In Defense of Sailing

Should sailing compete with football? Does college sailing need new boats, or faster ones? Should college sailing become an NCAA sport? Top college sailors should become coaches! College sailing should become more commercialized!

In a recent blog on sailgroove.org, (see College Sailing by Carson Marston), I read this sailor-rage about the state of college sailing and (i think) some proposals on how to improve the organization. While every person that has sailed for their college has had some complaints - the smiles are usually much wider than the frowns. If you aren’t happy with college sailing you need to structure your argument and do some research. You also need to look at your sport as a whole, and then relax.

First, we need to determine what a successful college sailing program is? If your definition of successful sports programs is winning Olympic medals or making money than college sailing cannot be successful. Under these criteria sailing cannot be successful. There aren't a lot of Olympic medals (unlike bowl games) and college sailing wont ever sell 500,000 hot dogs in between sets at team racing nationals (unlike college football). That being said college sailors do win medals and some college sailors even make some money sailing. And I bet those individuals would probably argue that college-sailing is quite successful.

If your definition of success is producing life-long sailors then you can actually have a conversation. Unfortunately, too many college sailors rarely sail after their last day of practice. If sailing is compared to another out-door sport - like skiing, you realize that we're not doing so bad. Due to the nature of these sports people get cold, people get wet, people get hurt - and many people don’t want to do those things in their limited free time after college. However, that doesn’t mean that college sailing is unsuccessful.

The fact of the matter is, sailing is a niche sport and by definition a niche sport appeals to a small, defined market. So college sailing is a niche within that niche. Sailing, in general, doesn't appeal to the mass 18-30 year old market like football or basketball because the mass market cannot relate to our sport. Most people can't exactly have a pick up team race with some kids from your neighborhood. Like other niche sports, it is also geographically dependent. So if a person walks into a bar in Little Rock and declares himself a skier he won’t have much in common with most of the bar. He may get a "Yea I skied a few times at my uncles house!" But that's about it. But if the same person walks into a bar in Vail, then obviously that conversation is going go differently. Same with a sailor walking into a bar in Newport; Newport is to sailing what Vail is to skiing. If you go to Newport, there is sailing everywhere and many former college sailors are living successfully in that world. Unfortunately, the same excitement doesn’t exist everywhere – there is no Puma Nation – like there is for the Red Sox, but it doesn’t mean that the sport is unsuccessful. Most of the world knows that Newport is for sailors, much like they know that Vail is for skiers. Both are niche markets serving niche sports but Vail and Newport have figured out how to combine their sports with massively appealing things like spa’s, restaurants, bars and great festivals. In both places, the niche community is well served and successfully balancing sailing with the mass market. Both places are capitalizing on their niche.

Second, we need to realize that as a grass roots organization, the sailing community is already giving a lot back. There is always more to do, but take a second to recognize that many top sailors immediately post-pone the "real world" to coach a local team, or help out at regattas in between their CPA prep courses. Also, many of the often-vilified 40 year old millionaires do pick a few kids to run the pit on their Farr40 at Key West, and then give a few grand to their college programs. If these things are true, and they are, than the sailing community sounds quite strong too.

Perhaps the problem with college sailing is not the fault of ICSA, the NCAA, or the 18-30 mass media market, maybe the blame more appropriately sits with the actual college sailors. As a group, perhaps 18-21 year old college students well versed in yacht club etiquette have had more opportunities given to them than they have earned. When sailors get to the college level some of them hope to be given a celebrity status to compete with the Heisman trophy winner for the honor of BMOC (and in Celebrity-first-happiness-second-America they cannot be blamed). My bet is that these Tebow-wannabes are the ones that are quickest to point their fingers outward on their respective sailing teams. Imagine if every time a college sailor felt like blaming ICSA for their lack of a gold medal or their unsigned contract with Alinghi, they instead they looked inward and learned to enjoy themselves, than maybe some of those determinants of success would change and they'd just be happy with their great sport, their supportive community and their future as a sailor. After all, happiness sells.

