Your punishment is to be sent outside!!
by Rob Kothe on 4 Mar 2013
Fifteen - David Clark - CYCA - International Etchells Class 2013 NSW State Championship/Cronulla Howard Wright /IMAGE Professional Photography
http://www.imagephoto.com.au
Remember a few weeks ago we were all reminded that sailing is an outdoor sport.
When I was a kid, the punishment for breaking a family rule was you had to stay inside, where there were no trees or bikes. An awful punishment.
These days the penalty is to be sent outside. (Where there are no computers or television), a dreadful-dreadful punishment.
So sailing like all sports has to make outside more interesting.
In that context, my next question…is the RYA Dinghy Show the best Sailing boat show in the world?
It’s far from the largest, it does not attract an audience of 100 or 200 thousand as do the bigger Power and Sailing shows do, in fact if its audience is beyond 10,000 this year it will be a surprise.
But the important thing is that it’s a Show that is about getting kids into that dreaded outdoors.
But with 201 sailing boats, its certainly has more masts, booms and mainsails than any other show anyone can think of, it has more interactivity, be it hiking machines, trapezing devices, radio controlled sailing competitions than any show anyone can think of and it certainly has the highest percentage of young people amongst its audience.
So what sailor can tell us of a better Boat Show?
We welcome your comments and during the week we will publish a slew of interviews we did at this most amazing show.
Moving back down under ... the 2013 Etchells NSW State Championship at Cronulla could be remembered for the rain and the waves and two days lost. But as time goes on, it is far more likely to be viewed more fondly, with sun, spinnakers in assorted colours and the overall friendly and competitive ambience that is Etchells being talked about at yacht clubs around the country.
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