Sailing is mostly not done for money anymore
Issue 52: Jan/Feb 2007
IN THE FALL OF 2006 WE DROVE THE GOOD OLD PICKUP, “YETI,” TO the Annapolis Sailboat Show, where we had a booth for the first time. While we were there, we attended the GOBR party. That’s the party held after the Good Old Boat Regatta, which is raced annually on Chesapeake Bay. High winds forced the race committee to cancel racing the first day but, typical of this group, they held the after-race party anyway.
It rained the second day of the boat show. Our booth was in a small tent. There were holes in the roof, so the carpeting got soaked, and there were puddles in front of the booths to dodge as the showgoers walked around the show in the cold wind and rain.
That was the interesting thing. They did, indeed, walk around the show in the rain. Furthermore, they came to visit us in our soggy booth. I didn’t think show attendance would be all that good in the rain. But, all things considered, it was not bad.
The sailors who stopped by our booth on that rainy day were mostly very keen. Some had ideas for articles, some had pictures of their boats, some had questions. More than a few sea stories were told.
At the GOBR party, enthusiasm was pretty high, considering there hadn’t even been a race. Some sailors had come from several states away to sail in the GOBR. Tom Wells, who had come from Missouri, had written some good old boat songs, which he sang while he played the guitar. He was accompanied by a mandolin, bass, banjo, and another guitar. It sounded pretty good for a group that plays together only once a year.
I had a wee dram from Don Frye’s private stock, listened to the music, and began to get the message.
Flowing the other way
Not counting the charter business and the tourist rides for hire, the days of commercial sail are long gone. For most of us, sailing is not done for money. The flow of time and treasure goes the other way. We pay to sail. It is not transportation in the common sense of the word; instead, it is very uncommon transport from the ordinary to the otherwise. The people who know this will travel great distances to walk around boats in a cold rain, and they will sing their hearts out after a race that wasn’t held. Then they will come back in the morning to see if the wind and the race committee will let them race and/or throw another party.
A man on crutches moves faster than a sailboat sailing against the wind and tide, so it is easy for the uninitiated to wonder who would care to do that. How could anything like that be considered some form of racing? Who would care to sail for pleasure? Who would care to go anywhere that slowly? Who would care to deal with the uncertainty of the wind? Who would care to walk about in the cold wind and rain just to look at sailboats?
Of course, I know who cares. I’ve met them on and off the water for 40 years. They are the best.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
