This might be better said as "Boating Trends". So, I'm thinking that there is something going on in terms of traditional ownership. What I am seeing is younger adults opting out of boat ownership and into boat-sharing collectives, in some ways like an Uber model. I think this is largely an urban-metropolitan trend. First, they are already less committed to ownership. For example, they rent their apartment or condo rather than own it. Second, they may not own a vehicle, using ride-sharing services and public transport. Third, they have no or limited mechanical skills never having the background or patience to learn them.
Actually, I think that description described me when I first got married and went out on my own, except there was no ride sharing programs other than car pooling. People who grow up in big cities often never own a car.
I remember a street survey conducted informally a few decades ago in which a magazine reporter asked a random group of people some basic grade school knowledge questions. Things like, "who was our first president?", "In a mathematical equation, do you add or multiply first?", "Is Mississippi a proper noun or a regular noun?" The performance of the "average" person was deplorable. Something like 30% was the score. The conclusion was that our school system was really falling in standards and performance. However, as it turns out, a similar survey had been conducted at various time in the past for the very school system the reporter was lamenting the loss of and the average citizen performed no better in the 1800s then in the 1900s and that is about the same as those from 2000.
My point is that as we individuals move from one era to the next, our perceptions change because we look back and remember ourselves from the point of view of someone who has been through it, arrived, in a sense. When we see others still in the process, we can sometimes fail to remember when it was us doing the same things.
What do the millennials want that might bring boating into their lives? I'm not sure who the demographics were that bought NEW boats in the 70s or 80s but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 20 somethings. My parents bought me a pram when I was 10. My father bought a hobie cat for me and my wife after I got married but anything else was up to me and I just now, at the age of 54 bought a used 19' weekender to fix up. I was really interested in sailing too. Circumstances didn't come together for me.
My father had a pram when he was 10. My earliest memory of him owning a sailboat was some 18' day sailor in his late 20s. Then he sold it and concentrated all his money and time on a head boat business. His next sailboat would be our 56' live aboard about 4 years later. In his retirement, he went through a lot of big expensive sailboats that he sailed around the globe. Now he's out of the sailing business. Just enjoying being home.
Millennial live in a world with some resources we didn't grow up with, otherwise, I expect their lives and motivations are very similar to what ours were when we were twenty something. I grew up around boats, my wife grew up in small town in northern New Hampshire. My kids therefore, didn't grow up around boats.
I think you are asking about turning an adult generation on to boating that didn't get the childhood foundation to start on.
One personal example. My wife loved our hobie but otherwise thought of sailing as expensive. Renting even seemed expensive. She was interested in saving up and buying a boat sometime. A friend of hers bought a boat, some 17' bow rider. $35,000. A year later, the husband told me he's calculated how much it had cost him on a per-ride basis. All he had to do was take the total cost of the boat and divide by 3. When my wife heard that she became a fan of renting. He sold his boat the next year.
What were the yacht club's demographics in years past? Besides membership being down overall, who were members traditionally? Did the club have a lot of twenty somethings 30 years ago, were there a lot of families, young kids in those families, mostly 30 somethings, middle aged working men, women, many retired people? What was it about the yacht club that made those people want to join? What encouraged them to maintain their memberships?
I watch my son, 26 and I see a completely different social structure from when I was young. He took his time getting into a long term relationship in favor of sampling the bar. He and his girlfriend practically announced their exclusivity formally. Now, with her off at some university to get a law degree, they apparently have retracted their exclusivity clause. They still are a couple but the lines are vague. How does this behavior figure into a commitment to sailing and a club membership? There is no problem with commitment for them, just a different expectation around its specific meaning.
Is this analogous to the Uber, car/time sharing paradigm? One new boat, 10 users? My wife and I are buying a house to list on AirB&B. This seems like the same model.
Offer these young people a chance too live their boating life online. Let them show all their Facebook friends what a great time they are having learning to sail, cruising off-shore, racing, extreme sailing,... they may flock to the yacht club. Encourage them to Instagram their meals, the specialty drink at the bar, shaking hands with the Commodore, they may come in droves. They just need to read a Travelocity review.
I'm sorry for the length but I'm nothing if not wordy. I hope this provides some interesting thoughts to incubate on.
- Will (Dragonfly)
