European Boat Ownersip

[Charlie]

In the USA any slob with a job owns a boat. The better the job the better the boat. Where I grew up, SF Bay Area, there were different yacht clubs for different degrees of affluence. St Francis Yacht Club is for the very wealthy white collar crowd and then the Richmond yacht club was for us blue collar folk.

I forget where I heard this and it was only from one source but so I thought I would start a thread to see if this what other people know. Is yacht ownership in Europe limited to the white collar crowd. I'm not talking super yachts but lets say sailboat's over 30'. Could say a carpenter afford something like that or is it limited to people with white collar jobs?

[boatman61]

Its pretty much the same over here... just we have smaller boats... 32fts usually considered big over here.. I was a big boat owner till I sailed to the Med and got demoted to 'small Boat Owner'..
Blue collar boats are usually the ones crowded on mooring in tidal harbours... lotsa bilge keelers that can dry out at LW..
Marina's are the preserve in the main of the higher income bracket...

[careka]

There are big difs, in where you live in Europa.
When it come to cost of keeping the boat.
Marina prices, labour, income, + price of boat.
i think its about the same, Fancy places cost more then not so fancy place.

[Kimmo]

At least here in the North, anybody can own a boat and most do own some type of boat, but towards 40f boats, those people tend to be white collar people and mostly well know people CEO's etc.

I have a 30f and I would think myself as a blue collar, at least my and my wife's income is less than what is the avarage in this country.

Still, we are taking a year off and going for sailing. It's just priorities. Anybody could do the same as we, but instead people put money to other things. We then again have saved, saved, saved and what was left after that, has been poured to the boat to make if fit for the journey.

It's just priorities and what you want to do.

[David_Old_Jersey]

In the UK you need written permission from the Queen.

and to get that you first have to complete a quest, involving slaying at least one dragon. whilst wearing a top hat

FACT.

[Hydra]

In France, it was like in the UK (except we had only kings) until we had a revolution and beheaded the king.

Nowadays, we only have to give a pound of flesh to the marina every year.

Alain

[barnakiel]

Europe is a mixed batch. With the newer member states it is not like everybody can afford a boat there. So this is the money factor where every Swede will have a boat while not every Russian can actually afford one.

The other factor is the social thing. In some places boats are boats are boats. In other places yachts are what the right wing royal yacht club members have, boats is what you take out to go fishing.

So we have full spectrum here just as you probably have back home.

b.

[Artif]

Here in the U.K. boats are generally owned by the more well off, certainly the larger ones over 30' due to cost. There are however a large number of people who live on old trawlers and barges etc. I used to be one.
The look on peoples faces when I told them I lived on a 62' motor yacht was priceless, especially the snooty yacht club brigade. Most got the converted Danish trawler story, others got the 62' classic motor yacht story, just to see their ego crushed. Some people just cant take it when a scruffy hippy has a bigger boat than they have.

[Grehan]

Here on the freshwater inland waterways it's pretty democratic and friendly. There's a great diversity of size of boat (ranging from 38m to 9m or less), type of boat (peniches [barges], river cruisers, motor boats, yachts (mast-down of course), dinghies, rowing boats . .), condition (swanky to tatty), skipper/crew (oldies, youngsters, affluent, impoverished) and nationality.
Having sailed a fair bit, in the UK and in continental Europe, encounters with other 'boaters' at moorings and inland ports are more frequent and more sociable compared with coastal marinas. Which is nice.
Liberté, égalité and fraternité !!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Artif

Here in the U.K. boats are generally owned by the more well off, certainly the larger ones over 30' due to cost. There are however a large number of people who live on old trawlers and barges etc. I used to be one.
The look on peoples faces when I told them I lived on a 62' motor yacht was priceless, especially the snooty yacht club brigade. Most got the converted Danish trawler story, others got the 62' classic motor yacht story, just to see their ego crushed. Some people just cant take it when a scruffy hippy has a bigger boat than they have.

most of the people in my neck of the woods with big boats are on income support,dont have time for a real job,as too busy fixing their classic yachts!!!!!!,mind you a mud berth is only $100 a year

[careka]

Originally Posted by atoll

,mind you a mud berth is only $100 a year

So you pay more to take it out of the mud, then keeping it in,

[atoll]

6meter tides at springs,so generally you float off the mud twice a day............ and the boats have grown legs as well to keep them upright

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by atoll

6meter tides at springs,so generally you float off the mud twice a day............ and the boats have grown legs as well to keep them upright

Looks a brilliant place to keep a boat

and the funny thing is that these sorts of places are cheap because most think they are worse than a Marina - simply because the tide goes out twice a day. and you can't walk on from a pontoon . Which IMO is great!.......until someone decides to build a Marina over the top of the place

My mooring could also be easily defended against Pirate Attack Helped keep the French out for a few hundred years . Didn't work so well on the Germans - but they added a few modificiations, and surprisingly sympathetically - for concrete bunkers





All that dries out.

[Artif]

Originally Posted by atoll

6meter tides at springs,so generally you float off the mud twice a day............ and the boats have grown legs as well to keep them upright

I used to live about 200 yards from there and work at FBC

[Kimmo]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Looks a brilliant place to keep a boat

and the funny thing is that these sorts of places are cheap because most think they are worse than a Marina - simply because the tide goes out twice a day. and you can't walk on from a pontoon . Which IMO is great!.......until someone decides to build a Marina over the top of the place

My mooring could also be easily defended against Pirate Attack Helped keep the French out for a few hundred years . Didn't work so well on the Germans - but they added a few modificiations, and surprisingly sympathetically - for concrete bunkers





All that dries out.

Nice looking place. Where is that?