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Twenty years from now

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Null View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 10:37am
Leads on to perhaps another thread entirely.  But Sailing can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be.  I am 33 years old, have a good job, house, 2 kids and a wife with a particular taste for handbags.  I have two hobbies now, cycling and sailing.  I never went to Uni and our club was so far off the beaten track i never heard of squad sailing.  However I did stop sailing at around 16-22  I found beer, girls, lads holidays, girls, cars, girls so much more interesting.  Once i had met my now wife and we had our first child i settled back down and started again.  I had no money to start with and sailed a £250 solo as things became better i upgraded.  I have spent years now travelling around the country in various classes having a great time with like minded people.  However its been at the sacrifice of family time, something which as my kids grow older and less interested in me I cherish.  The only reason i got back into sailing was my brother and mate still did it.  If they had also of left there is no way I would of come back.  As a sport i find it similar in cost to cycling.  But that i guess is down to me.  One thing i was amazed with recently was the cost of Abersoch Dinghy week, something i used to go to every year religiously.  My wife and kids got bored of sitting on the beach especially after a year of constant rain.  That i agreed to take them abroad the following year.  We now spend 10 days in somewhere hot, all inclusive at a significantly cheaper prices than would could stay in abersoch.  We looked at going backthis year but frankly the mind boggles as to the pricing!!!  I cant see us going back any time soon now.  We worked out that with food, house rental, entry fee etc. we would see no change from £2000 for the week!  
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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 10:38am
iiiiitick, you think? I'd have said simply being honest - not many will admit to being in a position whee they can do what they want, even when they have worked hard for it. (Americans seem better at this) In the context of this thread, you, me and James are all examples of people in situations where those like us in to years will be able to do the sailing that they enjoy - compared to the doom and gloom merchants, we should be celebrating that fact.




Edited by Rupert - 29 Jan 15 at 10:39am
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Woodbotherer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodbotherer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 15 at 10:53am
I really envy people who know/knew what they wanted to be in life, I just muddled through mine with as much of an emphasis on going out to play and selling toys for those of like minds to do that, never did I dream it might have turned int a proper business but it did lucky for me.
I've made and lost small fortunes over the years suffering all those slings and arrows I see detailed above, the '87 stock exchange crash cost me dear, the Black Wednesday Exchange rate mechanism crash left me exposed to hundreds of thousands of Deutche Mark & US Dollar Debt, and this latest debacle must have cost me not far shy of a mil in bad debts and forced asset sales, but we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start again, and the one fundamental thing that carries me through all that and the day to day stress and sh*t, is the ability to sail away from it all and be locked in that concentrated hours race thinking of nothing else for a bit, board, boat I don't care, it's just the tranquility and the mind focussing chess match that develops and being at one with the elements, I'm so pleased to have rediscovered it sat down in boats, I don't know what I'd do without it, go even madder than I am already I guess.
 There are lots of people like me that sail to get away from the crap life deals us in our day to day work existence, a reason I get so wound up by the petty rule bollox we don't need in our leisure time. It often spoils an otherwise excellent sport, that & the unfairness and hypocrisy of the yardstick system as it currently stands, but hey nothing i can't live with, I do think it needs a radical rethink to carry us through the next twenty years, but right now I'm optimistic with another year ahead and looking forward to the dinghy show news of whatever it is they are planning.
I'm getting close now to my three score and ten, so many of my pals didn't make it this far, every year my health and motor skills hold out is a bonus, so I need to make every sail count and I'm indeed fortunate that even at this late stage in life I've found something I can still improve at and in doing so can help others to enjoy a fantastically intricate and exciting pursuit using the power of the elements as our friends.
I just hope we can continue for even ten of the next twenty.

That and the moaning of course, life wouldn't be much fun without that little pleasure.
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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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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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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.
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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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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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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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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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