Demographic changes?
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12178
Printed Date: 08 Jul 25 at 10:28am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Demographic changes?
Posted By: iiiiitick
Subject: Demographic changes?
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 3:16pm
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Yesterday we had our annual old farts race. The entry for this race is limited to the over 50's. At the same time we run another race for the under 50's. This race has been on the calendar for at least 60 years. 60 years ago someone of 50 wore braces (holding trousers up), sported false teeth, smoked 40 a day, beat their wife and only expected to live until 67. How things have changed! There were 9 farts racing, the oldest being 79 crewed by a 76 year old and only 4 'youngsters'. At 69.75 i am somewhere in the middle. I would point out that our geriatric racers do not just float about puffing clouds of pipe smoke and we no longer have a wives tea rosta. They are competitive club racers. Are all clubs like this these days, is the sport now a suitable pastime for the 'new' elderly gentleman or are we an exception?
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Replies:
Posted By: kneewrecker
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 3:33pm
| http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11233" rel="nofollow - http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11233 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 3:40pm
| One of our club members told me about an interesting bit of research he did. He was looking at pensions expenditure at the large company he worked for, and discovered that those who worked to 65 often didn't survive their 60s, but those who were given early retirement a few years earlier often lasted twenty years or more. |
Posted By: rodney
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 4:41pm
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deleted!
------------- Rodney Cobb Suntouched Sailboats Limited http://www.suntouched.co.uk" rel="nofollow - http://www.suntouched.co.uk [EMAIL=rodney@suntouched.co.uk">rodney@suntouched.co.uk |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 5:13pm
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Actually I don't see it as a big issue. We are one of the few sports where you can be reasonably competitive when older, we should rejoice in it, not be embarrassed.
Most sports you can only really do half reasonably in your twenties, so when in your twenties it makes sense to do one of them rather than sailing, and save sailing for when you're older. How sad to go top end sailing through your twenties, be burned out and fed up by thirty, and then be unable to do anything else except play darts... |
Posted By: kneewrecker
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 5:17pm
the older I get, the more I agree...
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Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 5:21pm
Exactly, I keep trying to point that out, so the kit should be made more suitable for lifting and humping, the biggest problem that keeps our lot off the water from time to time is putting their backs out, we have nice light hikers, now what's needed is something light that doesn't break our backs whilst sailing and a light two hander. Then in answer to ticks post, no, probably the two eldest regular sailors in our club are me and my ex windsurfing Phantom sailing chum neither of us took the sport up until our sixties, there is one other couple of long term laser sailors man and wife that probably number in excess of 150 between them but other than that it's a younger adult generation in their forties and fifties a lot of whom took it up late. Of course we have our better sailors who have either sqauded or open meetinged a lot in the past, but they serve to set a pace that we try to beat and if and when we do, feel really accomplished about it. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 6:24pm
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The entry for this race is limited to the over 50's. At the same time we run another race for the under 50's.
The big question is did you manage to find anyone to race in the under 50's race? ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 6:37pm
Yes we did! 26(girl), 38 (male), 48 (male. Byte, Byte, Phantom. We would normally have a few more but 'former boy' was officer and another 26 year old girl was suffering from 'fashionable excess'.
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Posted By: 2547
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 6:44pm
That graph is misleading due to the differing bands on the bars. Looks like someone was trying to make a point. Please note this comment is aimed at the person who compiled the graph not Rodney who posted it.
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Posted By: davidyacht
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 6:52pm
Which is borne out by many Sailing Club membership age profiles. I think that the driver is that there is so much financial pressure on 18 through to 36 year olds just to survive and to pay the bills, pay off student loans, save for mortgage deposits, that owning a £5k dinghy and paying club subs is a big ask. The 48+ age group is the Arthur Ransome Mirror Dinghy generation of empty nesters. ------------- Happily living in the past |
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 7:07pm
| Our veterans trophy is for over 45s I did point out that most of us were over 45 but its still presented, |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 7:45pm
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Some of the people who were retired when we joined the club in 99 are still racing competitively now, when in late 70s or early 80s. Inland clubs probably suit this better, but one of the top Firefly sailors at Restronguet is over 80, and has sailed with the same crew for 5 decades or more. Well, they are married! ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 8:29pm
Still married! Wow!!!!
