This is my observation after being out of sailing for nearly 25 years...there are precious few beginners getting into racing.

We have discussed this dynamic before without any resolution, and I doubt if the trend can be reversed.

In the "old days" racing was a reasonable transition from recreational sailing. For the most part, beginners could participate without being intimidated by the rules and super competitive attitudes of the “old hands”.

Certainly you might get a stern word from a curmudgeon that you offended, but more often than not it was the beginning of a friendship.

Race committees were volunteers, some were good and some were bad. Courses were not always perfect. Racing was as much about sailing the course you were given well as was besting your rivals. The skills to do that required more seamanship, I think, than the cookie-cutter courses we now have.

I used to love the challenge of racing amognst the islands at Miami Yacht Club. Many folks hated it though! I wouldn't want every race to be that way, but some variety makes things interesting.

Now we have professional race committees and protests against them if the course isn’t perfect. We have top sailors who complain unless every race is a W/L, perfectly square to the wind. Races are abandoned when the wind shifts.

This need for perfection is well founded at the highest level events, but it perhaps has a negative effect on so called “friendly” competition at the lower levels.

I refer back to:



Having said that, the evolution of the rules is healthy. However, threats to lynch the PRO, even in jest, tend to exemplify the “win at any cost” and “a perfect course every time” mentality that keeps or drives beginners away from the sport.