Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 18-06-2016, 08:47   #16
Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: North East USA
Boat: 1975 Tartan 41'
Posts: 1,044
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

I think as the global warming, save the earth, go green philosophy takes root, more and more younger people will see sailing as environmentally sound entertainment/lifestyle. I also think the America's cup and foiling cat's are doing wonders to attract new interest in the sport. Our kids will be sailing via app though. Not in the distant future, sails will be adjusted automatically via electric winches connected to apps that sense wind direction and strength. All you need to do is select a destination and your smart phone will know the wind, the route and the boat's controls... off you go at 30-40knts in your foiling cat knocking out 500+ miles a day without spilling a drop. the future looks as bright as the bleached coral
zstine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 08:57   #17
Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,604
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

will they have a choice?
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	image.jpg
Views:	192
Size:	121.0 KB
ID:	126398  
Delancey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 09:22   #18
Registered User

Join Date: May 2011
Location: Lake Ont
Posts: 8,547
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedHerring View Post
While cultural changes may account for some ebb and flow, sailing will be around until there is technology that makes sails obsolete for their current use case. Cheap 3D-printed hulls, mass-produced solar power modules with enough storage capacity for a 1000nm range - that sort of thing. Even then sailing will be around, but relegated to the historical reenactment territory. Kind of like wooden boats nowadays.
Mmmm, no, I disagree. People don't sail because they have to, they sail because they want to. For many if not most, sailing is an end in itself; you just want to be out there, enjoying the whole process. And the quiet.

The use case for sailing... is sailing.

Re the OP... the fate of the next sailing generation lies with the sailing schools, which is where many new people get introduced and hooked. An important sailing school just shut down in our area, so that doesn't bode well.
Lake-Effect is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 09:22   #19
Registered User
 
Cadence's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: SC
Boat: None,build the one shown of glass, had many from 6' to 48'.
Posts: 10,208
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenomac View Post
I know there will be far fewer monohull boats being sold in the future. Today people want the experience of being someplace and enjoying themselves while there. Very little interest if any in the getting there part of the experience... us included.
I bet the cruise ship industry is reaping the benefits.
Cadence is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 09:29   #20
Registered User

Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Panama / Bahamas / Newport RI / Marathon Fl (now mostly)
Boat: Bristol CC 41.1
Posts: 318
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

I see it as the "de-wealth-ification" of the West. Sailing(Cruising) was a rich man's sport historically unless you were a fisherman or transporter. To have the free time and excess income to forgo a job and responsibilities will become harder and harder with each day's passing as Western Wealth is transferred to China, India and traditionally poorer countries. Obama is quickly dismantling the traditional edge America had on the rest of the world and socialism in Europe and no interest income is doing the same elsewhere. It won't be just millennials that will be hard-pressed in the future. The West has peaked and now spending too much on Nanny States and trying to contain Muslim Expansionism. Those halcyon days of sailing care free are becoming a thing of the past.
sailingfarmer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 09:38   #21
Registered User

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Seattle
Boat: Cal 40 (sold). Still have a Hobie 20
Posts: 2,944
Images: 7
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

I've been involved in a university sailing club since I was a student in the 70's. Back then there seemed to be more that were into sailing for the testing yourself, sailing in higher winds, proving that you can be independent and solving issues on your own. Not unlike going backpacking in the woods. All this prior to epirbs, plbs, and cell phones.

I've had interactions with many people the last few years where when I describe what I think of virtues of the club, the response is if there is no one to watch them and rescue them they are not interested.

We have people signed up most weekends to supervise people that haven't passed our tests, and to give the tests. I've noticed that on the weekends where it is announced that these people will be there many people are out sailing, many of them have passed the test and could go out on their own unsupervised. On weekends where there is no one signed up to supervise, the club is empty, except a few hard core sailors.

If this really is a trend then activities where rescue is not immediate are doomed, even with vhf dsc, and plb.

This is primarily a dinghy club based on a lake in an urban area. There are a couple of keelboats that go out onto Puget Sound. When I first took out the club keelboats, the electrics consisted of cabin and nav lights. No VHF, fathometer was a leadline, bilge pump was manual. Very different today, but that's another story.
cal40john is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 09:41   #22
Registered User

Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: austria (the one without oceans or roos)
Posts: 12
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Early 30s, young parent from the alpes here, about to buy our first boat this month: A lot of our friends think it is expensive and unless you have the rare opportunity to work from your boat, it's hard to reason buying a boat when buying a home for your family has become so obscenely expensive (That's the previous generation's fault!). It will get easier with the older sailors retiring thus killing boat prices even more and giving up valuable moorings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedHerring View Post
Cheap 3D-printed hulls, mass-produced solar power modules with enough storage capacity for a 1000nm range - that sort of thing. Even then sailing will be around, but relegated to the historical reenactment territory. Kind of like wooden boats nowadays.
3d-printed hulls are nonsense, the printing speeds just can't keep up with fiber glassing. It will happen for small series though, if a few small companies create a joint-venture for thi. Rather you will see more streamlined mass-production with more automation like you see in bigger industries.

Mass produced solar modules ain't the issue, batteries are the thing that's hindering everything mobile and the progress has been little in the last century.

PS: Waterworld is a fantastic movie. There, I said it.
thomaskoll is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 10:03   #23
Moderator Emeritus
 
Hudson Force's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Lived aboard & cruised for 45 years,- now on a chair in my walk-in closet.
Boat: Morgan OI 413 1973 - Aythya
Posts: 8,453
Images: 1
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

I see forms of sports changing. Snow boarders are outnumbering the snow skiers at many slopes. The skateboarders outnumber the roller skaters. The Kite Sailors are more common than the Board Sailors at many Florida locations, but the "players" are still there.

