Is the term "Yachtie" derogatory?

[Alan Wheeler]

Carbon credits. Now there is an idea to help pay the way of sailing.

[David M]

Carbon credits for sail boats....wow, thats brilliant! Talk about working the system! Thats like the stink-potters buying our lunch.

[Capct]

yachties is a term around here that refers to sailboaters who motor everywhere

[psteele235]

Originally Posted by GreatKetch

The only times I have heard the term "Yachtie" it was modified by the adjective "Snotty". I have no contact with the yacht club crowd or the serious racing sailors who are usually the receivers of this derogatory term from the slow and cheap cruising sailors (like me).

Or Grotty Yotty.

[Trim50]

Yachtie is used in my circles to describe those that show-up at the marina on Saturday morning to inspect the varnish work and to make sure the crew is polishing the stainless. They usually walk down the gangway with two little yappy mutts without leashes wearing sparkly collars named Fifi and Dinky. The female yachtie comes equipped with high heals, Bermuda shorts, blue and white horizontally striped blouse and lots of make-up. The Captain yachtie wears new topsiders with color coordinated socks, Dockers pants and a polo shirt to match the socks.

Other than that, there is nothing derogatory about the term yachtie.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by GMac

A Sailor is in the Navy. They don't know anything about yachts and very little about any seagoing boat actually. They usually can'r even swim and are throwing up 1Nm from the wharf, mind you those warships rock n roll very badly so that is a bit understandable. A Sailor is usually in uniform so easily spotted. If not in uniform they are again usually easily spotted as they are drunk and making arses of them selves.

I don't even know where to start with this. There are Navy and former-navy types on this forum, who'll take offence to this slander. You've clearly never been on a warship, and I doubt you've even met any sailors. I don't know what your prejudice stems from, but would advise that you refrain from insulting the vast majority in the Navy who serve their country with honour.

Kevin

[Trim50]

I'm with ya there Kevin...I have many friends presently in and some that are retired from the Navy. Good damn people!

[Daddy's Dream]

Kevin, I have to agree. Serving in any branch of the military is an honorable thing.

I'm not sure where Gmac was comming from but I'll add the I'm the oldest son and I became a Marine while my three younger brothers joined the Navy. You should hear the jokes fly at the family get togethers. That said, I hope that Gmac was just stirring the pot with a little brotherly love.

[dcstrng]

<How could you use 'yachtie' as a derogatory term?>

When I was living aboard many years ago, we had two general terms in our marina; yachtie being one and boater being the other… generally in our context, a yachtie owned (or presumed they did) a gold-plater, possessed questionable boat-handling skills (often we’d stand by to fend `em off as they attempted time and again to dock their vessel), or they wisely enlisted the assistance of a boater to actually skipper their vessel, or their vessel seldom left the dock and became a finely varnished dock-queen… boaters, of course were none of those things generally; however, it was rare that a boater's vessel could pass anything better than a 25-foot test (looks more or less acceptable from 25 feet away…). Yachities wore genuine yachtie shoes, boaters wore flip-flops or barefoot…

Okay, okay… well it worked in the 80s…

[Holding Pattern]

Throughout Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga the word "yachtie" is the only term I ever heard... not once did I hear the word cruiser, even amongst cruisers (aka yachties.)

In the US of A, "yacht" has become a nasty term... we know people who refer to our "yacht" with a sneer... local attitude is much different than the global one I found in the mid-90's.

Now, for the Americans...go to the UK and ask about a "fanny pack" or flip the peace sign backwards... it's all local connotation.

[David M]

Who is more likely to have better leadership skills aboard a boat? Who is more likely to be a responsible person who has been given large amounts of responsibility in his or her past? Who is less likely to fall asleep on watch? Who is more likely to have more self-discipline and take responsibility for his or her actions?

The bottom line question: Who would you more likely trust with your boat and the lives of the people onboard?

Who is is this person more likely to be? ...someone who hates the military or someone who has been in the military? I think the answer is obvious.

Everyone I have met that is either in the military now or is retired military is a good person. I honestly cant say the same thing about a few individuals that I have met that never served their country.

[Holding Pattern]

Military experience and yachtie being a degrading term is apples and oranges. Given that some (not all) of the ex-military I have met are quite cocky, pushy, and know-it-all I am not sure. Many ex-military have trouble not being in control and not having their word taken as gospel.

It would depend in the person...military experience does not in any way, shape, or form, make you a good person. NO ONE in ANY group, military, religious, or cruising/sailing has only good people there is always a mix of good and bad, so saying that carte blanche any ex-military would be better than someone who has never served is just silly.

Asthma kept me out and I dare you to question my skills just because i haven't served.

I'm getting off the soapbox and going back to my quiet, peaceful life.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Holding Pattern

Military experience and yachtie being a degrading term is apples and oranges. Given that some (not all) of the ex-military I have met are quite cocky, pushy, and know-it-all I am not sure. Many ex-military have trouble not being in control and not having their word taken as gospel.

It would depend in the person...military experience does not in any way, shape, or form, make you a good person. NO ONE in ANY group, military, religious, or cruising/sailing has only good people there is always a mix of good and bad, so saying that carte blanche any ex-military would be better than someone who has never served is just silly.

Asthma kept me out and I dare you to question my skills just because i haven't served.

I'm getting off the soapbox and going back to my quiet, peaceful life.

Thats why I said "is more likely" repeatedly. Of course there are exceptions and no one person can be labeled one way or the other. I am discussing two very large groups of people as a whole...those that served and those that hate the military. My comparison was with people who hate the military...and most people are not that way. I live near Berkeley and San Francisco remember. My post was not about the individual.

[GordMay]

Gentlemen: Please turn down the heat, and drop the socio-political psycho-babble.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Gord et al.
I'm not saying this in anger or in response to the verbal attack against Navy sailors. Its just a point of clarification. I served nearly 30 years in the Navy. I sailed and maintained my own and Navy recreational sailboats (yachts) and taught sailing most of that time (on my off duty hours). I am not pushy or a braggert, however, am opinionated. I have many friends who are the same. None of us ever wanted to be discriminated against or demeaned while we were in uniform but we often were.
I learned many of my powerboat skills while in the Navy and being around motor whaleboats on Destroyers and PBRs in Vietnam. To say that Navy folks don't know about sailing or small boats is just plain wrong and those kind of statements come from those who are uninformed and unwilling to find out.
In my opinion, Yachties are those who like to refer to their boats as Yachts rather than sailboats or powerboats. Yachties are recreational boaters and sailors.
I refer to my boats as boats or sailboats. I am not a yachtie. I am a sailor. The best epitaph I could ever wish for would be, "Here lies John, he was a good sailor."
Kind Regards,
JohnL