Good Dissection of Where Sailing is Headed

[avb3]

Probably many of us intuitively already knew what is outlined in this article, however it is still interesting see it on paper.

Power boat grab: Is the sailing lifestyle sailing away?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[marke14]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing it. At 37 years old, I am the only member of my family and the only one of my group of friends, coworkers and acquaintances that I know of, who sails.

We know quite a few people with trailer-able fishing boats, ski boats, and a few with larger, permanently slipped powerboats, but we are the only sailors. I am pretty sure that I am the youngest tenant in our marina by at least a decade.

[zboss]

Honestly - we are only 20 or so years away from powerboats that can run indefinitely at hull speed using a completely electric setup recharged using solar... so, why have sails?

[k9medic]

I have to admit that I own two power boats. One is a 23' ski boat and the other an aft cabin m/y.

I'd love to have a cat but the wife is set against going slow until we are in later stages of our lives.

One of the issues is time away. My wife works 12 hours shifts and has every other weekend off. If we want to get away for the weekend we can leave on Friday and come back Sunday afternoon provided we are cruising at planing speed which is around 17kts. If we were to sail we would spend two days just to get to and from a location that is only 60 miles away. Under power we can get there in less than 4 hours.

Like marke14 we are the youngest at the marina by at least 20 years.

[Greenhand]

Interesting that they are trying to push sailing as not so expensive. Their trailer sailor example assumes you own a home, which is also less prevalent than a few years ago.

[FamilyVan]

I'm not sure what defines a millennial, but if it means somebody in their 20's all the ones I know are broke as can be. Like others above have mentioned, at 38 (me) and 26 (her) we were by far (10 years?) the youngest on our dock last year. We decided this year to give up the marina and join a yacht club. I went in to pay my dues yesterday and it was the weekly ROMEO luncheon- Retired Old Men Eating Out- great.


Having said that I have several friends in their late 30's that own and sail decent sized sailboats. My social circle however, consists mostly of ship masters or senior officers, so their disposable income and time off is going to be a little higher than the average, plus there's the fact that they're much more comfortable on the water than the average.


I remember being a boy in the 80's and all my parents friends seemed to have sailboats, and there was no expectation that people should be sailing 40+ foot state of the art sailing machines. 20-30 ft Tanzers, Grampians and Hunters were the norm and nobody thought any thing of it- and they would actively cruise for a week or more at a time with a family of four on board. My dad had a Grampian 23, we cruised all around the great lakes- with a family of 5! Now for some reason a couple can't safely leave harbour with out at least a 40 footer. Weird.

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by zboss

Honestly - we are only 20 or so years away from powerboats that can run indefinitely at hull speed using a completely electric setup recharged using solar... so, why have sails?

20 years away? I already have a boat that will run indefinitely, frequently at hull speed, on solar energy. I use the sails to catch it. After all, from whence the wind?

[Tellie]

"Back then, families worked shorter hours, commuted less, had fewer child-only activities and could afford to take three hours on a weekend afternoon for a family sail"


The world has sped up so fast that most of us don't understand how to slow down...or why.

[SVNeko]

Originally Posted by Tellie

"Back then, families worked shorter hours, commuted less, had fewer child-only activities and could afford to take three hours on a weekend afternoon for a family sail"


The world has sped up so fast that most of us don't understand how to slow down...or why.

Agree. "Could afford to take three hours on a weekend"? People nowadays can't spare 3 hours on a weekend? That sounds miserable and exhausting.

[Ex-Calif]

People have a lot more choices on how to spend their leisure time and people don't have as much of it...

The disposable income for the right demographic is probably still there but they spend their "disposable" income on a McMansion, two SUVs and a 80+ inch plasma. Oh, and they weigh 100 pounds more than they did in 1980.

1.2 million people sailing at least once per year - how sad...

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

People have a lot more choices on how to spend their leisure time and people don't have as much of it...

The disposable income for the right demographic is probably still there but they spend their "disposable" income on a McMansion, two SUVs and a 80+ inch plasma. Oh, and they weigh 100 pounds more than they did in 1980.

1.2 million people sailing at least once per year - how sad...

That was the number for at least seven times per year; once was "about 3.5 to 4."

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by zboss

Honestly - we are only 20 or so years away from powerboats that can run indefinitely at hull speed using a completely electric setup recharged using solar... so, why have sails?

:bigg rin:: biggrin::biggr in:

That's funny.

[Rustic Charm]

There was an episode of Star Trek (many years ago) where I think it was Picard who built a space ship that ran on sails to catch solar rays. It was of course an exceptionally slow way to travel and he was asked why he is even interested in it.

The captain gave a monologue of early explorers discovering new worlds in the 19th century by very slow sail boats. He made it sound glamorous and romantic. Of course, it's also ridiculously impractical given the size of the solar system alone, let alone the Universe and beyond.

My point is that no matter what the future is, there will always be sail boats, because the very mode of travelling with the wind is why people do it. It is glamorous and romantic (as long as your not chundering).

[LekiM]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

20 years away? I already have a boat that will run indefinitely, frequently at hull speed, on solar energy. I use the sails to catch it. After all, from whence the wind?

Ha! I wanted to say the same thing!

[taildragerdrive]

The interesting thing to me is on a very different though. I'm relatively new to sailing. I have been an adrenaline junky my entire life. I'm 64 so sure not a young guy. I have been getting my fixes doing the following things since I was young.
fighting forest fires
flying airplanes
downhill skiing
parachute jumping
etc.
I have spend a lot of time with other junkies like myself and we always talked about short shots in that most of these things give you at most a few minutes of adrenaline rush some only seconds.

I was surprised to find that early in my sailing experience I experienced the longest adrenaline experience of my life. We were sailing from the Cayman Islands to Florida. We got into 40kt winds I was in my Swan with a very experienced captain in a very sea worthy boat and all seemed to do well and felt comfortable. After being a bit scared for a few minutes. Then off for more than 24 hrs of fantastic fun and excitement.

I have been hooked on sailing ever since although I don't get to do it as much as I'd like I do sail a couple of months a year.

It seems like there are all kinds of TV shows and YouTube videos of bungee jumping, diving of cliffs with wing suits, ski and snowboard acrobatics, etc., that younger people just love.

Before sailing I would never have guessed that going out in 25 to 30kt winds would be as exciting and fun as it is. I think even here on the forum we don't talk enough about the excitement of sailing. I do love the lazy light wind days a bit but sailing in strong winds is what I love the most. In fact if someone had told me I could get excited about sailing 7 to 8kts before I sailed off shore I would have laughed at them.

So we are always talking about the fun and leisure of sailing and comfortable boats. I think the whole sailing community also needs to make a pitch to the younger folks about the excitement of sailing. I would not have wanted to be out in a power boat in those 40kt winds.

Just my 2cents on why sailing is loosing out because I think very few young know the excitement of sailing.