Annie Hill wrote:I, for one, wish that there were any sign of sailing declining in popularity.  All that I can see is that hardly anyone sails dinghies any more and that 32ft is considered 'entry level' for a cruising boat, which means that anchorages are become increasingly over crowded with vast 'condo-marans' and huge monohulls - where there are no marinas to soak them up.  This certainly applies to ocean voyaging and there seems to be no shortage, as David says, of boats out on the water.  Maybe fewer people are actively sailing on a regular basis, but the boat numbers would appear to be on the increase.

I thought I was the only one holding such views. Annie, you are a dangerous subversive; more power to your elbow.

As for your JFK misquote: ouch.

Asmat

I, for one, wish that there were any sign of sailing declining in popularity.  All that I can see is that hardly anyone sails dinghies any more and that 32ft is considered 'entry level' for a cruising boat, which means that anchorages are become increasingly over crowded with vast 'condo-marans' and huge monohulls - where there are no marinas to soak them up.  This certainly applies to ocean voyaging and there seems to be no shortage, as David says, of boats out on the water.  Maybe fewer people are actively sailing on a regular basis, but the boat numbers would appear to be on the increase.

As to clubs: this is an international problem across all areas.  When I was tramping in South Island, all the clubs I had anything to do with were concerned about the difficulty of attracting new members.  Without the clubs to maintain them, we will lose our wonderful network of tramping huts, just as boaties will end up having to pay for everything to a profit-oriented business, if they don't join the local boat clubs.  However, as boating increasingly becomes the rich man's sport that it was always (erroneously) perceived to be, I don't suppose most boat owners care.

Junk rig, on the other hand, seems to attract the sort of people who realise that what goes around comes around and that you have to make time in your life to help your community so that your community will give back to you.  It's called enlightened self-interest and is the explanation for why all these different clubs used to flourish.  Alas, the 'enlightened' bit seems to be becoming more and more rare, so people join the club for what they can get rather than thinking (excuse me JFK) that it's about 'What I can do for my Club, not for what my Club can do for me.'

Maybe we'll find junkies taking over the boating clubs!

In New Zealand the number of people heading out onto the water is rising every year. Unfortunately they are mostly taking to power boats, especially what we call 'runabouts', that is high speed boats in the 4 to 8 meter size range. Interest in sailing could be waning in that even people with yachts seem to motor everywhere, even downwind!! Our cruising yacht fleet in NZ is made up of predominantly older vessels built during the 60's, 70's, and 80's and people no longer seem to have the time, inclination, or money to maintain these boats. In the bay where I moor Footprints there are 112 moored boats, mostly yachts, and a very large number of them never leave their moorings from one year to the next.

It has become evident at our yacht club in Halifax, that membership enrollments have been declining. Apparently, it's a continent wide phenomenon, shared with other recreational clubs, like golf. I encountered a graph online recently that showed participation in boating to be declining since a high in 1979. The average age of our senior members, two years ago, was 72!
Our local sailing association is alarmed. Why the decline? Aging baby boomers. Recession. Competition with other sports. Competition with the computer. Less free time. At one American club, the average age at first joining was 32 in the early sixties Now it is up around 55. This means that joiners are not bringing in their children (who have moved out or away) for that inter-generational mentoring. It takes time to learn how to manage a boat. People are less patient to learn these days. Racing has lost some favour because it has become too formalized and litigious. "It's not fun any more!"
Is this happening in the UK, Europe and Down Under? Is this an issue with you?
What has this to do with the junk rig?
The junk rig can keep boaters sailing into later years, holding up the numbers. It could also attract people who don't want the complexity and hard work at any age, in conventional rigs.