What's the general sailing culture like?
Posted by Round_Intern_7353@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 26 comments
I've recently started developing a strong interest in sailing. I haven't stepped foot on a boat yet, but have been doing a lot of research into them and how they're operated. But I've been wondering what people in the sailing community are like (generally speaking, of course). Are they friendly warm, open, and willing to help or share knowledge? Or is it full of big egos and gatekeeping? I feel like it could go either way considering. The long history and deep rooted traditions would make me think the former, but the money and status that can go into it makes me worry it's the latter.
StaredgeWill@reddit
Look for the dirtbags. They’re much more welcoming.
_Schrodingers_Gat_@reddit
Just finished a one way transport, hopped on a redeye, and Ubered back to the club to pickup my car.
The security guard was really struggling to understand why some homeless dude with a duffle bag needed to come into the club at 4:30am.
LP14255@reddit
Mehfisto666@reddit
This has been exactly my experience working on boats in arctic norway. It's extra funny because i remember meeting a fairly "new" captain years ago that was all fancy and stuck up and talking bullshit and was just generally a pain to work with and i worked with again years later and he was super chill and easy and looked very ordinary.
Also i worked with the absolute best old pirates from the north that look like total hobos and then i find out they had been fishing at 82° north and driving rescue boats in the north and barents seas or charting in permafrost waters in svalbard etc etc
juhbuh@reddit
generally long winded
Fantastic-Hamster-21@reddit
I just joined a boat club myself. I'm 32yrs old and just got into sailing this way. Look around your area for boat/yacht clubs. They have various programs at my club to get into sailing.
Round_Intern_7353@reddit (OP)
Funny that I'm your exact same age and also looking to get into sailing lol
blogito_ergo_sum@reddit
I can only speak for my area, but:
I'm in a suburb on a lake. On this side of the lake the sailors are mostly tech nerds with more money than free time who collect certifications and dream of retiring to the cruising life, with a few older racers and instructors mixed in. The nerds, uh, may have strong opinions and not the most refined social graces. The older racers have seen many crops of inexperienced nerds come and go and move on to their next expensive hobby, so until you show up consistently for a year or two it feels like they're hesitant to take much of an interest or invest in getting to know you. But if you show up to the beer-can races regularly, stick around at the bar after, buy the occasional round, listen a lot, and ask good questions, you can learn a lot from them.
On the other side of the lake is the city. Several of the sailing schools/clubs over there are nonprofits aimed at youth and making sailing accessible. Their students and members there are much more socioeconomically "normal people" and their instructors are there because they love sailing and want to share that joy (at least until they burn out), but it's all on a shoe-string budget and maybe not really efficiently-run.
On the far side of the city is the salt water; I gather that that is where the Serious Business racers are, who file protests and turn off AIS to try to get a competitive advantage and get into trouble for drinking out of the trophy cup at the end of the series, but it's too far for me.
TheAmicableSnowman@reddit
A: as many as it needs
IDK what your nonprofit exposure is, but they saying is "time, treasure, talent." You need at least one and preferably two of those from each board member. Everything is just as expensive and complicated for a nonprofit as for a commercial enterprise, except the entire organization is a cost center.
oudcedar@reddit
Each country has many different subcultures but I always think of my observations and subsequent chats with different nations about they very different ways people anchor in the Mediterranean.
English people are gently laughed at for being like cats as we circle round and round an anchorage looking for the perfect spot then do complicated slow manoeuvres to pull the anchor hard to test the seabed will hold.
Italians come in at high speed to the spot with the most perfect view regardless of how many other boats are already there. At the front there will be at least 3 bikini clad women holding pieces of rope for reasons that nobody has ever found out. After a lot of shouting the helmsman will come up to the bow and drop the anchor himself. Usually just until it touches the bottom. Bikini women all then trailed to the stern and gently lower themselves into the water with sunglasses and perfect hair kept dry.
Germans are always steered in by a sturdy looking wife whilst their almost spherical husband drops the anchor completely and with the exact multiple of depth and of course both ar middle aged and entirely nude.
But the real spectacle is the Croatians. They will go to a completely random bit of the bay and start reversing at high speed towards all the other boats slowly dropping the chain as they do so. If the anchor hits the bottom in the first quarter mile of be surprised. This high speed reverse continues until the boat is dramatically and instantly stopped by the anchor getting caught on somethig. Windlasses are always in stock in Croatian chandleries.
The French of course don’t get involved at all. They come in, drop the anchor in the first space they come to and within ten seconds the table is fully laid with bread and wine and candles and the entire crew is swimming.
