Sailing is for posh people

As far as I can see at our club adult membership is quite varied. We have Solicitors, teachers and plumbers. The one thing that we all are is 'respectable' and socially responsible. We all get along very well and the atmosphere is very pleasant. We are almost child free at the moment with a distinct lack of junior members but when they do appear and join they are usually propelled by wealthy ambitious parents. When I used to take the 'boy' to junior races I was the only parent with an old car and a trailer welded up from scrap. When we were at the Ovington Inlands last year there were 60? 29 ers all sailed by youth and accompanied by motor home parents.

I believe that the posh part of dinghy sailing is the youth part of dinghy sailing, the remainder is just respectable. 

Ah well, another couple of hours in bed, last nights kebab for breakfast, down to the bookie, pub for lunch and sleep it off in the dinghy park.....bliss.

+1

and another reason to have one is that you can tow behind it.  When I was a kid on the Oppy circuit, once more than one boat was needing to be transported, you'd often see a family split into two cars- one pulling boats, one pulling a caravan.  We did ourselves for a while, and then realised the motorhome solution would be better.

My parents sold their motorhome for a little more than they paid for it.  Similarly any keelboat they've had has always paid itself back upon sale... the total cost of ownership (depreciation + running cost) was far less than a family saloon car from a not-particularly-special marque on a typical main dealer finance plan.  I've certainly lost more on a dinghy than they've ever lost on a family cruiser.

I love how making choices on your disposable income makes you 'posh'- another example of consumerist society that's ultimately f**ked by the need to judge oneself by how one is perceived by other people.    

So many of the affluent middle classes have no idea of the financial gulf that exists between themselves and 'ordinary' workers.

I am sure that Mr B & Q could follow the circuit but with a tent and 02 Astra, lots of adult sailors do but please do not tell me that the Motorhome coralle at Graffham was not somewhere in the region of 'posh'.

For championships we sometimes used to rent a flat/house if it turned into the yearly family holiday; much to the disgust of my sister.

Youth sailing these days seems to be run on a very different budget ... 

Posh does not equate to wealthy IMO ... posh is going back to perhaps traditional class system references and harks back to "old money" ...