Behind the Club Gates
Editorial
Sailing is a skill, and an art. Sailing is a wonderful escape, and a challenge that improves character. Heck, sailing can be almost anything we want it to be. How about sailing is a socially redeeming pastime? Well no, not usually.
Lets face it. As much as sailing has tried to change its image from a snob’s sport, from an exclusive playground for rich people, how much do we really do to make sailing relevant for more people? Is sailing an accessible sport, or does it persist as a barrier between us and the rest? How much do we do to make sailing accessible to people, who for whatever reason, are shut out of the sport? Usually, not much. Yes, occasionally regattas raise money for charitable purposes. That is an important endeavour, but it doesn’t change the reality of sailing. Usually sailing has a primary prerequisite: money.Obviously, sailing has made some incremental steps. That is in keeping with larger social trends. I will even acknowledge that significant change has occurred. Sailing opportunities have improved. The pastime is not just for the upper crust anymore. Many clubs market themselves toward the upper middle class or the broader middle class. Very little exists for the larger population as a whole. Sometimes, it is simply the reality of the real costs that are the barrier. Some community-owned facilities are out there. Most waterfront is privatized. Worst of all, dinosaurs and intolerance persist. Some sailors are still looking for an exclusive, private social club with a country atmosphere. They are not trying to grow the sport, which is a different ambition (and not necessarily a progressive objective either). I have little patience for them.
At least we don't bar Jews anymore. Catholics go unoticed! I still don't see many women skippers. I still don't see many sailors of visible "minorities". Most importantly, I still don't recognize many people without a considerable amount of discretionary income. Yes, money, the final and most considerable barrier to social diversity and popular participation.
Organizationally, sailing is still caught in old ways. Culturally, many sailing venues have embraced the middle class in atmosphere, in acceptance of a more open environment, casual, and friendly. W.A.S.P.s are now bugs in the flower beds. Yes, we have moved from the dark ages. I suspect one persistent impediment is the political structure of the sport. Sailing is not really democratic. Clubs are ostensibly democratic, non-profit, private corporations, but they don't really operate democratically. Part of that is the reality of time available. Participation itself is a luxury. Part of it is that commitment is not the vaunted, socially engaging mechanism it used to be. As a result, those who commit, taking suffrage seriously, giving their time, they suffer. Too many want a free ride, or to pay plenty and be served. Some want to pay little and still be served! Beyond the club, sailing could use a transition similar to that of some political parties. Why is it that individual sailors don't have voting rights at provincial and national sailing organizations? We pay dues, but we don't have the franchise. Can sailing become a widely accessible sport without democratic structure? Do sailing organizations want to grow that broadly, or do they just want the money? In any case, our pastime gives evidence of class and exclusivity beyond organizational structures.
Perhaps sailing is a silly place to imagine blowing red trumpets. I think not though. Sailing like any pastime, is a cultural reflection of who we are, and makes for interesting observations of our behaviour, expectations and views. I see the persistence of class, even if now less obvious within the club gates.
Ralph Stocek, Montreal Sailing
Well said sir. This is the most insightful observation on the culture of our sport that I have seen for a long time.
ReplyDeleteRalph, How could you make outsiders feel welcome at your club when the French Canadian lifestyle shuns and insults anyone who doesn't speak French and isn't born in Quebec? I live in the USA and while working at West Marine met many Montreal sailors. Almost without exception...they wanted hours of my undivided attention. Worst of all was that I was insulted before I could close a sale...even if the item was $10. You have a long uphill climb ahead of you. Good luck Ralph.
ReplyDeleteHonoured by the compliment! Laser sailors such as yourself popularize the sport best, with a more affordable boat that doesn't have to be burdened with the same overall costs. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few community sailing clubs out there. Try the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley, of which I'm a (well, currently lapsed) member (www.cal-sailing.org). Costs $69 per three months of sailing with unlimited lessons and loaner foul weather gear available. That's way cheaper than cable. Before joining, come to a free introductory sail given twice a month over the summer. Then help out with free sails for community youth groups. When you get antsy just sailing, try a club race on Thursday evening or Sunday morning, or else get yourself a free ride for a (non-club) Friday Night Race by showing up at the marina with a six pack of beer and a PFD. Sailing doesn't have to be snobby. If you want to teach sailing to average people, they need a cheap place they can go and learn to sail. Sure, maybe they could pick up a used Laser, but I don't think most would want to throw it in the bay in the summer with 20+ knots and a steep chop without some face time with an instructor. CSC can do it because it gets a cheap deal from the city due to its nonprofit status and because it applies for grants, has an active membership, and is completely volunteer run. Surely this could be replicated elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteTo the first Anonymous, thanks for your post. I can happily report my experience to be totally different! Some of the most generous, eloquent, skilled writing on Montreal Sailing comes from francophones who are not even writing in their first language! Compare that to me who has a serious lingual deficiency. I'm limited to one language if I don't want to torture people. There is no shunning or rudeness here. At my club, there is no tensions or divisions amongst sailors that I am aware of. Some clubs have higher or lower levels of one language or another, but that seems to be based on community demography, and certainly not club policy, actual or otherwise. Perhaps people who travel afar are more likely to spend time to get the right product before going home... dunno. I do know rudeness can be a commonality shared by all peoples! I do find it curious certain cultural communities are, for whatever reason, mostly absent from our clubs. Language doesn't appear to be a form of penalizing discrimination.