I've heard of a common activity for play in the 1800's was to chase after a rolling hoop with a stick to guide it and keep it rolling. Now there's an activity that seems to have completely disappeared. Hula-hoops seem to be scarce.

I don't see sailing disappearing.
__________________
Take care and joy, Aythya crew
Hudson Force is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 10:35   #24
Registered User
 
Mike OReilly's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Good question
Boat: Rafiki 37
Posts: 14,131
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

I agree with HF, sailing is not going to disappear, but I do wonder about the phenomena of small boat, long-term cruising. The two are not the same. I think the latter is more likely to diminish as all you Baby Boomers drop off ., and we continue to see the middle class disappear here in the West (due to policies of the political right, which long pre-date Obama, btw ).

Sailing will likely always be around, much like canoeing, kayaking and bicycling. But I do wonder about the viability small boat cruising. This may be a short-lived phenomena tied to the same historic period where it was possible for people of modest economic means to actually get ahead -- you know, when the so-called American Dream was actually alive.
__________________
Why go fast, when you can go slow.
BLOG: www.helplink.com/CLAFC
Mike OReilly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 11:31   #25
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Florida
Boat: Irwin 43 Mk111 CC, Sloop
Posts: 386
Send a message via Skype™ to adlib2
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasWeiss View Post
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the fact that most millennials don't seem to be interested in sailing. I know there are exceptions including myself (I'm technically a millennial as I was born in the late 80's), but it seems to be the trend. Most people my age can care less about anything that doesn't have an app connected to it and I can only imagine what the next generation will be like. Just curious what some of you think: will the next generation be on the water much or is sailing on it's last legs?
I've been sailing for over 50 years and regardless of what the statistics show each year brings more sailors and marinas into being in the areas I sail.
I will not mourn if there are less sailors around. Why would I want to?
Just need sufficient interested parties when I'm ready to sell my vessel; although, believe I'll be dead first.
adlib2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 11:32   #26
Registered User

Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Panama / Bahamas / Newport RI / Marathon Fl (now mostly)
Boat: Bristol CC 41.1
Posts: 318
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Pre_Obama? any economic chart can show one the explosive economic growth in America and elsewhere (Maggie Thatcher) with Reganomics and post-Reganomics/ Contract With America (Clinton restraints on spending due to Gingrich Congress, etc...) In the 1930's to 1970's NO ONE had a cruising sailboat who wasn't upper middle class or upper class. Reganomics put the economy on steroids in the West and marinas became full to capacity. When I was a boy in Newport, Rhode Island in the 60's and 70's only the very wealthy had cruising sailboats. I remember in the 1970's when you could anchor or dock any where in New England at the peak of summer. In August there were maybe 30 cruising boats in the inner harbor in Newport. I remember Cutty Hunk in 1977 where you could feel lonely anchored in the best anchorage spot. I wish the general population were better informed about the why's and wherefores/there for's of economics so that we could maintain our privileged sailing environment. Without a number of new millenial entrepreneurs like a Steve Jobs, etc. coupled with tax incentives and reduced regulatory handcuffs, I am afraid we will go back to the liberal policies of the Democrat Party decades 30's -70's and fail once again at the socialist altar.
sailingfarmer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 11:55   #27
Captain - s.v. Lastly Liberty
 
ThomasWeiss's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Apr 2015
Boat: Catalina 25
Posts: 57
Send a message via Skype™ to ThomasWeiss
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Thanks for all the insight guys! I just hope the next generation gets outside once in a while. I was the same way back home - stuck in front of a desk nonstop, but once I started getting a little older living in the now became much more important.
ThomasWeiss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 12:23   #28
Registered User

Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Toronto
Boat: Grampian 26
Posts: 167
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Totally unofficial data: I'm the oldest person on the dock at 68. Most are sailors, not power boaters including several gay couples and they all buy used. It is still mostly men but women are making their presence known as are 'visible minorities' especially Asian and African.

But then again, this is Toronto.
astokel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 12:27   #29
Moderator Emeritus
 
Hudson Force's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Lived aboard & cruised for 45 years,- now on a chair in my walk-in closet.
Boat: Morgan OI 413 1973 - Aythya
Posts: 8,453
Images: 1
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Let me share this post I found while scanning through some of the future CF forums.

Oct-14-2204: Assistance please, for I am a total wisprout! My buds and chumettes were skiffing out Buzzards Bay this morning sailing with a plan for lunch on Block Island when we were suddenly slowed to 10 to 12 knots. For some reason we lost the vapor film on the windward side of our hull forward of the beam. It was if we actually had water in a liquid form adhering to the polymat! We looked like one of those Benelinas from the 2180's!

How can I get my speed back with a full vapor flow?
__________________
Take care and joy, Aythya crew
Hudson Force is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-06-2016, 12:28   #30
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Florida
Boat: Irwin 43 Mk111 CC, Sloop
Posts: 386
Send a message via Skype™ to adlib2
Re: Will the next generation still go sailing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by astokel View Post
Totally unofficial data: I'm the oldest person on the dock at 68. Most are sailors, not power boaters including several gay couples and they all buy used. It is still mostly men but women are making their presence known as are 'visible minorities' especially Asian and African.

But then again, this is Toronto.

I'm nearly 80 and doubt I'm the eldest; then this is Florida where we sail all year.
adlib2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
sail, sailing

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The Business Case for Next-Generation Chartplotting hyman Navigation 17 24-11-2011 22:34
Next Generation of Off-The-Shelf Navigation Systems bobmor99 Navigation 7 16-05-2010 18:04
Sailing's Next Generation . . . TaoJones General Sailing Forum 2 16-07-2007 13:11

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:12.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.