six year old golf, and there are plenty of kids driving GTI's. A swinging mooring can be had for 6 months road tax. Also if you don't have kids, a reasonable amount of income is genuinely disposable.

So..have things always been this way? Is it the same all over the country or just in the NW? Or have the'youth of today' just gone soft?

Jim

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[tcm]

I am not sure it is that they are soft - but simply that there are some very VERY clever people woking in television, media, computer gaming and other sedentary activities these days, stealing away the lives of young people without them noticing. By contrast, the telly was rubbish 40 years ago and non-existent during daylight hours.

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[Guest]

Oh, the lack of youngsters (<50 yrs) includes crew as well. In fact there's hardly any interest in crewing at all. When I started out I was happy to buy skippers a few beers afterwards which didn't really break the bank, so it seems that sailing as a whole has been disreagarded by yoof, not just boat ownership and economics are not a factor.

Could be why so many boats never leave their moorings

Jim



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[Jeremy_W]

I don't know where you've been looking, but there used to be a lot of students/ twenty-somethings crewing at Liverpool YC, especially when the serious round the cans racing started - late Autumn through till Easter.

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[aod]

I wasn't an old man when I started it but I aged pretty quick soon afterwards

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[Neraida]

We're both 28 and have seen the same kind of thing in clubs but not so much out on the water. We always seem to be the youngest by at least 20 years too in the clubhouse, except on racing nights where it narrows down to about 5-10. However, when we go off on weekend adventures around the Solent we always bump into people of a nearer age to our own.

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[LadyInBed]

You’re a bit mixed up

You are confusing how old people look with how old they feel /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

All replies on the back of my pampers

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[Neraida]

Re: You’re a bit mixed up

Forgot to mention tho that most older than us boaty people are more fun!!! (before i upset anybody ;-)

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[Sybarite]

Perhaps with a little more age and experience you will learn how NOT to bump into others...

John

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[Twister_Ken]

Young whippersnappers

Good question, and I suspect it has several components to the answer.

1. The route you have chosen (small boat, cheap mooring, unfashionable area) is not one that is promoted by the yachting industry, or by the lifestyle press.

2. Lots of younger people are introduced to sailing nowadays by Sunsail and their competitors. They start sailing on Ohmigod 33.s with fridges, hot & cold running water, six-foot plus headroom, Goblin teasmades, etc, and they decide if they want to continue then they want to continue in that fashion = big bucks.

3. Younger people used to be drawn into the sport by crewing on racing yachts. Those who do this, and who are keen and good and footloose realise that nowadays they can earn some sort of living as a professional crew. There is year-round offshore and inshore racing if you follow the sun, and there are crewed long-distance events. In addition there is a year-round charter industry which employs skippers, hands, maintenance kids, etc. Those who follow this route are unlikely to end up owning their own boat for many years, if ever - why would you own a scruffy little boat (in their eyes) stuck in one piece of water, when folks are willing to pay you to sail state-of-art kit in glam parts of the world?

4. For those who start out by crewing on racing boats, but don't aspire to go pro, find that beginning to earn the sort of money that would finance boat ownership often coincides with marriage, mortgages, kids, so the decision has to be put off into later life.

5. Boats are bigger nowadays, but easier to sail with power winches, roller blind mains, electronic nav. So sailors who once would have looked for a bit of free manpower to help them sail the waters of their choice can now do it as a couple. Hence younger people are decreasingly getting the chance to do real cruising and get imbued with the desire to do it for themselves.

6. There's so much else to do. We now have so many appeals to our wallet. Skiing in the winter, cheap(ish) air travel making second and third holidays and long weekends away a possibility, other adventure sports, second homes in warmer climes (or friends & family that own them and make them available).

7. The housing market. Used to be you could buy a house for £30,000 and a boat for £7,000. Nowadays, it's more likely you are looking at buying a first home for £250,000+ which doesn't leave much change for the capital and running costs of a boat.

So, younger people are not getting into sailing to the point of buying boats and joining clubs.

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[Mirelle]

An old mans sport? I\'m working on it!

I bought my first boat when I was 16 - an 18ft half decked dayboat that I cruised in with a boom tent (actually an ex-Army groundsheet!) and I have never been without a boat since. Always swinging moorings and mudberths. Now I'm 50 and in some eyes I must already qualify as an old man - but, for myself, I reckon that aonther 20 years practice will get me moderately competent!

Let me just say that when I started, and well into my 20's, the sport seemed exactly as you describe - everyone was either hugely older than I or into crewing on racers, whereas I wanted to sail my own small boat. Its only really since this bulletin board that I have come to realise that there must have been others just like me - but we never met!

