Why Raise The Profile?

[Rob_Webb]

I fully expect a barrage of counter-arguments (please keep them clean and constructive!) but here goes anyway......

Frequently, when reading topics discussed on the forum, I see a person or an action defended using the point "at least they/it has raised the profile of sailing".

I don't want to discuss specifics (like the latest Maiden antics discussed elsewhere) but I do ask myself, "exactly why does the sport's profile need raising?"

Looking at the booming market in new and used boats, plus the huge supporting industry supplying gadgets often costing more than the boats themselves, I conclude that sailing seems to be doing very well as things are, thank you very much. It hardly strikes me as being a dieing sport, desperately in need of more commercial support or 'popular' coverage.

I recognise the need for a body to protect our interests in a legislative sense, hence my long-standing support for the RYA. But apart from that, why does sailing need it's profile raising? Looking at the already crowded waters of the south coast, I wish there were LESS boats out there not MORE.

I am selfish or niave - or do others feel the same way?

Rob Webb

 

[tcm]

Re: some answers

I think the argument that keeping v quiet about sailing/boating to keep it all empty etc is a understandable but misguided. In general, the more popular a sport, then provided that safety is not compriomised, legislation makes that sport easier, not less easy, and popularity will/has brought down prices. A rasied profile wd also make Cowes etc become something other than a total dump, divert govt towards investment in boating-related schemes.

I'd like to see sailing return to being a Royal sport with prince harry etc becoming a keen sailor. Sailing got a better and mainstream press when ted heath involved, and before that erm george V had "Britannia". Britannia itself was of huge value in promting UK interests re tourism and trade - one cannot underestimate how overwhelmed others were at seeing monarch yacht turn up in Med, and anywhere else, knocked all other private boats into cocked hat. These days, the arabs rule the roost in the med, the yanks elsewhere.

Aside from the above, yacht racing on TV is improving a bit, with fab coverage of er forgotten what it was, but they had a "speeded-up" replay to show how the tactics were played out. More interest in sailing wd increase this.

 

[rogerroger]

I agree. The more boats out there the more crowded it will be - the marinas etc will be able to charge what they like if demand is increased further.

I don't need to justify my sport / hobby / leisure pursuit by having famous people doing it nor having it thrust into the lyme light for whatever reason...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[bedouin]

I see your point, but we do need to pay some thought to the public perception of sailing.

There are a number of potential threats to our hobby on the horizon (or sometimes even closer). These include RCD (and proposed changes), Light Dues, Removal of duty free fuel, taxing boat owners, compulsory licencing.....

If sailing retains an image of an elitist minority sport (sort of the marine equivalent of fox hunting) then it makes it much harder to resist these adverse changes

 

[Rob_Webb]

I once read an approximate statistic that said that in the UK about 1-in-1000 people were involved with boating; in the US the figure was about 1-in-100; in the Scnadanavian countries it was 1-in-10.

I don't know how accurate these estimates are and I understand the point about it being easier to protect our interests if more people are interested and involved - the trouble I have is that given the already huge population bias towards the South/East, where on earth do we fit a load more boaties?

Rob

 

[PhilipStapleton]

I'd be happier if the profile being raised was at the entry point for sailing - dinghies, small cruisers etc. This would encourage kids to get a feel for the sport while they're young, and grow into an even more competent lot of sailors than we are.

The Maiden experience says this is a high cost, high tech sport where everyone who owns a boat has lotsamoney. It's this perception that encourages Cowes to charge £30 a night and for the government to want to collect light dues from us.

IMHO, F1 motor racing (the equivalent of the Volvo and the Jules Verne) encourages kids to be bad drivers. Much better to go to rally cross or sail with the local opi fleet.

Keep the profile low, encourage sailing-on-a-modest-budget, and the world will be a better place!

 

[bedouin]

Those participation figures must be far too low. That would only make about 60,000 boaters in the country - and several times that must go to the LBS each year, and the combined circulation of all boaty magazines must be well in excess of 250,000.

I imagine the real figure in the UK is in excess of 1 in 100 - if you include all forms of boating, including inland.

 

[tcm]

A better place

Sailing has a much higher profile in France, Ellen McA far more recognised over there.....the marinas are more plentiful, cheaper for what you get, free for lunchtime, almost always with better facilties, sometimes much much better faciliites.

