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Our club had its annual Christmas Banquet last Saturday. There were a few people who were not club members but who had crewed on other members boats invited to the banquet. One remarked that he really enjoyed sailing but didn't have a boat. I told him that I single hand 90% of the time and would certainly enjoy having the company if he wanted to sail with me on occasion. He then stated that "No, you never race, if you don't race I don't understand why you even own a boat"!!!! I have run into this attitude before. In the late 1980's I was a member of the Rudder Club in Jacksonville Florida (the sponsors of the Mug Race). The Commodore told me almost the exact same thing. Why own a boat if you aren't going to race it. I dropped out of the Rudder Club. However, since I am the Secretary Treasurer of the Cherokee Lake Sailing Club I don't think I will drop out this time!! I have also seen writings from Jerry Montgomery with the same thought processes.

So, what say you? Is the only purpose of owning a sailboat the opportunity to race? Is there room in the sailing world for cruisers? Should I sell my boat and buy a Laser or some high tech boat that is strictly useful for racing?????

I think that the competition gene can be very active in many but at the end, we all love to sail for our own reasons.
I am not a racer at all. I just love to sail and I even love ghosting along the shores and creeping into narrow channels where the deep keels never go.
I am perfectly happy at about three knots!

Michel wrote:I think that the competition gene can be very active in many but at the end, we all love to sail for our own reasons.
I am not a racer at all. I just love to sail and I even love ghosting along the shores and creeping into narrow channels where the deep keels never go.
I am perfectly happy at about three knots!

If you are ever in East Tennessee please let me know and we can go exploring Cherokee Lake (although its an inland lake I swear there is a current in it).

I have a Tee Shirt from Good Old Boat that reads "Are we there yet? Who cares?" This is my philosophy completely. I read that if you are in a power boat you are always thinking of when you will get "there". In a sailboat you are already "there".

In a sailboat you are already "there"

How could it be told better?...

The experience does not depend on speed alone or on getting to a point faster than the other guy!
There is nothing wrong in racing but it is not the only thing worth living for.

https://youtu.be/jrgh8XqXepI

One fine summer day last year I was on the lake. I guess I was hitting all of 2.5 kts. In order to see I was hanging over the starboard side, just sort of leaning back, main sheet in one hand, halfway sleeping. A pontoon boat with a husband, wife and children came along side me and the skipper said "we were just remarking how relaxing that looks, you look like you don't have a care in the world". And he was right!!!

I used to be heavily into sports cars. I autocrossed them, did high performance Driving events, I even did the "tail of the dragon" in my Fiat Spider...

In all of that.. I did enjoy the adrenalin of the "race" but it was always too short lived. As I grew older, I found that just going for a long spirited drive was a much better waste of time.

Of course now that I am back to boats after a long hiatus, I have a -much- better waste of time. A guy I work with races Jersey Skiffs.. it looks equal parts frightening and fun.. but I have no urge to join him, I would rather just go on a sail and relax

Art Haberland wrote:I used to be heavily into sports cars. I autocrossed them, did high performance Driving events, I even did the "tail of the dragon" in my Fiat Spider...

In all of that.. I did enjoy the adrenalin of the "race" but it was always too short lived. As I grew older, I found that just going for a long spirited drive was a much better waste of time.

Of course now that I am back to boats after a long hiatus, I have a -much- better waste of time. A guy I work with races Jersey Skiffs.. it looks equal parts frightening and fun.. but I have no urge to join him, I would rather just go on a sail and relax

I rode the Dragon on a Suzuki SV650 - alone - in the rain - (sounds like a Hemingway passage doesn't it!!) I also inadvertently drove the Dragon in a Nissan Versa!! More my speed actually. I lived in Florida at the time and while the Dragon has 360 curves in 11 miles Florida has 11 curves in 360 miles!!!

Hey guys!
I am enjoying the stories here, it gives me an idea about what could be fueling the motivations of racers and cruisers alike.

In a nutshell racers want to obey and celebrate the herd instinct of social animals, to pack together and school up for safety, security, and communal fun before, during, and after the event. They enjoy being together at the start, in teams as a fleet on the course, inventing strategies to beat the other guy, and honoring fellow competitors at the finish, and back at the clubhouse bar.

The cruiser is more of an independent sort. He enjoys getting away from the crowd. His focus is more outward, a sense of adventure and discovery about the territory and the activity of the surrounding world determine the waters he moves through. He lets his curiosity and satisfactions guide his route and timetable.

Both cruiser and racer enjoy the weather, water, and their mobility, but in quite different ways really, and for different reasons. Can one do both? I would say yes, but never at the same time, it seems, the way we have things set up here...

But who among us, on a cruise, has not felt the urge to compare ones speed on a given point of sail to another vessel we happen on to for a part of the passage ? So the performance instinct, Michel's "competition gene", clearly survives in both worlds..

Michel's "competition gene", clearly survives in both worlds..

I confess!... It is next to impossible when some other sailboat is going in the same direction to not being very attentive to the sail trims and all the little details that makes a boat go a little bit faster! It is good manners not to look to much at the other guy and make it appear as ther is absolutely no race going on!...
After all, it is not my fault if I am a better sailor!... Do I have to slow down to please the other guy?... He should learn not to sheet to much and control his heeling !...

Ha, ha, ha!
Brilliant...! Messuer Michel... I love your subtle wit and sense of humor! You are the terror of the St. Laurence I am sure, the petit "Mari-Bell" a wolf in sheep's clothing on any given Sunday?

After all, these are home waters to you, and you must have learned a few tricks and secrets from the river in your time afloat.
I have seen a few of your YouTubes, always nice vibes there too!
Especially I like your fascination with showing the various small and medium size commercial vessels plying the waters of the Seaway... We don't really see that here in San Francisco Bay , mostly larger containerships and supertankers here.

I have a mental image that pleases me now of you consistently surprising bigger, more expensive yachts with a low key turn of speed that leaves those other skippers fuming in frustration, or scratching their heads in disbelief..

"What makes that little boat sail so fast?"