ReplyDeleteThe Montreal Sailing editorial was covered by the North American edition of Scuttlebutt recently. Here is a response from another of its readers:
ReplyDeleteFrom Hugh Elliot: Perhaps the first thing that Ralph Stocek, and others who think as he does Scuttlebutt 2867 - Behind the Club Gates), should do is to start thinking about all of the players and stop focusing exclusively on skippers and owners.
While there is significant expense in owning a boat, the crew gets to play for very little. And although a few of the crew can accurately be described as "rail meat", the key players - tacticians, trimmers, bowmen, grinders, pit - are every bit as important to the team's results as the clown with the stick in his hand.
Jim Kilroy - owner of many maxi-boats named Kialoa - was quoted as saying, in response to the question of whether sailing was a rich man's sport, that in his experience there was one rich man and twenty five poor men on the boat and that he thought the poor men might be having more fun.
As a friend is fond of saying, sailing is an equipment-intensive sport. For people who can't or don't want to make the financial commitment required to attend a commercial school, finding an easy way to get into sailing can be a challenge. Public access is limited, and in many marinas security is tight enough that there's not even an option of walking the piers to meet skippers.
ReplyDeleteSailing's image can work against the sport with members of the public who fear they won't be welcomed to the sport, have little awareness of community sailing programs (or don't have any local programs), or are intimidated by the aura of exclusivity surrounding some clubs. Yet this isolation of the sport from the community can hamper clubs in their relationships with government entities and the public and may choke off the supply of new sailors and talent.
And, the reality may be that some members of the "sailing establishment" don't feel a need for change or a need to grow the sport and that some club members want their clubs to be exclusive retreats. There's likely a place for everyone in the sport, including elitists, but there's also the question of who needs to do what in order to keep sailing healthy.
Pat
http://desertsea.blogspot.com
Education Division: While I'll admit I'm less sure of the culture of sailing in Canada, I'm quite knowledgeable about the culture of sailing and its level of openness in the US. There are several HUNDRED, if not over a thousand, community sailing organizations serving the working, middle and upper middle classes around the country. In my marina alone there are three options for those three demographics alone to participate, socialize and influence the culture of their program. One is a member owned collective (it is Berkeley, afterall), another 'open to the public' program sponsored by UC Berkeley and a commercial outfit (mine). We are not the exception.. Go to Long Beach, Seattle, Annapolis, St Pete, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, Newport, etc., there are inexpensive, well marketed, inclusive organizations dotting those landscapes. There are hundreds of non-profits reaching out to women, to disabled sailors, to underprivileged kids, to minorities (ever hear of the huge event in the Caribbean called the Black Boaters' Summit?) And, there are very 'middle class' yacht clubs around the country as well. BTW, according to CYA (Canadian Yachting Association) Canada has a robust network of schools and community programs as well, despite the shorter sailing season.
ReplyDeleteAre there exclusive clubs? Absolutely.. I think that would only be a bad thing if they were the only way to get involved in sailing. In fact, ask any manager or commodore of a fancy club where they believe the majority of new members come from and they will tell you members from some other less expensive/exclusive sailing venue such as a sailing school or community sailing program. NYYC, Chicago YC or St Francis YC don't pretend to be 'Gateways' to sailing. And they needn't be. Are there wealthy boat owners who spend more on their annual sailing fix than most of us spend on our homes? Yes, and I'm really happy for that, not only because of the opportunities it presents less wealthy crew but for the vicarious thrill it gives me to watch their sexy yachts in action.
Finally, this is not so say we have reached the 'summit'.. Other countries, UK, NZ, France, eat our lunch when it comes to community access to sailing. But, we've made tremendous progress in the last thirty years and, at US SAILING, we continue to create new ways to increase participation and support gateway organizations with standards, credibility and visibility.