Hello Sailors,
As a frequent voyeur to this site I came to a rather unique observation. I enjoy the fact that as a sport and ‘community’ we have this forum to exchange ideas, encourage sailors of all sorts, post results, and generally share positive feelings about our passion. However, I have also noticed, that sometimes (key word!!) sometimes this forum is used to promote one kind of boat, one manufacturer, or one type of racing over the other.

And this is where I began to question. I have snooped around other sporting forums (baseball, football, soccer, auto racing) and RARELY see such brand showcasing. In other words, I have yet to see a baseball forum say a brand A mitt is better than brand B…so nanny nanny. Or If you have a brand B mitt you cannot play.

So, does this mean that as sailors, we are way more into majoring on the minors? In other words are we that into ‘technology’ and superiority to the point we forget the overall goal of the forum. In our world sailing is big, but the reality of it is most people don’t know a port from a starboard, or deck to a mast. Honestly, ours is quite an exciting sport to those in the know. While I bet most here could probably lay out some baseball statistics, or favorite nascar team for racing, ask people on the street who won the last AC race, or who won gold in sailing last summer games….?? (yes…maybe in nascar you have a ford is better than chevy post)…..but can that relate?

What would an outsider looking in to this forum make of it? Would they think, “wow, these guys are REALLY competitive, maybe I should back off” or would they think…c’mon..give me a break!

Like I said, it seems far and few between that we get those types of posts, but when we do…well…you all know what happens……

Just a thought….

Michael