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Is inflation impacting Nationals Attendance?
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NickM99 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09 Aug 22 at 1:55pm
Only 10 dinghy entries for Falmouth Week this year....   
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Gfinch View Drop Down
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Posts: 67 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Gfinch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 22 at 3:54pm
Would be interesting to hear people’s views on North West Norfolk Week, like Salcombe Regatta it is aimed as a holiday plus sailing, rather than a championships which is sailing plus holiday.

North West Norfolk Week has the option for day entries which is very popular. 8 days of sailing across 7 or so venues, 1 or 2 races a day early morning or late afternoon/evening so very family friendly, in a lovely part of the world.

Fleet starts for any fleet that has more than 5 entries. Wasn’t as popular this year but perhaps it wasn’t marketed very well?
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Paramedic View Drop Down
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Posts: 929 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Paramedic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 22 at 4:17pm
Originally posted by RB.

So, according to the "Something so right" article on the front page, the answer is simple, we just need everyone to spend £25k on a Merlin and do events like Salcombe Week. Come to that, Cowes Week is doing ok too. Sailing coming across as elitist and out of touch? Surely not!
There is a good reason why families are spending a few hundred quid on Paddleboards to use on their local piece of water (for less than the the cost of just getting to Salcombe) rather than buying dinghies, joining Clubs, buying sailing gear, paying for insurance etc. So, so many are struggling to keep up with the cost of living and its all about to get a lot, lot worse (apart for many in their 50's, 60's and 70's who we know make up the vast majority of  dinghy sailors). I'm afraid that 'fiddling whilst Rome burns' springs to mind when reading what may appear to be a rather tone deaf article like this about how we can 'save' dinghy sailing. 

Is it about to get worse?

At the height of the fuel prices a trip to Devon/Cornwall with the boat was £30 more expensive than before (Midlands based). It's a drop in the ocean compared with the rest of the spend on the week away. I'm certainly not saying that its good, or healthy for the sport (And classes with too many events will see reduced/selective/weather induced turnouts - the various winter series' attendance will be interesting this year) but needs to be kept in perspective.

Sailing is still as expensive as you want it to be. Be that at club or championship level, the vast majority of the boats at championships in most classes are mainly club raced. Can't afford a house? camp for the week. If you want to do these things enough you find a way.
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Posts: 1345 		Post Options Post Options   Quote davidyacht Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 22 at 5:45pm
Originally posted by Hagar1351

Winning Merlin at both this years Salcombe Week and Nationals was bought for less than £10k, 2nd hand. Choose a Merlin wisely and you get a bargain. Make sure everything works as it should do and reduce the amount of bull sh.t on the boat to zero. New set of sails helps of course occasionally. Plus it helps to be a bloody good sailor both helm and crew.

Also worth considering that said £10k Merlin is probably worth a bit more now, and even a second hand 37xx boat purchased second hand is unlikely to depreciate significantly.

Sure, if you want to participate in an arms race it can be expensive, but experience suggests watch and learn and by the winningest gear once it is proven.

After 50 years in the game it is dawning on me that no matter how good the gear nothing is going to make up for my repeated errors on the race track!
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Posts: 1005 		Post Options Post Options   Quote fab100 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 22 at 9:44pm
Originally posted by davidyacht

. 
After 50 years in the game it is dawning on me that no matter how good the gear nothing is going to make up for my repeated errors on the race track!

as Paul Elvstrom said, “the trouble with good boat speed is that, if you go the wrong way, it’s a lot further to come back”
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Posts: 399 		Post Options Post Options   Quote CT249 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 22 at 4:25am
Perhaps the "elitism" discussion can be put in proportion by noting that less than 1% of the population spend over 500 quid on sports equipment per annum.

We all know many of them spend weird (IMHO) amounts of cash on flash cars etc, but certainly many people in the sport seem to have little grasp on what the majority of non-sailors expect to pay for sporting goods. 

If we look at the big boat world (where even at local level there's often a completely different expectation about costs) it seems to underline that our views on what is normal to spend are very much affected by the culture of the sport or discipline, so what we think is cheap for dinghies can seem extremely expensive to other people.
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Posts: 1312 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Do Different Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 22 at 6:10am
Yes CT249 I completely agree about getting drawn in to what is perceived as normal / acceptable.

However................

Other sports can have a similar disparity bikes for instance, eMTBs are being sold for £3k to £8k top end.

Also don't forget what others don't spend on sport could be spent on other areas. Beer & fags on a regular weekly basis add up to big annual spends. Holidays can also be eyewateringly expensive. 

Comparisons are difficult. 
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Posts: 356 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Dougaldog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 22 at 9:13am
As the author of that Sunny Salcombe piece I was saddened to read the "spend £25K to do Salcombe" comment as I had tried to stress that there was far more to the week than that but had clearly failed. Because, as others have corectly pointed out, there were people there having  not just a great week but a successful one too on a lot less. Some  of the mid-fleeters were sailing in boats that cost not a lot at all - Salcombe is such a great leveller that  whereas an open water champs might show up the differences, good sailing skills really do come to the fore. Plus of course there is so much more there for everyone.  By all means mock and cry 'elistism' (BTW - Cowes week say people sailing in old David Thomas1/4 tonners and having a hoot but... there is more to all of this than meets the eye!
Dougal 
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Posts: 360 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Sussex Lad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 22 at 9:37am
Is inflation impacting nationals attendance?

I would think it's having quite an impact but it's not the only thing that's having an effect.

There's a general air of uncertainty in many areas. Strikes, wars, viruses, brexit, lack of faith in leadership to name a few. The way in which this stuff is reported also takes it's toll, "if it bleeds it leads". It all effects the "mood" of the great British public and sailors aren't immune from this. Chronic stress (constant drip, drip, drip, of worries small or large over a length of time) is a pernicious thing. Amongst other things it tends to make folk less inclined to have fun or seek out stimulation and makes them more likely to stay at home with the family or focus on whatever personal structure (solid and familiar) they may have in their lives.




Edited by Sussex Lad - 10 Aug 22 at 10:06am
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RB. View Drop Down
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Posts: 4 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RB. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 22 at 10:09am
Hi Dougal, apologies if I sounded like I was having a go - not my intention at all. Problem is partly that I went racing on Monday evening on Poole Harbour, same dozen middle aged men in Solo's and Laser's, and was simply amazed at the sheer number of people out on the water. There genuinely must have been  hundreds, but none sailing dinghies, they were all on Sups and a few in kayaks. What particularly struck me was how many youngsters there were and how many family groups. If only we could attract a fraction of those into our sport...I appreciate that is a really a different subject to your original article.
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