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Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 9:40pm
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I think they leave the arguments in the boat. I'm sure they have other ones to dust off at home! ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: craiggo
Date Posted: 05 Oct 15 at 10:05pm
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Yep its definately a common theme, but not as suggested due to financial ability.
As we have discussed many times, the current newly qualified, are far more likely to try an activity for a year tick the box and move on. The big problem is that we have a generation of people keen to have a go at everything and master none of them. Unfortunately its a trend that I think is being encouraged through schools and also now in the workplace and is being hailed in industry as the enabaler for flexibility which businesses appear to demand when operating with a reduced workforce! Im hopeful for a swing back to people focussing on becoming great at one or two things but I think we'll have a 10-20yr wait for it to happen. |
Posted By: orange underwing
Date Posted: 15 Oct 15 at 3:06pm
| There was a Y and Y report of a Christchurch S.C pursuit race where the scow start was noticable by the amount of pushing,shoving and shooting obsolete rules at each other |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 15 Oct 15 at 3:08pm
Are you saying this is because they were being sailed by old people? What excuse do the Oppies have? ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: orange underwing
Date Posted: 15 Oct 15 at 3:11pm
The Jardine brothers still seem to rule the XOD roost At lymington and they must be getting on a bit |
Posted By: orange underwing
Date Posted: 16 Oct 15 at 12:22pm
The older I get, the more argumentative I get, but I agree with Jim |
Posted By: Medway Maniac
Date Posted: 16 Oct 15 at 8:49pm
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I predicted this situation when Sunday shopping was introduced. To many younger people, Sunday is just another day, not a boring day when you need to find something fulfilling to do, like it was for me. It sounds trite, but I also suspect social media has something to do with it. Being parted from Facebook and Twitter etc, is being out the loop, and so you are missing out on 'real life'. Totally false, of course, but many younger people do not like to be separated from their devices for as long as they inevitably are in a day at the sailing club. ------------- http://www.wilsoniansc.org.uk" rel="nofollow - Wilsonian SC http://www.3000class.org.uk" rel="nofollow - 3000 Class |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 16 Oct 15 at 10:11pm
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Why go sailing when you can go to the Outlet Village. Used to just be Jesus we were competing against. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 16 Oct 15 at 10:40pm
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Hang on guys. There's another reason why younger turnouts may be lower at the dinghy show. For a while now, lots of the junior and youth classes are either holding big competitions on that weekend or it a squad training weekend. Feel free to call me ridiculous, but i've long wondered if there was an intentional intervention from the RYA to the junior and youth classes to give things for the sailors to do other than attend the dinghy show for fear that they'd see all the cool different boats and be inspired to do something other than follow the olympic route. Ok that is a bit ridiculous but on the flip side, those are the few classes that the RYA really has any say over, so why haven't they had a chat with them and the RYA squads and just said "ok guys, can we keep this weekend free so that these kids don't have anything taking them away from the dinghy show". Bare in mind that some squads have become very strict whereby if someone says they can't make one of the training sessions, they're then dropped from the team. There's so many weekends over the winter, so why are they consistently year on year scheduling training on the dinghy show weekend? |
Posted By: kneewrecker
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 2:55am
| it's not just the younger generation - why would someone who's got other responsibilities give up a precious weekend sailing pass to trudge around an exhibition hall looking at boats they'll never buy and chandlery that's more expensive than a couple of minutes in front of google? |
Posted By: Medway Maniac
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 3:40am
Too right, Rupert. No sooner had we escaped the clutches of the god-botherers than we fell into the arms of the consumer god. Or at least not us - we're the ones who got away. ------------- http://www.wilsoniansc.org.uk" rel="nofollow - Wilsonian SC http://www.3000class.org.uk" rel="nofollow - 3000 Class |
Posted By: 423zero
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 10:48am
| My club changed to Saturday sailing due to members wishing to attend Church on Sunday. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 11:47am
Are you from the US? Surely this couldn't have happened in a UK sailing club? |
Posted By: JohnJack
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 12:15pm
| How come Sunday is the traditional sailing day anyway? |
Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 12:55pm
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Before we moved to a structureless 7 day 24 hour week it was not so unusual for some people to work on a Saturday morning or do their shopping. When I first left school and started work I certainly saw Saturday morning as work time albeit perhaps light jobs and setting things fair.
