How Sailboats Get Used, Or Not?

[GrowleyMonster]

Cruising is as cruising does, as F.G. would say.

I still do a lot of day trips and occasional overnights but I am looking forward to having my solar up so I can return to making short cruises. Meanwhile I find no shame in staying at or near the home marina.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I do not feel the split represents a bigger portion of the picture.

Looking at marinas around the world, I think less than 1% of all boats are actively used. Definitely more are used for active racing than for active cruising. Overall the figure of all boats used for racing and or cruising feels more like 5%. Maybe further 10 or 15% are used while docked (weekend use to sleep over and have a relaxing drink).

Few boats seem neglected though, likely less than 10%.

b.

The problem is that definition of active cruising that only applies to a small minority of sailors, mostly over 60, living on a pension or rich enough not to need working for a living.

Most are on this category that is missing:

Originally Posted by 30yearslater

Without putting too fine a point on an excellent summation, one category seems missing. Persons with shoreside responsibilities i.e. work, family interminably long winter. Use boat virtually every weekend and occasional evenings during soft water months. Often cruise to nearby ports or cruises to nowhere with very little dock time. Roughly a 40% use 60% dock during the season.

And most don't use the boat every weekend but just when the weather is nice and on holidays.

[nockerwhite]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

And then there are those who spend most of their time on sailing forums.

So very true also in the UK.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by 30yearslater

Without putting too fine a point on an excellent summation, one category seems missing. Persons with shoreside responsibilities i.e. work, family interminably long winter. Use boat virtually every weekend and occasional evenings during soft water months. Often cruise to nearby ports or cruises to nowhere with very little dock time. Roughly a 40% use 60% dock during the season.

This category would be called Active Coastal Cruiser. (Weekend Warrior)

[JD-Odyssey]

And then there are those who spend most of their time on sailing forums.


I couldn't resist: and, then there are those who spend too much time doing spreadsheets, graphs and tabulating statistics that may be interesting but not very relevant... instead of sailing (TIC)

[Polux]

Originally Posted by JD-Odyssey

And then there are those who spend most of their time on sailing forums.


I couldn't resist: and, then there are those who spend too much time doing spreadsheets, graphs and tabulating statistics that may be interesting but not very relevant... instead of sailing (TIC)

And then there is the ones that when they are sailing and cruising on what they call the sailing season (about 5 to 6 months a year) just don't post on any forum simply because they have something better to do.

There are also a lot of full time cruisers and live aboard that post on this forum full time, being then cruising, sailing or at the dock.

To what group do you belong? Sorry I could not resist

[leftbrainstuff]

Perhaps you could access better data through AIS. By tracking daily or weekly position changes you would gain better insights.

You could also include cruisers from customs and border patrol data

You'll never be able to learn much about the non AIS vessels which will make up the majority of vessels for decades to come.

The boat event coordinators would also be tracking traffic. Suspect they consider that data commercial IP.

Most of the additional data mentioned above is probably not accessible. Makes it difficult to validate your WAG.

[JD-Odyssey]

Originally Posted by Polux

And then there is the ones that when they are sailing and cruising on what they call the sailing season (about 5 to 6 months a year) just don't post on any forum simply because they have something better to do.

There are also a lot of full time cruisers and live aboard that post on this forum full time, being then cruising, sailing or at the dock.

To what group do you belong? Sorry I could not resist

LOL... I retired in March, been living aboard since 2004 and do tend to get bored over the winter months. Now that I'm free to travel, am hoping to spend future winters (Dec - Mar) sailing in warmer climates.... that's when the posting will probably stop. So, put me in the former group

[Jolly Roger]

I really don't see the point of this post. It's complete guesswork and who cares anyway? People can do what they like with their boats. Tayana42 got it right at the beginning.

[Interloper]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

I really don't see the point of this post. It's complete guesswork and who cares anyway? People can do what they like with their boats. Tayana42 got it right at the beginning.

My, my. Sorry the thread isn't of interest for you.

It is not "complete guesswork," a source for some of the data was provided in the OP.

As I explained in a concurrent thread, I am trying to help my mates grow and revive their racing program. Part of that was trying to identify what folks who don't race were doing with their boats. We realize we won't attract most non-racers, but if we could modify our program and attract just 5% of non-racers, that doubles our fleet.

I wouldn't expect to relate to every thread in a forum. We all just read threads that are of interest, without feeling a need to disparage what might interest others. YMMV

Cheers!

[Tayana42]

Interloper, you have posted some interesting questions and gotten a range of answers from helpful to sarcastic. It is a forum after all.

I understand your interest is to help your club attract more racers. Your questions seem to be focused on why people don't race and how little they use their boats. I wonder if you asked the questions differently if you get different answers. For example, instead of why don't you race, you might ask what would it take to get you to want to race. Or, how do you think we could attract more people to racing? While I personally have no interest in racing I have learned that the answers one gets depend on how the questions are asked.

[Group9]

I don't know how you would classify us. We're retired and we occasionally take 6 to 9 month cruises to the Bahamas on our boat. We also take short day trips and occasional week or two trips between cruises. The rest of the time, we just work on the boat and repair it for the next trip.

I don't want to race my boat any more than I want to race my bicycle, car or golf cart.

[thomm225]

Like I mentioned before, racers are usually younger.

This is why the OP is getting some flack.

Most cruisers are older.

I raced for 15 years. I replaced that competition with chess online when I became a "cruiser"

It's much less expensive also.....playing chess online rather than racing sailboats

[knockabout]

there are a lot of mooring minders (still use of a boat) advertised on ebay quite often / you did not mention sailboat or stink boat / there are many recreational fishing boats out on lakes, rivers and seas / 50% neglected in your area does that mean there are only 5 boats at your anchorage

[Interloper]

Originally Posted by knockabout

there are a lot of mooring minders (still use of a boat) advertised on ebay quite often / you did not mention sailboat or stink boat / there are many recreational fishing boats out on lakes, rivers and seas / 50% neglected in your area does that mean there are only 5 boats at your anchorage

Only in boldfaced in the title, and thereby preceding every post.

Tough crowd.