Quote from SA 'gasoline':

"Hello, this is my first post here.
I wanted to sign up here to post this a while back, but I just got my validation e-mail, so I posted it elsewhere. I will modify and re-post it below.
I am new to sailing and have only been out three times, and have no skills to speak of. I am will be taking sailing lessons in a few months' time; and I hope one day soon to be able to cross the Atlantic.
Here is my view on the topic of getting new people sailing, from someone in that position:

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1. I have noticed in my years of lurking that a lot of the chatter here at Sailing Anarchy (SA) goes on at length (rather unconsciously I think) about "my yacht club...".

I wonder if people don't realize how "normal" (so to speak) people view these sorts of statements?
While it may be the norm for many of the people on the website, it sounds incredibly inaccessible to most other people. It is almost directly akin to "my country club...".

"Clubs" of any sort like this immediately imply exclusivity. A majority of people do not belong to any sort of exclusive organization whatsoever (for which one has to be nominated), neither do they concern themselves with matters of social climbing.
Joining a yacht club simply has no appeal to them, because they feel (maybe rightly) that that is something with which only people of substantial means and the accompanying social standing concern themselves. After all don't you have to dress up in order to enter such clubhouses? Aren't these clubs merely toned-down versions of the gentleman's clubs of the turn of the century?

This is the image I think such terms convey to the majority of people who are not sailors.

From time to time, many of the posters there talk about this. They sort of get the general idea, but not quite. Many think that the popular image of yacht clubs is one where there are "lots of old guys in blue blazers".
But my point is that people are smarter than that. It's not the image of blue blazers as much as it is the perception that wealth (particularly "old money") is a prerequisite for a "yachting lifestyle".

When you couple this with the idea that the most accessible "boating model" in most people's eyes is to purchase a $3000 used "bass boat" which is much easier to handle, transport and otherwise take care of, then I think you can get an idea of why people think of sailing as something for a particularly wealthy class (who all live on Nantucket or Georgica Pond or any other swank seaside location).

2. I think there is an obsessive over-emphasis on racing.

This would be number one if I remembered it earlier.

This one could not be any plainer. Where to begin:

i) Not everybody is that competitive.
The emphasis on racing is particularly off putting in my opinion to people who would be new to sailing.
Not everybody lives for thrills, and not everybody has an uncontrollable urge to beat other people at some contest or the other. This simply cannot be the first thing to greet people who come into contact with sailing. It is bound to fail on all save children (who are more "go! go! go!" than adults).

ii) This one is more obvious:
Do people not understand that people who have only ever drawn a sailboat in elementary school would be much better off walking before they can run?
It is exactly like pulling people off the streets and trying to get them interested in F1 or NASCAR--or maybe weekend amateur car racing.

People who have not even learned to appreciate the motion of a boat on the water (and just how soothing it can be) are not prime candidates for dipping the rails (every Wednesday!).

And then there are the rules!

I have started off very slowly, and after maybe three trips I helped out on a Rhodes 19 (I think) in a beer-can race (that's a "fun race" right?).
I enjoyed myself, but I must tell you that at no point in time did I know where we were going, neither have I retained any memory of rounding any mark whatsoever. I can't even remember what any of them looked like.

I do remember that we snagged a lobster pot. (Twice I think...)

3. People do not know where to start. If they have even given sailing any thought since elementary school.

How does somebody who doesn't know anything about sailing, and who never even gives it any thought in their daily lives, become interested in it?

I have found that many people who sail (all in fact that I have met including online), will bend over backwards twice over to help you if you are interested in any aspect of sailing; and they are always patient and willing to explain. Always.
But I was already somewhat interested. What about people who might enjoy sailing, but will just never in their lives realize this simply because they will never be offered an opportunity to sail or even think about sailing?
My friends and family think my interest in sailing is quite odd (at best) and are slightly amused (at worst). None of them have any urge to follow me.

This is a big, big thing.

It appears to me that the vast majority of people as far as I can gather, who are into the sport of sailing, have inherited this interest from their parents (who got it from their parents and so forth back several generations).

I am not sure that many people like this understand how someone with no history of sailing in their lives sees this complex world of sailing (if they even think about it at all having had no introduction in their lives).
How much does a boat cost? Where can I learn to sail? Which comes first? The boat? The sailing lessons? When will I have time to learn this? What if I sink? Where do I keep the boat? And on and on.

I will try to type what I think are some of the solutions next.
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This is simply my perspective as someone trying to learn to sail as an adult. I think others may feel this way as well, and I hope it is useful to someone out there..
I will try to break up this post with pictures to make it easier to read."