Gregory's ServerSometimes I wonder, between not ever seeing any sailors under the age of sixty, and marinas falling into disrepair and no new ones being built. I wonder how many years is left to this whole thing before it's just.. something of the past, like zeppelins.
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 @neauoire many trades are lacking young folks, and many things in North America especially are in disrepair and neglect. Things that are being maintained and built are very hastily done and often in poor quality. I wonder if similar observations were had at the sunset of other "empires" throughout antiquity.  @neauoire i think there are a lot of potential young sailors out there who find it financially daunting, with the growing disparity in the wealth gap and hollowing out of the middle class. it'll be interesting to see if the culture can or is even willing to figure out a way to pivot to fix those issues @emaytch I got priced of living on land, living on the water is the only way we could continue to exist here. It's way more affordable than the insane rent prices in Canada. Maybe this is different in other countries, where it's more of a luxury thing @neauoire yeah, i can really only speak for my situation and what i've seen but currently i'm trapped in a vicious cycle where covid screwed up my finances enough that now it's difficult for me to save up for the initial cost of a boat after my (egregious) rent + living expenses, even after cutting most things down to the bone @emaytch that's tough, I'm so sorry to hear. I feel like we slipped out right at the last minute, timing wise we got incredibly lucky. It wasn't so much a tactical choice, we just panicked. I hope you find a way too @flyingsaceur @emaytch No, we just sort of winged it and got lucky winging it, we started at the same time as others who weren't as lucky and either sunk, or half scared themselves to death. I don't think everyone should be living on the water, but it was our last resort, if we weren't living so far away from friends and family who could help us, our situation might have played out differently too, and a life on the water would have been way down the list of what is sensible.   @neauoire @emaytch It *can* be more affordable than living on land, but I don't find it to be broadly true. Boats are bloody expensive to deal with. But regardless, at least here on the Washington side of the border, the current barrier to entry for recreational sailing anything bigger than a dinghy (or maybe a trailer-sailer monohull on the smaller end of things) is moorage. Nearly every marina in western washington has waitlists months to years long, even for NOT living aboard. Just moorage. @klardotsh @emaytch In Canada, I can feel we're at the tail end of that era that still makes it possible for us. @neauoire @klardotsh @emaytch liveaboard moorage does feel pretty hard to find even in B.C. in my limited experience. But winter non-liveaboard is very available and not too expensive. (Year round… better buy a house with a dock). @neauoire one bright spot (that makes no difference to the overall trend), Asher has done a couple of sailing camps and was asking for a sailing dinghy, so I was an indulgent father and bought a Portland Pudgy + sail kit. Now he has to teach me to sail it. @avi that's amazing, lucky kid! And galiano is a wonderful place to do this at : ) Maybe someday Asher will be waiting for you at the cabin after made it there by sail : )  @neauoire Not sure if that is greedy marina fees, the price of new boats (why do they have to be new), or some other shennanigans I don't see. YT channels like tally ho, teulu tribe and all the other young channels give me hope. Oh, and the Zeppelins aren't gone: Here on lake constance (where they are from) we see them every day. The nearest to you is in SF/LA. |
@neauoire is the number of sailors statistically declining? Is that a thing?