6 comments

Tom Charpentier 3 years ago

Say what you want about match racing, but my point is the mainstream media seems to like it better than any other format, and it's not just the AC. Take a look at the TV coverage the WMRT gets in Europe: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/92805. A lot of the racing is actually pretty exciting stuff, you can watch it online.

From a sailing point of view, I kinda like match racing. I think a lot of people in the US sell it short but it's very popular in other parts of the world. A good match race is VERY exciting to watch. Maybe it couldn't hurt to try it out at a sloop event here and there and see how it works. Looks like there's a woman's MR event in Larks at Tufts next fall.

Anyway, TV seems to like match racing better, but maybe going for the mainstream media is the wrong way to do it. Gary Jobson's been putting sailing here and there on ESPN for years now, and I'm not seeing much improvement in public perception (however fun it is to watch Nationals highlights on TV). I think grassroots sites like Sailgroove are a great way to get better exposure to the sport. Someone's randomly browsing, drops by, watches some races, gets curious, and off we go.

Cary 3 years ago

Conover, when you are talking about sailing in Newport versus skiing in Vail -- there is actually a very good technical phrase for it -- agglomeration economics. Not only does the person in Little Rock not care about sailing/skiing, but they have not had the exposure to it because it does not make sense in their locale.

I agree with you that sailing, in it's most generic form is a niche sport. And when you look at College sailing, you are most certainly looking at a sub-niche (albeit a very strong and social one).
That being said, niche sports video sites like Sailgroove are going to really pave the way in future of getting the word out about these sports gaining popularity outside of their immediate niche (more than the one article a year you see in Sailing World on college sailing).

dude 3 years ago

Match racing sucks. Sorry to be a drag, but the AC is the most boring thing to watch since grass started growing. If there is more exposure for college sailing, and there is a story (this team has x and y they are coming from the back of the pack....etc) then people will get into it.

Henry Strobel 3 years ago

I disagree completely

Carson Marston 3 years ago

Nice post! I really didn't intend for my post to be construed as negative or "pointing fingers" at college sailing. I was mainly just highlighting the sport for sailors who hadn't heard much about it.

Certainly the success of the sport begins and ends in grass root efforts. I'm sure the vast majority of "racing sailors" would classify themselves as yacht club weekend racers.
I also agree as noted in my post that the state of sailing and particularly college sailing is very well. The competition is stronger and the fleets are growing every year. My blog is more so to point out the avenues I see for improvement and opportunity in the sports future. Unfortunately with the "showcasing" of the college sailing post, I think some people got the wrong idea.
Keep up the good work!
-Carson

Another thing to consider is how fundamentally different sailing is from most other sports. Unlike most college sports, for many sailors their college experience is only at the very beginning of a long career. Take football - aside from those who go on to the professional level the vast majority of college football players hang 'em up after their senior season. Their careers are over at age 22. Now think about the sailing alums from your school - from the guy who's on a Volvo or AC team all the way down to the guy who just got midfleet at Laser Masters at age 60 (sailing is also of course unique in that many can continue to compete successfully at the absolute top levels of the sport relatively late into their lives). College sailing may not bring glory or multimillion dollar rookie contracts the way other sports can, but it sure does a great service to those who participate. Instead of groaning every time you mention to someone on campus you sail and they envision blue blazers and funny hats, think about that new crew who just came on the team to "try it out" and discovered a fun, challenging, and physically demanding sport she (or he) will enjoy for the rest of their lives. That, I think, is one of the greatest services college sailing does to the sport as a whole. It introduces more *participants*, not necessarily fans, to the game.

Now, I'm all for better public exposure to college sailing, but our sport is very difficult to follow on the TV - even to the trained eye. The one exception to this rule appears to be match racing. Probably the most commercially successful inshore racing in the world has been the America's Cup and the World Match Racing Tour. It's easy for uninitiated spectators to follow the race when only two boats are on the course, so perhaps if we want college sailing to get more public exposure and just maybe some revenue, we might want to turn up the volume on intercollegiate match racing. Maybe the inclusion of woman's MR in the Olympics will help that.

In Defense of Sailing

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