We are in a never to be repeated golden age of sailing.

[Sailing steve]

Last summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot more boats out cruising here on the East coast. Mostly older boats, being run on a budget (just like ours), and at least some other families. Not a revolution, but busier than I’ve seen it in recent years.

That's because last summer we actually had one.

Prior to that in '23 and '24 the weather was mostly shyite and I lost count of the times I looked at the forecast and thought sod that before I left home or thought sod that and came home early and wet and miserable.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Cheaper than a cottage in the New Forest, also the one upmanship of 'Oh we're going to the yacht this weekend'. Whilst these factors exist the marinas will be full.

It’s horribly gauche to refer to your own boatcas a yacht, isn’t it? It’s a boat, unless it’s called ‘Britannia’. I don’t think even pretentious gits on the south coast would make that mistake.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Surely it’s a Luxury Yacht?

 

[Stemar]

It’s horribly gauche to refer to your own boatcas a yacht, isn’t it? It’s a boat, unless it’s called ‘Britannia’. I don’t think even pretentious gits on the south coast would make that mistake.

Oh, I don't know. Madame found an occasion when it was the only word to use (see above )

 

[RunAgroundHard]

It’s horribly gauche to refer to your own boatcas a yacht, isn’t it? It’s a boat, unless it’s called ‘Britannia’. I don’t think even pretentious gits on the south coast would make that mistake.

Boasting, the context of the post you were referring to is gauche. All the boat owners on YBW sail yachts, whether motor or wind powered. There may be the odd boat owner, who's boat is not a yacht, but they will be a rare beast on here.

 

[flaming]

That's because last summer we actually had one.

Prior to that in '23 and '24 the weather was mostly shyite and I lost count of the times I looked at the forecast and thought sod that before I left home or thought sod that and came home early and wet and miserable.

This is the best advantage of taking up racing. You still go out when it's a bit inclement, And those are often the days that live long in the memory.

 

[Mark-1]

This is the best advantage of taking up racing. You still go out when it's a bit inclement, And those are often the days that live long in the memory.

Ditto chartering.

 

[johnalison]

Boasting, the context of the post you were referring to is gauche. All the boat owners on YBW sail yachts, whether motor or wind powered. There may be the odd boat owner, who's boat is not a yacht, but they will be a rare beast on here.

It is odd isn’t it? Yacht is a perfectly accurate term to describe most of our craft and yet we shrink from using it. Among fellow sailors the term boat works well enough but gives no indication to a non-sailor, who will probably visualise it as a dinghy. To tell a non-sailor that my hobby is cruising would be equally misleading, and in some places could get me into trouble. I did, however, enjoy encounters in the Netherlands where I was best understood if I called my 10m vessel a ship.

 

[Mark-1]

I did, however, enjoy encounters in the Netherlands where I was best understood if I called my 10m vessel a ship.

I hope YBWers will keep my secret when I admit that I quite like being referred to as "Captain" in the places where that is the term of choice. Pretentious, Moi?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Boasting, the context of the post you were referring to is gauche. All the boat owners on YBW sail yachts, whether motor or wind powered. There may be the odd boat owner, who's boat is not a yacht, but they will be a rare beast on here.

You must be referring to me, and Angus of course. The NYYC famously said ours were not yachts.

 

[flaming]

I may have posted something like this before.

When I first started sailing in the mid/late 80s in my late teens i looked at the westerly centaur as the popular family cruising boat and good ones were about 10k then. Similar for something like a sadler 26. Family boats were smaller then.

According to google, or AI, or something 10k in 1986 equates to around 40k now.

Yet it is possible to buy a very good centaur or westerly griffon for 6 - 7k. I saw one advertised for sale today with a 2004 engine and clearly well looked after for 7k. With the current market you could probably offer 5k and the seller would bite your arm off.

This is pretty recent, a sort of very gradual decline in prices from 2010 until covid which triggered a boom when you could ask silly money for anything, followed by a baloon pop of real vengence. To the extent that boatyards are scrapping biats at a rate of knots that they have never done before.

So for sailors this is the golden age. I know people say that it is madness paying 5k per year for a berth on a boat not even worth that, but it means that it is possible to get on the water and have fun for less in real terms than I spent on an evening out in Browns in Shoreditch in the 90s.

It is possible to get a seaworthy, comfortable boat, that has been looked after that is capable of crossing the channel for next to nothing.

I see this as a golden age of sailing. Far more accessible than it has ever been before. I don't think people see it, in the same way that most people never see the bottom of a market as a buying opportunity.

If boatyards keep scrapping boats at the rate they are doing then in a few years there will be more of the decent ones left and the supply/demand balance will start to return to normal.

My message is to those looking to buy, buy now and enjoy the value. It won't last.

