Why Those Little Old Boats Matter
I recently watched some friends and acquaintances prepare for the J/70 Worlds held in Marblehead last September. I watched as they bought and prepared their boats and was amazed to find that many campaigns had a $1MM plus budgets. The racing was spectacular to watch, but the impact of the knowing the numbers soured the beauty as I thought about all of the less fortunate sailors who simply could not afford to be out there. The J/70 Class is not alone in seeing skyrocketing costs.
I felt better as I remembered all of the cheap old boats I had bought, fixed and raced. I was heartened to find that there are still classes of boats are there that are somewhat stable in design and evolution, and that I can afford to buy and campaign.
I am not a Luddite. I applaud the forward progress in sailing that has come with foiling and how this is impacting the sport on every level, but I am concerned about the impact that this has on a decreasing population of people getting into the sport.
Some of my other friends build and sell small boats. I love parts of what they do, but they seem to have built a business model around non-ownership of boats. This has further isolated the sailor from the boat. This trend in club owned or chartered boats will likely cause further erosion in participation ultimately. We need to simplify. The boats need to be cheaper, more durable and easier to own. We need to encourage an individual ownership model by making the cost of acquiring and campaigning boats cheaper.
I think that professionals and vendors in the sailing industry need to work with the classes of “Cheap old boats” to determine how to keep people coming into these classes. I am not so naive to think that every boat class will survive, but only by supporting these classes can we provide a destination for 420 kids and college sailors. The latest new designs will always be too expensive. The good old boats that have stood the test of time deserve continued support as we go forward.
Millennials have lots of choices; lets try to guide them towards sustainable choices by supporting those good old boats and making them cool again.
By Shan McAdoo
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Try a fast I-20 Scow. (Portsmouth D-PN 83.4) Affordable old M-20’s are available, just add a bow sprit & asymmetric spin for some high performance fun.
Tell Ted to Buy a snipe
There are lots of fun small boats out there that are reasonably priced. Boats like the Flying Scot can be raced with two or three yet comfortably day sailed with the kids and you can pick one up pretty tricked out for under $8k. Thistle is a little higher performance and still in the same price ranges. Both of those boats get big numbers for North American champs (75+ boats) and are easy to get parts for. The magazines and media need to cover these and the grassroots beer can type places or the sport will continue to get overpriced and perceived as only for the Uber elite.
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