Future of Sailing Clubs...

Originally posted by turnturtle Originally posted by Eisvogel The main problem then, however, is that it's no longer a Club, but a Watersports Centre. It's not a communal thing where you socialise, but a commercial service, where you come, race, pay your money, and then go home again. Why would you need to interact with anybody else? Arguably that might be what some people want, but adding paid staff into the equation fundamentally changes the whole atmosphere. You are unhappy with the course? Complain, as you're paying good money to race, and are entitled to enjoy it. This won't work in a club. And it's not sustainable, unless run very well. A club is more resilient, as the expectations are lower: after all, we're all volunteers, and you cannot expect more than you would yourself be able to do. hmm, I'd say me and my snowdome membership would beg to differ.... it has the same 'groups' you find as sailing club Facebook groups etc.  Historically there was even a section of old school foruming like this place for it.  As for the beers.... well yes, we grab one and there are socials.  The demographic of which is kids with their parents, teenagers, twenty somethings, students, thirty somethings and plenty in their 40s-60s too.    They also organise about 4 or 5 ski trips abroad each year as part of wider groups..... it's all very collaborative on the ground, with professional management overseeing it with a commercial objective. So to say, 'it doesn't work' for a commercial operation to provide a sense of community is simply not true.  Maybe to suggest dinghy sailing's primary mindset would rather wither away to an ageing core than adapt and survive to the realities of the 21st century ... well then sir, you might have a point.

Sorry, no, I'm with Eisvogel entirely on this, and you can't compare a bloody fridge with a sailing club however you're tinted Oakley Goggles might paint it. To Outsiders, HISC, Weymouth, they're akin to the municiple baths of old, some curler in hair vape hanging from mouth Hilda Ogden sneering 'dyawantsauce in your sarnie luv' that'll be £10.50.. not quite the same and as for the 'distance' of the race team from you as a competitor, it might as well be run by the UN. In fact exactly like the experience we're about to have up in Londonistan this weekend at the hands of the peoples republic of Haringey.

Edited by iGRF - 01 Mar 17 at 12:20pm

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by transient ...one of the symptoms, which would be foolish to deny, is the rise of the "f**k you Jack I'm all right" attitude seen I thought one of the most interesting parts of the original paper I linked to was when it talks about the effects of what it calls ‘neo-liberal capitalism’, in particular the discussion around p46. It highlights that its probably a mistake to see things as a selfish attitude from individuals, but more as a reflection of changes to society. I shall stop there, because otherwise I shall get into very political territory, and while its desirable for sailing folk to work out how we should respond to visible changes in society, I think discussing the desirability of or alternatives to such change is best discussed elsewhere.

The word selfish is most often seen as a pejorative but being selfish in the right situation is a positive trait..a time to every purpose.

The millenials were raised in a different global situation to myself. In general terms they are more "self oriented" than the baby boomer post war mob.

Modern attitudes are a evolutionary and necessary reaction to very real societal pressures.

The author of the article has got hold of the right thread IMO but he doesn't know the extent of that thread.

Could write reams on this stuff but in a rush so skimped.

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by transient ...one of the symptoms, which would be foolish to deny, is the rise of the "f**k you Jack I'm all right" attitude seen I thought one of the most interesting parts of the original paper I linked to was when it talks about the effects of what it calls ‘neo-liberal capitalism’, in particular the discussion around p46. It highlights that its probably a mistake to see things as a selfish attitude from individuals, but more as a reflection of changes to society. I shall stop there, because otherwise I shall get into very political territory, and while its desirable for sailing folk to work out how we should respond to visible changes in society, I think discussing the desirability of or alternatives to such change is best discussed elsewhere.

We normally react to changes in society by banging on about the 1960s and 70s.
The paper makes a change by banging on about the 1860s and 70s.....

Originally posted by turnturtle Originally posted by iGRF   Sorry, no, I'm with Eisvogel entirely on this, and you can't compare a bloody fridge with a sailing club however you're tinted Oakley Goggles might paint it. . au contraire... we are talking about building communities, not facilities- and there are pretty shoddy examples of facilities calling themselves sailing clubs out there!

Communties are not necessarily 'clubs' as we know them, take kitesurfing, there are dozens of FB 'communities' where they agree where to ride and when, help each other out with lost kit etc We as a club did for a while try to accomodate them, the same as we attempted to draw short board recreational windsurfers to no avail, but they don't need us, don't actually want a fixed venue, travel with the wind direction. It is only the requirement for competitive or other 'organised' activity or social need that drives fixed clubs, last I was there I did even try to get a cross dressing evening going to attract Stand UP Paddleboarders.
Joking aside the only windsurfers that ever joined were racers and the only time Kites looked likely to group around us was during that period when kiting might have been an OLympic activity, that could yet happen, probably why your experience of snow boarding is different to mine, back in my day Snowboarding was never going to be a discipline of Ski-ing and was strictly the province of rebels. That may have altered and with it the rise of municiple fridge life, but I don't see our world benefiting in any way given the huge divergence of class and boat types not touched by the Olympic pathway.

Edited by iGRF - 01 Mar 17 at 1:59pm

Originally posted by fudheid but no bomb craters for me sorry grf, .

Child. You haven't lived.