J24 (Sail No. 4239) Dartmouth |
Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
29er GBR 074 Tynemouth |
List classes of boat for sale |
Arresting the Decline and Fall of our Sport. |
Post Reply | Page <12345 36> |
Author | ||
eric_c
Far too distracted from work Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
Post Options
Quote Reply
Topic: Arresting the Decline and Fall of our Sport. Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 8:05pm |
|
A lot of sense in that. There is a big pool of people out there who have sailed at least a little in their past, and have the time to sail when they reach 40s/50s or whatever. There's also a lot of dads who want activities they can do at the same time as their kids. I think some are put off by the dinghy arms race in some clubs, where it looks like you need a boat costing North of £5K to fit.in. I also feel that most clubs struggle to offer any real coaching for adults who are basically competent but uncompetitive. Some class associations are great, once you've got that far.
|
||
sargesail
Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1459 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 8:32pm | |
Burghfield is probably one of the exceptions.....but at far too many other clubs the problem is that children have to travel to get meaningful activity.....even a tolerant attitude from the club! |
||
Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 8:52pm | |
The problem is that classes who return fewer than 100 races don't figure in the main PN list, and while some of the others manage to do enough to get into the EN list it doesn't publish the numbers of races returned. And in both cases it is the number of race not the number of participants that is counted.
|
||
Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
||
iGRF
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6496 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 9:34pm | |
There is no question we're in decline, we know this because the RYA were paying consultants weren't they, who were probably telling them what any club could tell them, I think that organisation is so big, bureaucratic and hog tied with their own rules and regs there's nothing they can do that will address our issues. Sure they'll push the boat out once a year and we get a few more tryouts on sunny spring days, some might take courses, some might even learn to potter about, but they're not being taught the sport we know, we need a concerted effort to teach mature adults not just to sail, but to use sailing as part of the bigger game that we enjoy, the 3D chess match with the elements. Because if we don't, what will happen? The answer is simple, if you make boats for a given volume and you cost accordingly, then that volume drops, you have no choice but to increase that price, as you may or may not have noticed has been occuring, even in this short period, look at the cost of the RS100 for instance, almost developed on this forum it could be bought for what 5-6 grand and its now what 9 grand plus? So you get into a viscious downward spiral with numbers and upward spiral in pricing, then it'll be club fees, sails and accessories, so it really is in everyones interest to try all and anything to stem the flow. |
||
ian.r.mcdonald
Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Feb 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 440 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 9:43pm | |
|
||
ian.r.mcdonald
Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Feb 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 440 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 9:49pm | |
The RYA are committed to restricting training to that supplied by RYA qualified instructors. So we arrive at the situation where the mega experienced, multi championship winning sailor cant run a coaching course. But the keen newbie who has done a two weekend course can run a race coaching training session. Ok all training needs some structure, but this is crazy.And a significant brake on developing older sailors. |
||
Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 10:07pm | |
Yup, and that's true of nearly everything in our H&S/litigation obsessed society.
Edited by Sam.Spoons - 10 Nov 19 at 10:08pm |
||
Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
||
ian.r.mcdonald
Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Feb 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 440 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 10:35pm | |
I will own up to having missed that. It's more important to avoid being sued than to support a decent service to new sailors. |
||
iGRF
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6496 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 10:51pm | |
Nail - head. So the only way round it is to either just go wild west and cowboy it, or establish that other new body we talked about in the yardstick thread, with maybe slightly lower standards for coaching qualification. It's interesting that the only recent growth in participation watersports like kitesurfing and paddleboarding are succeeding precisely because they were kept out of the grip of the RYA and it's punitive training qualification validation schemes. The fact is, what's to stop a bunch of 'friends' teaching their chums how to race dinghys 'unofficially'? Edited by iGRF - 10 Nov 19 at 10:53pm |
||
davidyacht
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Mar 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1345 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 19 at 11:06pm | |
As the demographics change the support for dinghy racing will ebb and flow. Demographics have conspired to remove a lot of things that allowed dinghy racing to blossom ... I would suggest weekend working, the 24/7 culture, being mortgage slaves, student loans etc ... on top of that there were some really good things that set up dinghy sailing in the late sixties; Boat Shows, Dinghy Shows, two or three dinghy centric magazines, national Newspapers promoting dinghy classes, a do it yourself culture, Arthur Ransome .... these are now old hat.
We owe a great deal to the Mirror and the Laser hitting some attractive price points at that time. On any day in the summer I would see dozens of red sails sailing up and down our estuary for the fun of it. Even if the RYA were a 100% on message I really don’t see how they can turn this tide. Dinghies have got too sophisticated and expensive; I think the shift from two person boats to single handers will prove to be the ultimate nail on the coffin, because this halves the number of people using clubs and halves the available human resources to make stuff happen. At sixty I hope that the sport holds on for another fifteen years, and I shall do my level best to put back in what I have taken out, but I really cannot see the big idea that will change things. |
||
Happily living in the past
|
||
Post Reply | Page <12345 36> |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |