Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamsailor
Generally,
I have found the change in the 45+ crowd. There are a few people who get interested in sailing who are 20 and 30 somethings however they represent a small percentage.
From my sailing instruction experience, I have found approximately 20% of the students to be under 40; The rest to be 48 and over. I seem not to get a lot of students in the 40-48 yo range. I do not know why that is --it just is.
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I mentioned Amateur Radio early on in the thread because of this very thing.
Like the Ocean, the Radio Spectrum is a natural resource that is used, and like the ocean, abused often.
The RF spectrum is "newer" than the ocean - simply because the technology to exploit it only was discovered around 1890, whereas people have been sailing apparently for many centuries. But, because of Amateur Radio operators we have MOST of the things you all enjoy today, including the computer screen and keyboard you're typing on.
Were it NOT for constantly bringing young people into the hobby of ham radio it would have died long, long ago. LIKE sailing, amateur radio has changed over the last 100+ years and technologies have changed as well.
Those same "Gen X" kids - my sons and daughters, texting away on their cellular phones and taking and emailing pictures with those same phones have only the inkling of what technology has wrought for them through those phones - few of my own kids and probably none of my grandchidren know what a "vacuum tube" is - let alone a rudder.
I can promise you all something though - my children and their children, and perhaps one day, some great grandchildren of MINE will know about BOTH amateur radio and sailing. My wife, like me is a ham radio operator. And like me she's planning on being the best sailor she can be.
We've never allowed simple lessons in life to pass by those kids - and we're not starting now (there was a knot-tying class at our son's house for everyone on Christmas day, which ended up being replayed on New Year's Eve... lol Wife is sneaky that way).
Already I've had several questions from one of the little ones, "Grandpa? When can we ride on your pretty boat?" - That one is such a doll, so next to me and my wife, she'll probably be first
So - folks, my thinking is, Cap'n Fred came here, NOT to convince us to "let the dream go" or "that things are too expensive...." - perhaps he did come here to get his opinion across. And PERHAPS, like Santa Claus, he sneaked in, in the middle of the night to spark a few more dreams for some of you who are constantly whining about expensive this or that is
Wake up and smell the coffee, ladies and gents. Methinks he is using some kind of retro-reverse-psychology on us all!
Rick