I'm afraid that the nimby attitude of brits who do well and already have boats, and the jealous screaming of those who don't (seems everyone highly paid these days is "fat cat") - may have contributed towards this.

In the UK, instead of a celebration iof our island maritime heritage, Cowes week and lots of other events are portrayed as events for toffs and hoorays to go bonkers, and as those with boats seem to prefer being a happy and excluisive little brigade, it's likely to stay that way. Late in the 97 election, New Labour announced that it would not fund the Royal Yacht, a great pity and and amazing indication of how british boating is seen by the uk general public.

MDL is presumably pressured to keep lifting prices to deter newcomers, and there seems no particular pressure to develop new marinas and so it goes on. Note also the predominance of lower-cost boats from overseas, esp france.

It's also fairly well known the Ellen started boating by saving pocket money, which seems a good example, not a bad one.

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: A better place

Just to hammer home your message:
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/editorials_080198.htm
It's titled "Decline of Yachting". Published in November 1998. He attributes the decline to the post war baby boom getting older and less inclined to put with the discomfort of sailing. Somewhere else here I asked why people weren't turning up in droves after our olympic success - I was wrong - dinghy sailing is enjoying spectacular popularity since olympics.

A snippet of the article:

Since the beginning of this year, I have run across five articles that discuss the decline of sailing yachts, including two feature articles, of all places in the Wall Street Journal, and another in a major London newspaper. In case you're not aware of it, sail boats now comprise less then 10% of all boat sales, new and used. In 1997, only 2,000 new sailboats were sold in the US, a figure I roughly estimate to be about 2% of all new boat sales. Those were numbers that shocked even me. With numbers like that, one has to wonder whether extinction might be a better word than "decline."

One of the most oft cited reasons in all of those articles had to do with quality and seaworthiness. it's no secret that boat builders, just as automakers have always done, have used the elitist allure of racing to try to sell their boats. The writers of these articles attributed the flimsy, unstable designs of production yachts imitating ultra light racing yachts as one of the major reasons. Certainly that does have something to do with it, but I don't believe that is the major impetus. No, I think the major reason for the decline of sail yachting is the same reason I got out of sailing: I just couldn't stand it anymore.

Rob-webb: you'll get some data on numbers from
http://www.solentforum.hants.org.uk/rectour/summinforec.htm

 

[Rob_Webb]

Re: A better place

Thanks for that, there are some very interesting bits there and I will take a look at the solent forum you mention.

Finally, what exactly was it about sailing that you couldn't stand that forced you away - was it the overcrowding?

Rob

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: A better place

The 2nd paragraph is from the article. They are not my words, though I agree with what is said.

I haven't been forced away at all - I just don't sail in the Solent except in autumn and spring when it is much quieter and more pleasant. In summer go across channel - French marinas are, generally, more welcoming. My wife almost point blank refuses to sail in the Solent after one near miss and without her support the boat would be sold.

 

[kgi]

Maybe a way to improve sailing especially at the lower end of the spectrum is to promote trailer sailers, this would involve free slipways and dedicated parking for car and trailer, its one of the good things to come out of the US i have watched these boat ramps on a weekend just come alive with boats the joy of it is you can put them nearly anywhere, another one is anchoring rights, they are fast disappearing, look at newtown creek as an example, our pasttime needs to go back to its roots again, and i agree with the other mail on the Solent during the summer its to busy to be enjoyable .........well thats what i think? any comments?

 

[sailbadthesinner]

I totally agree
lets not bother them and hopefully they will leave us alone.

If it Cooks Flys or Floats, Rent it.

 

[chas]

Agree with the sentiment but you would be competing with property developers for the space beside the water. If the West Country is anything to go by, anywhere with half decent access to the water is being built over with slipways disappearing or being constricted and what used to be free parking now costing a bomb.

 

[tcm]

Re: exactly! boaters keep too low a profile

Housing projects get far more publicity. Divorce, one-parent families, second homes raising prices...all play more heavily on a the mind of local and national govt than allowing free access to the sea for the general public - because boating keep a low profile.

 

[kgi]

yeah i know i used to live in penzance

 

[jwatson]

Re: A better place

No, we do not want to deter new-comers. Watch this space!
John Watson
MDL

 

[WayneS]

Re: A better place

I like, I like. Come on, spit it out.