World Sailing Presidential Newsletter: Feb 2019
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=13275
Printed Date: 30 Jun 25 at 5:24am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: World Sailing Presidential Newsletter: Feb 2019
Posted By: JimC
Subject: World Sailing Presidential Newsletter: Feb 2019
Date Posted: 02 Mar 19 at 4:56pm
https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/215084/World-Sailing-Presidential-updates-February-2019" rel="nofollow - https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/215084/World-Sailing-Presidential-updates-February-2019
While I am still unconvinced about the current World sailing President I thought the following was pretty healthy.
To attract youth we need to offer broad options on equipment for doublehanded (mixed) and singlehanded at entry level. Studies show that youth want to learn more than "just" the sport, so we also need to focus education on broader learnings around the environment, wind, waves, currents, nutrition and so on.
At grassroots level the focus and priority needs to be on participation - sailing has so many facets that should be experienced before or in parallel with "going into racing mode". Gender balance is also important when we are looking at how to reduce the drop-out rate from young teenagers to university aged sailors. |
The challenge though is how a NA achieves that if 85% of their income is ring fenced for elite sailing and the other 15% has to do everything else... Doesn't matter how effective they are with the rest the casual observer will still say that they are ignoring the grass roots.
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Replies:
Posted By: tink
Date Posted: 02 Mar 19 at 8:10pm
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I would love see the actual figures of when the drop out occurs Small drop off with workload of GCSE then increasing with A level For the keen ones good participation with university teams etc, clubs see these guys disappear but a proportion will still be sailing The biggest drop off has to be first ten years after university, move to a big city with less sailing opportunities, working hard to make it in the world of work, cash constants - saving for house, it is a relatively expensive in cash and time hobby etc. Then families may come along and if a strong enough seed was sown they come back.
It is a very interesting issue, I think it a bigger for sailing than many sports just because we need special places, costly equipment, and it time hungry door to door and can be rarely done in the evening. Hockey, Five a side football, Unicycle Hockey etc can be after work in a few hours for minimal expense.
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Tink
https://tinkboats.com
http://proasail.blogspot.com
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Posted By: davidyacht
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 8:55am
Not that I did the University sailing thing, but I get the impression that involvement in University sailing tends to seal the deal with a lot of junior sailors, and get them involved in the social aspects of dinghy racing leading to lifelong participation. A large proportion of my generation have university team racing track records, and a few of the youngsters at our club are now doing University team racing which hopefully will lead to their retention in the sport.
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Happily living in the past
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Posted By: Daniel Holman
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 9:45am
I would say the converse. I think that university and post university is the biggest time for attrition for the young middle class dinghy sailor.
University is a pivotal time in a dinghy sailor’s career bridging the period between either regular club sailing / racing at clubs where they grew up, or in many cases racing in youth classes being towed around by DAD.
Moving away from home as is generally the case at university means not being affiliated with a conventional sailing club, no longer being in the youth “system,” being in a new town etc.
University sailing clubs are a rarefied thing where the demographic is almost exclusively hedonistic and privileged 18-22 year olds, being spoon fed sailing in knackered old boats that they don’t own or maintain unless it’s the poor bosun character upon which these clubs rely, racing in a format that is almost unheard of outside universities and certain public schools. So it’s free sailing in an artifice which is not sustainable ie it ends around 3 months before the rented mortarboard is tossed in the air.
A key predictor of life dinghy sailors is making the adult decision to find and join a sailing club and the commitment in money and time that entails, possibly own a boat and the sacrifices that might entail, all of which requires more commitment than uni sailing.
When uni sailing is over, often another move of town, some income but plenty of other distractions such as starting careers, finding partners or trawling tinder, trying to get on property ladder, getting an new Audi on the drip and two skiing holidays a year, and generally advertising an embellished / augmented version of ones life to ones peers on Instagram.
I think that RS Sailing has been pretty good bridging the gap with the value proposition that sailing some of its classes offers to the aspirational if not so imaginative young professional.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 9:57am
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 10:12am
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Its interesting that the US, which has one of the biggest college scenes, also seems to have some of the biggest issues with transition to adult dinghy classes.
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Posted By: Daniel Holman
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 10:17am
Originally posted by JimC
Its interesting that the US, which has one of the biggest college scenes, also seems to have some of the biggest issues with transition to adult dinghy classes. |
I think due to distance and culture, they don’t have a thriving dinghy scene in the first place.
US universities make UK ones even now seem positively proletarian, so it’s just another fun activity for undergrads to do, and it is given a lot of support as topping the league I.e winning the orange bowl is a big kudos point for te uni to sell itself on. Uni sport is big business.
Much less opportunity to sail dinghy as an adult outside a few areas separated by big distance!
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Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 03 Mar 19 at 10:28am
Whilst I agree with most of what Dan said, I don't recognise the uni thing as being universal. Loads of my junior group students have ended up doing team racing, which has kept them in touch with sailing in general. There are some places where the "team" is all, and if you aren't good enough, you are ignored. In some cases, there has been a yachting club which has been more welcoming, but I know some have been lost to sailing because of the clique in those places.
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Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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Posted By: ExBas
Date Posted: 04 Mar 19 at 6:34am
I am pretty sure that someone knows more about this than anyone on this forum, I think there was a very good piece of work done by British Marine and RYA about the changing social cultures that will challenge the sport in the future.
I think it's important to recognise that it is a sport for life, not discipline, not boat, not club - but sport. How people started in sailing is not linked to how they will finish in sailing. In my sail making days we watched boat owners graduate from a 30ft, to 40ft, to 50ft back down to an SB20. All sports have a general drop off around 18, and all sports see growth around 35 years as money and time become less critical.
Making sure a passion is built at 8-18 is the critical piece of work. And I think, keeping the thread linked to the title, that WS are finally joining the band to play the song that the rest of the world already knows the tune to.
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Poacher turned gamekeeper
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Posted By: Gfinch
Date Posted: 05 Mar 19 at 8:28pm
Went to uni as a club racer, met loads of great sailors who have gone on to do things such as the VOR, came out ultra keen to do more sailing and now do that at club level and national level.
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3513, 3551 - National 12
136069 - Laser
32541 - Mirror
4501 - Laser 4000
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