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Twenty years from now

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Rupert View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Twenty years from now
    Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 2:13pm
I've raced all my life, but recently begun to wonder about getting a larger cruising dinghy to replace the old Mirror. Trouble is, I'm not sure it would get used much - the racing gene has passed on down a generation, so while we may camp out at the club, we are all sailing different boats, and likely having more fun that way. Should I buy a 2nd Mirror so 4 of us can go cruising at the same time when we go on holiday, yet have that element of competition, rather than a boat which holds 4 people? Double stack them and it is almost as easy as one bigger boat - maybe more so?
Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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The Moo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote The Moo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 2:09pm
Originally posted by Time Lord

Swimming participation dropped by nearly 10% last year according to a Sport England survey. Cost can hardly be a factor as a pair of Speedos and some goggles don't cost a lot. OK you've got to pay to get into the pool but the costs are still reasonable.

What's the answer - haven't a clue as the only swimming I do is when I make a mistake!


They obviously didn't include our local pool when they compiled the stats. At the moment it's packed first thing in the morning on the way to work.

Hopefully it's just the New Year's resolutioners and they will probably give it up for Lent (other religions are available!)
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Jamesd View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Jamesd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 2:03pm
But Thunder Road, did you sit in that changing room wondering what Richie McCaw, Brian O'Driscol, Wilkinson etc were going going to do in the first half? I can sit in changing rooms wondering what way ben Ainslie is going to go up the first beat, will he go the same way as I intend to? Maybe you were playing Pro rugby, I don't know, and I do get your point, I played a lot of rugby, but there are very few sports (any others?) where you can easily turn up and race the best in the world.
That excites me, that there is no clear division between pro and amateur sailing. Sure you don't get the same adrenaline in 6 knots of wind, but after the thousands of starts I have made in my life, I still get that massive adrenaline rush lining up, with 30s to go in a big fleet, rolling waves, knowing that what happens in the next 30s will make or break you! and don't get me started on what I feel when I round that top mark.
I guess the thing is (and this is not at all judging your sailing ability) when people start out, they are not at that level, bobbing about in a dull boat doesn't cut it for some, including me. For me it is the racing that does it, the competitiveness, and pushing myself to get every little bit I can out of me and the boat.
If I were to start sailing now, in a dinghy, I know I wouldn't last more than a few weeks. Perhaps a big boat, sitting on the rail and pulling the kite halyard when we get to the top mark may.
But then it is a sport for all, a very similar yet very diverse sport, I like to race, Rupert like to sail with his kids, I know a guy with a moth who sails it 3 times a year and spends every night bimbling and epoxying new bits on it and then theres the old man who leaves the harbour in his 30ft caravan, sails to the next bay, reads the paper and sails home.

The more I think of it, the less I think there will be any change in participation in 20 years. I may be the 'racer' now, travelling to opens and championships, but in 20 years time I will (hopefully) have kids sailing around in whatever the kids boat is in 20 years, while I race round the club cans as quick as I can so I can help them pull their boat up the beach when they get in to save me spending the week nights repairing it. a few years later and I will be the old boy sat in the committee boat who week in week out manages to mess up the flag sequence.
Most people who have sailed, even if they sailed until they were 18, before uni, girls/boys, drink, drugs and cars got the better of them will have enjoyed it and I expect most, if they are still close to the coast or lake will try and get their kids into it or at least give them the opportunity. At that level it is a cheapish sport. That is where your 30-40 year olds come in/back.

Most of you probably knew this haha, infact it is probably written in this thread already, but that has all just clicked in my mind hahaha
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Time Lord View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Time Lord Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 1:58pm
Swimming participation dropped by nearly 10% last year according to a Sport England survey. Cost can hardly be a factor as a pair of Speedos and some goggles don't cost a lot. OK you've got to pay to get into the pool but the costs are still reasonable.

What's the answer - haven't a clue as the only swimming I do is when I make a mistake!
Merlin Rocket 3609
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Thunder Road View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Thunder Road Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 1:14pm
I love sailing, especially the classes I have sailed, but I stopped for the many years I played rugby. This thread has made me question why? I think the answer is that it lacks excitment, it will never, ever replace the feeling of pure anticipation sitting in a changing room with the rest of the team not knowing what you are about to face. Sailing could do this but doesn't, the structure from top to bottom is drab, formulaic, repetative and often down right boring. I once watched a nameless class for whom I was acting as PRO hound out a competitor because he had modified his boat and broke the pecking order, his class committee was all over it with some very flimsy rules until they found one he may (?) have broken, he left, went home and sold his boat. Just do something with the sport or why bother with another 20 years?
Finn GBR16 Thunder Road.
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Noah View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Noah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 12:33pm
Spot on Mr.F.

Sailing is the only sport / pastime / activity - call it what you like - that I've come across in several decades of adult life that is capable of driving everything else out of my head. Not necessarily racing either. Sometimes just enjoying the peace that goes along with wind driven movement through the water. Hopefully I'll still be at it in 20 years, but there will likely be lead underneath if I am.
Nick
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timeintheboat View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote timeintheboat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 11:45am
The cycling equivalent of the sailing Open Meeting is the "Sportives" which of varying quality are now mushrooming with a good choice most warmer weekends. 
The big difference though is that an Open Meeting is clearly a competition and although the Sportive is, it feels less like it and more of a personal challenge. 
 
The neareset sailing has to the sportive is the continuingly popular family weeks (Abersoch was mentioned but theer are plenty more) and these I think will in general still be with us in 20yrs as they work on a number of levels.  
 
I do see a reduction in the number of open meetings, as some clubs will tighten their belts - not for all classes - but the smaller classes may have to combine even more than currently.
 
This is the most interesting thread on here for a while.
Like some other things - sailing is more enjoyable when you do it with someone else
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 11:43am
I really agree that it is losing oneself in the concentration of making a boat get round the race course fast that can really make you forget about the rest of life. I know other people who don't race because they feel they have enough pressure in real life and don't need it on the water, so I guess it really depends on the person.

As with every other aspect of the sport, one size not only doesn't fit all, but can fit so badly as to feel like you are being strangled where another is happy as a skylark. This will still be true in 20 years.
Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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iiitick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote iiitick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 11:38am
My 'smug' comment was not meant to be particularly offensive but we are all different, our personalities send us along different paths. My path was perhaps more in tune with young Woodburner....but without the millions. How I look back and wish I had tried harder at school, found a proper job and concentrated on life. But, you know, I never would have behaved like that because my personality precluded it. That is where my smug bit comes in. None of us is capable of replicating the life of another, there is no right way and no wrong way, just different ways. But this is a sailing forum (with the odd philosophical touch) and I like sailing my £150 Lightning and enjoying my sailing friends company. I am lucky to be able to continue...long may it last, another 20 years?
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AlanH View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote AlanH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 11:30am
Well said, Woodbotherer. Not words I thought I'd write! Enjoy your time in the boat, and don't worry too much about boat designs, handicaps and all that nonsense.
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