Impressions: Small vs. Not so small?

[rgranger]

:stirthepot:
I wanted to probe an impression I have about the attitudes sailors have about other sailors and the boat he sails.

This past weekend I took a short sailing adventure out of Oriental NC. The other sailors at the marina were all live-a-boards who were waiting out the hurricane season. They were all very nice but....

They assumed I was a complete novice before ever speaking with me.

I got questions like this...

"...DO YOU HAVE CHARTS!?...BECAUSE YOU CAN COME ON MY BOAT AND MY HUSBAND CAN SHOW YOU ..."

"Yes I have charts, thank you."

"...WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR CHARTS!?..."

"They are NOAA charts. I should be okay but thank you anyway"

"... DO YOU HAVE A RADIO? BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED A RADIO..."

"Yes I have a radio, thank you"

Anyway you get the idea.

So here is my question.

Were these sailors prejudices based upon the size of my boat or was it because of the fact that the trailer indicated I was not a full time live-a-board sailor?

Personally I think it is size. I read many posts where someone will pipe in with a comment like,.... you should not even try that trip in a boat less than...

What do you think?

:troll:

 

[sailaway78]

Never ran into this

I have never ran into this attitude. EVER I have met a lot of fellow sailors, from Long Island to the Mexican border, and never encountered such a thing. Are you sure you are not misinterpreting their willingness to be helpful. Maybe they were trying to help, and you just got the wrong impression. Or possibly they thought you were new to the area, and needed some help. What ever this doesn't sound like any fellow sailors I have ever run into.

 

[Tim R.]

I see some snobbery from the larger(50+) boats or the custom builders like Morris or Hinckley but not too much. It used to be that us common folk could not afford to own a "yacht".

Could be the size or the trailer. Larger boats are not likely to be trailered and sailed on lakes. That could appear to be the extent of your experience before speaking to you. Does not excuse them from being ignorant though.

We have moved up through the years from 21 to 28 to 35 to 40. We feel a sailor is a sailor. I treat everyone the same until I get to meet them and find out who they really are. I sail a CD10 and my wife wants to get a sunfish. I am sure when people see us sailing those, they have no idea that we live on and sail a larger boat and have nearly 60 years of boating experience combined.

 

[Scubagirl62]

I think a lot of it depends upon individual experiences of the people and/or marina/club members you meet. Perhaps they have had an incident in which someone was hurt/lost/injured and they thought at the time they should have said something and didn't. Now they over compensate for it.

Perhaps they encounter a lot of novices and in their efforts to be helpful, again, they over do it. Or... they just want you to know how experienced THEY are.

And my last theory, they are just are just really, really, really helpful people. I would take it in stride and until proven otherwise, just think they are really, really, really helpful people. We sailors are a helpful bunch. God love us.

 

[Sailm8]

I was a small boat/trailer sailor and have just the opposite impression. My wife and I kept our C22 in the keys and would sail and live on it for weeks at a time. People were always wanting to see how we did it and had 100's of questions. We survived a tropical storm (Gordon) and received applause from the bar crowd at Burdines when we sailed our boat into Boot Key. I think the difference was people saw us on the water and not preparing to go out. They knew i their hearts we were "doing it" and not talking it.

The big boat guys (that was every other boat we saw) were really impressed by our resourcefulness. Little did they know we did this because it was the easiest way for us to get to sail the keys in our own boat. Those times were our best sailing memories.

Now we live in Florida and sail a bigger boat but still look fondly at the good old days.
Sailors are a friendly lot and just want everyone to share their joy at what is a very individualistic and independent life style.

 

[LuzSD]

We can't control what others assume of us, it really only matters what you do over time. You can't tell them you know what you're doing it will be evident by your actions. Most sailors I think look fondly on a small boat sailed well going by....... and I find that I don't worry at all about the small ones for the most part, they seem to have their skills honed.......but those big shiny new ones, we watch them a little closer!

 

[rgranger]

Thanks

I see some snobbery from the larger(50+) boats

Yes, these were larger boats. The smallest one was 47' Island Packet.

Thanks for pipping in guys. And I agree with the sentiment expressed that "sailors are a helpful and generous crowd".

And I did not take offense, I simply noted the assumptions being made. After all, they were offering help. And I was at a marina with a bunch of world cruisers so maybe they had a legitimate reason to assume they had a lot more experience than I. THEY DID!

None the less, I had a wonderful experience and hope to go back sometime soon.

 

[thinwater]

When I cruised my Stiletto 27 I sometimes got tha response, even when I had gone farther than the sailors offering the questions. I often felt a little out of place, having a boat with few accomodations.

When I got my PDQ I felt funny when I was around trailer boats, afraid they would no longer accept me, since I had moved up.

I say go have a good adventure!

 

[Seattle Scott]

Were you wearing cowboy boots?

 

[Ross]

Much will depend on the question you ask. I have been hailed and asked if I knew where the Elk river was and where along it was the state park. My response was do you have a chart? No. Radio or gps? No. Come alongside I can show you the chart and point you in the right direction. We were only about 5 miles from where they wanted to go.

 

[rgranger]

Were you wearing cowboy boots?

wid 'spenders and a straw hat

 

[MrBill_FLL]

you clearly need a 'monkey' rum red cap!