Today one of the commenter’s on my Saving Sailing post, Ray Cole, from Australia, talked about what his company Small Craft Design and Services along with his local sailing club, Carrum Sailing Club are doing to stem the tide, so to speak, of sailing numbers in decline. One of the things Ray has heard from parents is they lack the time and resources to sail. So he has designed a 14 foot plywood dinghy the families can build together, then sail later as a family. Great idea!
Ray Cole
This past Saturday I attended a seminar, well actually it was four seminars. Nick Hayes, author of the book, Saving Sailing, was one of the speakers. One of his findings which I was surprised to hear was that time was the number one reason parents give for not sailing. He went on to describe various ways we could create more time for ourselves to sail. He also talked about what it is that makes people either stay with sailing or not. Of the people he interviewed that remain active, he found that they had nostalgic reasons for sailing. Whether they had sailed with their parents on the family sailboat, or they had an uncle that took them sailing, it was this connection with people important to them they remembered. It was this memory that kept them in sailing. Nick is a board member of the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, Milwaukee, WI, where they are developing a family friendly sailing program. This program will be different in that the parents and children will all be on the same sailboat for their lessons, bonding and learning as a family. Makes sense.
Nick & daughter Kate at Minneapolis Boat show.
Here are two people, working with their local clubs reaching out to make a difference. I am sure there is much more to their programs than what I’ve described, but it just shows what we can do when we step outside the box. Hats off to Ray and Nick!
What are some of your ideas?
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