Laser 140101 Tynemouth |
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Laser 28 - Excellent example of this great design Hamble le rice |
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Laser 161752 Tynemouth |
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Twenty years from now |
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davidyacht ![]() Really should get out more ![]() Joined: 29 Mar 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1345 |
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Cut to the chase, think "Total Recall" where you will have a sailing memory implant ... maybe there is hope for us when our knees wear out
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Happily living in the past
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Riv ![]() Far too distracted from work ![]() Joined: 23 Nov 13 Location: South Devon Online Status: Offline Posts: 353 |
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Clubs are the future of sailing, yes there will always be people in their vans turning up clubless to events or just to explore different waters however if more people are going to sail which is what our activity needs the clubs are still the most easily visible way in.
So the next 20yrs of sailing will be formed by what happens at the grass roots. Here in the land of Far Far Away few people want to own boats but they want to sail so our club strategy is moving away from individual ownership to group ownership by providing safe stable easy to sail boats which you do not need to change your clothes to use. Ordinary walking gear and a BA are enough. (Think Devon Yawl) As far as racing goes they're just as good as anything else, but more inclusive. In Bethwaites Higher Performance book he talks a lot about sailing simulators. I have never seen or heard of one in the UK. There are loads of people flying flight sims in their front rooms some with full cockpits and 3D movement. My prediction for the future is the rise of the home sailing simulator, literally a short section of boat that you can really sail, heel, rudder loads, main loads, trim etc. Sail in front of your new 4K 50" telly. All the software and control systems are there already. Buy one and really race at home. |
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davidyacht ![]() Really should get out more ![]() Joined: 29 Mar 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1345 |
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Well said Clive.
I don't think that you can say that everything is rosy simply if you have a strong youth section. Our club has really good turnouts by the youths and by the age 50+ sailors. Most of the age 50+ sailors have never stopped dinghy sailing, whereas the current youths pack it in for all sorts of reasons that did not exist 30/35 years ago. When the current 50+ sailors hit physical barriers, maybe at 70'ish (our 20 year horizon), the current thriving clubs may well go into terminal decline. We did a survey of member's ages a couple of years ago, and despite having loads of cadet members, and age over 45 members, out of a membership of around 1,000 you could count the age 22 to 40 members on two hands. As a result we heavily cut the sub for this group, in the hope of hanging onto the cadets after their parents stopped paying the sub. I am not sure that this has made much diference though. I think that the RYA are aware of the problem, but I don't think anyone has an answer. The sad truth is that our generation had a ball when we were in our formative years and made lifelong friendships which hold until today, and sailing remains the thing that glues us together. Maybe if the Drink and Driving laws had been better enforced in the late seventies and early eighties there would not be so many of us sailing today! Also, in the classes that we sailed, National 12's and Larks, it was a great opportunity to meet the fairer sex and have weekends away ... I am not sure that this is so relevent today ... I understand all you need is the right app!
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Happily living in the past
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jeffers ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048 |
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This is why boats like the Laser have a future even if the class does implode. They can be picked up cheap as chips and get you racing anywhere.
The Aero and Zero are the only 2 real credible replacements but until they reach critical mass and have a good secondhand market they will always be trailing behind the Laser.
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Paul
---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74 |
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SUGmeister ![]() Sailwave Moderators ![]() ![]() Joined: 08 Jun 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 265 |
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For what it's worth if you're looking into the future of sailing as a viable sport 20 years hence then in my opinion grass roots sailing needs to be serviced by cheap, really cheap boats. Forget about your foils and other high tech stuff make ok boats cheap. I don't know what the relative value of plywood boats were in their heyday but I can only see sailing surviving in quantity if you can have good supply of cheap durable low tech boats designed to carry weight.
Boats today are just too expensive, perhaps RS have cottoned on to that with their Aero, would it be any worse if it were made slightly heavier but more cheaply? Edited by SUGmeister - 27 Jan 15 at 4:08pm |
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Simon SUGmeister
I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me. |
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Jamesd ![]() Far too distracted from work ![]() Joined: 01 Feb 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 377 |
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The club question is interesting.
I sail from a largish club, with a high, albeit declining membership. There is a great youth (i.e. 16 under) programme, but there isn't a great deal after that. Certainly by the time those 16 year olds without direction have gone to uni they are almost completely wiped off the membership. There are plenty of 50+ members who will no doubt fight it out for the race committee positions, but there are few people that I can see that will be there as weekend warriors, week in, week out like you see today. Am I just not old enough to have seen/understood the cycle? do they flood out of the woordwork? is it a case of them starting up in their thirties when their kids are sailing fevas and optimists? There are a lot of clubs I know of, that I personally do not think will be there in 5 years time, forgetting a 20 year prediction. However a lot of those clubs have looked in that state for the last 20 years and are still here, usually held together by old men with beards looking for some place to keep their fishing boat |
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jeffers ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048 |
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Most clubs see that and a lot of people either stop sailing at Uni or go team racing. We are seeing a few return after Uni back to the club if they move back to the area but predominantly it is families who join where the parents have an interest in sailing or want to get back in to it (or the kids have shown an interest). They tend to be in their early 30's with kids around 8-10 years old.
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Paul
---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74 |
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423zero ![]() Really should get out more ![]() Joined: 08 Jan 15 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3420 |
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The club where I sail has one member between 18 & 45 years of age, only 4 members younger than 18 years of age, 80% of members are over 60 years old, of this 80% most are around 70 years old, the committee is comprised of one member under 18 the rest are older than 50.
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fab100 ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 15 Mar 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1005 |
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We have a thriving youth section too, and have had forever. But the missing generation i refer too is the 20-40 year olds - the youth of yesteryear perhaps who for whatever reason have dropped out of sailing in unprecedented numbers and show no signs of returning. Who runs all the youth programmes when we are too old and there is no one following along?
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jeffers ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048 |
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Where I sail we are around 10 miles from Grafham Water so definitely the little relation. That said we attract a different demographic to them and have even attracted members from them who prefer the feel of a smaller club. we have had people go the other way too who want bigger water and large fleets to sail in. For me I prefer the smaller club. It gives my eldest daughter somewhere safe to sail and it is affordable (the fees are less than 1/3rd of Grafham). If Grafham was the option I would not be sailing today as I simply could not justify the year on year expense for the small amount I am doing these days.
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Paul
---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74 |
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