The one thing all these experienced long term cruisers have in common is that nobody wears any kind of footwear on board and all harnesses and life jackets are tucked away somewhere for rough weather only.
WinLongjumping1352@reddit
There are as many cultures as there are marinas/clubs.
Some are elitist with a history of crossing the English Channel from before William the conqueror stepped ashore.
Some are easy going, bring a six pack and you belong.
It really depends on the clubs mission like if they value working with the youth to get the next generation sailing or get it to a wide populace (strength in numbers!). Or if they train for races and regattas (perfection!). Or if they are a drinking club with a sailing problem.
CTronix@reddit
Came here to say this it really vastly depends on region, club, boat class etc. A little bit of everything
permalink_child@reddit
Salt of the earth, sailors.
Mehfisto666@reddit
Honestly the vast majority of people I've met have been extremely nice and helpful. There's noone that loves talking about sailing and sailboats more than a sailor
rwoooshed@reddit
In the average marina power boats are by far the most plentiful and more expensive, so the whole sailing & money thing is a bit BS imho.
LegitMeatPuppet@reddit
IMHO, there is not one singular monoculture. Even in my local community there are different groups, some are blue collar laid back and cool. Others are more upper class and can be snooty. Within those groups some love racing, others love cruising. Some racers are just happy to get out on the water, others are ultra competitive. Some love classic wood boats, others love bleeding edge carbon fiber foiling boats.
That being said, most everyone shares the same common love for sailing. Usually you just find the group that aligns with your personality. Or you can just flat between all the groups.
Aggressive-Might-703@reddit
I’m 32 and the youngest senior member at a club in Toronto. 99% of people are really nice and welcoming. Then you get the 1% of Karen’s and Ken’s that make it worse. Complain about random things, or overall just have a bad vibe.
Keep to yourself, offer your services, listen, learn, and you will be welcomed with open arms.
kdjfsk@reddit
Its incredibly diverse.
satchmogro@reddit
where I sail there's a county park marina and it's next to a yacht club. there's a lot of crossover at events, so you experience all kinds of sailing culture. there's some technical types, competitive types, pirate types, family types... replace the word types with culture... jump in the water is fine.
2airishuman@reddit
My experience, like that of other commenters, is that there is wide variation. There is also cultural overlap with other (non-sailing) boaters, people who fish, cabin cruisers, dock queens, etc. People have varying goals for engagement with (other) sailors, you'll find some fairly closed subgroups and others that are more welcoming. There's also wide variation in what people want to get out of sailing, racers, cruisers who really do like to sail, people who just motor around, some who never leave the dock, and some who never set foot on their boats.
Seaworthiness7277@reddit
i'm taking a sailing course right now and my teachers are the nicest, chilliest, funniest people i've met in a sport before. the crew i'm with are really kind and welcoming too. i think you just gotta give it a chance and don't get discouraged if the first people you meet you don't click with or end up connecting
unwhelming_potential@reddit
It depends!
I'm in Sydney and literally every club in the harbor has a different culture, plus every sailor, every skipper and every owner is an individual. Sure there are some massive ego, yes, there's an absolute boatload of sexism, and there's a of lot of money (being spent, cause the vast majority of races have no prize money, maybe a bottle of wine or a jacket). The benefit of sailing is that you can absolutely find where you belong. Want Friday Twilight racing with beer in hand? There's a boat and a club for that. Want serious off shore sailing? There's also a boat for that. It's worth seeing if clubs have a crew/boat finding service that can match you with a boat in need of crew, once your in and can sail it'll be a lot easier to figure out what sort of sailing you want to do and who you want to sail with.
strangefolk@reddit
Fiberglass boat made it available to everyone, so its really the later. But judging a huge group is pretty useless. Get on a raceboat as crew and find out. Or buy a sunfish on craigslist and go get wet!
Dnlx5@reddit
Well sailing ranges from people straping tarps to their canoes and going to the neighborhood pond, to stock brokers taking clients out to do illegal stuff and everything inbetween.
In my experience most people are interesting and pretty open and happy to share the hobby. Most are on their day off. Go out and find your way!
hifromtheloo@reddit
Depends on the area, there’s both. Yacht clubs where you need an invitation from a member to even apply and yacht clubs where you just show up for beer can racing and they find a boat to sit you on as rail meat.
hifromtheloo@reddit
You can find amazingly helpful people sprinkled all around the sailing community, especially among cruisers.