20 November 2017
‘I reckon In our
sport, innovation is
wasted on the old’
I
comment
Matthew sheahan
AttrActing young sAilors is eAsy, it’s the trAnsition to Adulthood And
boAt ownership thAt cAuses most to quit the sport. thAt hAs to chAngeMatthew Sheahan
is head of
performance
sailing at
Sunset+Vineget particularly wound up any time I hear
either of these two banal sailing
proclamations: “The sport is facing a crisis,”
or, “We are not attracting enough young
people into sailing.”
The first is simply not true. Yes, there are challenges.
Some of the expensive, professional corners of the sport
are struggling to attract teams and there are regattas and
events that are finding it hard to draw a big enough crowd
to make them viable. But there is no mass exodus from
our sport. It hasn’t been banned, it isn’t seen as unethical,
immoral or not green enough; far from it.
The Rolex Fastnet Race sold out in a matter of minutes
and delivered the biggest fleet in the history of the event.
The Clipper Round the World Race continues to draw
hundreds from all walks of life for a tough, head-banging
circumnavigation, while the notoriously difficult to
handle unicycle of the sailing world – the International
Moth – drew 240 boats for the 2017 world championship,
its biggest turnout ever. That’s just three of many
examples I could touch on.
But my real beef this month is about youth sailing.
Contrary to George Bernard Shaw’s quote that youth is
wasted on the young, I’d
say that in our sport,
innovation is wasted on
the old.
Look at who is calling
for the America’s Cup to
go back to ‘proper’ sailing
in monohulls with deep
keels. It’s certainly not the
youngsters, they’re busy getting to grips with anything
that’s fast and flies and are proving just how quickly they
can learn the new skills.
But even then it’s not all about high-tech, high-speed
new machines on foils. There are plenty of seriously good
young sailors out there bursting with enthusiasm for all
kinds of different classes.
Take 14-year-old Freddie Peters who didn’t just win his
class in his dad’s RS Elite at Lendy Cowes Week, but won
White Group overall in his first ever Cowes Week, while
also taking the young skipper trophy.
At the same event there were several teams ofteenagers, one sailing a borrowed Etchells for the first
time who sailed into the top few in the fleet.
Then there was the young crew from Greig City
Academy, an inner London school, that had run their own
campaign to take part in the Fastnet race. They didn’t just
complete the race, but scored an impressive result in
finishing 144th out of 368 boats entered.
In the UK alone, thousands of youngsters race every
weekend across a huge variety of boats from dinghies to
keelboats. I know this because they’re usually beating me.
So it’s not a lack of talent or enthusiasm that worries me,
it’s opportunity. How many young adults do you know
who have dropped out of the sport once they have gone to
university? Sure, a new way of life and new distractions
play their part, but there is a bigger hurdle for the sport if
we want to keep our young sailors coming through.
Owning a boat of any size, let alone campaigning one, is
way down the priority list for many young people and it’s
hardly surprising. Burdened by astronomical student
debt before they move onto internships that barely cover
their travel costs, they struggle to pay the rent and find it
difficult to imagine how they will ever buy a house when
the deposit alone is the size of a business’s overdraft.
Add to that the cost of raising a family and for many
buying any kind of boat is often out of the question.
It’s not that sailing is getting more expensive, but that
the next generation doesn’t have the spare cash.
So what is the answer?
Be it cars, houses, music or films, this is the age of
renting, so why not boats? Boats of all sizes, from racing
dinghies to keelboats.
There are, of course, plenty of charter boats available at
the big boat end for commercial rates. But what about
taking it further with manufacturers encouraged to
provide one or a number of their craft on a scholarship-
type basis for key events. Perhaps sponsors could be
persuaded to provide some support.
While some organisations and benevolent individuals
already provide this, I’d like to see an incentive to
encourage more of the industry, from boatbuilders to
equipment manufacturers, to invest in youth, to help
make them future customers.
There are some seriously enthusiastic and able
young sailors out there. Let’s keep them.