I've been thinking about this some more, and I think there's more to it.

You're right that it's currently possible to pick up a half decent older cruising boat for very little money. And therefore you're potentially right that for the people who want a half decent older boat, then in terms of purchase price at least, times are good.

But... Whilst potentially quite an important segment, it's far from the only segment. And other segments are under real pressure. The cost increases I've seen in the last 4 years have been really quite staggering. Berthing, sails, maintenance etc... All up, hugely. Lifts have doubled in price in that time. I may well have decided to change how I sail, except for the fact that I'm in the utterly absurd position that because of race results by sister ships in the fastnet etc my boat is currently worth probably 40% more than I paid for it. The last one to sell went for 50% more than I paid and was arguably lower spec. Which is unheard of. And frankly making my decision to spend money on it "justifiable" in my version of man maths. When the prices start dropping again I'll have a decision to make.

But... The point about the sort of sailing I'm most interested in is that it does require other people to want to do it to for it to be fun. These cost increases is really not helping the fleet. When I started racing seriously, about 20 years ago, it was entirely normal to have a new "works" entry to the major series. The dealer putting a top crew on the 1st boat to arrive to promote it by getting some results. Haven't seen such a thing in a decade I think. New boats would appear every year. Both new models and new owners joining. I went to a 40 boat J109 nationals in about 2010. That was a riot. These days there's simply nothing available to buy... Only the J99 is even available to buy new that is capable of doing a mix of inshore and offshore. Everything else even remotely in this size bracket is either a sportsboat or a one trick shorthanded offshore boat.
So the fleet is largely the same boats, just thinning out a bit...

On that basis, I'd struggle to describe the part of sailing that I'm most interested in as in any sort of golden age. Gentle decline would be more accurate.

 

[westhinder]

... I'd struggle to describe the part of sailing that I'm most interested in as in any sort of golden age. Gentle decline would be more accurate.

I think you are right, and more so when you look outside the Solent bubble and abroad.
In Belgium and even in the Netherlands, marina's have been slowly emptying for around ten years now. There were rather long waiting lists everywhere when I bought my first boat in 1999, now they are unheard of in our neck of the woods. Older people are giving up, no young families are taking up the baton. When our kids were young, they found kids their age wherever we went, now it is rare to see a family sailing with young kids. In two years' time, my son will be at the age I bought my first boat. He is still an active racing sailor, but there is no way he will buy a yacht, although he likes sailing our boat too. People starting sailing at a later age will never make up the numbers.
So a gentle decline, yes definitely

 

[Stemar]

This is the best advantage of taking up racing. You still go out when it's a bit inclement, And those are often the days that live long in the memory.

Yeah, Like my last Round the Island. I won't forget that in a hurry, and when I remember it, I think never again!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Yeah, Like my last Round the Island. I won't forget that in a hurry, and when I remember it, I think never again!

I’ve said that every year since 1988, with only moderate success

 

[Mark-1]

Think I first did it in 1992 and thought it was a hell of a long sail to end up at Cowes. Every 5-10 years I forget myself and give it another go.

 

[flaming]

Think I first did it in 1992 and thought it was a hell of a long sail to end up at Cowes. Every 5-10 years I forget myself and give it another go.

It's probably my favourite single day race that we do. The course is endlessly fascinating, as every different wind condition gives new challenges, and you find yourself in close where you've never been before. The last time there was an Easterly, short tacking between St Kats and Ventnor was a very novel experience! Wasn't a fan of the year of the Southerly a few years back though. A 50 mile race with 1 tack and 1 gybe was somewhat dull.

The Big SW years though... Definitely some of my favourite days on the water ever.

 

[Concerto]

I've been thinking about this some more, and I think there's more to it.

You're right that it's currently possible to pick up a half decent older cruising boat for very little money. And therefore you're potentially right that for the people who want a half decent older boat, then in terms of purchase price at least, times are good.

But... Whilst potentially quite an important segment, it's far from the only segment. And other segments are under real pressure. The cost increases I've seen in the last 4 years have been really quite staggering. Berthing, sails, maintenance etc... All up, hugely. Lifts have doubled in price in that time. I may well have decided to change how I sail, except for the fact that I'm in the utterly absurd position that because of race results by sister ships in the fastnet etc my boat is currently worth probably 40% more than I paid for it. The last one to sell went for 50% more than I paid and was arguably lower spec. Which is unheard of. And frankly making my decision to spend money on it "justifiable" in my version of man maths. When the prices start dropping again I'll have a decision to make.

