your responsibilities as a sailor

Originally posted by Jack Sparrow I think that's simple... sailing rules are too complex and therefor it's very intimidating for newbies as most clubs exist around club racing.

Maybe I should have worded that differently.

The club scene would die without new people taking part. People cannot live forever and without replacements there are no more people.

Clubs cannot continue without people organising them and making sure that they are run in a suitable manner for the benefits of the membership. If no one fills the posts vacated by those dying or retiring from them then the structure falls apart and the club collapses. The only hope then it's that people continue to come into the sport so that there is a continuous lineage, or a professional outfit come along to replace it.

Therefore I think I answered the question correctly of why we continue to pursue persuading people into sailing.

Windsurfers always seemed to me to do what they want, where they want at a time that they wanted, which is part of the attraction. I think that racing kind of got in the way of the boards, though I expect that grf would disagree. This kind of doesn't really fit in with a club membership philosophy

Bidmix runs 'Try sailing for free' sessions at our club, a lot of us try and help him when we can, people turn up to do it and a good proportion stay, become members and take up sailing and their lives change for the better, the club and committee encourage the sessions. We use times when the club is quiet, keep it informal, if you build it they will undoubtably will come.

Originally posted by maxibuddah Those who do come to our club and want to sail are prominently wanting to mess about in boats, not get into serious hard core racing. That would come in time once the club system suggested that they tried racing.

I learnt to sail as an adult at my local club 5 years ago and that was what I wanted to do. I do my duties without complaint but I wouldn't say I've ever been a happy member. Basically, racing is forced upon you. There's only safety boat cover on race days and the race course will make best use of the wind direction so there's no suitable area to go and have a cruise or quiet practice. Therefore, you are more or less forced into joining in the racing. This thread has made me realise that I'm now doing less sailing than when I started.

To be frank, I would now be much more interested in a pay and sail venue than carrying on being a member of a racing club.

Originally posted by pondmonkey Originally posted by hum3 Originally posted by maxibuddah ...The club scene would die without new people taking part. People cannot live forever and without replacements there are no more people...    The club scene would shrink and consolidate to meet the demands and needs of the sailing population... That's not quite the same as dying... precisely...

Not precisely at all. Read the words I used. What I actually said was that if there were no people coming along to replace those that leave /die then there are no people so it cannot continue.

It is of course very hypothetical and in reality you may have a small trickle of people continuing the club albeit in a smaller consolidated manner as you say. However that was not my point. I was arguing against James point, whichever one it was, I think.......

You will need an influx of people into a club at some sort of level, whether it be high or low. Turnover of you like. If you have no more coming in then natural wastage will eventually reduce a fixed number of incumbents to zero. That is why we must encourage people to take up the sport. If we don't where do you think they are going to come from? Perhaps aliens will land and think that sailing looks like a good crack to them and join your local club, boasting the numbers. Before long they'll fill all the top jobs and your boat will have to be painted green or something. Where will it end?