Interesting, as I came to sailing NOT through racing, but more from the cruising side. Like many on this list, it seems, I spent a lot of time seeing sailboats around and dreaming of maybe someday having one of my own; and yes, I saw The Dove back in the ‘70s and the romance of that lifestyle must have stuck with me. But my dormant sailing ambitions somehow didn’t surface until my thirties; then they bit me good.
Yes, racing is a good way to learn to sail. But long-term cruising on a bigger boat has as much to do with NOT pushing everything to the limit all the time in the search for that last tenth of a knot; that’s how things break, and cruisers hate it when that happens… :^) I personally enjoy spending nice days out on the water, with the sails and autopilot set, just going where the wind decides and not fighting it so much. I can short-tack my boat on a beat if I need to (and I have at times); but often for me it’s more about the tranquillity and working with nature. Sometimes these qualities seem to be lost on the younger generation, with all the constant stimulation and need for 24 hour-a-day connectivity. Racing may be a way to get them into sailing; but the slower pace of cruising mode is going to be a tougher sell. Fred Street -- Minneapolis S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^( On Nov 1, 2013, at 1:21 PM, OldSteveH <oldste...@sympatico.ca> wrote: > It's odd and a little disappointing to hear that the racing program is not > drawing young folks as much. It would be my suggestion that for young > people racing offers a high level of fun, competition, adrenalin, adventure, > etc. as a great way to learn to sail. > > Somehow the word has to get out to young folks that there is more to life > than video games, smartphones and clubbing. > > Racing is what did it for me back in 1982-83. Since then I have told anyone > who cared to listen - if you want to learn to sail - go and race. > > In our fall racing series at Lions Head I bumped into a young guy, maybe 28 > years old before a race and asked him who he was sailing with. He said he > was sailing his own boat, a Hughes 29. It was his first year here and I just > met him for the first time. Wow! A young person, just bought a boat and now > going racing! Very cool, but that's just one. How does the sailing community > pass along the torch to younger generations? No easy answer I guess. > > I do one thing however for my part - I post on Facebook lots of sailing pics > etc. to family and friends, esp. nieces and nephews. It's like planting > seeds, maybe someone will see something they like and want to come out. Then > again maybe they just say to themselves "I wish Uncle Steve didn't post all > those sailing pics . . ." ;-)
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