But... The point about the sort of sailing I'm most interested in is that it does require other people to want to do it to for it to be fun. These cost increases is really not helping the fleet. When I started racing seriously, about 20 years ago, it was entirely normal to have a new "works" entry to the major series. The dealer putting a top crew on the 1st boat to arrive to promote it by getting some results. Haven't seen such a thing in a decade I think. New boats would appear every year. Both new models and new owners joining. I went to a 40 boat J109 nationals in about 2010. That was a riot. These days there's simply nothing available to buy... Only the J99 is even available to buy new that is capable of doing a mix of inshore and offshore. Everything else even remotely in this size bracket is either a sportsboat or a one trick shorthanded offshore boat.
So the fleet is largely the same boats, just thinning out a bit...

On that basis, I'd struggle to describe the part of sailing that I'm most interested in as in any sort of golden age. Gentle decline would be more accurate.

Talking of racing reminds me of the fleet sizes in the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association in the late 1960's and 1970's. Most races had 50+ entrants, popular races like the Harwich to Ostend were usually 70+ boats. Just checked the overall results for 2025. I was shocked that there were only 24 boats entered over the whole season including some who entered just one race. Racing in my opinion has already past its peak and near rock bottom. The same drop in boats has happened to Burnham Week and Medway Regatta.

10 years ago I remember chatting with the owner of a large motorboat in Burnham Yacht Harbour. Chatting about runnings costs for his boat, he just laughed. It turned out he had given up racing and listed all the problems he had keeping his boat in top racing condition with regular new sails virtually every season. Then there was finding sufficient crew to race the boat due to holidays, weddings, family events, etc. Then he paid for all the food and drink, plus any breakages, lifting for scrubbing every month, etc. By comparison running two big diesels was far cheaper!

The change from cruiser racers to pure race boats has killed off almost all participants with cruiser racers. Then there is the expense of getting the boat measured and complying with all the safety equipment. This adds barriers for anyone thinking of doing the odd race, so nobody now bothers.

 

[mrming]

Talking of racing reminds me of the fleet sizes in the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association in the late 1960's and 1970's. Most races had 50+ entrants, popular races like the Harwich to Ostend were usually 70+ boats. Just checked the overall results for 2025. I was shocked that there were only 24 boats entered over the whole season including some who entered just one race. Racing in my opinion has already past its peak and near rock bottom. The same drop in boats has happened to Burnham Week and Medway Regatta.

10 years ago I remember chatting with the owner of a large motorboat in Burnham Yacht Harbour. Chatting about runnings costs for his boat, he just laughed. It turned out he had given up racing and listed all the problems he had keeping his boat in top racing condition with regular new sails virtually every season. Then there was finding sufficient crew to race the boat due to holidays, weddings, family events, etc. Then he paid for all the food and drink, plus any breakages, lifting for scrubbing every month, etc. By comparison running two big diesels was far cheaper!

The change from cruiser racers to pure race boats has killed off almost all participants with cruiser racers. Then there is the expense of getting the boat measured and complying with all the safety equipment. This adds barriers for anyone thinking of doing the odd race, so nobody now bothers.

I was part of a team running the racing at an east coast club for 3 years, not very long ago.

On the east coast now, in the cruiser classes, there are far more cruiser racers than dedicated race boats. One of the reasons is they are very competitive, and also some owners do use them for cruising.

What we found is we could not get people to show up for racing in meaningful numbers in the summer, no matter what we did. We tried many different formats, from fun and casual to more serious, but the result was always tumbleweed.

Spring and Autumn series were well attended (and to some extent still are). The club regatta also brought out a decent fleet.

Outside of that, in the summer, owners and different members of the crew pool all have their 2 weeks of summer holidays at different times, meaning people can’t put a crew together.

The handicap thing is more complex but it’s not the primary reason for low attendance. The RYA introduced NHC which confused everyone at our club. It’s actually very easy to get a non endorsed IRC certificate but more casual racers didn’t know that and it was hard to convince them of the truth. We also had an issue with the more casual boats not knowing (and usually not wanting to know) basic racing rules.

It’s not easy to explain why cruiser racing has declined so much on the east coast, but if I had to put the blame anywhere, I would say that people have less time, and less disposable income, which means less young people entering the fray. As Flaming says above, it’s been a slow decline, but the decline on the east coast has been much greater compared with the Solent (where I now do most of my racing).

 

[Chiara’s slave]

It's probably my favourite single day race that we do. The course is endlessly fascinating, as every different wind condition gives new challenges, and you find yourself in close where you've never been before. The last time there was an Easterly, short tacking between St Kats and Ventnor was a very novel experience! Wasn't a fan of the year of the Southerly a few years back though. A 50 mile race with 1 tack and 1 gybe was somewhat dull.

The Big SW years though... Definitely some of my favourite days on the water ever.

Come with us if there’s a southerly

 

[flaming]

Come with us if there’s a southerly

You'd be back before I'd even had time to digest my bacon sarnie....