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Posted By: Roger
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 2:43pm
Quite simply Sunday was historically the day for doing your leisure activities. Saturday you could go shopping with the family, go watch the Football/Rugby, many still had to work on Saturdays, get the DIY and gardening done etc etc. Historically Sunday was your FREE day, no top flight sport back then on a Sunday, no shops open, no need to work etc etc So people used to go Sailing on Sundays, play football in the park, go to the beach, whatever floats your boat...... but now Sunday time is not free, there are 1000s of other distractions from the shops, to taking impressionable kids to see the football, Sundays have changed from being days of leisure (when we went sailing), to just another ordinary day. All this of course probably explains why the busiest time at our club, probably by a factor of 3 or 4 is Thursday evenings, racing turnouts on Thursday evenings are way way larger than Sundays. Weekend sailing has now become a "hard core" activity, generally those who sail at the weekends are very dedicated to their sport and have long term established a habit of Sunday/Weekend sailing with their family/spouses. Imagine in your 20's or 30's with a spouse and young family telling them your going to take up sailing, and you'll be out of the house from 9.00am till 5-6.00pm every Sunday, sometimes longer and sometimes for the whole weekend, and by the way your about to spend upwards of £5,000 on a boat. It's not going to go down too well is it, but if you say I'll just be a home a few hours late on a Thursday/Wednesday evening, and then only during the summer, you might just get away with it!.... Of course if your established behavior is going sailing every Sunday when you meet your spouse then they take that on as well, so your chances of continuing weekend sailing are better. |
Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 3:00pm
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How come Sunday is the traditional sailing day anyway? 'Cos the bible says it's the day of rest, and what is more restful than a sailing race? Obvious, innit. ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 3:13pm
Because in the those days people who worked in shops and the like were real human beings who were allowed to have lives and hobbies like anyone else. |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 4:58pm
| In my black and white childhood we raced model boats on a Sunday morning then went home for Sunday lunch. No church except when I was a Sea Cadet when we had Church Parade once a month. At about thirteen I gave up Sea Cadets because it interfered with my Model Boat racing and my Dad went mad! "Giving up Cadets to mess about with old men on a Sunday". What my Father never realised was that most of the former WW2 naval men who ran Sea Cadets were...well, not doing it for the right reasons. Of course we understood this and took avoiding action. He never knew of course but was, as war veteran himself, perfectly happy for a 12 year old to be trained to kill by uniformed gentlemen with questionable morals. Model boats were an altogether peaceful and refined occupation making my Sunday mornings sacrosanct. |
Posted By: 423zero
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 5:58pm
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The club had already changed to saturday when I started (but the church thing was the reason). The club is in West Brom
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Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 6:00pm
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Tomorrow I start my Christmas temp job, working in a shop...
I spent today at the club, though, doing Junior group, which was fun. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: The Moo
Date Posted: 17 Oct 15 at 8:36pm
At our Club in the early seventies when I was a kid, the adults were always asking each other on a Sunday if they would be at "Church" tonight. We always assumed that they really meant church. It transpired that Church was "The Woodcock" a pub which they repaired to after a bit of sailing interspersed with a lot of drinking at the Club. How they got there, got home and got to work on Monday morning goodness only knows. Different times it has to be said. |
Posted By: Chris 249
Date Posted: 18 Oct 15 at 12:03pm
Yeah, but it can get complicated. When I met my wife she was sailing Sundays at the catamaran club and I wanted to sail on Saturdays and Wednesdays at the dinghy and windsurfer club. We compromised and decided to sail all three days, although we did sacrifice quite a few racing days to go cruising on the yacht. Relationships are all about compromise, after all.
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Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 18 Oct 15 at 1:21pm
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We compromised and decided to sail all three days, although we did sacrifice quite a few racing days to go cruising on the yacht.
What awful decisions you've been forced to make  ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |