Where did all the cat's go - Colorado, first year racing

Therefore, cost, proximity to easy sailing locations, and comfort for most people sway their decision.

turn off, tune in, trap out

Okay so one of our favorite guys is Jeremy Leonard from Surf City Sailing - he just seems to get what this sport is all about. Dig it.

Today while you guys were sitting on your duffs pondering the future of sailing, the fine folks at Richmond Yacht Club were doing something to ensure that the future is bright. The RYC held their annual Sail a Small Boat day and it was proof, yet again, that you don’t have to have a multi-million dollar mega-yacht to have a great time on the water.

Though the wind was light, about 25 small boats, countless volunteers, and about 100 participants showed up and enjoyed this sunny day in the Richmond Riviera. The boats ranged from the tiny Open Bic to Ultimate 20s to Optis to Hobie 20s, FDs, Snipes, I14s and all kinds of other boats. According to Eric Arens, past RYC commodore and on-site organizer for the SaSBD, “The goal is to get new people into boats, and to get sailors into different kinds of boats.” And that they did with great success!

As it should be, being small boats and all, the show was dominated by youth. The vast majority of the boats had someone on board that was under 20, with many boats fully crewed by kids ranging from about 5 to 19 years old. The consensus that I’ve been hearing from yacht clubs all over the place is that their youth sailing programs are thriving. It’s a good thing too because, let’s face it, sailing as a whole is getting kind of old. Steve Lowry, head of the High School sailing program for RYC mirrors what I’ve seen, “We’re out almost every weekend racing against High Schools all over the bay area, and as with any youth program it goes in cycles, right now we’re on an up-tick. We’ve got a brand new junior director that’s doing an awesome job.” Good! So our sport isn’t going to go extinct; and we owe that to all of the people that volunteer their time getting kids on the water.

Talking to Steve got me thinking. Why the hell are these kids the only ones here, and not hordes of others? I decided to ask the youth and get their perspective; after all they should know what their peers are up to, because they seem to have their noses in some kind of device texting each other all the time. I made my way toward the 29ers to ask a couple of young dudes, what’s up, and the answer? “They’re playing video games.” WTF? You’re kidding me, right?

Apparently not. According to my young friends Molly and Jonathan 15 and 14 respectively, “They’re home playing Call of Duty, most people aren’t motivated to sail, it takes more effort.”

Really? I had to confirm, so I went and asked three more 29er teams from San Francisco Yacht Club and St Francis, all with ages ranging from 16 to 19, and sure enough, at least one member from each team said that their friends were home playing video games. Sure there were other things like homework, and hanging out with friends mentioned, but not with the frequency of video games.

OK, with one possible problem identified, I asked all of them a follow up question, “How do we get more youth on the water?” I asked James and Antione, both 16 year old 29er sailors and Antoine suggested, “We have more of these,” referring to the SaSBD. Overlooking the sea of masts, James followed, “Yeah this is really great!” The 29er youth team of Reid and Annie, both 17, had some insights into how we get more young people on boats, Reid suggests, “ I think it’s cool to have days like this where you can go out with some guy that really knows how to sail an awesome boat. This is really cool how many different boats there are here.”

And to strengthen what Clean is attempting with his recent OTWA videos, Finn, a 19 year-old 29er sailor suggests, “ Make more fast boats like these, and make more cool videos… without elevator music.”

There you have it, straight from the source(es). Every yacht club in the world should do what Richmond Yacht Club did this weekend so successfully. Have a Small Boat Day! Invite friends, bring the family, have a great day, that’s what it’s all about. I expect to see this place stacked next year.

And to all of the youth of this plugged-in society we live in, ponder this slogan that Timothy Leary coined in the 60s that I borrowed and changed.

Turn off, tune in, trap out. Loads more pics here.

Thanks RYC!