Hi Tami,

I think I might have a different take on Mr Gasoline ‘s POV then you would.

I think that what Mr Gasoline is not willing to acknowledge is that a yacht club can not be all things to all people. He has expectations for Yacht Clubs and also for a group of sailors who race and that these two groups are simply not going about meeting his expectations and he calls it a problem.

Sailing is a pastime and so it is just an individual endeavor that frequently brings along family and friends. The overwhelming majority of sailors fit this description. They have absolutely no need for any organization (eg a club) and they fill most of the marina’s in america. At most they need a representative that lobby’s on their behalf on general boating issues.

Gasoline’s problem is that as a non sailor, he seemed to expect that a run of the mill Yacht Club would deliver adult sailing lesson and give him access to the pastime of sailing The reality is that teaching sailing is better left to a commercial business. You want training… they provide training for $$$.… This is exactly what I did for my one attempt at skiing.. I hired a ski instructor and decided that I would best spend my money in the winter going south where it’s warm and I can sail. US Sailing steps in and set’s standards for the quality of the training because they see it as good for sailing in general.
This is a problem for some USSA members.

Once you have acquired the skills to sail and want a more social level. He will find a lot of social clubs that sail together. Our local sailing monthly magazine has club notes from over 50 social sailing clubs… Everything from the Jewish Navy, to the Catalina Fleet to Singles on Sailboats.. They have the goal of sailing with a group of boats … essentially the same orientation to sailing as individuals but now with a social group. The level of organization for the group is pretty minimal and the club gets organized around sailing and something (eg. singles). It’s a social group. Gasoline just needs to find the best match with a sailing group in his area.

Gasoline expected that a Yacht Club would be the entry point into the past time of sailing. When he figures out that promoting sailing can mean a lot of different things he blast the yacht clubs and then labels the Yacht clubs as exclusive domains of the rich and doesn’t like the general vibe and although he admits it’s a stereotype, he still blasts the YC’s for being out of touch and inaccessible.. He does not factor in that usually, these clubs grew out of their communities and the club is centered around Sailing and the local town. I suggest that YC’ that are visible are just not his kind of social scene…. Nothing more and nothing less. I would not expect the Jewish Navy yacht club to be a good fit for my interests.

Now the one thing about sailing that is social and requires a great deal of organization is a boat race. After you agree on the rules, the venue, the classes, the time, the prizes, the nature of the competition (Corinthian) etc etc. You absolutely require a great deal of organization if you want to take the pastime of sailing up a notch to the sport of sailing. A subset of the YC’s had members who took on this organizational job and so we have the infrastructure that you see. Nationally, back in the day it was the USYRU. It so happens that more people are passionate about making sailboat racing happen then are passionate about running a booze cruise to the tiki bar two rivers down. Gasoline misinterprets the sailboat racer’s passion for the sport of sailing with the very different focus of someone who is engaged in the pastime of sailing. He notes that racers are extraordinarily helpful but not giving him what he wants or needs as a new sailor interested in the past time of sailing.

To me, this is like telling or asking the zebra to change his stripes…. It’s not going to happen and you are crazy for asking. . For instance, Prindle Fleet 25 was the organization that predated CRAC…. It was similar to a Hobie fleet of the time with 50% of the members in the group there for a Sailing pastime…. (Just like the current Catalina club). When I joined, the vast majority of members left were the racers and the cruisers non existent. The club was reformed as CRAC with a deliberate focus on the R for Racing. The individuals passionate enough to organize … were simply NOT going to organize a social group. Yep it’s narrow and focused and the organization wants to go out of business after everyone joins a yacht club in the area.

IMO the current upset with USSA is couched in the queery
“60 bucks…. What do they do for me” Racer’s are only interested in racing and growing the pastime of sailing is somebody else’s problem. All of the programs that USSA has taken on to grow the pastime is a waste of money as far as the racer is concerned.

Why don’t racers want to pay for or support services for sailors who are engaged in the pastime of sailing? In their experience, the yield of racing sailors harvested from friends and family that they have taken racing is pretty small.. The odd cruiser who gives racing a try is really rare.

Right now, Gasoline was not interested in the sport of sailing. He has tried it and it did not take. Could we have done a better job with introducing him to racing… certainly but that is a different debate. For me Gasoline’s essential gripe is that his expectations of what a yacht club should be doing were way out of line with what YC’s in fact are doing.

For me, I also don’t like taxing racing sailors for the purpose of growing the pastime of sailing. I would prefer USSA focus on race training programs. However, I recognize that you probably have to balance the “grow the pastime of sailing” with the “focus on the racer mindset given one national organization. The Multihull council is focused on racing.

I think that you could have a serious debate over splitting up USSA into Olympics, Racing, Cruising and Training. The racing mission would take on the Rules, Judging training, Race officer training and administering the infrastructure of the sport of Corinthian sailboat racing. Each Yacht Club should be where the tradeoffs between racers and social pastime sailors make the deals on budget’s and programs. At the national level… this debate becomes banal and you loose focus and so nobody is happy.