A Pastime For the Posh
By Archie Chew
I’m not a sailor. That title I tend to reserve for people who have crossed the Atlantic, raced in a in fifty boat fleet or skippered a boat solo. I have however, been raised by parents who showed me the joys of messing around on boats. I know how to reef a sail, tie a bowline and pack a spinnaker bag. All knowledge acquired through osmosis, all learned accidentally. A skill developed because at a young age I was taught that sailing was an easy way to go on an adventure.
These days I don’t sail often. I live in London. My career and my group of non-sailing friends take up most of my time. I often pine after cheap Scandi 30ft keel boats on Instagram and imagine a life up a Norwegian fjord, but then I have to rush off to a meeting and a pint of Guinness and my nautical notions fade.
The other day I was trawling through some archival footage from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and I came across a set of films. The “Life In Australia” series made in the 1960’s. (Watch from 13 minutes)
A series was made, presumably to showcase middle class Australia at its finest. It paints an idyllic, simple, laconic picture of the Australian life. Films made to advertise the run-of-the-mill lifestyle one could expect in the suburbs. The 1960’s celluloid, coupled with an ocker baritone narrator provided a mind-numbing nostalgia and I let a few of these films play. But something struck me (and now I’m finally getting to my point… thanks for sticking with me)
Sailing was a fundamental part of almost all the films. Dinghy's, small keel boats, trailer sailors, all took up a disproportionate amount of screen time. It occurred to me that at one point in time, sailing was an activity on par with kicking the footy, fishing or going down the pub. These films had no agenda other than to document the activities most prominent in Australian life and yet every other scene seemed to feature a boat of sorts.
Now for some hard truths. I understand that the audience reading this article will be happily immersed in the wonderful world of boats. I imagine many of you are part of a yacht club, own a sailing boat or race with a crew. By virtue of this, much of the non-sailing world, assume you’re all pricks. They’re wrong for assuming this but it is an assumption that in the 21st century seems to have stuck.
Sailing has been labelled as a hobby for the elites, a sport that is dominated by wealthy men. It’s an unfair broad brush but then again, a glance at the Sail GP coverage doesn’t do much to allay these suspicions. Sailing has been condemned as a pastime for the posh. It’s unfair but the branding has stuck and I think in a small way, we, the sailing community share some of the blame.
This brings me back to the set of films “Life In Australia”. Boats used to be toys synonymous with middle class Australia. A dinghy in the summer to muck about on. Add a tiny cabin and a keel and suddenly this toy allows teenagers to adventure to the other side of the bay for a night or two.
Perhaps the sailing community in Australia would benefit from a refocusing of emphasis away from sailing as competition, and instead towards sailing as a means of unfettered adventure.
I was taught the joys of sailing at a young age and that gift has stayed with me. All of the above I write because I genuinely love sailing and would love to see the sport expand to people and communities who might have forgotten what a beautiful activity it is.
One of my father’s favourite quotes is "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." and this sentiment is at the heart of my argument. Don’t chastise the kids for graffitiing trains, scrolling tiktok or video gaming. Instead tell them that with a little bit of knowledge and a tiny dinghy, they can escape to an empty beach, free from adult supervision.
The sport will explode overnight.