Pop-up sailing?
February 2, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Nick,
Hi, my name is R P. I heard about your book Saving Sailing on Sailing Anarchy. I am about 100 pages into it and enjoying it quite a bit so far. In your book, you mention a French-designed boat on page 94 that sounds like the perfect boat for my family in our current situation. Could you tell me the make or model of the boat you are talking about? Thanks for any help you can offer.
R
In yer face, Rolex
January 9, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Seen first on SailingAnarchy.com.
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Energy drink marketers are way smarter than I. After all, in the last 10 years they’ve invented new and novel ways to get folks to pay $7 billion more for caffeine. It’s the equivalent of repositioning the hot-dog as la cuisine gastronomique. Genius.
But this time, I think they’re really on to something. They might even Save Sailing!
Look around. Sailing is changing. It’s getting faster and way more fun for the pros. So the pros need helmets. And helmets need logos. Any savvy marketer will tell you those logos should reflect the target audience’s grandest aspirations. For example, everyone knows that NFL fans prefer tasteless beer and pizza.
What an honor it is for sailors to have caught the attention of said brilliant energy drink marketers, even in our advanced age. We’re no longer lowly connoisseurs of platinum timepieces and French champagne. No, thankfully, we sailors have just been promoted to the gas station drink cooler.
It’s a new day for sailing. Shed the pretension. Blue blood be damned. Let’s get real about our awesome sport. It’s extreme. It’s in yer face. It’s for guys with huge trucks.
Popeye, meet Viagra.
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Update (01/16/2013): Here is what the Anarchists had to say. My favorite comment:
Skoal Bandit KWRW ?
Hustling BICs vs. Busted Stuff
July 15, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Another from C. Crain’s series of oil paintings, called “Here Come the Optis” (Click to zoom)
This string probably deserves its own post. How ’bout we call it “Hustling BICs vs. Busted Stuff.”
It all started here: http://savingsailing.com/2012/07/12/opti-haters/
Capt’n Ron on July 13, 2012 at 8:35 pm:
I’ve been in the sail training business for 20 years and although I don’t classify myself as an Opti hater, I do strongly believe that there are more modern day platforms and more fun boats for kids to experience their first sail(s) on.
For example, if I were to take 25 kids and take them for their first sail on an Opti and take those same kids for a sail on an Open followed by a vote on their
preference of boat, the score would be 25-0 in favor of the Open Bic. Comments from the kids would be that the Open Bic is funner, faster, easier, cooler, more comfortable, not to mention – no bailing required!It’s not that kids can’t learn to sail in an Opti, it’s about making their first experience the best possible and keeping them excited so that they keep coming back.
Why do we have kids learning on a 50 year old platform? Just imagine if you decided to have your kids learn downhill skiing on a pair of 1960 vintage skis. There are many more examples of other sports that have adapted and taken advantage of technology to make it easier and more fun for kids to learn on.
My kids first learned how to sail on an Opti, but once exposed to the O’pen BIC, they never went back.
If we are to get the masses (next generation) excited about sailing and keep them excited, especially given the choices that kids have today, then we’ll have to move away from teaching kids based on a design from 1947. It really is time to move on.
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