The old men and women of the sea...

[Giulietta]

But we have all those electronic gizmos too....

My son even has a PS on my boat, he has aportable PS, a nintendo 2 and a nintendo DS...he has access to TV, and all that...and we don't set schedules on him...

He does good in school, he does as he pleases....however...we do force him, for 5 minutes every saturday and every sunday morning, becaue the bugger wants to stay in bed...but after washing his face is all about sailing...

And nothing gives me more pleasure, than picking him up from sailing and he spends the 15 to 20 minute ride home talking about it...as if he was still there....

I encourage him to take his friends to sailing and bring the kids along, many of them at a time, sometimes...

I think our job as parents is set the goals for our children to attain, and based on their achievemnts of such goals, reward with TV time, and nintendos....

Fred gets to go to Toy's R US everytime he gets over 85% in any school test. He does do good sometimes....

Give and take...that's what I teach him....sailing for him, is now a thing he does with such pleasure, we actually went from thinking he just "didn't have it", in the begining to "wow....he's getting pretty good"....

[tommyt]

Hog,

I see quite a few programs for the young in N. Michigan. Community programs and YC programs for beginning to late teen sailors. This is on both L. Michigan and larger inland lakes in the area. The same is available along the coast from Chicago to Mackinac City on both sides of the lake.

The percentages are never going to be high because there are so many things available to the younger generation today. That is not exclusive to XBox, high speed internet, which is available world wide today by the way. Fred has many options, and he and his parents decide how to focus his energies.

Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 50's and early 60's we had a lot
less options than I would have liked. Boy Scouts got us involved in the community and camping, canoeing, etc. Organized little league was sparse. Basketball...not a lot of options outside of your driveway.

My 11 year old grand daughter has taken a couple of years lessons in Prams and really enjoyed them. She passed on last summers lessons because of her involvement with her softball team and basketball clinics. There is just so much that a kid can fit in, and their options are endless. Deciding on their passion early and focusing on it allows time for school and friends. Doing a little of everything is just not an option today if you want to be competitive.

I hope that she decides that she wants to get into a competitive racing program in the future. However, it is more important to me that she loves to sail with me, I can always arrange my time to sail with her, and we have fun doing it. My only problem today is her schedule is beginning to interfere with my time on the water and on the golf course. Between softball, basketball, volleyball, choir, etc. I am attending lots of different venues. Factor in the practices and travel time, her mother is on the move all the time. Happy to be a grand parent...less pressure.

So, one last question to Hog. I know that HHI is a diverse community,but what is the average age of citizens on the island? Do the silver haired folks represent a majority? Wish I was one of them at the moment. 34 degrees, wind at 35 kts., gusts to 44 kts., wind chill 25 degrees, 2' waves in front of my house on an inland lake, and the bouy in the middle of L. Michgan registers 10' waves consistently.

A Bald Ancient Mariner

[TSteele65]

From what I understand, youth sailing programs have been rapidly expanding in the Chesapeake region, mostly in the Annapolis area.

Growing up in Maryland, I was exposed to boating at a very young age, but didn't try sailing until I got to college. I was lucky enough to go to a school on the eastern shore of MD which had a fine sailing club, with numerous Lasers and 420s, and even a few larger sloops (mostly donated boats). In fact, the college has had a nationally-ranked sailing team for the last decade or so. Bardo is a fellow alum.

My 3 yr old daughter is already begging to go sailing, and I'll probably put her in a course in the next couple of years. A friend of mine lives much closer to Annapolis, and he tells me that there are waiting lists for certain programs.

[sailingdog]

TB-

I was more talking about money being a bigger factor in areas that aren't well supported by such youth programs, which do subsidize the cost of learning to sail quite a bit.

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

If sailing popularity is declining in areas where it once thrived, I don't believe the main reason is money. Fees for many of the youth programs I stated are certainly not free, but most are affordable. The boats are provided by the instruction facility and parent provided equipment, like pfds, is inexpensive.