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[burgundyben]

you should come to the beautiful south and have a go at racing, say either HRSC winter series for 8 sunday or in the new year the Warsash Spring Series, 250 boats i nHR winter series, 200 in spring sereies. NMost of the boats, esp competitive ones are owned by older folk who made their heap and spend someon the boat. But they need a crew, take a J120 or 40.7, they need 8 or 10 to race round the cans. Friend of mine drives from liverpool on friday night or saturday to go racing.

<hr width=100% size=1>Sod the Healey - I think I'll buy an E-Type.

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Re: Young whippersnappers

Interesting comments - been thinking about our club and the sailors about. I believe that of the boat owners in the club (and by boat I mean sailing boat), we are the youngest. I'm now 37 (since yesterday), and my wife is younger by some years (not saying how old though). Even amoungst the crews I'm not sure that there are more than one or two younger than us. I can't comment about the marina as a whole - I don't know them all /forums/images/icons/smile.gif, but I feel that this is still the case.

Jeff.

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[MainlySteam]

Re: An old mans sport? I\'m working on it!

Andrew, I am just a few years older than you - it is getting to the stage where it is nice to be told that it is an old mans sport otherwise one would soon have to be out of it!

Very strong progression through the dinghy training classes here but I think the first fall off is the energy and cost leap into the bigger high performance dinghies at around 16 years of age (I suspect more than half perhaps) and then a big drop off again when those boats (or the new wife and kids) get too much of a handful for even relatively young bones. Perhaps a small power boat comes into the picture somewhere thereabouts. Know a number of very competent dinghy sailors who have gone the top class competitive racing way as big yacht crews and as I think Ken has said, they will probably not have their own boats for a very long time, if ever.

John

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[jac]

Re: Young whippersnappers

I know what you mean - I'm 35 (well for 3 weeks anyway!) and SWMBO is 31. We bought a year ago and are definately the youngest around. I agree though that when yiu actually get out you do see a slightly higher proportion of younger people sailing boats than are members of clubs/ marinas etc.

Reasons are all detailed above but I thinl Ken got the key point - Cost. I know lots of young people who are struggling to buy houses. A car counts as a necessity these days so people will make sure they get it. A boat isn't - add in several thousand a year to keep the thing and the reason becomes obvious.

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[Mirelle]

Re: An old mans sport? I\'m working on it!

Yes, I see the same thing here. Our local club (quite a small one) has a small but enthusiastic dinghy section, and as you say there is a falling off at 16 or so. The classic pocket cruisers of thirty years ago were aimed at the new family, but today, perhaps due to the cost of houses, perhaps due to the cheapness of more comfortable holidays, they are out of vogue. One would expect to see plenty of centreboard daysailers that can live on a drying mooring and take the young family down the river, but in fact these are quite rare.

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[Sandrine]

Even more unusual

Being a young female boat owner is even more unusual.

It is bizarre nowadays, even if Ellen Mc Arthur has proven that is is possible, how difficut it is for people to accept the fact. ;-)

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[Gunfleet]

<Could be why so many boats never leave their moorings>
That and the fact people buy boats too big for single handing. I know you could probably single hand a 36 footer theoretically, but it would be a bit of a PITA as your regular solo sail.

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[Gunfleet]

Re: Even more unusual

Hello Sandrine and welcome. Presumably you'd find it a bit easier than some to get a couple of strapping young chaps for crew!

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[Nautorius]

Hi Jim,

I understand where you are coming from. I started down the same road as you 6/7 years ago and could not find Crew. I ended up becoming a Lake Sailor. This was for several reasons. I had spare cash but no spare time to wait for tides. I liked my little Leisure's but the girlfriends never took to them, I ended up single handed sailing mostly.... etc. In the end I moved to power because it was easier. I still sail though as my dad has a yacht. We all work flat out 5/6 days a week and need to relax at weekends. Personally I don't mind what boat I am on as long as it structurally safe and has an area to brew up on/Warm beans and has an area to sleep. However SWMBO likes fridges, lights, and comfy beds.... and I understand why. It is her relaxation time and she wants to enjoy it.

However in stark contrast to most coastal marinas Windermere is full of the younger generation as well as the experienced bunch. It is great to get different perspectives and experiences. Why are they there?......they have some varying amounts of money but no time! It think it is the simplicity not complexity they crave.

I think this is just the way of the world....

Cheers

N.


<hr width=100% size=1>Will I ever find the perfect boat?