Eric mentioned the main problem with participation numbers in his email At 46 I am one of the younger members with our average age now well north of 60. This problem of aging population is affecting almost all sports. It is further compounded by the modern trend to spend all time on one sport exclusively It is still fun though. Also a good way to measure your sailing skills from time to time. Mike
________________________________ From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Eric Baumes Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 7:53 PM To: cnc-list Subject: Re: Stus-List Transitioning from Racing to Cruising? My 2 cents on the state of "big-boat" PHRF racing from my viewpoint on the Hudson River. I raced for 4 years JAM in club races and interclub regattas. On Wednesday Nights for our Beer Can races we would get 15-25 boats out from our club (Nyack Boat Club) ranging from a Melges 24 to a Tartan 27 and the fleet was split by spin/non spin divisions with the majority non-. There were 3 or 4 boats in each division who were competitive (decent sails, decently maintained boat) and did most of the races. Racing in the JAM division was a mixed bag, but most boats had dacron sails and one genoa on a furler. We had very little success getting Beer Can racers to show up for weekend regattas. And only 3 or 4 boats from our club traveled to other clubs to race. I could race with anywhere from 3-5 crew and it was relatively easy to staff the boat. Most other JAM sailor sailed short handed as well. Three years ago I bought my 34/36 that was fully rigged for racing it was the "hot" boat in the club for a year or so. This bumped me up to Div 1 in our area which requires exotic material in your sails etc. to be competitive. To really crew the boat I need 8-10 on board with at least 6 knowing what they are doing. As you can imagine it is much harder to staff the boat--particularly for weekend regattas. >From my work on our club board of governors and the local YRA, I can tell you this is a nationwide phenomenon. And there has been a lot of discussion at both the national and local level as to what the causes and cures are. I have had some Junior Sailors on my boat as crew. They are great, but given the chance they would rather sail a Laser, 420 or other one-design boat. The racing is tighter, more tactical and you don't have to wait until you get ashore to find out who won. Big keel-boat racing seems to have become the domain of the middle-aged who can afford to spend 10-20k a year on their hobby. Families with kids (usually a ready source of crew) can't afford this kind of dalliance. Our local YRA, which has been primarily concerned with PHRF racing for the last few decades, is now starting to focus on one-design and jr sailing by promoting and contributing to events. We are also trying to figure out ways to get more young people in our yacht club. At 46 I am one of the younger members with our average age now well north of 60. One-design racing seems to be a good place to focus to get younger adults and families back into the sport. Although we will still be competing with the increasingly regimented lives of children which keep parents running ragged on weekends to various activities. What we can hope for as PHRF racers is that the one-designers will want to knock it around the buoys with us during the week. Eric Hee Soo C&C 34/36 with a tall mast and a short keel.
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