As for a lack of motivational interest from the parents, I think that it is hard for youth to learn to sail without parental support, and many people didn't grow up in families where sailing was a part of their normal activities. In many ways, the only reason I sail and am a sailor is because both my twin and I were interested in it—no one else in my family sails, and neither do most of my friends.

I don't think the high-speed internet etc is necessarily the reason kids don't sail, but it does have something to do with their lack of spending time outdoors. It also tends to create and foster an environment of instant gratification, which a sailboat isn't going to be able to deliver generally.

This has less to do with ". . . high-speed internet, fast computers, X-Box, Playstation III, cell phones with IM and internet capabilities" but more related to a lack of motivational interest from the parents. If the parents encouraged their kids to participate in sailing, more youth sailing programs would either remain through public support, or it would become a stimulus for new program start-ups.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

In some ways I feel very sorry for kids growing up today...yes, they have high-speed internet, fast computers, X-Box, Playstation III, cell phones with IM and internet capabilities, but they seem to be missing out on so much of what I had when I was their age.

Or they don't. If the parents don't buy it for them, they don't have these little time-wasters....although they might whine about it. My son (age 6) has a cheap, hand-held video game that teaches him spelling. He likes it as much as a learn-nothing game because it allows him to proceed at his own pace.

One of the reasons we are going cruising for five years is because we deliberately want to keep our son away from our own culture during his formative years, because we have real reservations about the values of our culture, and about the way in which parents have ceded the responsibility of raising their children to the schools, television, toys designed to market other toys, and the sort of viciousness that thinks having a 9-year-old girl wear make-up, a belly-baring shirt and the word "BITCH" on the seat of her pants is "cute".

Better to be on a boat, seeing how the rest of the world lives, while there is still a rest of the world to visit, and from which to learn.

[AjariBonten]

Originally Posted by Valiente

[i]........and the sort of viciousness that thinks having a 9-year-old girl wear make-up, a belly-baring shirt and the word "BITCH" on the seat of her pants is "cute".

Better to be on a boat, seeing how the rest of the world lives, while there is still a rest of the world to visit, and from which to learn.

HEAR! HEAR!
Now, if I could only scoop up my grandkids and be off.............

[zz4gta]

Sailingdog, I agree. Sailing is expensive. Show me someone who doesn't think so, and I'll show you someone who makes too much money. :lol: YC fees, race fees, equipment, its all money. Boating in general is expensive, its a luxury that most can't afford and I, nor my parents, certainly couldn't afford it when I was younger (now 26). There are extremely few young people interested in sailing. Go to any hang out (besides a marina) and ask how many sail. Go to a club or a bar ask the same. Take a poll in any high school. Sailing is so far out of sight out of mind that most kids don't even know the difference between the bow and stern of a boat.

When I was younger my parents told me to go outside, or I'd be grounded. So we'd have to find something to entertain ourselves. With regards to the interweb, you just click and BANG, your done. It seems if you search internet everything has already been done, and someone's written a blog about it. So why bother doing it yourself. Apathy will kill any dream.

BTW, I'm not ready to throw away my video games just yet.

[zz4gta]

Valiente, +1 right on...

[deepblueme]

I would think that part of it is also that sailing isnt ""cool"".
When I say that I mean it doesn't have the TV coverage, Advertising or Heros that kids tend to see (think Freestyle Motocross or just Motocross, skateboards, snowboard and so on).

I live near a local lake in Denver and on any given weekend there are maybe a couple of kids out sailing other than with the local clubs which do a good job it seems.
When I drive by the moto track there are ALOT of kids out riding And the shate parks are stupid packed with kids.

The skating could be a money thing the parks are free and a board is cheep but dirt bikes are in the same leauge as sailing.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

The impressionistic painting sailhog illustrated depicting sailing as an old geezer's club, may be his localized and narrowly focused vision.

If it is, it's localized and narrowly focused here, too. For example: There are nearly 200 full members and another hundred-plus other types of members in our sail club. My wife and I, both in our mid-50's, are at the younger end of the club's age spectrum.

Jim